Hi there, this is my first time posting here. I have a 4 year old chocolate lab, Boomer. Today he has me worried because he's behaving pretty odd, and he's done this before but it went away and we didn't think much of it. In hindsight, the last week or so he's been salivating, licking and gulping more than usual, and occasionally shaking his head but his ears look fine. He has mild allergies so I was chalking it up to that. But then as I went to plug in my phone charger, he sat square infront of me, and then just lunged up on me with his paws on my shoulders and wouldn't let go. He never ever does this. He is the definition of sweet, and any other day he would just patiently wait for me to give him a pat, but not jump up, especially like that. So i knew something was off, and walked him to the other room to get a better look, and he kept sitting down very quickly and chewing his back paw, couldn't get comfy, toes curling up very rigid like a cramp. I laid him down and tried to massage the leg and the toes. When I curl the toes back down I can feel and hear a crack like something moving in the hock, and when I let go the toes go straight back to splayed out and curling upward. Then he goes to chew the toes and lick the paw, and the foot kicks him pretty hard in the mouth like he can't control it, to the point im worried he's going to hurt himself. It took a while to get him to relax and the leg was trembling. He keeps looking at it and licking his other paws too. He did this maybe 2 months ago or so and had me worried but it cleared within a day. Even now laying in bed I hear him in his bed licking his lips, swallowing, and licking his front legs. I've checked in between his toes on all paws and they all look normal. Sorry for the long post, I can't find anything else online that would explain it but any vet visit is booked months out because of COVID and I'm hoping someone here might know something. I'm hoping Boomer falls asleep soon and wakes up with it mysteriously gone away. I feel so bad for the poor guy Thank you so much!
Licking is often a sign of pain. Even with Covid vets are open. They just don’t let you go into the practise with your pet. If your vet won’t see you find another.
Thanks guys, it was too late to call our vet last night and i couldn't sleep I was just scouring the internet for possible answers lol. we are in a small town and our vet is like the one that everyone from around us goes to as well so its always full up. I called them in November and their earliest appt for me at that time was for now in January so I was nervous that I'd be waiting a while for an appt. I called them first thing this morning and explained everything to them. They're fitting us in this afternoon so I hope they find the source of his problem! *fingers crossed*
I admit I had to look up what nettles were lol, but nope he has not been around them. Got back from the vet about 2 hours ago. They initially did bloodwork to rule out electrolyte imbalance that could cause cramping. Bloodwork came back excellent, nothing out of sorts. He said that its likely Boomer injured a tendon, possibly irritating a nerve with inflammation as well, and it may come and go if he has a bout of exercise and moves the wrong way again. He said there's really nothing to do except trying to get him to rest and massage it like I've been doing, and sent him home with Metacam to be given once a day as needed inflammation. I dunno, I'm hoping it is just a slight tendon issue and we'll have to see how a few days of Metacam goes.
Hi sorry to hear your dog is unwell. When j first had a quick glance at your post my first thought of the toes going upwards was nails. Sometimes if the nails are too long it changes the shape of the foot and CA be very uncomfortable to walk on and can cause the toes to point upwards. Are his nails long? If not then probably a pulled tendon if he likes to run around a lot.
Hi thanks for your response his nails are pretty short. It was like he was forcing his toes to go up. Like stretching them almost, except he wasn't doing it voluntarily. He does run and play fetch a few times a day, so very likely from that.. he has gained a few pounds the last few months lol. And with the Metacam hes less drooly now. Not 100pct but definitely slight improvement and I haven't seen him licking that paw. I have though noticed a few times where he went to get up from a laying down position and midway through he scrambled like something scared him, but i think something in his leg jolted pain somewhere. I only saw him do it twice so im thinking its a specific way he moved it and he needs to take it easy for a bit.
