Questions pertaining to older dog.

[Cali Mae]

Overall, Moses is pretty healthy and his vet says he looks good for his age.. but I have a couple questions.

So tonight when I was taking him and Cali out to the bathroom, we got to the door (he stopped at the stairs) and his lower back looked like it was cramping. This is a horrible description, but it seemed like it was a spasm of some sort. I've seen him do it before but it hasn't happened for awhile. It's just his lower back and he went into a squat position and it appeared like he was thrusted his butt inward.

Also, he's had trouble for the last while jumping up on chairs and falling... but never seems to be in pain, if that's any help. He's always up for a walk as well and still makes a run if he sees a cat in the yard.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to talk to my mom about talking to the vet tomorrow because although he brushed the spasm/cramping off like it was nothing and just happily walked down the stairs, it couldn't have been comfortable and I highly, highly doubt it's anything close to normal for even an older dog. He's almost eleven and probably forty five/fifty pounds.

ETA: I have no clue if this is relevant either, but he also tends to "sway" his butt from side to side. If you pet one side, he'll swing it towards you and if he's on a walk, just touching the leash to one side will get him to turn his butt in.

[AllisonPitbullLvr]

Arthritis? Hip pain? IVDD? Those are the three things that first pop in to my head after reading your description. Definitely worth a vet visit if you think he's uncomfortable, I think.

[Cali Mae]

I'll try to see if we can bring him down to the vet this coming week, usually he acts fine but lately, he's been having difficulty jumping up into 'his' chair and this morning, he fell on his way down the stairs and took a couple moments to get up. He still thinks he's a puppy the way he tries running down the stairs each morning.

I had read about the IVDD since I googled the lower back spasms/cramps and that's the only thing that came up. Hopefully the vet will be able to figure out what's wrong with him, and maybe some others will chime in with experience. I just hate to see it, I had tried to get him walking in the middle of the spasm/cramping but he just kind of ignored me until it stopped before coming outside.

[porchpotty]

I hope all will be fine. Let us know then.

[JessLough]

The jumping on couch thing is probably a sight issue. I'm not sure if it has to do with depth perception or what. Rosey does the same, and needs a good distance to be able to jump up, and sometimes still slips, but I know she can't see close up.

The back "spasm" type things sounds like spinal arthritis, imo. Rosey has it. As far as the swaying thing... she does it, but she's also done it as long as I remember.

[hhahvets]

According to my experience, I should not prefer any kind of training for an older aged dog because in that age they loss the strength while compare to in younger age. In older age, we should take care about the food and regular checkup with the pet clinics. It will be better to give training for pets in young age only.