Cold water tail

MellowYellow

MellowYellow

We had a bit of a day yesterday...

First of all I caught Poppy eating dog poo on our walk. This is a truly disgusting habit of hers, and she has become very sneaky and clever about hiding what she is up to. Urgh, I caught her right in flagrante delicto. She got a right royal telling off!

Then we met up with a couple with a female Australian shepherd. Merlin tried to hump her. She told him off. He, not one to be easily deterred, had another go. She gave him such a vociferous and energetic telling off that he was quite abashed. The owners apologized, but I said that no, it was our fault, and it wouldn't do Merlin any harm to be told to mind his manners in such an emphatic fashion. We walked on in opposite directions, and suddenly the Aussie shepherd was back, having another go at Merlin! Poppy stepped in and protected her idiotic brother with fury - most unlike her!!!

Anyway, this was just a prelude to what followed - I think Merlin was so nonplussed by all the action that he felt a distraction was in order, and he jumped into a deep and freezing cold pond and swam around. He doesn't normally swim in cold water - paddling is fine, but I keep him out of deep water where possible because he is prone to cold water tail. So as soon as we got home, I dried him off and popped his toweling robe on.

Unfortunately, a couple of hours later he started developing the typical limber tail symptoms - droopy tail and a general air of unease. I gave him a double dose of Metacam, but it did not get any better in fact it only got worse, with poor Merly obviously in a lot of discomfort, unable to sit or lie down comfortably, whining, and trying to hold my hands in his mouth, all symptoms of distress. Knowing that the vet closes at 6pm I gave them a call at 5:30pm and they say to bring him straight in. They gave him an injection with a muscle relaxant and additional pain killer. A couple of hours later he was already starting to feel better and able to wag his tail again, and he seems fine again today. I'm really glad I took him in when I did - I know cold water tail is not an emergency, and we could possibly have waited to see if the Metacam kicked in, but he was getting so uncomfortable I could just see us having to do an after-hours drive to the emergency clinic...

All's well that ends well this time, I hope. I'm to keep giving him Metacam for the next couple of days, and keep him warm and make sure he is dried off properly after rainy walks.

Feeling better!
Feeling better.JPG
 
HAH

HAH

Moderator
Location
Devon, UK
Poor Merlin - limber tail is horrible, and I agree that it’s not considered an emergency but in my view it can be really extremely uncomfortable for them so you did absolutely the right thing. Glad he’s feeling better!
 
Selina27

Selina27

Location
Herefordshire, UK
I would have done the same, not life threatening but it must be incredibly uncomfortable and distressing for them to have limber tail. Not to be able to express their feelings without that pain.

It's nice to hear about Poppy and Merlin. Are you still doing the gundog stuff Karen?
 
Emily

Emily

Location
Melbourne, Australia
MellowYellow said:
We had a bit of a day yesterday...

First of all I caught Poppy eating dog poo on our walk. This is a truly disgusting habit of hers, and she has become very sneaky and clever about hiding what she is up to. Urgh, I caught her right in flagrante delicto. She got a right royal telling off!

Then we met up with a couple with a female Australian shepherd. Merlin tried to hump her. She told him off. He, not one to be easily deterred, had another go. She gave him such a vociferous and energetic telling off that he was quite abashed. The owners apologized, but I said that no, it was our fault, and it wouldn't do Merlin any harm to be told to mind his manners in such an emphatic fashion. We walked on in opposite directions, and suddenly the Aussie shepherd was back, having another go at Merlin! Poppy stepped in and protected her idiotic brother with fury - most unlike her!!!

Anyway, this was just a prelude to what followed - I think Merlin was so nonplussed by all the action that he felt a distraction was in order, and he jumped into a deep and freezing cold pond and swam around. He doesn't normally swim in cold water - paddling is fine, but I keep him out of deep water where possible because he is prone to cold water tail. So as soon as we got home, I dried him off and popped his toweling robe on.

Unfortunately, a couple of hours later he started developing the typical limber tail symptoms - droopy tail and a general air of unease. I gave him a double dose of Metacam, but it did not get any better in fact it only got worse, with poor Merly obviously in a lot of discomfort, unable to sit or lie down comfortably, whining, and trying to hold my hands in his mouth, all symptoms of distress. Knowing that the vet closes at 6pm I gave them a call at 5:30pm and they say to bring him straight in. They gave him an injection with a muscle relaxant and additional pain killer. A couple of hours later he was already starting to feel better and able to wag his tail again, and he seems fine again today. I'm really glad I took him in when I did - I know cold water tail is not an emergency, and we could possibly have waited to see if the Metacam kicked in, but he was getting so uncomfortable I could just see us having to do an after-hours drive to the emergency clinic...

All's well that ends well this time, I hope. I'm to keep giving him Metacam for the next couple of days, and keep him warm and make sure he is dried off properly after rainy walks.

Feeling better!
View attachment 30327
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What a walk! You must be exhausted!

Glad all is well in the end x
 
MellowYellow

MellowYellow

Selina27 said:
It's nice to hear about Poppy and Merlin. Are you still doing the gundog stuff Karen?
Click to expand...
Yes! We don't actually go shooting any more, and I haven't entered a working test in two years, but both Poppy and Merlin love dummy training, and I still train a group of six dogs, in fact we are meeting up on Thursday. We have a lot of fun, and it is important to me that the dogs and their handlers have a good time and enjoy working together, as well as improving their skills. So while we are maybe not the most ambitious or exacting of groups, it is undoubtedly true that we are one of the happiest training groups I know!
 
MellowYellow

MellowYellow

Thank you all for your kind messages. Merlin seems completely back to normal today. We kept his walks a bit shorter than normal, and I was even more careful than usual about making sure he was completely dry and his back warm after being outside in the rain. It's a shame that he is so susceptible to limber tail, poor lad, but the vet says that there is nothing we can do other than keeping him out of cold water and making sure he is dry and warm when he gets home.
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
@MellowYellow glad to hear Merlin is back in good shape again. 😊

Do you know if dogs can get cold water tail without the pain factor? Carbon's tail will sometimes go all limp with a big kink in it (if that makes sense) but thank goodness doesn't have the associated pain. His tail seems to go back to normal in a couple days and he's not bothered at all. Because of that, I've never asked the vet about it. And well...not having had Labrador with a tail before, I just assumed their tails wilted in cold water!
 
Selina27

Selina27

Location
Herefordshire, UK
MellowYellow said:
Yes! We don't actually go shooting any more, and I haven't entered a working test in two years, but both Poppy and Merlin love dummy training, and I still train a group of six dogs, in fact we are meeting up on Thursday. We have a lot of fun, and it is important to me that the dogs and their handlers have a good time and enjoy working together, as well as improving their skills. So while we are maybe not the most ambitious or exacting of groups, it is undoubtedly true that we are one of the happiest training groups I know!
Click to expand...
This sounds great Karen, would suit me down to the ground.

I'm pleased I stuck at it with Cassie, it was only ever for the reasons you say above, fun and being together. At rising 6, I have enough things to do with her to keep her mentally "stretched" with retrieving, and have learnt to curb her hunting enough that we can do it together.

I've satisfied my curiosity re driven shooting and have no desire to pursue that any further. Cassie has a good life, that's all I wanted from gundog training!
 
M

M.F.

Poor Merlin. He’s lucky he has you!!

Sorry to change the subject—and perhaps we should start another thread about mounting?—but I’m curious to know more about his mounting. Snowie mounts some dogs. Seems like many triggers, but one is when the other dog makes a show of wanting his attention, bumping him (playfully it appears) but persistently. And finely he seems to have had enough and tries to mount the dog. I’ll haul him off and away, and the other dog comes back for more. Is that what the Aussie was doing, or did she come back to tell him off some more?

On the poo eating: Snowie ate human poo during the years he had seizures. When those stopped, the poo eating stopped. Coincidence? Causal? Looking for nutrients? (Thankfully never dog poo—because so much around!)
 
MellowYellow

MellowYellow

Merlin's mounting is usually sex-driven, although sometimes he will try to mount castrated male dogs. It's worse at the moment because one of his girlfriends is on heat...
 
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