Thursday evening Cooper played hard with his Sammy buddy, with a lot of running though my neighbors yard and garden. Every thing seemed fine when we went home, but about 2hrs later she was in obvious discomfort and had difficulty getting up. She moved around very stiffly, and it seemed to be her back or both back legs. She was also breathing like she was panting, though her mouth was not open. I gave her 50mg (1/2) of a Deramaxx to see if it made her feel better. After an hour or so it seemed to work some, and I took her out the front door so she would not have to climb a full flight of stairs. She was a little stiff but her walking looked fairly normal. She even jumped up on our bed which is quite high, but it was not easy for her. She went back off to her dog bed, and later came back up on our bed over the end (the easy way), and slept there all night. When we got up In the morning she was lying on her back with her feet in the air acting like nothing had happened. She seemed almost completely normal this morning and we went for a 1/2 mile walk with no problem, though she only walked and trotted with no flat out running. By noon she seemed to be back to 100% and still is tonight. All eating and digestive functions are normal. I don't really know what to make of it, except maybe she pulled a muscle or got a cramp in her back. When we went to bed last night I thought we might be making a Vet visit today, but she recovered so quickly I don't see any need.
Ouch, poor Cooper. It does sound like it could have been a cramp with such a quick recovery. You must have been rather worried for a while there.
When Homer was a few months old he lost the ability to move his back legs. One evening after a dusy day he streatched off the sofa and tumbled into a heap on the floor. You can imagine the worry! We new a old friend, a retired vet, was in the pub down the road so we wrapped the pup in a blanket and carried him down there. Old vet said to pop him on the floor and Homer stood up on all four legs sniffing round for crumbs! A bout of pins and needles was the vests diagnosis to our embarrassment and much amusement for the old boys. It could be a sprain or a sore muscle.
Did she maybe crash into something? Slide and crash into something? Jet was very stiff and limping the next day after some wild play in the bush with a newly met 1 yr old Aussie. I am pretty sure she clipped her shoulder on tree trunk. It persisted and the Vet X-rayed and found some arthritis starting, which of course was already there, but hitting the tree made it worse for a while. She was on pain meds till I modified her exercise schedule, MORE exercise, and then was able to go off the meds.
Pins & needles...I think that happened with Belle once, she'd been asleep on her bed with her head hanging over the wooden frame. She woke up and couldn't stand on one side of her legs, didn't appear to be able to feel me pinching her toes & fell over, she looked worried - thinking she'd had a stroke I went into panic. I layed her down and stroked her to soothe her, was going to call emergency vet when she stood up, normal! I think her legs had gone to sleep
Glade to hear all is well. Dozer has had more injuries than I can count from playing. Stryker seems to be following suit. Dozers first trip to the Ocean he was running around like crazy and jumping off of high sand dunes when he started yelping so to keep him from running around I had to tie him up for the night as we were camping. The next day he was still hurting so we loaded him in the truck and left the ocean for the vets which was about 2 hours away. On the way there he ended up having a seizure... ..I'm sure you could imagine how freaked out I was now thinking that my Dozer was dying. Got to the vets and told them what had happened. They felt around his spine and he had threw his back out. They popped his back and he was instantly back to running around. Vet said their back is just like ours. If we over due it, it can be "thrown out" just as easily. He said the seizure was due to the pain.
I'm glad it doesn't seem to be anything ongoing. She might if just overdone it with all the running around. Hope she's continues to be ok x
Thanks for all your thoughts. Cooper continues to be fine. I expect it had to do with too much running, but she did not limp or anything on the way home, or in the early evening at home. This kind of activity is typical for her, but only the second time she had any sort of injury. The first time it was obvious that she had sprained or dislocated her toe, but she recovered almost immediately. Curious?
