# Dog having neck/back pain



## abledsoe (Jan 6, 2008)

I have a 9yr old cockapoo that has been having some back/neck pain since Dec. 30th. He had been in his crate and came home to let him out and he had vomited in his crate and when he came out he just slowly walked over and layed down on my foot. We watched him for a few hours and he was just not himself. Walking very slow, hunched up back. So we finally took him in to the after hours animal hospital. 

She checked his eyes, ears, heart and felt him over and found nothing out of the ordinary. She did a full blood test and said everything came back perfect. She watched him walk and decided it was his back. Prescribed him some pain meds and muscle relaxers and said to rest him.

Two days later he had an episode where he just layed on his side and trembled. It wasn't violent trembleing and he was alert the whole time. So we called our regular vet and took him in. He took some xrays and saw nothing wrong. He seemed very concerned at first, then saw him walking around and seemed a little less concerned. He really didnt know what the problem was. He prescribed another pain med and said he was to stay in his crate except to go to the bathroom.

He seemed to be doing some better the past couple of days but still not himself. Today I took him out to use the bathroom and when he came in he started acting very stiff. Then he started having what appeared to be spasms in his front legs. He was standing at the time and didnt seem to be in pain, but he seemed affraid to move.

I really have no idea what is going on and am just wondering if I continue to give him all the drugs and let him rest or do we need to investigate further. It seems like we have spent alot to really have no answer. 

Thanks for the help.


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## abledsoe (Jan 6, 2008)

Noone has encountered a similar situation? Anyone have any advice? Things I should look for?

Again, the dog has been to the vet twice and they really dont know what is going on?

I would appreciate any help.


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## SnowyMoose (Jan 6, 2008)

Since the regular vet took xrays and saw nothing it took my first guess away as being a disc problem. Being a 9 year old has arthritis been considered? There are some great things out there for it. Synovi MSM seems to work great for dogs about arthritis, ask your vet about it. How long has he been on the anti-inflammatories? Some times a pulled muscle will take a while to heal and can be very painful. There is nothing really otc to give as you don't want interactions with the meds. My best advise is to return to the vet and let them know there is no improvement.


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## abledsoe (Jan 6, 2008)

The vet said he saw no arthritis. He said there was no visible disc problem from the xrays. The dog seems to be walking better but he is having these bad twitching episodes. They are usually lasting less than 5 minutes and only seem to happen in the upper half of his body (head, neck, shoulders). He was having one today that seemed to last a little longer. 

All the research I have done on twitching/shaking just talks about seizures but I really dont think thats it as he is alert and often sitting/standing up while this is going on.


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## lisa226 (Dec 19, 2007)

My 13 year old dachshund experienced the same exact type of twitching that you are describing about five years ago. If I put my hand on her neck, I would actually feel it spasm, and the spasms would make her entire head shake/jolt. She would be so scared when this was happening. My regular vet recommended me to take her to see a neurologist specialist and he immediately diagnosed her with cervical disk disease, just by feeling her neck and hearing what we told him about her symptoms. We first tried the conservative route just using crate rest and steroids and it helped for a short time. But then it came back all over again even worse this time, and she needed surgery to get her better. If I were you, I would take my dog to a vet that has a neurologist specialist to see if you can get more answers. This may not be what your dog has, but what makes me think that it could be is the twitching. Good luck with trying to figure out a diagnosis...I know that it can be so frustrating.


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## cshellenberger (Dec 2, 2006)

abledsoe said:


> The vet said he saw no arthritis. He said there was no visible disc problem from the xrays. The dog seems to be walking better but he is having these bad twitching episodes. They are usually lasting less than 5 minutes and only seem to happen in the upper half of his body (head, neck, shoulders). He was having one today that seemed to last a little longer.
> 
> All the research I have done on twitching/shaking just talks about seizures but I really dont think thats it as he is alert and often sitting/standing up while this is going on.


Disk problems wouldn't be seen on Xray, the disks are soft tissue and need an MRI or CT scan to detect problems. Get your pup to an orthopedic or geriatric vet. A specialist will be far more able to help you both!


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## abledsoe (Jan 6, 2008)

Thank you for the helpful posts. I talked to the vet again yesterday about the spasms and he said keep him on crate rest for a few more days and if he is still having it he is going to have a specialist look at his neck/back. He seemed better today, he had the spasm spell but it was not as intense and much shorter. 

I think Im going to call him back tomorrow and see about getting him in to the specialist just to be safe. I will also keep an eye on his paws, so far there has been no turning out.

Thanks again for the help.


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## lisa226 (Dec 19, 2007)

abledsoe said:


> Thank you for the helpful posts. I talked to the vet again yesterday about the spasms and he said keep him on crate rest for a few more days and if he is still having it he is going to have a specialist look at his neck/back. He seemed better today, he had the spasm spell but it was not as intense and much shorter.
> 
> I think Im going to call him back tomorrow and see about getting him in to the specialist just to be safe. I will also keep an eye on his paws, so far there has been no turning out.
> 
> Thanks again for the help.


You are very welcome! I also wanted to mention that my dachshund had neck spasms off and on, every so often about 2 months before they got really bad and more frequent. It was almost like those were the first signs of it coming on slowly. Also, the spasms would become stronger and more frequent when she walked around (like going outside). When she would have the spasms, she wouldn't want to move much. I don't know if they hurt or just scared her. Good luck with getting her to the specialist.


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## Arriend (Nov 26, 2007)

Sorry for chiming in a bit later...

I'm not sure how familiar people are with chiropractic, but I am aware that there are doctors (DC's) that work on pets regularly. If the rest is not enough and you are wanting to avoid the surgical route, I'd suggest looking for someone in your area that is familiar with pet chiropractics. Not only could this lessen your dogs pain and spasms, but also increase their vitality and improve their quality of life.


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## Annamarie (Oct 14, 2007)

Is this something that can happen in younger dogs? When we first got our pup he would have wierd episodes where he would run around the house with his back hunched and his tail between his legs, shaking and hiding. We thought it was tummy related but everything always came back ok. We asked about x-rays but the vet didn't feel it could be his back because he was less than 6 months old.

He did this quite frequently when he was a youngster, and he still does it occasionally although not as severely. Now he'll get up quickly as if something startled him and he'll sometimes look at his back end (although he does this every time he jumps off the couch) and then go off to bed looking miserable. He'll sleep it off and come back looking chipper a few hours later.

sometimes this can be attributed to something as silly as me breathing out my nose or doing a heavy sigh or moving my leg which startles him, but sometimes I have no idea.


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## abledsoe (Jan 6, 2008)

UPDATE:

My dog seems to be his old self again. I was planning on taking him back to the vet yesterday(Monday) but starting this past Friday afternoon he seemed fine. We still kept him confined through the weekend and he seems fine. He has had no more spasm episodes and is wanting to jump around and go up and down stairs. We are still going to try and keep him pretty calm for a few days just to be sure but it seems it left as quickly as it came. I guess the rest and muscle relaxers were enough for him. Hopefully there are no future problems. Thanks again for the input!


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