a good friend of mine has one of my senior girls. She is now 10 yrs old, this bitch has been a heavy bodied girl her entire life. Keeping weight off her has been essential and hard.
she is about 80 lbs, only eating 2 cups a day. lives with older women alone (no other pets either) so I know this is all she gets.

about a two months ago she woke up one morning with head down, pain seem to be coming from neck, shoulder area.
Vet said she thought it was a pinched nerve and put her on dermaxx. 1/2 tablet a day was not enough, bumped her up to 1 tablet a day, this did the trick.
Owner now has her back on 1/2 tablet a day, but with in the last week signs of lack of muscle control came on quickly.

at first she thought it was hips, not wanting to put weight on both back legs evenly. but I watched her today and I noticed
- standing in "parked" position, front and back legs out for better balance.
-back legs slowly slide out from under her, or both legs will rotate same direction.
-while walking I noticed her front feet were having issues as well, like the front feet would roll.

I am wondering if she is having a a reaction to the dermaxx which is effecting her muscle control or if she has damaged a nerve in her spine that signals her legs.

would appreciate any suggestions, owner has stopped the dermaxx and will be taking her back to vet on Monday.

It sounds like she is having progressive neck problems ... pain is the first sign (often with hesitance to lift head or turn from side-to-side), which can progress to difficulty with balance and foot placement, etc. in the rear limbs, forelimbs, or both, depending on where the disk is compressing the spinal cord as well as to what degree.

The vet may need to put her on a different medication protocol, though she may need to have a "washout" period of no anti-inflammatory drugs depending on what meds they try next. It can be risky to overlap various NSAIDs or try steroids when a dog has just been on other meds, so please make sure the vet remembers the meds she is currently on and when/what her last dose is.

They may consider acupuncture as well, or therapeutic laser.

Also- no collars due to the additional weight around her neck and no leashes/collars for walks. Harness only to prevent excessive stress on her neck.

Best of luck! I've been treating a retired guide dog for significant c-spinal disk disease because surgery isn't an option for him. He gets acupuncture, electroacupuncture, muscle relaxants as needed, prednisolone, and occasional tramadol for break-through pain (if required since it is safe to give with the pred)...he is doing great!

Julie, Thanks for all the information. It could be a big help to all of us who have old ones still in the house.

met my friend at the vets last night, our girl could not barely stand up. Thank goodness my favorite vet was in....
We know she had an old neck injury from early years rough housing with the pack. It would show up every few years and dermaxx would usually clear it up.

movement of her head from side to side was painful. Blood work was done and all of that was normal. Vet agreed that it is probably neurological, maybe a disc or spinal injury that has finally hand enough. It did not look good.....my friend has lost her husband and three senior pets with in the last year. This old girl is her life, she was so upset. After talking with the vet we decided to start on a good dose of steroids to see if there was any change. We carried her back to the car and took her home so they could be together. My friend goes to work very early so I swung by and to pick her up so she could stay at the vets for the day. I was so happy to see her standing and wagging her tail this morning.

I hope this new route will give her a bit more time with the women that needs and loves her. Thank you for the private and forum comments, they really helped when talking to the vet to figure out the best avenue for our old gal.

I'm so sorry to hear about your friend's dog! It sounds very similar to what our girl went through when there was inflammation in her neck/top of back vertebrae/disc. We had great success with accupuncture and once we knew the symptoms, a muscle relaxant (Robaxacet) usually did the trick and prevented any further problems or need for treatment. I hope the meds help your friend's dog too!

We have an older girl that has had some of these same issues, and although we tried Rimadyl at first- which did nothing, then went to straight pred, which although it helped, due to some GI issues, we had to come off of. Now we use Gabapentin, Tramadol and Rimadyl- she is like a youngster again!! Weather changes really seem to get to her, but managed she hasn't had a "freeze-up" moment in a long time... it was so pitiful that I'm glad we found a remedy!

It could also be myelopathy. I had a girl who along with back problems also wound up with myelopathy. Her rear legs gave out in the last months. I should have let her go sooner then 15 1/2.

Happy to hear the better news. I do hope it makes her comfortable so she can love and be there for her owner. Wishing everyone concerned, success in healing.