Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Nacho's tail is limp and non-waggable from a certain point on the tail (about 2 or 3 inches down), he is uncomfortable and not himself.

Detailed examination says it's not broken. anal glands are fine.
vet sent us home with no idea.
internet searching indicates "limp-tail syndrome" as common in bigger dogs (he's shepherd/pittie). the weather has just turned cold, and Nacho has been out running with the old man in the mornings lately (something relatively new). Poor poopster.
Anybody have any experience with this?

this happened to our lab mix once.
my memory is pretty fuzzy on it but i think what happened was we went camping and i think he was wading around in the water (despite being a lab he does not actually swim) it was probably pretty cold in the water and when we go camping he usually ends up very tired after a weekend of activity.

we went home and he was moaning and groaning while he was laying down and very unsettled. when he stood up his tail was just completely slack. almost like it was dead. normally this dog is a huge tail wagger and even if the tail isnt wagging it's definitely not down.

i cant remember if we went to the vet or not but basically people on facebook with dogs and retriever type dogs said it was "cold tail"

we may have given him some pain killers (maybe baby aspirin?) and eventually he got better.
i believe it is just a strained muscle.

ill ask my husband if he remembers anymore than i do.

since it's so fuzzy in my memory my guess is we really didnt do anything other than mild painkillers and after a few days he was fine.

i am glad to hear that it goes away. he is so uncomfy, this afternoon when i go out i think i will go and get him some kind of painkiller from the agway-type place.
the dog has never swum, so that's sort of weird.... it definitely seems to be something to do with cold water?
he went out for the morning walk with the old man and was fine, even seemed to be in better spirits than he was last night.
it just breaks my heart when i come back (today, from a meeting this morning) and he's there are the gate, wagging -- oh, shiitake, don't wag!-- then again -- wag, oh fork!....

poor Nacho :-(
it's so sad when you see a dog that can't wag it's tail but wants too!!! :-(

my husband thinks we just gave him baby aspirin and a few days later he was ok.

i think it has something to do with muscle strain and cold and usually the cold comes from cold water but i would think cold weather could do it too.

it happens alot to water dogs which is why other people i knew with labs who actually swim were able to tell me what it was.

here's hoping he's back up waggin in a few days :-)