Cold water tail, limp tail, broken tail...

Jennie@ifish · 12-28-2003, 05:28 AM

Has anyone heard of this?

We took Kilchis duck hunting last week. He was in the cold water for a while, but nothing new. He spends tons of time in the river.

He was very excited, however, and did the high excited tail wag of an upland bird hunter.

On the way home, he whimpered, and bolted up into the front seat, as dogs do when they are injured. You know, that quick bolt from place to place? It was rather dangerous driving! He had never done that before.

When we got home, we noticed his tail, hanging limp. I thought it was sprained or broken. I gave him aspirin right away, and took him to the vet. They had never heard of what I read on the web page, but decided to give it two days of anti inflammatories before x raying.

Sure enough, two days later, his tail is high again!

He was in a lot of discomfort due to this. I just found it interesting that they don't teach this in vet school!

Jen

STGRule · 12-28-2003, 07:48 AM

We had a lab that had that. She was very unhappy for a couple days but it never happened again.

Tilla · 12-28-2003, 07:50 AM

It is not uncommon in retrievers. They sometimes just out wag themselves. Seen it during hunting seasons, whether it was the cold or exertion, I am not sure.

Salty Walty · 12-28-2003, 02:12 PM

It has happened to my dogs before. They were fine after a few days. Once by sitting down funny, and the other times by collisions with the other dog. It just doesn't seem right when a lab doesn't wag its' tail. But look on the bright side everything at tail level is safe for a few days!

dunkman · 12-28-2003, 06:04 PM

My lab has had it twice this year and twice last year. I can't pin down the real cause. Seems to be a cold weather injury though. Last year the vet said it was a sprained tail a gave me some anti inflamatory that seems to work better than aspirin. those are gone now so I'll ask for a new prescription. I could look up the name of the drug if you want.......I wish I knew how to prevent rather than treat

billc_sbio · 12-28-2003, 07:21 PM

I've seen pretty much what you describe in a Lab...it always seemed to go away/get better in a day or two.

I've often thought that somehow the dog hurt their tail somehow, maybe getting into the boat. In my experience it ALWAYS happened when hunting around a boat.

mcknerkneykak · 12-28-2003, 08:40 PM

My shorthair has a docked tail. I'm pretty sure that it would be bloody,broken and beat up if it wasn't(docked). I've seen retrievers and English pointers with bloody tails out and about.-----Not unusual. It just proves that they are happy, doing what they love the most,don't care about how they are abusing their bodies, and have darn good owners that give them the opportunities to push it to the limit.

Blue Tip Spinner · 12-29-2003, 09:21 AM

so jennie, how did you do duck hunting????

reeldick · 12-29-2003, 01:58 PM

The old black lab I had years ago had what the vet said was a sprained tail. The base of her tail swelled up to the size of my wrist. It happened while swimming during a retrieve. The vet said she strained it during the swim. A shot to take down the swelling and she was good as new in a couple of days.

tailchaser · 12-29-2003, 02:19 PM

I took my lab to the vet for the same reason and it turns out to be from soreness during too much playing/hunting in one day. Basically, they start to really stiffen up and being the tail is one of the most active things they start to get a lot of pain when sitting or anything that touches that region. The vet gave me some pain killers and muscle relaxers for him and he was fine in a couple of days and ready to go again. So no worries he just over did it a little.

tc

Trout Tako · 12-29-2003, 02:46 PM

This has happened to my yellow lab 3 or 4 times, & she's only 3 yrs old. I always notice it in the morning, like she has slept on it funny. Her tail is usually back in action after a few days. I have had her out hunting while her tail has been malfunctioning & it is really hard to tell when she is getting birdy. You never realise how much your dogs tail tells you about how they are feeling & their personality untill it quits working!!!!!

Hope Kilches pulls out ok, Untill then the items on your coffee table will enjoy a brief repreave from that automatic coffee table cleaner.

Tako

Jennie@ifish · 02-06-2006, 07:03 PM

My dog has this again. What timing. The show is tomorrow!
Crabbait, I found this, just in case you were looking.
I searched and searched for this thread. Bingo! Found it!

I hope he gets better, soon!

Jen

Any new news on this weird thing that happens?

Amahnee · 02-06-2006, 07:43 PM

My Lab had this after swimming in the Metolius one afternoon. Two day's later and anti-inflam's gone.

My other lab Luke had this a month ago. He was in real pain. I took him in and the vet gave him a shot of Cortisone and he was good as new two day's later.

baltz526 · 02-06-2006, 08:03 PM

my lab gets another thing that makes his tail go crooked and stops wagging. he drinks the dirty water while out hunting, and it makes him really want to go a lot, and after several hrs of pushing, trying to go he gets all bent out of shape tailend-wise.after a couple trips out hunting he gets used to the dirty water and it stops.

Gettin' Birdy · 02-07-2006, 07:45 AM

Both of mine have gotten it, seems to get worse if they're working in cold water and then are kenneled in a crate for the ride home. They usually recover with a day or two with no intervention. If they are really bad, a rimadyl seems to do the trick.

-GB

CMallardDrake · 02-07-2006, 09:06 AM

Interesting stuff Jennie...I don't have a dog but I believe I've seen this in a friend's lab before.

Kinda like the ol' baseball pitcher's term of "my arm is hanging" after he's pitched hard, long, with plenty of junk, and over his normal alloted pitch count.

The wag in a dog's tail is so relentless and powerful on occasion it only seems right that it would tire out and hang limp from time to time.