Young EM with periodic lameness.

[slmcgregor]

Hi Everyone,

I have an EM that I got from a very reputable breeder. He is an absolute joy, handsome, and for the most part, healthy. He is 2.5 years old, neutered, and has always been active and athletic. On two occasions, he has woken us with his whining (he's woken us many more times than that, but he usually wants to switch beds with the other dog, his ears are itchy, or he wants to go get some water and feels the need to tell us all about it. In short, he is a bawl-baby). In these two cases, however, it was because he couldn't get up. He was either too weak, or in too much pain. It was hard to tell. When he does finally get up, his tail is between his legs (a real rarity for him) and appears stiff in his from and back legs. He then lays down and stays down for most of the day. By late afternoon, he appears fine. By late at night, he's running back and forth in the house.

Has anyone ever encountered something like this?

 

[Hector]

Might be nerve pain in the spine, shoulders or neck. Nerve pain is very painful. My dog screamed when he had that and cried all night long and we thought it was just his anxiety, but later found out it was stenosis in his spine that made his back end fall asleep so he chewed a spot bald halfway down his tail without us knowing for god knows how many nights in a row. He had slipped and hit a wall and two weeks later we went on a walk and that's when the real pain hit him and he tried hard to tell me now that I think back. Anyway he was around 2 years old, but he is 4.5 now and hasn't had a relapse.

 

[Kelly]

Poor puppy. Is possible that its growing Pains? Probably not at his age. When was he neutered? Possible that he's had seizures?

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

 

[Iulicris88]

My last pup had something similar happen to him, he would get horrible pain in his back, especially the lower end. It usually happened after longer periods of rest and it was very hard for him to use his back legs. As soon as he got up and walked a little, the pain started to go down. Vet said it were probably two vertebrae that were too close to each other and pinched a nerve, and he treated it with steroid shots. He started getting the pain when he was about 1 and it would appear periodically, sometimes after a few months, sometimes after a few years. I would recommend you get an x-Ray, to see what is going on with his spine.

 

[marke]

my 2 cents , walk the dog as much , as long , and as far as you possibly can , proper exercise can save an unsound dogs life .....up and down hills is absolutely the best ........ sedentary dogs that exercise on an irregular basis with burst of high impact activity are the dogs that get hurt and/or breakdown first ...... i believe you can't over exercise a puppy , excluding someone doing it to the point of stupidity .... i do think folks often exercise pups incorrectly ...... pups need kept strong while their growing , from day one ...... those thoughts have been my practice for a long time , and haven't failed me yet ....... start your dog out with what he can handle comfortably , let him recover from one outing to the next , if he has trouble recovering from or handling mild exercise use rimadyl to get him started..........

 

[gilles]

it could be anything you never know. it could be bone, ligament , muscle, joint , a sprain maybe his paws, ..it could be his back ....anything...best to examine his legs starting from toes and going through each joint , extend his legs and flex them and see his reaction...if nothing obvious i think your dog could be undertrained.. walk the dog uphill , include walking running , going uphill , going up stairs, all that at least one hour a day or every other day , build up his hind legs muscles . i noticed many mastiffs are undertrained and are couch potatoes. i agree totally with marke, i bet you with good exercise your baby will be fine

 

[Boxergirl]

I don't totally disagree with either Gilles or Marke, but I would want to first rule out any medical issue before beginning to exercise him. Since it really could be anything, I would suggest a very thorough vet check. If there is an existing injury or medical issue, exercise could make it much worse. Best to rule that out first, imo.

 

[marke]

i totally agree , take it to the vet ...... they'll almost for sure give you some rimadyl you can use for the dogs rehab ......... they may x-ray the dogs hips and spine , possibly knees and or stifles if the physical exam warrants it . many folks do not want to initially incur that cost and will opt for just a physical exam and anti-inflammatories . an x-ray will most likely either diagnose hd , or some arthritic condition of the spine or legs ........ and then you need to rehab the dog properly .....

 

[gilles]

i agree a visit to the vet is necessary but if only lameness lasts for a week or so....i am a bit more laid back than you guys when it comes to vets ...gregor mentioned that his EM only exhibited lameness on two occasions, so ill give it sometime and some exercise. no need to panic at this point ...perhaps i am not too anxious and rush to the vet maybe because i deal with CAO's and have seen many cases of injuries limping etc... from dogs rough play and fighting with each other..such cases resolve on their own in few days,..... its normal. So i guess a little lameness that comes and goes and only happened twice should not be a big concern at this point .... watching and monitoring is what is needed. if it aggravates especially with exercise and becomes continuous then a visit to the vet is necessary

 

[marke]

I think an x-ray on a 2.5 yr old dog is useful regardless if it turns out good , or if the dog has any symptoms or not ........ I've x-rayed every dog I've ever had , and limping has been very uncommon in my dogs .......any leg injuries seem to happen in the front almost everytime , limping in the rear usually involves long term issues , disease exacerbated by an injury rather than an injury itself , at least that's been my experience ........... an x-ray would let you know what the dog can or shouldn't be doing ........ a dysplastic dog should be walked or trotted at most , depending on the severity ....... a normal dog could be walked , trotted or run ......

 

[DennasMom]

I'm beginning to think Denna has some weakness in one of her knees... she limps a little after we go hiking (when there's lots of hills). When we get out for more daily walks, it does get lots better, quicker. So, I agree with Marke and Gilles on adding more movement. I would avoid strenuous exercise like jogging for miles on pavement, but leisurely walks to start with until you can determine the point where it's tiring but not 'too much'.

Other things you can look into -
adding 'golden paste' (turmeric) to meals (natural anti-inflammatory)
making sure the diet contains plenty of fresh vitamins and minerals
massage
acupuncture
MRI (x-rays won't show tissue damage)

I'd also consult with a vet and maybe even ask to talk with a specialist if your regular vet just gives you pills and sends you home.
Our last dog had some pain issues and we were sent home with pills and told to 'rest'... and he did get better... for a few months... at which point the un-diagnosed tumor in his spine had grown to an inoperable size (found by MRI).

 

[slmcgregor]

Poor puppy. Is possible that its growing Pains? Probably not at his age. When was he neutered? Possible that he's had seizures?

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

I don't think he is still growing and he was neutered at 20 months. He's never had a seizure

 

[slmcgregor]

my 2 cents , walk the dog as much , as long , and as far as you possibly can , proper exercise can save an unsound dogs life .....up and down hills is absolutely the best ........ sedentary dogs that exercise on an irregular basis with burst of high impact activity are the dogs that get hurt and/or breakdown first ...... i believe you can't over exercise a puppy , excluding someone doing it to the point of stupidity .... i do think folks often exercise pups incorrectly ...... pups need kept strong while their growing , from day one ...... those thoughts have been my practice for a long time , and haven't failed me yet ....... start your dog out with what he can handle comfortably , let him recover from one outing to the next , if he has trouble recovering from or handling mild exercise use rimadyl to get him started..........

He is walked every day. Whenever he's off-leash (about once each week) he loves to run. He's always been an extremely active Mastiff.

 

[slmcgregor]

i agree a visit to the vet is necessary but if only lameness lasts for a week or so....i am a bit more laid back than you guys when it comes to vets ...gregor mentioned that his EM only exhibited lameness on two occasions, so ill give it sometime and some exercise. no need to panic at this point ...perhaps i am not too anxious and rush to the vet maybe because i deal with CAO's and have seen many cases of injuries limping etc... from dogs rough play and fighting with each other..such cases resolve on their own in few days,..... its normal. So i guess a little lameness that comes and goes and only happened twice should not be a big concern at this point .... watching and monitoring is what is needed. if it aggravates especially with exercise and becomes continuous then a visit to the vet is necessary

We did take him to the vet the day after the first episode, but he was no longer exhibiting any symptoms. We videoed him and will show the vet when we see him again. The vet gave us a few tests to do when it happened the second time (checking for pain in the neck region), but he didn't seem to have neck pain.

In any event, I will get him x-rayed next time it happens. I just thought perhaps someone else had seen something similar.

Oh, and he does get lots of walks including on hills. My city is nothing but hills!

 

[slmcgregor]

Thanks so much for all the advice. I will keep you posted!

 

[debpdx54321]

This happened to my dog off and on. I took him to the vet at about the same age and before that when he was about a year and 1/2. the vets found nothing wrong when they examined him. But this week at age 4 he woke with an acute episode. before he did not have the roached back or tail between the legs but this time he did. Before he did not cry but this time he'd did. they took and X-ray and it was really bad news-I would definitely take hime in if I were you. I wish someone had asked for an X-ray earlier-perhaps my dog would not be going through what he is now-he woke up with acute septic arthritis in front elbow-It is so traumatizing-maybe things would have shown up earlier. I could have done therapies and supplements of some kind that may have helped. It is amazing that he was not complaining or limping for a long time-the bone is partially eaten away. These guys can go through a lot of pain and mask it well.
I really hope your dog is ok.
D