Back Legs Problem
Bubba is soon to be 11 years old in a couple months. a few weeks ago we were going downstairs where the computer room is and had already went down the six steps from the living room(2-story) to the foyer and then six more steps to the downstairs area.
I forgot something and told Bubba to stay there while I went back up to the kitchen. Of course, he didn't listen and came back up those last six steps to the foyer area but never got all the way up. When I looked his front paws were on the slate foyer but his back legs were still on the last two steps. He looked frantic so I grabbed his front two legs and pulled him up. Chalking this off to maybe he couldn't get traction on his front paws due to the slick slate I overlooked it.
This past Saturday we had gone out on the deck to go out in the back yard and there's 12 steps to go down. No problem, he's negotiated up and own those steps for years. He got to the first couple of steps and tumbled all the way down 10 more steps and landed in the yard. I was scared stiff he may have broken a leg, cracked a rib or worse yet, his back or neck. He sat there awhile and I felt all over him for problems but he got up and walked away like nothing had happened. No chancing another event like that I decided we won't go down those steps again.
Last night as we were getting to go out back for his last potty break around 8:30 we went down the steps inside to cut through the garage and out the back door. He got down all steps but as he made it down to the parquet floor his back legs were spread out like an eagle-one going to the left, one going to the right like someone trying to learn to skate. He stood there temporarily and then walked toward me but he was still walking with both feet outward. After about six feet of walking like that he finally straightened them out and was fine.
Part of me wants to blame this on his being overweight and being 10 years old. Another part wants to think the worse as being maybe the onset of DM. After what I explained, I'd appreciate any insight into this. We go to the vet today as I'm not waiting anymore for my guessing.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by D46 on
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I have PAD(Peripheral Artery Disease) and have had five operations on my left leg in the past ten years. That's one every other year. The last one, last summer, was another bypass. I can't walk far due to vascular problems with that leg so, we don't walk much. I wish I could break out in a slow run with him but, that's not going to happen. Me and Bubba are about the same age. He's 10, which according to all I've read, puts him at being 70 years old. I'll be 70 in six months.
I did think about a tread mill several years ago but those things cost as much as my first car. If I adjusted his food intake according to his activity he'd get one small biscuit a day. It's tough trying to get weight off him. I knew he needed that some years back, not just recently. However, trying to get a lazy boy by nature to run is all but impossible. The only time he'll run any short distance, like maybe 15 yards, is when he sees me reach into my pocket and throw something. He knows it's not a ball but, rather some treat and will run briskly after it after I throw it. Well, it's food so, he's Johnny on the spot!
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Permalink Reply by Carl Koch on
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Our 10 YO corgi had similar problems. Our vet started her on 50mg of Rimadyl at night and 50mg of tramadol in the AM. She acts like a puppy now. Hopefully, your baby will be OK too.
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Permalink Reply by Judith Andre on
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Sorry about your foot. I've seen a lot of older treadmills for sale on Craigslist, garage sales etc for not that much money. You would want to start out really slowly with a dog that over weight...a couple minutes of walking, stop for a minute, repeat for probably no more than 10 minutes at first. Watch for any sign that he's over doing it. Obviously, diet in addition to exercise. If you could find one to try first that would be helpful. I took Murray to a place here called the Fit Canine that has a dog treadmill and pool and had several instructional lessons on it before we were turned lose. Probably info on line as there is on most everything. If not and you decide to try one let me know and I could give you some tips that I got.
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I suppose due to my having to take several medications and one(Plavix) causes my back to itch but, I'm reliant on it or get blood clots in the leg is the main reason I'm adamant about giving Bubba any meds. There's always the possibility of ramifications of any drug interaction whether canine or human.
I took him out yesterday for a short, maybe 200 yard walk, and he always before would walk right beside me. Yesterday, he lagged behind by several feet and never would pick up the pace. I don't walk fast but before he always kept up. However, when we're in the back yard and I throw him a treat far enough that he'll have to run about 30 feet to get it, you'd think he was a year old again. I've seen dogs that would run flat out figure 8's in their yard due to boredom or just the need to run-not Bubba. I'd pass out if I ever saw him run like that.
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Permalink Reply by Vicky Hay on
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Dog to vet ASAP!
Oh, dear. I hope this isn't a harbinger of the future. If the vet thinks so, try getting a kiddy gate, the kind with a swinging door that humans can open and close. Place it at the top or the bottom of the stairs. This makes life a lot simpler for the humans.
In fact, if you have some spare change and you like to have your pooch upstairs with you when you're sleeping or puttering around, maybe consider getting two: one for the bottom of the steps and one for the top.Then you can carry the critter up and down as needed.
Think I got mine at Petco but I may have ordered it on Amazon. Worth its weight in gold. Really!
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There's no way of getting around having to go up and down stairs here. I live in a split foyer-stairs to go upstairs, stairs to go down stairs but those are all carpeted. The steps outside on the deck are another matter. I don't let him go down those anymore due to his fall last Saturday, I just won't chance it anytime soon.
I have those "Kiddy" gates you mentioned but he doesn't need those. I once used them to quarantine him in the kitchen when I went to work leaving him plenty of food/water and pee pads, but since I'm retired as of two years ago, they went to the shed out back.
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So he's too heavy to carry up and down steps? {sigh} That does present a predicament. I can't imagine how to deal with that...even tho' I can pick Cassie up, i'd be afraid of carrying her up and down stairs all the time for fear eventually I'd fall myself.
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Bubba weights nearly half of what I do(I'm 138 pounds). I wouldn't attempt to carry him down or up the stairs unless it was an emergency. I do have to lift him out of the back seat when we go anywhere and that's usually a real task as he doesn't want to get out-especially if he looks around when we stop and sees we're at the vet! I have to literally pull him out of the car.
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Permalink Reply by Linda on
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I can't pick Max up because of my back.. I have a fusion. Hubby made a ramp from the deck to the yard. Several months ago he started having problems coming up the stairs at bedtime. We put carpet treads on the stairs and after a couple of weeks of hesitation on them he now goes up the stairs like he was a young, 25 lb corgi.
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Ah. Now I recall that you mentioned it before. That's a difficulty. Any chance of installing some kind of lift, like the things folks install in their old age to get themselves up and down the stairs? Pretty expensive for a dog, I guess...but if you're planning to stay in the house for the rest of your own lives, maybe it would be useful for the humans, too.
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I've thought of several different fixes so he won't tumble down the deck steps. I once thought, about two years back before he even had any problems negotiating the steps, putting stick on pieces of carpet the length and width of each step. When wet and when snow or ice forms they're just as slippery or more so than not having anything on them.
I had thought of getting some 3/4" plywood and making a ramp from the top to bottom of the steps and putting some indoor/outdoor carpet across it. He doesn't have much of a problem going up the steps as going down. He doesn't have problems with the carpeted steps inside for the most part and he's only fallen down the deck steps once in eight years. I just didn't want to chance him falling down them again. This time we may not be so lucky and he ending up with a broke leg, back or neck. that's why we don't go down those stairs since the accident a week ago today.
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This is a rare photo of Bubba actually running. My sister had brought up her 3 month old puppy, a King Charles mix, and he was doing figure 8's out in the back yard. Bubba watched him for a while and then decided to ambush him. He waited till Ollie came behind the bush and then that's when he took off behind him trying to get him to settle down. I wish I had a video of that. this was back in 2009. He's never run like that since but, I got to watch it two days in a row.
http://s180.photobucket.com/user/ColColt/media/4th%20Birthday/Bub%2...
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