Limber tail

[sig]

Does anyone have any experience/advise on limber tail? I took my chocolate lab to an ice fishing tourney yesterday and his tail was wagging the entire time. Today his tail is hanging and it is painful for him to sit down.

[setterguy]

Rest, that is about the only thing that will bring him and his waggy tail back.

[LABS4ME]

Very common in cold weather and even more so when they swim in cold water...

Setterguy is correct. Keep him quiet and rested and he will be back to normal in 2 days...

Good Luck!

Ken

[sig]

Who would have ever thought that a lab could wag his tail too much! If I did not have google or the net I would be in the vet telling him he has a broken tail. It is showing signs of recovery this morning, thank you for your responses.

[Harmonica Bear]

My setter got this 4 weeks ago (Limber tail, broken tail, dead tail, whatever you want to call it). It was very worriesome, because it really bothered him. If you touched his tail he would cry out and had trouble even climbing stairs and had trouble lying down. If I was not familiar with it, I would have made an un-needed trip to the Vet. It toook 3 days and I didn't kennel him during that time. But that next day he was back to normal and no ill effects. It is kind of scary though. From what I read a lot of vets are not familiar with the syndrome (I have no facts to back that statement up, just what I read on-line), and I would imagine you could run up a pretty spend bill for something that only requires rest. If that is what your dog has, it will be fine with rest.

[BouncinBottom]

My 2 year old, yellow lab has had this happen several times when over excited for many hours. His tail will swell at the base and become painful. It usually takes a few days to improve, but before long your labs tail will be wagging like crazy.

[Johnny_Namakan]

My lab has had that a few times. It is very painful for them. My dog got it the first day of our annual 4 day memorial weekend trip and she was not a fun dog to be around for the next three days. She didn't want anything to do with anyone. She couldn't even lift her tail to do her "business". She couldn't get into the boats, she couldn't even lay down without it hurting her. She had been swimming all day the first day of the trip and that cold water and excessive use of the tail really did a number on her. I make sure to not let her swim too much when the water is cold. As far as wagging the tail, I don't know if any of us have a voice command for "stop wagging the tail."

Just give her some time and she'll be fine. Give her an asprin too. It's safe for dogs and should help a little with the pain. I give my dog a 325mg Asprin after a long day's hunt and she feels much better. Should help her get through the next couple of days.