So for the past few months my 20 month old lab has been lying down when we go out for walks. It started off not too often, just at the odd moments he would lie down next to a wall, but I noticed as he went down he was very slow and then he would just drop his back end. Now we don’t even get off the drive a lot of the time, he just lies down straight away. I can’t move him, it I try to coax him he lies flat on his side. If I pick him up to his feet and walk a few steps he then lies down again. Still very slow going down. He also recently has been struggling to lie down in the house, he would walk to multiple locations, spin, try to lie down but seems like he can’t. And then move to another spot to try again. I think he gets twitches in his legs, because he kicks them out randomly, and sometimes he really kicks hard. He also recently has started to whine during the day. I am just so worried about him, because I have took him to the vets but he thinks it’s just a virus. I am worried about his legs, both myself and my mum noticed from a young age his back legs were not “right”. But the vet never confirmed out suspicions. I feel like there is something wrong with him, but I can’t work out what. This isn’t normal behaviour for him and he used to walk so much and not lie down at all. Has anyone else experienced this? Or know what it could be? I am going to take him to vets and get him to X-ray his legs tonight hopefully. It’s been going on for months now.
You must be so worried! I hope the vet can discover what's going on. The symptoms you describe remind me very much of my Pointer when he had a problem with a disc in his neck. Perhaps get his spine checked as well. Good luck.
Thank you so much for your reply, I will ask the vet about that. He’s in the vets all day today so fingers cross for answers!
It sounds like perhaps your vet doesn't have many ideas about what's going on, so it would be good to ask your vet for a referral to an orthopaedic vet who can advise further. X-rays don't always show everything - he may need a CT or MRI - and interpretation of imaging is an art-form, so would be best done by an expert.
Any update Riggs&Kimberly? I'm sure I'm not the only one to keep checking back on here to see how your little chap is doing. Fingers crossed that everything is OK x
