What is Dragging Back Leg?
Your dog is having a difficult time moving around. He is walking by using his front legs and dragging his back legs. It is very upsetting and heart wrenching to see him trying to move around. The dragging of the back legs may be caused by:
- Canine degenerative myelopathy
- Intervertebral disc disease
- Botulism
- Trauma to the spine
- Osteomyelitis
- Diskospondylitis
- Tick bite paralysis
If your dog is dragging his back legs he should be seen by a veterinarian as soon as possible. The dragging of his back legs may be a symptom of a very serious condition.
Why Dragging Back Leg Occurs in Dogs
Canine Degenerative Myelopathy
Canine degenerative myelopathy is also known as chronic degenerative radiculomyelopathy. Canine degenerative myelopathy is a progressive disease, which causes nerve root damage in the spinal cord. The disease usually occurs in dogs over 7 years of age. It is more common in German Shepherds, Boxers, Chesapeake Retrievers, Rhodesian Ridgebacks and Pembroke Welsh Corgis.
Intervertebral Disc Disease
Intervertebral disk disease (IVDD) is also referred to as a herniated or slipped disk. The intervertebral disks usually act as shock absorbers between the vertebra. If the disk deteriorates, slips or protrudes it can compress the nerves and spinal cord. IVDD can cause the dog to drag his back legs.
Botulism
Botulism is caused by the ingestion of the toxin produced by bacterium Clostridium botulinum, which causes damage to the nervous system. Your dog may have eaten a dead animal or plant that had the bacteria on it. Symptoms may appear 12 to 36 hours after ingesting the bacteria.
Trauma to the Spine
Trauma to the spine can cause a dog to drag his back legs. Injuries such as being hit by a car, a fall or physical abuse can cause damage to the spinal cord.
Osteomyelitis
Osteomyelitis is the inflammation of the bone marrow. The inflammation is caused by a bacterial or fungal infection in the dog’s body. The infection may have occurred due to an animal bite, injury or bone fracture.
Diskospondylitis
Diskospondylitis is the inflammation of the vertebrae disks between the vertebrae in the spine. The inflammation is caused by a bacterial or fungal infection, Diskospondylitis is more common in large and giant dog breeds. There are more cases of diskospondylitis found in male German Shepherd dogs and Great Danes, between the age of 4 to 5 years of age.
Tick Bite Paralysis
Tick bite paralysis is caused by a neurological toxin produced in the saliva of certain types of female ticks. The toxins are released into the dog’s bloodstream while the tick is attached. The toxin can also cause respiratory arrest. Ticks that can cause paralysis are deer tick, Rocky Mountain tick and the lone star tick.
What to do if your Dog is Dragging Back Leg
If your dog is dragging his back legs, he should be seen by a veterinarian. The veterinarian will determine the underlying cause of the leg dragging. The veterinarian will perform a physical examination of your dog and will assess the patient’s overall condition. The veterinarian may suggest a complete blood count, serum chemistry panel, urinalysis and fecal exam. He may also suggest spinal x-rays and/or a myelogram. During a myelogram, the patient is injected with a contrast medium, which goes into the spinal canal. Once the contrast medium is injected, radiographs are then taken. This procedure allows the veterinarian to see if there is damage to the vertebral disks. Your dog will need to have general anesthesia for the myelogram.
Bacterial infections will be treated with antibiotic therapy. Fungal infections will be treated with antifungal medication.
Most dogs who contract tick bite paralysis respond well after the tick is removed. Muscle strength usually comes back within hours of the tick removal. A full recovery may take days.
Dogs diagnosed with botulism may need to be hospitalized. Once hospitalized he can receive 24/7 intensive supportive care.
There is no cure for degenerative myelopathy but physical therapy, vitamins and supplements may slow the progression of the disease.
Prevention of Dragging Back Leg
Some conditions can’t be prevented but some can be. Dogs should not be left unsupervised when they are outside. Keeping an eye on your dog can prevent him from jumping the fence, eating dead animals or falling victim to trauma. Ticks can be prevented by having your dog on a monthly tick preventative. Additionally, your yard should be treated for ticks.
Dogs that have an injury or a possible fractured should be seen by a veterinarian. The early treatment of a fracture or wound can help prevent a bacterial or fungal infection from occurring.
Cost of Dragging Back Leg
A dog who is dragging his back legs may be in serious condition. For a condition such as botulism, the expense may be $2000. The treatment for tick paralysis can range from $1500 to $5000.
Dragging Back Leg Questions and Advice from Veterinary Professionals
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Hello i have a husky who is 106 lbs and is 12 years old. He been dragging his back right leg when walking and now when he stands it shakes a lot. I had him since he was 6 weeks old so his is very upsetting for me to see him go through all this pain. If he's lying down we have to help him up by lifting his back legs to help him. He doesn't have Any health issue only that he is dragging this leg and it's basically paralysed. Can you please let me help him. I am not ready for him to go and I know he's not a puppy but he is not old either. Please help me by letting me know what to give him for the pain and what I can do.
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My dog is doing that right now and I don’t know what to do either
this same thing happened to my dog and I took him to 2 vets and both told me same thing "give him these 3 different meds and we hope he gets better" $400 later no improvement. A friend told me to buy hemp oil and mix a cap full in can dog food I did and the next day he was walking again.
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My 10 year old pug started dragging her hind legs and when she sits her one leg shakes. We have had X-rays done and they do not see any spinal damage or arthritis. What could be causing this?
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My two year old shih tzu recently got what I believe is the dog flu. Difficulty breathing, fevers, shivering/shaking. It only started a couple days ago. Accompanied with these symptoms was her walking on her back legs ability slowly declining. It is really bad. She literally has to scoot to get around. What illness can cause her legs to be this way but also has strong symptoms of flu like symptoms? Please help!
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i woke up one day and saw that my 4 month old blue heeler could not stand on his back legs. he can move them but does not have the strength to stand up or put any weight on them. i have checked for ticks and have found nothing. we are also unable to take him to a veterinarian for a few weeks as we live in papua new guinea. the dog does not seem to be in any pain however.
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My 8yr old Chihuahua, Chico, can't walk on his back two legs. When he walks he drags them and can't really put his weight on them. When he tries to put weight on them he stumbles over. I'm not sure if it's just because he's old or something happened to him. I can tell that he's in a lot of pain but I don't know what to do. I gave him a bath and pain medicine.
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My shihtzu has a very sudden onset of hind legs/lower spine pain. He looks like he’s in pain and he’s trembling. We left home for work and when we returned he was like this. He wouldn’t stand up for us so we took out his leash and this encouraged him to wag his tail but even then he didn’t stand. After a while he stood and we took him for a short walk but when we got home he went back to same behavior. I’m worried. He’s a young dog and this occurred from one day to the next.
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I have a 5year old cross shitsu/poodle. Who is very active normally. Loves to run and eat. Tuesday a week ago my husband noticed he was not walking correctly, actually dragging hind legs. He took him to local vet and given pain killers. He improved and back to normal then the following Tuesday again but much worse. Can you help. He has exrays and show not spinal damage. Bloods all within normal range. Still eating and going to toilet normal. What now?
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There are various causes for dragging of the hind limbs and if there has been some improvement after the administration of antiinflammatories I would return to your Veterinarian for another course of medication to see if the improvement is noted again; if so we can determine that there is an inflammatory process causing these symptoms. X-rays are useful, but myelography (where contrast media is injected into the spinal canal before an x-ray is taken) will show any soft tissue bulges inside the canal. Without performing a physical examination, I cannot give much more information; other causes may be due to myelopathies, vertebral instability, poisoning among other causes. Regards Dr Callum Turner DVM
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my dog just got on seizure pills since being on the pills he being having back legs pain and for a while he can't get up i know he in a lot of pain do u think it his pills or is he old
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My pug is 16 years old and is fairly healthy for his age. Suddenly today he began to drag one of his legs as if it were paralyzed. It doesn't seem to be hurting him as I have moved both back legs around and he didn't seem bothered by it. I palpated around his hips and nothing seems broken or out of place. He has also had treatment for tick and fleas last week.
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Ruby is a 3 1/2yr.old pit, we rescued each other. She was abused, someone beat her in the head when I got her it was healed but she is scared and has missing patches if hair,her right bk leg,l looks a lil different from other one,she tries,not to put plot of pressure on it,three legs it if she can uses it sometimeslast nite she was acting a lil strangei thought,today when we came home(she went for a car ride didn't get out anywhere)we live on second floorso she went to go up got front legs going when she pushes off with bk almost made it n slid bk down onto her butt, never had this problem before , carried her up and here n there drags legs n gives up n lays down .my dog is energetic,loveable kissable,"very clingy" cuddle bug,i am on disability, I struggle she rescued me,i have depression, anxiety,adhd,have been suicidal in the past , this dog is the reason I get out of bed and give life another chance! God if anything happened to her I'd jut die I don't think another dog would be the same,i need help I don't know how I could pay to fix her or to even see a vet, I've been crying all dayi don't know what's wrong and how I would afford to fix it, Im,lost please help me
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My 9yr old Chocolate lab woke up this morning and he can not stand on his own. His back right leg from his hip isnt working at all. He is dragging his leg so bad its dragging the top side of his paw. When he goes to walk outside he walks sideways for about 5ft and falls. He stays inside most of the time and isnt very active. He once was active but once he hit 7yrs old he hasnt been very active... Thank you
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My 1.5 year old lab woke up this morning walking kind of funny, like she had to go to the bathroom, or like she had something up her butt. She ate fine, drank water, went to the restroom and then came inside and lied down and refuses to get back up unless we pick her up. She’s usually so full of energy and running around but all she does is lay on the ground. We took her to the vet and they found no signs of external pain and they did an x ray and said her inside looks great as well, just that she had quite a bit of fecal matter inside, but not hard stuff that would make her constipated. They gave us an anti-inflammatory but I’m still scared because there was no definite diagnoses, and i’m hoping there’s not anything else going on inside that he wasn’t able to predict. Any advice or guesses on what could be wrong?
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My 18 week old toy poodle is dragging his back legs, he can use them although doesn’t seem to have complete control, falls quite abit aswell.
We’ve been to the vet and he is on anti- inflammatory medication at the moment, with 4 days to go but no results..
What could this be?
He hasn’t had any major falls etc
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His leg is swollen and it hard like it has something to do with his muscle, will not put weight on it, whines all day, he hops around because he can't straighten his leg. He doesn't stop panting all day, barely eats his food. It swells up so big it just stays hard. It swelled up and the relieved and then returned and hasn't gone away. It's been like this for a couple of months, the vet just keeps shoving pills down his throat.
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There are many reasons why a limb may be swollen from infections, bone tumours, reduced circulation leading to pooling of blood or lymph and well as other causes; an x-ray may be useful to detect if there are any bone anomalies or other problems which may cause the swelling to occur. Feel the paw on the affected leg and compare the temperature with the paw on the opposite side; if the affected leg is colder then there may be a circulatory issue leading to the pooling of fluids leading to the swelling. It may also be worth visiting another Veterinarian for an examination. Regards Dr Callum Turner DVM
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My dog has started to struggle with his back leg we have taken him to a vet and they said that it could be that his brain is not communicating with his back leg he is on antibiotics but he isn't getting better if it is his brain how much would that cost and what could it be?
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I have a pitbull - bully mix who is about an year old. The day before,when I went out to call him at night he didn't respond.I took a flashlight and saw him sitting outside. I called his name,he wagged his tail but wouldn't move. His hind legs were not moving even though he could lift them sideways while laying down.I lifted him and put him into a sitting position but he wouldn't move an inch.
I took him to a vet yesterday and I got his cbc done which indicated infection.he was administered an antibiotic and a nerve medicine but to no avail.
It's disheartening to see him in such condition.
WHAT COULD IT BE??
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My dog is a 5 yr old Dachshund and was in pain last week so we took her to the vet thinking it was IVDD. We got x-rays, blood work and she was given Metacam for the pain. Her results came back good, she was healthy with no spine issues or any symptoms of IVDD. This morning when she woke up she was dragging her back legs and was unbalanced. She is not showing any signs of pain like she was last week. She is eating and drinking fine. It is heartbreaking to see her unable to walk properly and I do not have the money for another vet visit. Does this sound very serious or is there a chance it may get better ?
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My 9 year old female lab is usually very active and looks great for her age. Recently we had brought her on a walk to the beach and that night she has thrown up a great amount. We don't think that she had gotten into anything expect her toys (tennis balls). Then the last two days she hasn't been getting up or moving as much. Running on the beach sometimes makes her sore for a day or two but not this long. We have to pick her up to move now. She has no appetite but will drink water. She doesnt seem to be in pain but she will start to fall but than sit and lay there and not move. I am unsure if she is just very sore from the beach and jumping in and out of the car and that maybe she ate too much of a tennis ball. Or if this is much more serious.
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Our 4 month old Akita all of a sudden started dragging his back right leg. The leg is stiff as a board and he is dragging it knuckle down. We took took him to the vet emidetly for X-rays. No abnormalities showed up. They placed him on some broad spectrum anti biotics and pain relief meds, but 2 days have gone by and he isn’t getting better . He wasn’t playing or anything he was fine one minute.. then the next his leg didn’t work at all :( If the problem isn’t an injury, is there a chance he will regain the use of his leg ? It is very disturbing and heartbreaking to watch him struggle to move around. It seems like if he has contracted one of these diseases he may never use the leg again ?:(
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My 9.5 year old presa canario has been dragging his right hind leg more and more over the last couple weeks. It used to just be his pads sliding across the floor but now you can see he’s completely worn down one of his nails until it bleeds. He’s started holding his right leg up in the air and trying to limp with his left leg as of today and his left leg seems to give up on him sometimes. I’m really concerned it’s DM but I know they can’t test for that. Im told DM is not painful but I do not want my dog uncomfortable at all, and legs giving out doesn’t seem comfortable to me :(
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Hi, was the hemp oil you used the kind from a dispensary or like the regular hemp oil you can buy from Amazon? I used the regular one and my dogs LOVED the taste of it and it really did seem to help them!