My 4 year old Patterdale bitch has been nigh on immobile for the last 2 days, following a minor incident 6 nights ago when we think she twisted her back. :(

Just after it happened she was a bit sore but generally okay, so we kept her quiet - no rushing about, no stairs and no jumping up or down - and did see an improvement after 48 hours.  She was still being careful, but was otherwise pretty much back to normal.  Then she suddenly deteriorated on Friday evening for no apparent reason......going from being quiet but moving around normally, to being rigid through her lower back, anxious, clingy and shaky.

On Saturday morning I lifted her gently down from the bed and she yelped in pain, so I took her straight to the vet surgery.  They were unable to really examine her properly, due to her total rigidity - they had helpfully booked a double appointment and were prepared to sedate her for the exam (she is dreadful for the vet, has to be muzzled and goes doolally when anyone touches her), but the vet didn't examine her further after one light touch on her spine, diagnosed her with a "soft tissue" spinal injury, gave her a jab and a course of anti-inflammatories, and said to bring her back if she doesn't show a significant improvement in 48 hrs - i.e, we should see her return almost to normal, based on the anti-inflammatory treatment.  If she ISN'T back to normal, there could be more going on, so they want to x-ray her.

Its now been about 36 hrs, and she's still very shaky and subdued, and clearly in some degree of pain as she will only get up to go to the toilet, and otherwise only wants to lie flat and sleep.  She'll only eat if I hand feed her, and will drink if I hold the water bowl up for her.

We've been through this before, when she was just 2.  No specific incident brought it on, she just developed inexplicable back pain and was unable to move around much without panting in pain.  They did x-rays and blood tests for 3 weeks and found nothing, keeping her on steroids for pain relief, but eventually she just got better.

The vet noticed that she has a history, and wondered if she had a spinal abnormality predisposing her to this problem.  She does have rather a long back.

I've done a bit of Google research and I keep stumbling across degenerative disc disease and disc problems in dogs.  Does anyone have any experience of this?  If she has damaged a disc without actually rupturing or slipping it, what symptoms would you expect.....I mean, my hubby is convinced she'd be screaming in pain and unable to walk, but all we're seeing is great reluctance to do anything other than lie down (she is a fit and active working dog), anxiety, and very obvious rigidity and spasm in her lower back.

Can dogs injure the muscles of the back like humans can?  What do you think, could it be a simple pulled or strained muscle?  I'm very worried, the anti-inflammatories have done nothing whatsoever to relieve her pain. :(

Dogs absolutely can injure their backs like we can.  On friday morning my oldie tried to barge her way out of the car at the same time as two of my other dogs - she twisted her back in the process and for nearly a minute was crying out, sitting, lying, sitting, trying to get comfortable and her back was visibly spasming.  It settled down and she was able to walk, so thankfully not a bad twist.  And luckily for her, I had the chiropractor booked to see Soli and Saffi two hours later - so Tia was treated as well.  Her back was very sore (and my arm got thoroughly munched to save the chiro!) but it sorted her out.

Can't comment on discs etc as no experience in that but I would want the vet to rule it out - I believe Lurchergirl on here has experience of degenerative disc disease (I think it's her) so might be able to help with that.

If that is ruled out then I would look to get a chiropractor in (McTimoney chiro only, if you google their website can find you your nearest one).  Mine has been a godsend for my dogs - so far she's treated Soli, Saffi, Tia, Remy and Paige for various things (arthritis, long term injuries/wonkiness, spinal misalignments due to abuse as a pup in Paige's case) and it's done them the world of good.  The massage part of the therapy was was did the most good for Tia and for Soli too (she's having trouble with tension over her lower back at the moment, with no clear cause).

I wonder if your dog's original injury has set her back up to be prone to another and it's finally happened - I've gone through that myself (fell down the stairs at 4yrs old, had weakness in my lower back since and it finally gave when I was snowboarding in '03 - been an issue ever since, but much better since I saw a chiropractor too).

Definitely get the vets to rule in or out anything serious first though.

Thanks Nikita.....I would certainly consider a McTimoney chiropractor, except that Nellie is extremely averse to beng touched by strangers - I can't imagine that someone who was a practising chiro would find it very rewarding to work on a muzzled dog which won't relax!!

Nellie had full x-rays of her pelvis and lumbar spine today, which showed nothing.  So they're treating it as a muscular injury, and she's on diazepam!!  She's currently tottering around trying to recover from the anaesthetic, bumping into the furniture and looking very, very wooden, but rather more relaxed than the last few days.  It must be nice to be free of the pain for a while!

Follow up is on Friday, we'll see how she goes on the diazepam.......

Thanks for your reply, much appreciated. :)

If i recall correctly, something like disc disease can only be diagnosed by MRI - it won't show on x-ray.  But don't quote me on that!

Re the chiropractor - you might be surprised.  Soli hates her feet being touched with a passion - but she'll let the chiro manipulate each toe (I still can't do that unless I take it very slowly and not for anywhere near as long as she can).  She also intensely dislikes strangers touching her all over (great fun when hse has an echo and has to be held in place, by her feet, for nearly an hour) but she let the chiro do it with no arguments on the first session.  And Tia has been in pain both times she's been treated - potential biter but with me there (and my arm offered) she is good, despite the fact it's clearly a very painful process when the chiro gets to her lower back.  If that had been a vet I'd have had to muzzle her - they both seem to know she's there to help.