Cold in the what??

Many of you know or have heard about my main man Tank! If you know him he is fun, wild, a tank and a little on the dorky side! Well his dorky side has caused him to have what I thought was a broken tail! Let me explain, last Sunday we took the dogs hiking b/c it was finally sunny out! Well we choose a trail that you had to walk through alot of water.  Now Tank lives to swim however most of the deeper parts were covered with ice.  Why I thought that this would stop my lovely I dont know but note to future self it will not deture him in the least.  He will actually jump and leap on the ice until he can reach the water.  Now meet Ben


Ben is on the Left

He thought it was funny to throw a rock on top of the ice so that Tank would continue his jumping adventures!  It was all fun and games and pretty amusing actually at the time. 
Now fast forward to Monday night... or as I like to call it the night of no rest.  Poor little guy was a mess couldn't sit down b/c of his tail was crying and whining and the top of his tail that is connected to his body was all swollen I thought for sure it was broken.  So I called my boss in the AM and let him know that I would be taking a PA day b/c I was up til 4AM until Tank literally fell over from exhaustion and I needed to get him into the vet.  We arrived around 10AM and they took a look at it and asked if I had him in the water recently.  Of course I told her about Sunday and she let me know that his tail was not broken yet it was something less serious .... A cold in the tail!  A cold in the what!!!!!!!!!!! Was my immediate response to her.  She assured me that it was fixable and just need some anitbotics and pain meds! Of course as soon as I left I had to google it thinking this Dr. is nuts! But if fact she isn't this is a real thing!

Pain may be seen on palpation of the tail base and some owners report that the dog seems uncomfortable and painful. The best thing to do is leave the tail alone.

Rest is recommended. Complete recovery is usually seen by 2 weeks and often occurs within a few days although it recurs later during training in 1/3 of the cases. Some owners and trainers feel that anti-inflammatory drugs shorten the recovery time if given when the condition is first seen. You might also use warm packs at the base of the tail which will help the relief of pain.
The cause of limber tail is not known although it is thought to be associated with hard workouts (especially in underconditioned dogs), heavy hunting, and swimming or bathing in water that is too cold or too warm. Some owners reported that they grab the tail as a means of correction. Tail conformation (high set or very active), gender (males more frequently affected), and nutritional factors have also been suggested as possible causes. Ongoing studies suggest that limber tail is associaed with muscle damage in the tail with dogs examined early in showing elevated muscle enzymes eg., creatine phosphokinase.




They even had a nice picture to confirm that it was in fact what Tank had

So note to Bully owners they are not smart enough to realize that they need to get out of cold water so keep them away :)