Neck and Back Pain in Dogs

Neck / shoulder pain from trauma. Puppy’s old owber tosses the puppy at the wall from holding her by the tummy. Puppy had a slower gait and on the first day when it happened she just wanted to sit. She’s been working through it but only vocalizes pain if the area is pressed on hatd or if her collar presses in on her neck from her tugging on the leash. Other than that no vocalization of pain. She only does a quick Yelp when the area is pressed on.

Chuck went to the vet a couple of months ago for neck pain. They prescribed meds and rest. After a couple of weeks he got better. However the pain seems to be back and worse this time. The pain is intermittent though. He can be his normal self one minute and the next in pain yelping. With his age I do not want to do surgery so I'm not sure my options expect maybe putting him asleep. But I'm afraid it's premature. Should I continue to make him rest and give meds? How long should I wait for improvement before considering putting him asleep?

My 8 year old beagle Izzy is showing difficulty to walk forward. She will attempt to take a step or two but the walks backward. She will just stand there and tremble. When I tried to massage her back, push on her stomach or pick her up, she yelped and winced. I was able to get her to rest comfortably for a while but she looks so concerned. She will not attempt to drink.

My dog Lucas jumped up into my arms the other day and was really excited when I got home. Today he is walking with his back arched and his neck down. He is able to move it up and look at me though. He does yelp when I touch the right side of his neck though. He is able to run, eat, do hi business and so far the only real issue is he looks stiff and cries when I touch his neck, is this more then a muscle strain? Should I take him to the vet now? This is the first day it’s happening

I have a 6 year old shih tzu that about a week and half ago started with her one eye twitching then her left paw started scratching at her eye I thought she was having a seizure so I took her to the vet right away and they put her on steroids and the symptoms went away but now her neck is like vibrating and then all of sudden it will stop and I can tell her neck is hurting do you have any other suggestions

My dog, Tito, aged 9 has been having back and neck problems ever since he was around six. When it first happened we were in the car and he started howling out in pain. We figured it was from a bee that flew in the car, however it contuined happening. About 3 months before this happened he got hit by a car, in the neck, where he usually would stiffen up. Lately, he has started shaking violently and limping. His whole body gets sore instead of just his neck. He started to get these tremors 3-4 times a day. Usually when this happens we put him next to heat and he immediately gets better. I was just wondering if there is anything you can recommend to us to get him or what we should do. Thank you!

Our 4.5 year old toy poodle has been suffering from intermittent neck/back pain for nearly two weeks. It started with him whelping for no known reason. So we took him to his regular vet, who did a full neuro/orthopedic assessment and couldn’t pinpoint anything so they placed him on a weeks worth of Metacam to help with any inflammation. The next day he tugged while on his harness and whelped out in excruciating pain and had a pronounced arched back, head down, tail down position. We brought him to the emergency vet. There they took x-rays and added tramadol to his pain regimen. The x-rays were inconclusive. He continues to have these “episodes” of severe pain when we has his back arched, head and tail down 2+ times a day. The vets have added gabapentin to his pain regimen and he is still on activity restriction. The on;y thing we could think that caused this is he stumbled while climbing the stairs on our back deck.
We have also introduced alternative pain treatment measures, such as animal chiropractor and cold laser therapy. At times when he is at his baseline he is still like our cheerful, full of energy little puppy. However, when he is in the middle of an “episode” he looks like a broken old dog. What are other options we should consider? How long of a recovery course are we looking it? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Not only is our dog broken, but so are our hearts and our spirits.

Dog has been walking with slight arch in back and sometimes whimpers. Is eating and drinking fine. Doesn't react negative to any touch. Vet felt her all over with nothing out of the ordinary and no concerns and gave prednisone as needed. This started early am when laying in crate. She has been eating drinking and pottying normal, just generally seems off. Isn't a as excited and hyper.

Hello! My dog Wes has been having intermittent neck pain for 2 weeks. We took him to our vet on a Thursday they agreed a pinch nerve or pulled muscle. Gave us steroids twice a day and muscle relaxer pain pill. He started getting worse and the episodes longer. We brought him into the hospital on Sunday (3 days after his initial diagnosis) and he was seen by a neurologist. The neurologist did a consultation as well as an MRI. He stayed Sunday-Wednesday and received cage rest, anxiety meds, pains meds, and steroids. The MRI came back with very minimal herniated disk next to nothing the neurologist said and shouldn't be causing the intermittent pain. The doctor said the rest of his MRI was clear and released him with steroids, cage rest, pain meds, and muscle relaxer. We picked him up Wednesday evening, he has zero episodes for days, and then Sunday he had 3 before noon. We decreased his steroid per the doctors orders on Saturday (3 days after bringing him home). We called the neurologist and put him back on the second steroid a day as of yesterday (Monday). He has has 3 episodes a day, he hears a noise quickly turns and experiences a spasm in his left side of his neck he screams for 30-40 seconds holds his head towards the left and clinches his body. After the episode he shakes and is scared. We called the neurologist and he put him on an anxiety medication as of today. Should I be getting a second opinion? The concerning issue beyond these episodes is his MRI was clear and the doctor said he was assuming it was a pulled or pinched nerve. He did an MRI with contrast and used die as well. He did however mention that if this doesn't subside in 4 days he wants to look into meningitis. He said that it was hard to do the spinal tap because my dog has been on steroids for so long, do you feel this is necessary? We decreased his steroid on Saturday, the episodes started back up on Sunday, Monday and today. We increased the steroid (per the doctor) on Monday to twice a day. He did get blood drawn when he was in and it all looked normal. He is on cage rest as well, no furniture, stairs, or exercise however every time he hears a sudden movement he moves quickly hurts he neck and screams in pain, shakes, and clinches for 30-50 seconds. HELPP!! He is on Gabapentin,tramadol every 8 hours, Predisone every 12 hours (now) twice a day, muscle relaxer, and we are picking up the anxiety medication this afternoon and was prescribed once at night 8-12 hours.

Our Lhasa Apso 4 year old Daisy suddenly developed neck pain, yelping when lifting herself up after resting, refusing to walk far, go upstairs or jump in the sofa. This was totally out of character. We took her to our vets who prescribed anti inflammatory tablets twice a day. Now, four days later she is still very morose and although not crying as loud as she was intitially she is still whimpering when she is in certain positions. She is very quiet and wants to rest most of the time which is a good thing. The vet said that if things do not improve after the 7 days course of meds he might need to do X-rays. I naively thought that she would improve quickly but am now worried that this is a lot more serious than we first thought. From reading about trapped nerve conditions the general opinion seems to be rest, rest and more rest. Is there anything else we can do apart from the prescribed. Med to help her feel more comfortable until she gets better?

Bella stopped jumping about 2 weeks ago. She seemed in ok spirits otherwise. My mum tried to lift her into the bed and she yelped and came running to me.

I decided to take her to the vet, where they thought she may have pain from a cruciate ligament in her back leg.
X-rays did not show any issues, but they did notice that 2 vertebrae seemed close together in her back.

Since the vet visit, she has been a lot worse. She can walk normally, but won't do stairs and won't move much. She lays in her bed most of the day which is unusual for her. She does not look happy.
She is typically a very active and affectionate dog.
What would be the best treatment for her? Would she be in a lot of pain even on the tramadol?

About 18 month ago he started dragging his back legs. We took him to see a vet. They couldn't find anything out of order. His situation progressed. About 6 month ago it became difficult to get up. Front legs are fine, back legs need longer to start going.
Last weeks he was sensor to touch, sometimes. Last night he would yelp out randomly, this behavior continued all day long. I'm taking him in to see the vet tomorrow. Anything specific we should consider?

My dog (an Australian Shepherd mix) appears to have neck pain for 24-48 hours at a time and then it seems to go away. This happens 2-3 times a year. Our vet has given us muscle relaxer and anti-inflammatory meds for when this happens which seems to help her rest/heal. She's a pretty active dog and somewhat excitable so I'm about 90% sure that she's just straining her neck from over-exertion and this isn't a medical condition (i.e. IVDD). I guess my question is, is there a way I can prevent her from doing this? The pain only seems to last for a couple of days and then she's back to her normal self but she's clearly in pain (favoring one side/can't turn her head). Thanks!

I was running with my chorkie, the lead pulled out my hand. I ran after him, and the only way I could get him was by placing my foot on the lead whilst in motion. As soon as I stood on the lead, he jerked and spun around. Do I need to see a vet for neck injury?

Hi, my littler terroir is 10 years old and 15lbs. He got into a fight with our 100 lb lab two nights ago. He isn’t wounded in the way of cuts but when we got the lab to back away he just laid their stiff, we thought he was gone. When my husband picked him up he was as stiff as a bored. We took him in the house and realies he was experiencing shock for sure. We called the in call vet and he met us. I was very scared he broke his neck or back. He moves his head easily but wouldn’t stand at all. Vet said definitely shock and he thought nerve damage from whiplash. Sent us home with prednisone. They did load him up w pain meds and other meds that night. He will now stand at times and it’s mostly his right front leg has no control. Vet said he could feel pain which was good on that side. It seems his right side his weaker in general but yesterday he did wag his tail and he’d try going pee outside although he does go inside at times cus he falls over so much. He has yet to poop which is worrying me. Does eat and drink pretty good today and yesterday. I guess my question is that today he seems mire skiddish, not wanting to stand much and yelps more. And is jumpy. Also shakes. Could he just be in more pain? Is he going backwards on me? Our vets thought he had a could chance of overcoming this but I’m just so worried.

My lab/border collie mix had n ear infection that did not respond to cleaning and drops. Our vet put a syringe w a lidocaine mix in his ear this past Tues. She said this would solidify and to take out anything the dog has left in his ear on this coming Monday. The day after this was put in his ear, he became very lethargic, lame and head down, etc. He is now having a hard time walking and is miserable. Visit to vet/chiro/acu yesterday where she treated him for neck and pelvic pain. Laser, acu and chiro. Sent some with herbals as anti inflammatory. Both vets and myself...we are stumped. Any thoughts?

Hello! My dog Ollie has recently started to cry often when there is seemingly nothing wrong with him. Sometimes, not all the time, when we pick him up, he yelps. And we've started to notice that when he goes to sleep he will cry out for no reason and move around a lot to get comfortable. Could this be something to do with neck or back pain? This is the only times he yelps or cries out but we have just started to notice these things.

Took my puppy on a hike yesterday and noticed after that she became very stiff. She was given water and doggy snacks throughout the hike.She looked sad & out of it considering shes a very active happy puppy. She had a loss of appetite & refused to intake liquids. I bought her unflavored Pedialyte and bottle fed her to avoid dehydration. However the odd case is she keeps her head high but becomes aggressive and yelps in pain when i touch her right side of the neck right underneath the ear. Ive noticed that theres a big bump (kind of feels like a bone popping out) on the area she doesn't want me to touch. I dont know if she has a fracture, pinched nerve or maybe if the hike was too much for her. This morning she woke up better shes eating,walking and drinking. Shes urinating and having bowel movements like normal. The only thing is she still yelps about her neck, i need help with trying to figure out what happened to my pup.

Back pain on certain movement or being picked up wont jump on the couch was given metacam off vet. Gabe is still eating drinking playing walking pain not all the time tho. I was not told how long to give metacam for can you tell me what this pain could be

I came home a week past Saturday and my dog who's just turned 10 was walking badly, and had a really stiff neck. We kept her warm and quiet and by the Sunday she was great again. However on Wednesday it happened again. I thought perhaps she had had a fall of the pouffe while looking out the window? Took her to my vet who didn't know what was wrong, gave me a pain killer and I took her back for them to check on the Friday and was told to give her the pain killer til Monday and to rest her, and gave me an enormous bill! She's full of beans again , she's a parsons Russell cross and she's not happy not getting to play, but to be honest I'm terrified to play with her etc as I don't know what caused this and if it will strike again.
She keeps in great health other wise, isn't over weight etc
I'd love a second opinion please, even just a thought on what might have happened please.

Thank you.

Tricia Bruce.

My 4-legged child had his blood drawn from jugular and now he's unable to look up. He has limited ROM, has slight head tilt & loses his balance. However, he's been acting normal in regards to eating, drinking and playing. I returned to the vet the next day and was told the blood drawn from jugular wouldn't have caused these symptoms and suggest I get an MRI as it appears to be a neurological issue. I'm getting a second opinion as I have suspicions that something might have occurred during the initial vet visit that they're not telling me. I will absolutely get all necessary tests done but I wanted to see if in your opinion my baby's neck issue couldn't have been caused by the vet drawing blood from jugular? Should I be worried? Is it possible that the issue will resolve itself as advised by the vet? Please help!

My dog has had this happen before. She will get a stiff neck and hardly hold her head up, she can't sleep at night from the pain. She has had an x ray which was negative, vet gave her muscle relaxers and anti inflammatory somewhat helped but keeps happening.

My Boxer just turned 7 & was recently diagnosed as having DJD of Heular(?spelling?) C0-C5; Sacroiliac joints lumbar. She has recieved chiropractic,Cold Laser & medications both traditional & holistic. She has good & bad days. Im noticing she doesnt seem like the same dog antmore even on her "good days". Starting to wonder if she is depressed? or if her change in behaviour is due to all the medications?. She is on Robaxin, gabupentin,Caprofen & most recently I started her on CBD Oil. She is sketchy & always on guard. Like she anticipates that all loud noises & all quick movements will cause her pain so she freaks out. Her entire demenor is different. She has always been very social w/ other dogs,children & strangers alike. Loving attention from anybody anywhere. She now avoids most interactions & feel I cannot have her around children in an unsupervised enviroment. Are these behavior changes a normal reaction to pain? Depression? Or all rhe medication she is taking? Is there a possible surgical option that can help her?

My mini schnauzer 2yo seems normal, eating and drinking normally, but is very sore in lower back and back legs on palpating but runs jumps fine. Any idea what could cause this?

My male pug almost 6yrs old, starting Monday the 1st will come in from outside acting weird. His neck and back are stiff and he won't lay down. It only last for a half hour or so and then he's fine. He's not verbal with pain or anything. He just sits until it passes.

I have a Siberian Husky whom I rescued. He is an amazing dog. Recently he has started grimacing in pain when he needs to stand and it's hard to hear because he's usually so quiet and playful.

I startng to think he either pulled something while sleeping on the floor or that he hirt himself while running in the house, (He ran into a wall the night before he woke up in pain).

When I take a harness of him, he helps. I'm staying to think it's his neck or back.

XRays didn't mention anything skeletal. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

We saw a vet thinking it might've been something he ate, but x-rays didn't find anything there either.

Thank you.

My 2.5 year old pit mix got in a scuffle with a feril cat in my backyard 4 days ago, I heard some banging around behind the shed and the cat ran away before I could get there. My dog has scratches on his side and a small punture on his neck. The same day he started showing hypersensitivity to his neck area and by the next moring his walking was affected, he doesn’t raise his head and seems very sad and lethargic. Took him to 3 vets, got an X Ray (no fractures) but his pain seems to be too exagerated to be a pinched nerve or soft tissue issues (words of the last vet). He won’t take his meds as needed, I have tried every trick. The last vet said to be aware for rabies symptoms but he is current on shots and showed symptoms the very same day which I believe is too soon for rabies. Any ideas of what he could be experiencing?

My fiance and I recently adopted a stray a friend had found. We took him to the vet to have a general check up done and get his vaccinations. Since we've had him (about a week now) we have noticed when he sits, his back is arched forward and even while standing he doesn't move his head up to look at us. He can move his head from side to side and use his eyes to look up, bu the physically can't look up. I accidentally moved his head up one day checking an eye booger and it cause immediate pain and yelping. He is eating fine, drinking enough water, using the restroom like normal, he wags his tail and gets excited, but his neck is always lower, near the floor. What could be causing this?

My dog shade is 12 years old and will be 13 in October. Today he's been moving rather slowly and hasn't been active at all, at first I thought that he might be depressed because another member of my household who he's quite attatched to has been away for 2 months but I noticed when I put a bit of pressure on the side of his neck by mistake earlier that he was in pain. I instantly pulled my hand away before applying a bit of pressure around the same area only for him to whine again only a bit louder. What should I do?


Sincerely,

A 16 yr old who's worried about her doggo

My dog is 12 and hes had a stiff neck, loss of appetite and yelps if i pick him up and hes stopped jumping off the couch. His tail is in between his legs and he wont look up to see me anymore, hes laying around anymore and he wont even take a treat. We cant afford a vet, what do i do

My dog is having neck pain. We took her to the vet 5 days ago and they said she had an eye infection and a sty. They also said a sty can be painful and that's why she cries. They prescribed and antibiotic and drops but she continues to cry in pain and arch her back and not look up. Can these neck pain be from the infection and sty or a separate issue?

My dog fell unwell in an evening I took him to the vets the following morning and they said they think it could be an ear infection although they couldn't see and soreness or swelling in his ears and he didn't have a temperature. They have given him some antibiotics that he has nearly finished but there's no change in him, if anything he's worse. I don't think my vets have ever been any good and they are obviously expensive to keep going back to.
Have you any idea what could be wrong with him as it definitely not his ears. He has swelling all around his neck and gags a lot even when not eating but the vets say it's nothing just lymphomas.

Two days ago my baby hurt herself when she got excited. I took her to the ER and the vet said she had luxating patella. The nxt day she was in excruciating pain so I took her back in. The vet examined her and said he sprained her neck and back most likely from jumping off the bed. She was prescribed Deramaxx and Gabapentin and to be crated for 2 wks. I started the meds as soon as we got home last night. Today she seems worse. Crying a lot more and won't poop although she's eating. How long until the pain gets better? How long until she's showing SOME signs of relief? I can't afford to take her back again but seeing her suffer is breaking my heart. Does it usually take a few days to feel better, it's only been 24hrs, or should she be doing better?

We noticed our baby sleeping a lot lately. We then noticed she started walking with her head down and would cry if she had to lift up her neck. She doesn’t want to come to us when we call her and she usually greets us at the door when we get home. When we pick her up and pet her she’s fine, but the moment we move her she starts to cry again. She’s 11 years old and we’ve noticed these symptoms for the past week. She’s never been sick or taken medication. Could this be a pinched nerve?

Has my dog herniated a disc in his thoracic vertebrae? Brutus is a 7 year old American Bulldog. He is a little overweight but is very active especially with my children. He started whimpering when he got up and down on the couch. Now he is whimpering constantly, shaking, and didn’t even get up to greet me at the door. I gave him an 81mg aspirin to see if it would help with the inflammation and pain about 20 minutes ago.

It has been 3 says now since my dog all of a sudden started acting odd.she was fine and then she wasn't. Wondering if she hurt her back or if there are internal issues. She seems to bounce in and out of pain. She is seeing fine and pooped 3 times each time stool being different colored, could it possible be an anal gland issue as she use to chase her tail alot

I"m at a loss, my dog about a month ago when you touched the middle of her back would yelp in pain and lift her left hind leg. I took her to the vet and they found an infection in the leg, we treated that but the pain was still in her back. They put her on Gabapentin, ramdyl and tramdol. We took Xrays which came back clear. I went to a nuero specialist, they did ultrasound, chest xray and today we did an MRI. They found nothing wrong, said she's in great condition. I approved a spinal tap. I'm really at a loss for words, spent 1000's of dollars trying to figure out the issue but nothing is showing up. I read on some other boards of people having similar issues but no answers. Any insight would be greatly appreciated, just want her to not be in pain. she's not the dog she was, doesn't jump up on furniture, won't lay in the room with us, is behind the couch, protecting herself from being touched. Such a loving crazy hyper lab and now a shell of the dog she used to be. Just want her to not be in pain.