Just taken Boris to the vets. Yesterday his tail was hanging down and he is unable to say it. Apparently caused by swimming in cold water. On Saturday evening he did go swimming in the sea. Treatment is a course of anti inflammatory tablets. Do other members have any experience of this.? Thanks David
Hi there, yes, this is quite common among labs after swimming in cold water. My dog hasn't experienced it but many of the members have dogs who have gone through this. Generally it resolves within a few days with rest and anti-inflammatories.
Yes, my Lab has had this, it does get better quite quickly, but can be painful for the dog, hence anti-inflammatories.
My girl has had this 3 times now. She has had anti inflammatories and strong pain meds as she was in a lot of pain. It took 8 days to go the first time, 5 the second time and 7 the third time. We stopped walks for a minimum of 4 days each time, then only short lead walks only for the next few days and slowly built her up again. Each time she has been very quiet and subdued, not wanting to play or anything. I occupied her mentally with short food finding in her snuffle mat, or hid around the room and lots of kongs. The first time it happened was when we had a drastic temperature drop and she was running around like a loony - vet thinks she overdone it, the second time was after swimming, but it wasn't cold at all, the third time was after she was retrieving for about 20 mins stopping and starting.........it is like a muscle strain. I now keep a towel in the car to dry her off after swimming and after walks we give her back end a massage to help stop it happening again. Feel free to ask any questions
Cold Tail: Two of our girls have had it at one time or another. I don't think it has to be really cold water, just a lot of swimming. I've seen our labs do a short swim in ice water and not get it, but sometimes get it after a few hours swimming in a fairly temperate lake. It seems like it lasts a few days to a week, and goes away on its own. Neither of our dogs seemed particularly bothered by it, so we did not treat it at all. I guess I would do anti-inflammatories if they were in discomfort.
My previous lab got this - not from swimming but from a week of constantly wagging his tail when we had visitors staying . He was very sorry for himself but recovered quickly with a course of anti-inflammatories.
When Oban got it the water was pretty warm. I'm told it's common in dock diving, from the tail smacking into the water. And that's essentially what he was doing, retrieving into a pond from a bank about four feet higher than the water. He was whining and obviously uncomfortable that night, I gave a full strength aspirin (cleared by Vet) and that took care of it. By the third day he showed no more signs of discomfort but I read bad cases can last two weeks and really, really bad cases, rare cases, have resulted in tail amputation from the swollen tail muscles and tissues cutting off blood circulation to the tail. Those would be dogs who didn't get anti-inflammatories I guess.
