This is something I have never come across before so I'm wondering if anyone here has any advice or experience with it. Over the last week or so I've noticed that Penny behaves really weirdly when we come back from a walk. Previously she would just have her after walk biscuit, have a drink and then go and lay down to rest. The last few times I've taken her out I've noticed that she gets a twitch in her back right leg. She will also excessively lick or chew her right feet, front and back. She can't settle with it at all and it's constantly going from one place to another to try and lie down to get comfy but can't do it, it's obviously uncomfortable, possibly painful for her. I recently read an article about how excessive licking and chewing of the paws can be related to pain (http://ivcjournal.com/excessive-paw-licking-in-dogs-it-may-not-be-allergies/) so I think that explains the paw chewing, would also explain why it's only her right feet possibly? The first time I noticed her leg twitch I thought it was something like a bit of cramp from the walk we had just done (she hadn't been out for a couple of days before as we had non stop torrential rain!) but now it's been after every walk. Today seems particularly bad, but every time it has settled after half an hour to an hour. I googled muscle spasms in dogs and I'm thinking this is what she's experiencing but I can't for the life of me understand why. She's otherwise fit and healthy (except the hip dysplasia) and has joint supplements daily. I've actually given her some metacam this afternoon as its worse than I've seen it. I think I'm going to have to take her to the vets but I'm pretty sure they're going to fob me off with 'anti inflammatories and rest for a week, then gradually build up her exercise again' which I know to do without paying a £35 consult fee, and I'm fairly certain this will not resolve the issue. I would rather get straight into any investigative work that may need to be done. Can anyone help shed some light? Anyone come across this before?
If it had been all four paws I would have suggested stinging nettles, they are new and particulary sharp this year. I think a trip to the vet is definitely indicated.
I don't know about the paw licking... In Charlie, a "shaking off the crap" twitch in the back legs is a sign of arthritis - at the moment it's trivial, but of course over time will get worse because that's the nature of arthritis. He reacts as though he has cramp in his rear legs (both legs have cruciate repairs) and that shaking twitching as though to shake off cramp is a reaction to stiffness. It happens very occasionally, but the movement is very distinct and unmissable. It is not a movement that dogs would make 'normally'.
I could make a wild guess Lauren, but to be honest I think you are going to have to bite the bullet and visit the vet.
Hmm that's a thought Julie.... We know she has bad hips so obviously will develop arthritis at some point. She had X-rays about 6-8 months ago though as part of an osteoarthritis study she was in and they were clear. I wonder if arthritic changes enough to affect her could develop that quickly?
I think I would be making that vet appointment but would probably restrict her exercise as well and see if that makes any difference to the chewing and spasms. How is she in herself? Are the spasms only after exercise or when she gets up from resting? Hips, elbows and knees are such a worry
She's fine otherwise, no other issues with moving around or getting up and down etc it's purely after exercise. Perhaps we'll do some shorter walks over the weekend and see how we go, then phone the vet Monday.
Hopefully some lighter exercise will help, and if nothing else it may help the vet identify the problem if it is exercise related.
Charlie's arthritis can't yet be seen on x-rays - but it's there, no doubt about it. It's also not something that I'm overly concerned about. The whole point of the cruciate repairs was to slow the progression of arthritis. If it worsens at the same rate per year going forward, his symptoms will stay very mild. Fingers crossed and all that. Arthritis is nature's way of dealing with unstable joints (so my vet says). An arthritic joint is stiff, but still usable, and the stiffness acts to make an unstable joint more stable. I'm not claiming arthritis is a good thing! But just that's the reason why cruciate repairs offset arthritis, because the repair makes the joint stable. If Penny has HD, she probably will also have at least the beginnings of arthritis.
Hallo. Really sorry to hear that Penny appears to be in pain. With Snowie's bulging disc at L7-S joint, it now makes sense why he would sometimes get a shaky leg when lifting his leg to wee (more like shivering, like a pinched nerve -- although I've not confirmed with the vet, seeing him on Tuesday). Snowie was also excessively chewing his knees and base of his tail, chewing his paws, and now everything makes sense -- I also read that licking article. However, he is not a perfect control, and I recently gave him Bravecto (he was infested with ticks after a weekend away) and the itching/chewing has stopped about 99%, so who knows if he was genuinely itchy or if the chewing was related to pain. But, we've also stopped ball retrieves (on the vet's recommendation) and no jolting exercise, so perhaps he is not inflaming the problem and the pain has also stopped. I do hope you get to the bottom of this. From my experience, until Snowie had the MRI, we were only guessing what was causing his pain. Now we know it is a bulging disc. My regular vet suspected a slipped disc, but she thought in the neck, whereas it is in the lumbar region. The orthopaedic vet immediately diagnosed a problem in the lumbar region when using his hands to examine (the MRI confirmed his suspicion).
Well we've done a few days of shorter walks, mostly on lead and we haven't had any muscle spasms, so I've held off seeing the vet for now. I'm wondering if some of it is down to the fact we went from a couple of 20-30 minute walks a day to one hour or more walk without any real build up. I'm going to try and slowly increase back up to what we were doing when she started showing the spasms and see how we go. I also think she may be getting dehydrated as our house can get quite warm during the day when she's been left alone, so I've been adding extra water to her evening feeds (can't do morning because of meds). If she has more spasms I will definitely see the vet but for now we seem to be doing ok.
It's good to hear that the spasms have stopped with the drop in exercise. Slow build to higher level of exercise sounds good and just monitor how she responds.
hello. I have 7 year old dog, in march this year vet diagnosed protrusion disc L7S1 by MRI. My dog has tremor right back leg. It seems like clapping leg, sometimes he has shakking femur muscle. Tremor will have till the end his life. His leg shake on each walking. We took hydrotherapy, get vitamin B. Now shaking is one time during walk, not 5x as before. The vet neurologist said tremor is not a reason disc protrusion but he has neurologic problem. Give me some advice what else improve my dog. I am very sad. my dog went for a walk for 2 hours daily, he was very active, now goes 45 minutes without aporting, playing with another dogs.
@Lucy_sorbon surgery was an option when my girl developed neurologic problems resulting from spinal malformation, which was basically just bad arthritis, but due to her age not the most desirable option. WE went for pain meds instead. Maybe you could ask your Vet, 7 years is still much younger than my girl was. I wonder too, maybe stretching exercises before and after exercise might help? We did stretches for agility. The problem, I think, would be finding someone who knows what ones to do and can show you how to do them safely.
Yes, in the morning we exercise before walking, move right, move left, almost every everning he has massage, 5 month ago he has loss muscule, he didn't feel the pain. The vet didn't give medicine, operation disapproved, MRI didn't display nipped nerves, Vet doesn't sure, what is wrong. He tend to the opinion that tremor is not from disc protrusion only. He's afraid for bigger damage of spinal after surgery. I give him natural remedy - Bach drops, prepare especially for him on neurological problems. Have you some video shaking your dog<
@Snowshoe This is what we did: - Absolutely no ball retrieves or any other retrieves -- he was not allowed to stop suddenly with a jolt (bad for the back) - Absolutely no soft sand and racing around the beach, although admittedly we did take him on a beach holiday for a long weekend, but we were very careful that he only ran on the hard sand and no wild playing on the soft sand -- all surfaces had to be firm so that he didn't twist his spine - We were very careful about his diet and made sure he was kept slim at his ideal weight (34 kg) - Gave 6 salmon oil capsules per day -- omega 3s are anti-inflammatory (still give them) - Got arnica drops on his food every day for about 4 months -- also anti-inflammatory - Got acupuncture therapy once and laser therapy three times at the holistic vet who was recommended by our regular vet - Sprayed Yunan Baiyo spray on his lower back twice a day for about two weeks (until it ran out) - I would massage his back muscles regularly - We could give Rimadyl for pain any time he showed pain -- although he didn't show much pain after we started the therapies - We changed the entry/exit of our pool so that he could easily get into and out of the pool -- prior to this he had to jump into the out of the pool to and from the pool seat and I'm pretty sure this must've hurt his back, and I wonder whether it caused damage - Got regular exercise every morning and every evening -- he was allowed to walk and run, but if he showed any signs of pain we had to stop immediately -- but he didn't, the exercise was consistent and on a firm surface (mountain trails) I am pleased to say that the vet who was giving him the laser therapy said he no longer needed therapy -- this was in June. The vet said that probably the L7 and S1 vertebrae had fused to stabilise the area -- this is what we were hoping for, apparently the body's natural way to stabilise the area (hence the arthritis); that this is what surgery aims to do, too. His back legs still quiver when he squats or lifts a leg to wee after he's been on a walk. Otherwise they are fine, we don't see any shaking at other times. We do notice that when he walks on sand, you can see his right back foot drags, but ever so slightly -- we see a little stripe in the sand just before his paw print. This is worrying because it does indicate nerve damage. When he runs he lifts his feet, no dragging. He can now leap onto the bed with ease and has began to jump up on his hind legs, which indicates he is feeling a lot better (unfortunately means he's gone back to counter surfing!). I hope what I've written above is of help to you. The orthopaedic surgeon said he did not need surgery at this stage, that we must just be careful with not allowing him to twist his spine and jolt it. A friend's dog had a slipped disc and was paralysed (a little dog, probably cross Daschund). Her vet said the only answer was PTS. She took her dog home and massaged her back to walking (probably over a few months) -- I don't know the details but I will ask her next time I see her. Her dog is still walking 7 years later, although now a very old dog. I am hoping Snowie will be similar because I do worry a lot about his back and am terrified he will become paralysed. I am interested in the stretches that @Snowshoe talks about. I also wonder if there are exercises for dogs to strengthen the abdominal muscles? That is what humans are always recommended to do to protect their backs.
Apparently the familiar "sit up and beg" position works to strengthen the back but I don't know if it does so through strengthening the abs. I have read the position can be hard on a dog's back if maintained for too long without building up. Maybe somebody who does canine freestyle might have information on that? You often see those dog hopping along and walking on their hind feet, in basically that position.
It's so interesting you say that, because I thought it was because of the "sit up and beg" (or as our instructor called it: "sit pretty") that caused Snowie's back problems. We had just completed a "dog dancing" course (tricks to music) when Snowie developed the back ache. And there was a lot of the "sit pretty", which he found incredibly difficult to do -- he is just not built to balance like that. It might've all just been coincidence...
