I have a labrador that is about 9 years old now. His hips are good. But for the past few years he has cried some and moves all hunched up until he gets straightened out. I have taken him to the vet twice over the past few years as it seems to come and go. However lately it has gotten worse and more often. I took him to a different vet today and they x-rayed his spine. Again the could tell he was in pain but couldn't see what might be going on. They did a laser treatment that is supposed to help with arthritis and told me to let them know tomorrow if it seemed better. Unfortunately for my boy he seems to be worse. They are going to want to blood work next if not any better. Does anyone have an idea what may be going on. This is the third vet he has been to and none of them can figure it out. Help me and my boy please.

chiropractic? could be something out of alignment. have they tried meds to see if they help? tramadol, meloxicam? (can get scripts at walmart/target)

I thought about a chiropractor as I have seen then work well for other dogs. Haven't tried other medications yet though. Does anyone know of any chiropractors for dogs in North Carolina?

We had a Great Pyrenees that had almost the same symptoms. X-rayed the hips and spine, couldn't find anything wrong. We had him on pain killers... He progressively got worse until they diagnosed it as myasthenia gravis. It's a progressive neuro-muscular disease with no cure but there are medications that help. Unfortunately our guy was diagnosed too late and he died from respiratory failure - the disease was affecting his diaphragm. Hope it's not that and you find out something else!

Where in North Carolina are you? I know two great canine chiropractors- one in the Durham area, the other near Charlotte. In Durham, Dr. Elizabeth (Libby) Engel, Carolina Animal Chiropractic. In the Charlotte area, Dr. Darcie Walraven (might have the spelling wrong), Omni Animal Chiropractic. Feel free to email me for more info.

Also, your dog's symptoms sound like it might be spondylosis (basically bone spurs/calcification at the base of the spine). Glucosamine/chondrointin, gabapentin, and chiropractic may help bunches.

is he negative for lyme??

Thank you all for your opinions. As for lyme, it could be and I will mention it to the vet but in NC we don't typically get affected by lyme not saying it isn't possible. In the past none of my vets ever think of lyme just do to how rare it seems to be here. I guess the next step is blood work to see if we can find out more from that. Thank you all again and keep ideas coming so I can help brainstorm with the vet.

Susan Chandler in the Southern Pines/Pinehurst area.

It sounds very similar to a senior lab we had that had a cervical disc problem. Our vet/chiropracter/accupuncturist suggested Robaxacet when it first happened and that usually did the trick but if not, Accupuncture worked like a charm.

Check for Spondylosis
http://www.vetinfo.com/overview-spondylosis-dogs.html

It is common in Labs

We currently have a geriatric with the same symptoms you've described- spondylosis of the spine was her diagnosis. Daily doses of tremadol, rimadyl and gabapentin make her quite comfy!! Extreme changes in the weather seem to make for bad days, but otherwise, pretty good all things considered.