# Back legs problem



## theeastbarn (Jun 19, 2017)

Zac is thirteen years old. Over the last year he has seemed back-end stiff when trying to get up after lieing for a while, such as when he gets up in the morning. He has poo'ed without knowing it a few times in his bed, other areas of the house and the car. Yesterday while out walking he seemed to lose control over his back legs, he was unable to engage them and had to drag himself along with his front paws. He recovered after a rest but was still shaky. Has anyone else experienced this? Is this the beginning of the end?


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## Vika the Golden ! (Jun 18, 2017)

theeastbarn said:


> Zac is thirteen years old. Over the last year he has seemed back-end stiff when trying to get up after lieing for a while, such as when he gets up in the morning. He has poo'ed without knowing it a few times in his bed, other areas of the house and the car. Yesterday while out walking he seemed to lose control over his back legs, he was unable to engage them and had to drag himself along with his front paws. He recovered after a rest but was still shaky. Has anyone else experienced this? Is this the beginning of the end?


So sorry to hear that ! Does your dog have hip dysplasia?

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## Pilgrim123 (Jul 26, 2014)

Hi and welcome to the forum. Your Zac sounds like my Pilgrim as he aged. He had the same loss of control and the trouble getting up, though he never lost the ability to move his hind end completely. He was on fairly strong painkillers, so he was comfortable despite his arthritis and hip dysplasia. He really couldn't get up without them. Have you had him checked out by your vet? They are the ones to judge how he is going.
Beautiful looking dog, by the way.


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## Vika the Golden ! (Jun 18, 2017)

We had a Napolitan Mastiff and he had the same problem! He was diagnosed with hip dysplasia and the only thing we could do is to provide him with strong painkillers! 

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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Sorry to hear your boy is having problems, he's beautiful. 

I would take him to your Vet as soon as you can to have him checked out. 
There are medications and/or treatments that may be able to help him.


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## joro32000 (Feb 25, 2017)

Zac is beautiful. 

It could be a kidney failure, spondylosis, arthritis or hip dysplasia. My Buddy had all of them except for hip dysplasia. The vet needs to identify the issue. Buddy lived comfortably for almost 3 years since the first time his hind legs gave up, but as everyone is saying a lot of medication was involved, we put carpets across the entire house, we tried variety of shoes to gain traction.


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## Vika the Golden ! (Jun 18, 2017)

Hydrotherapy should also work !

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## theeastbarn (Jun 19, 2017)

Hello everyone, thanks for all your responses. Zac has been to the vet and diagnosed as having a degenerative nerve disease which is causing the faecal incontinence and for which there is no cure and will have to be managed. He also has arthritis in his hind quarter which is being treated with anti-inflamatories to ease the current inflamation and glucosamine as a long-term daily supplement to slow further deterioration. Blood tests showed liver and kidney functions to be normal. He is suffering from being an 'old fella' and will have to be treated accordingly. I won't let him down. X


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## LynnC (Nov 14, 2015)

Hello and welcome. Thank you for the update on your sweet Zac. The anti-inflammatories and glucosamine should help him with his stiffness but I'm sorry about his nerve disease. My Harley had great difficulty getting up from a down position. I would slide a towel under her back area as a sling and help her up. Zac is lucky to have you


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## wcforan (Jul 7, 2017)

That was my thought, probably Degenerative Myelopathy. My 13 year-old girl Kaos was recently diagnosed with it for what we previously thought was arthritis. There's no certain speed of degeration, it could be weeks, months or a year or more before she loses full control of her back end. For now, she is pretty wobbly but still able to walk and do her business. The upside of this vs. arthritis is that DM is not a painful disease like arthritis, in fact it's called pain-free. It's more about control of the back end and because it's nerve related, loss of control = loss of nerve transmission = loss of pain reception. She is on metacam for tooth pain, and it has worked well for her, but she'll be having two teeth extracted shortly and we're not anticipating any long-term pain meds will be necessary.


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