The American Beagler Forum

my buddy has a dog that is down in his hips he can't use his back legs he just drags them around.he isn't like this everyday sometimes he's fine.he wormed him thinkg that worms may have caused this and he was fine the next day but it happened several times more.
does anyone have any idea what this could be?

slipped disc

put him in the smallest pen you have and keep him calm ,you may have some luck.I have one like yours he seems not to be in pain and I keep him to keep my wife happy .I really do not have much hope for you.It is a disc problem.

You might want to read this thread on another board:

http://forums.huntingboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=18797

Is this dog old ?
The mutt I used to have, gradually lost the use of her hips, or struggled to walk. We tried everything like buying slip proof boots to get her some traction, etc. We took her to the vet, she was old, and losing her use of her hind quarters, eventually her kidneys would have failed and her bowels. It was hard to watch but apparently she wasn't in pain. Eventually we decided it was time to put her down as heartwrenching as it was. She had all the spirit one could ever ask for but it wasn't the type of life a noble dog should lead.

the dog is 4 or 5 years old.he is a grade dog and my buddy just got him a couple weeks ago.he doesn't seem to be in any pain and it just comes and goes.
thanks for all your help!from what you guys have described it sounds like his problem,i'll let him know so he can decide what to do.thanks!!!!

I'm def. no vet, but in all my years of beagling, I've heard the same thing about a disc. Would be interesting to see what your vet has to say.

i have had 2 with slipped discs. one never recovered and finally died. the other one , the vet said to put in a pen and the smaller the better to keep her from moving around much.
Ok, i had my best jump dog to start favoring her left hind leg, she would hold it up and eventually started running on 3 legs. Then it started in the other hind leg. after a vet exam, the problem was the cartlidge was cracked in her hip joints, mostly due to age and a life of hard running. i had to retire her from running but she is still living.

I had a dog do the same thing. Three weeks prior I had him to the vet and he was diagnosed with a pulled back muscle,vet gave muscle relaxors for two weeks then said he will be fine. Well I put him in a hunt ,took 2nd in champs then the next day(Easter Sunday) the kids came in crying that he couldn't walk. Got him to the emergency vet after family left and they said the cartillage was gone between disc in two places. They suggested surgery or just rest w/ no gaurantee. Well we couln't take it, he would have ran a rabbit on his two front legs so we put him down, one of the saddest days of my life. Good luck with your dog, Dave