Hello, I have a 10 and a half year old neutered male English Mastiff. He's in good health, at a good weight, and has always been active with no hip, leg or joint problems. Eyes, ears and mental facilities are all great.
A few months ago he started limping on one hind leg for a few days so I brought him to the vet who said it could be the start of osteoarthritis. His food and water had previously been downstairs so the vet said to move it upstairs to prevent any falling incidents. He also gave me a sample of Metacam which he said to try for a few days and see if I noticed a difference. I didn't, so I have not been giving it to him.
For the past month or so I've noticed his back legs have been acting strangely. After a brushing or toweling off (anything that puts pressure on his back end, sitting or standing), he'll walk away and it looks like his back leg/legs have fallen asleep. They kind of drag and don't fully straighten, and it looks like he doesn't have complete control of them. Sometimes he'll be walking a bit sideways, and his tail may be off to one side. He never seems to be in any pain, and actually he tends to get frisky after being brushed so he'll may start acting silly, wobble back legs and all. Then less than five minutes later he is walking completely normally again.
Could it be crampy joints, or bad circulation causing is legs to fall asleep, or something else entirely? Has anyone had any experience with this kind of thing in older dogs?
Sorry for the long post, also I'm going to set up an appointment for xrays in the near future I just want all the information I can get. Thanks!
When you mention that your dog sometimes walks sideways, and his tail is sometimes held to one side, that sounds neurological to me. I would pick the vet's brain about it, now that you've tried the Metacam, and see what he thinks about it from a neurological point of view. There may not be anything you can do about the problem, if it is simply a degenerative process that is associated with old age. But it would be helpful if you could resolve whether or not you and the vet think it is painful. As long as it's not painful, you can just support your old guy, like you are already doing, by moving his food upstairs and watching over him carefully.