Cold Tail

[Rosanne]

OK, so I had the dogs in the pool with swimming depth water for the first time yesterday. 2 days ago I let them play in it not-quite-shoulder height. That was on Saturday, actually. Saturday, my one dog Kiba came in when she was done and her tail was hanging limp. I thought, well, the water was cool, the weather was warm, and she's not used to playing in the water (she played HARD Saturday). By the time I went to bed she seemed fine and there was NO pain.

Now yesterday I had them in again, and now my youngster (just turned a year) has the same problem. But hers hasn't gone away. All the info I can find online on the condition called "cold tail" or "limp tail" says that the dog's tail is painful during this condition. Seri's tail does not seem to be in any pain at all. Also there is no kink or any suspicion of it being broken. The top part near her rear seems a little warm and MIGHT be a touch swollen. She is generally holding it down and off to the side a little, but when I let her out to potty or she jumps around and plays it's clear she CAN move it some.

 

Is it possible she pulled a muscle in her tail or strained it? I wasn't concerned about Kiba because hers went away so quick. But it's been 24 hours and Seri's tail is still down and pathetic. Would a warm compress help? A little aspirin?

 

Anybody else had this happen with no pain? I know there were some old threads asking similar limp tail questions but I have trouble with the search engine - it seems to only hunt for one word, and neither Cold nor Tail or Limp will help me individually. . .

[Shoofly]

Try putting "cold tail" (using the quotes) into the search and you'll get your search done. Good luck with the pup!

[Rosanne]

Well gosh how come I didn't think to use quotations?!? Duh!

Although I didn't see it say anywhere that they would do the trick. And the topics it brought up didn't help much. I just had her out though and she does look a bit better today. She picks it up to about half-mast when running and then when she stops it falls down again. . .

 

It's just weird since everyone else's dogs seem to have it be painful, and mine just act like nothing is wrong.

[PSmitty]

My lab mix had cold tail twice. She was definitely painful. The first time it happened, I took her to the vet and even had x-rays done, just to tell me they couldn't find anything wrong. *Then* I did research and found info on cold tail. So, when it happened the next time, I rested her and gave her extra salmon oil (an anti-inflammatory) and she was fine in a couple of days.

 

So, I don't know about your pup. Maybe it *is* painful and she's just not showing it?

[Chesney's Girl]

If its still withing 24 hours of a possible injury the site should be rather hot to the touch if there is an injury regarding a pulled muscle in her tail and it wouldn't be as painful as a break so you might not notice that she is in a lot of pain as its not really a sharp pain, more a dull achy pain... Otherwise I have not had any experience with "cold tail"

[Rave]

Pain is relative, especially when it comes to BC's. One of mine has gotten cold tail about 3 times now, and it doesn't appear painful to her either. sometimes hers takes a couple days to get back to normal. I wouldn't worry about it unless it doesn't improve.

[jvw]

My Seamus had "cold tail" two years ago. Hard to say how painful it was because these dogs are so stoic. I was offered the option of steroids. I delcined. His tail recovered bit by bit from the base up but it did take two months to fully heal. He wasn't bothered by it. I kept working him on sheep the whole time. He looked funny with his tail flopping behind him.

 

I did learn when he was at rehab for his knee that there are chiropractic adjustments they can do to fix cold tail.

 

Jennifer