3 replies to this topic

[Dexters Place]

I am new to this website but felt compelled to join after searching the internet for some answers to help my 2 year old black labrador Dexter. 2 days ago my husband and I went away overnight to watch a large dog show and Dexter went to stay with one of his play buddy's and his owners, all went well and the dogs loved being together but when we got him home we noticed that he was having difficulty sitting down. At first I thought he had strained a muscle in his leg but couldn't understand when he had no problems jumping up on the sofa. The next day it became more evident that the problem was his tail and it was just hanging down and he couldn't wag it at all (his tail is normally upright and never stops like most Labs). I contacted our friend who was shocked that Dexter was having this problem as he had been fine when with them. The dogs had been to the beach that morning swimming and playing for over 2 hours, we live in the North East of England and the sea water is extremely cold. On examination Dexter is letting me handle his tail gently and does not appear in any pain, there are no wounds or lumps but the top of his tail looks swollen. This started Friday night and as he is his normal self in every other way and not in pain I decided not to go to the emergency vet, which is £120 just to get through the door before they examine him but thought about seeing our vet tomorrow. In the meantime though I felt I had to do something to make him more comfortable so have given him some anti-inflammatory medicine called Metacam which was prescribed to him a year ago for a bad leg injury he had and this was a new unopened bottle left over from that incident. Today while on a walk I met a friend and her dogs and discussed Dexters tail problem, her fathers Labrador had experienced the same problem after being in the sea and was given the same meds that I gave Dexter last night. Dexter seems to have responded well to the meds and although his tail is still not right he is able to wag it now and again and can momentarily hold it upright which is a huge improvement.

Has anyone else had this problem with their Labs?

I have done some searching on the internet and found a few blogs saying it is called 'cold water tail' and it particularly affects Labradors after swimming and especially if they swim for longer than they would usually swim for. Does anyone have any more information on this topic?

I would be grateful for any help, thanks.

Jane

[Kurt]

You have correctly diagnosed this common problem with retreiver type dogs. We have a thread here which discusses what cold tail is and how to treat it.

Please read the link in the last reply of the thread that is linked to above. It'll tell you all you'll need to know about cold or limp tail.

[Dexters Place]

Thanks Kurt, I appreciate the link you posted and read the study on 'limber tail' with great interest as it has given me a good insight into the symptoms and given me a greater understanding of Dexter's problem. It really helped to know what is happening to the anatomy and physiology of the dog as I am naturally curious being a Paramedic.

The good news is that Dexter's tail is flying at full mast again and wagging as it usually is and most importantly able to sit down again without problem which is a great relief. I gave him the anti-inflammatory medication for three days and it has steadily improved until being back to normal today.

Thanks again for the help.

[Kurt]

You are welcome. We hear of this several times a year from lab owners.
Last year after a full day of swimming our black lab Buddy came down with cold tail. I took him to our vet and believe it or not she had never heard of the condition! I was shocked! He recovered nicely in about 4 days. Poor Buddy hasn't had another case of it since.