Weakness in hindquarters of dog (lurcher)?

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Acolyte

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As my rescue lurcher gets older I am noticing that he is getting weaker in his hindquarters; his muscle tone is not very good (never has been) and he increasingly very slightly drags one back leg or sometimes both when he gets off the sofa, crosses a tarmac road etc. It is like he cannot pick up the hindleg sufficiently to lift it forward in a normal pace? I have also noticed that he increasingly will stand and shake, not from nerves or cold, but a kind of involuntary muscle shaking over his hindquarters.

Just wondered if anyone had any experience of this, and could tell me what caused it (nervous system/muscular/skeletal?)

I must emphasise though that Talisker's condition is not remotely serious at the moment! I notice it because I know him well - so rest assured that if I felt it was getting to the stage where it needed it he would be straight down to the vets!

Thanks
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Yes meeeeeee!!!!!!! This is what happened with our Irish Wolfie as he got older. He was a ridiculously active dog and we had a full vet check and a referral to Davies Vet specialists were we took him for 2 MRI scans. They firstly suspected neurological damage but it turned out to be something a lot less serious. I shall P.m you now with some info.
Firstly though our dog presented as almost stumbling slightly and 'losing' his back end momentarily. The wear on his back claws and his trail marks showed that he was dragging his back feet and not lifting them sufficiently. Does that sound familiar?
 
Sounds exactly like that Woolly! Although there are no signs of wear on his claws/pads at the moment, but if Talisker was a horse I would be expecting my farrier to comment that he wasnt wearing his shoes evenly!

I am just thoughtful about taking him to the vets (although my vet is very good) as I feel it will be like intermitent lameness in a horse - I could potentially spend a hell of a lot of money on x-rays, scans etc and could be told 'we cant find anything wrong'. Not that I mind at all paying for such treatment of course, but it is not bothering him at all at the moment so I am thinking I will wait until it DOES start to affect him, however slightly?
 
Friends Lurcher is almost 10 now and he has started to wobble quite badly n his back end. Hes has been on steroids and is much better but she is waiting for the 'right time'. She has been told its neurological too.
 
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