pinched nerve?

[Shawna]

Our little mini aussie was doing some strange things and at first I was wondering if she might be going blind. She was having difficulty going up and down stairs, taking them very slow and holding her head very still and low. She was also slowing down playing outside with the other dogs. Sometimes instead of running after them constantly she would only run a short distance (about twenty feet) and then wait for them to come back.

 

Then the other day she did an even stranger thing. I posted once before how she would occassionally reach into her food dish and yipe. It hasn't happened for a long time so I thought she was fine until the other day. She would start to reach into the dish and her hind leg would lift up. Then she would lift her head and put her leg down only to repeat the action again. She finally ate the entire meal holding her hind leg high enough that the hock was only about two inches lower than her hips. When she was done she walked away as if nothing happened, no limp, nothing. She hasn't done it since but is still having trouble on the stairs.

 

I'm taking her to the vet on Friday but if anyone has any ideas...

[Shawna]

Vet says it's a pinched nerve that is releasing on it's own. Most times they don't and the dogs have to be given muscle relaxants. Abby spends all her inside time laying down so that could be why she gets over it by herself. The vet figures it was started when she got knocked in the head when she was playing with a husky I rescued a couple of year ago. Now the motion of reaching for her dish works as a trigger.

 

She'll have to eat out of an elevated dish all the time now and see if that helps.