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Old January 8th, 2014, 05:00 PM
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hazelrunpack hazelrunpack is offline
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The most common cause we've seen of hind-end weakness here is spondylitis. The spine begins to fuse and bony spurs form that can pinch the nerves, causing the hind end to lose innervation. Usually there are no symptoms till late in life and often the condition is only found accidentally when side xrays are done on the dog--the condition doesn't show well on vertical axis xrays (ventral to dorsal, etc).

We have at least 4 dogs with it--all cases discovered incidentally while xraying the abdomen for other things. I suspect all of our dogs have it do some extent--many active breeds do.

Unfortunately, barring risky surgery, there's not much you can do for it except give anti-inflammatory agents, but I just wanted to let you know it could well be something other than degenerative myelopathy, which could move a lot faster...

Hope your girl responds well to the green lipid mussel supplement!
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Last edited by hazelrunpack; January 10th, 2014 at 12:14 PM. Reason: fixed a senior moment...
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