From Whines to Wags: Understanding Swimmer's Tail in Dogs
In this episode of Vetsplanation, Dr. Sugerman shares a compelling story about Hunter, a Labrador with a mysterious ailment. As hhe takes us through Hunter's case, we learn about the diagnosis of swimmer's tail, also known as limber tail or acute caudal myopathy. Dr. Sugerman discusses the causes, symptoms, and treatment options for this condition, providing valuable insights for pet owners.
What You’ll Learn:
Discover a real-life case of Hunter, a Labrador with an intriguing ailment
Understand the diagnosis of swimmer's tail (limber tail or acute caudal myopathy) in dogs
The causes of swimmer's tail, including overuse of tail muscles and environmental factors
Explore the symptoms of swimmer's tail, from a limp tail to signs of discomfort and pain
Gain insights into the breeds most commonly affected by swimmer's tail, such as Labrador retrievers, hounds, setters, beagles, and pointers
Hear about Dr. Sugerman's approach to diagnosing the condition, relying on a pet's history and physical examination
Understand the importance of differentials in diagnosing pet ailments and the challenges veterinarians face in pinpointing the exact cause
Delve into the treatment options for swimmer's tail, including medications for pain, inflammation, and muscle relaxation
Receive practical tips for at-home care, including creating a comfortable resting space and using ice or heat therapy
Explore preventive measures to reduce the risk of swimmer's tail, emphasizing gradual increases in activity for dogs
Ideas Worth Sharing:
"So it didn't look like he was critically ill or anything. I did my exam on this super happy Labrador dog, and, everything seemed very normal, except for when I got to his tail.” - Dr. Tyler Sugerman
“Our goal here is to help control the pain and keep the pet comfortable so that their own body can heal it.” - Dr. Tyler Sugerman
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Read The Transcript:
[00:00:00] Hey everybody, so I'm going to start out a little bit differently today. I'm going to tell you a story about this patient that I saw and then we're going to talk about what I found and how we found it. So one day I had this dog named Hunter. He's about a seven year old male Labrador who had come into my clinic.
I was really early in the evening in the winter time and his dad had said that Hunter just couldn't sit down. He was super uncomfortable. When he would sit down, he would just start crying or whining, and he'd just get back up again, so it was just really uncomfortable. Otherwise, he was fine. He was eating fine, he was drinking fine, just like a normal lab would, right?
So it didn't look like he was critically ill or anything. I did my exam on this super happy Labrador dog, and, everything seemed very normal, except for when I got to his tail. So I noticed something very specific with his tail that kind of led me to what his diagnosis was. So if you have an idea of what that might be, leave a comment.
We'll see if you get it right. Otherwise, just listen in as we [00:01:00] discuss his tail and what his diagnosis was.
Hi, and welcome to Vetsplanation. I'm your veterinary host, Dr. Sugerman, and I'm going to teach you about veterinary medicine. In this podcast, we can dive deeper into the understanding of what our pets are going through and break down medical terms into easier to understand chunks of information. Just a quick disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only.
This is not meant to be a diagnosis for your pet. If you have questions about diagnostics or treatment options, please talk to your veterinarian about those things. Remember, we are all practicing veterinary medicine and medicine is not an exact science. Your veterinarian may have different treatment options and different opinions.
The information I provide here is to help pet parents have a better understanding about their pets. If you like our podcast, please consider sharing this podcast with at least one friend or just somebody else who has pets as well. Now, let's jump into this week's episode.
All right. Thank you everyone for joining [00:02:00] us on this tail wagging adventure. I'm your host, Dr. Sugerman, and today we're going to be talking about swimmer's tail.
That goes by many other names such as limber tail, colt, water tail, dead tail, broken wag, sprained tail, all sorts of things. Medically, we call it an acute caudal myopathy. Acute just means that it's something that happened quickly. Caudal means the back end of the dog, like towards the tail.
And then myopathy means that there's a problem with a muscle. So it commonly affects large breed, usually hunting dogs, athletic dogs, or working dogs, but it can affect anybody. Usually it's in the beginning of the season as well. So for dogs who are slower during the off season, the kind of couch potatoes, and then they haven't really been conditioned slowly leading up to that big day.
They can get this swimmer's tail, and then they're not doing any swimming. They could still get it just from like all that exercise. Working dogs are another really good [00:03:00] example. They can happen to like things like police dogs. And it's after working like a lot longer hours than usual.
Maybe they're tracking a lot more than they would normally track. And so that can lead to this swimmer's tail as well. The most common dogs that are usually affected are going to be Labrador retrievers, multiple types of hounds, setters, beagles, and pointers. But I've seen a lot of different breeds that have had it.
Even just like the medium sized beagles. I've seen a German shepherd that had it. So there's a lot of different types of breeds. It's just, those are the most common ones. So let's now dive into how this happens. There are multiple causes for this. It boils down to overuse of those tail muscles.
It originally got its name because dogs were, like, swimming really long hours in these really cold waters. So they would call it swimmer's tail. It can happen though, even if you just have dogs that are really excited and they're wagging their tail excessively, you have a house party and people come over and they're just like so excited [00:04:00] and for the next day, then they start to have pain in those muscles of their tail.
It can also happen with really intense physical activity. So things like really long runs or like I said with the working dogs when they've been like chasing after somebody for a while So extreme activity can cause that. It can be even during just like cold wet weather, so like here in the Pacific Northwest It could be just because of the weather that we could have that Climate changes like going from really extreme hot to extreme cold.
So let's say you're driving in your RV and you go from really hot weather in Florida and maybe you go up to Alaska and suddenly it's very cold, like that can cause it as well. It can also be from like being transported or just being hanging out in a cage that's just a little bit too small for them or that they've been in the cage for too long.
That can cause swimmer's tail too. So these are just like some examples of them, there are also different other reasons that can cause swimmer's tail, and then these symptoms can occur really quickly, so [00:05:00] it's usually within a couple of hours, it can sometimes take a couple of days, like maybe if they went and did physical activity one day, and it took two or three days for this swimmer's tail to take effect, that is possible, but typically it's a pretty quick thing,
So we'll talk about the signs and then we're also going to discuss some of the differentials or basically other problems that this could be. The most common thing that I see that makes me think of swimmer's tail is just their whole tail just hangs limp, like it just lays down from the base of their tail all the way down.
Most dogs have some sort of curl to their tail, whether that's that they just hold it up and their tail kind of curls over their back, or if their tail goes down, but it curls at the end of the tail as well like a little hook. Either way, they usually have some sort of curl to their tail.
So when I see it, it's very, very limp, but just not moving, to me that's a good indication that we have something going on there. Most dogs also have a wag to the tail when they get excited, especially like when they're excited when they come in because a new person comes into the exam room, [00:06:00] they get really excited.
They'll wag their tail, and so I just don't see them doing that. That's not all dogs, though. Obviously, some dogs are very nervous, so they're not going to wag their tail when I walk in.
That's another big thing for pet parents to be thinking about is when they're just like not wagging their tail at home. Just some of those things that you should be thinking about when you see that your pet might be whining or crying when they're uncomfortable.
That's the most common thing that I'll see when they come into the ER is that they just can't move their tail. And in some dogs it's not going to be as drastic and might be just that part of their tail. The closest part of the tail to the body is called the base of the tail.
That base of the tail is held out normally, like horizontally, while the rest of the tail just hangs down. And that's exactly what I saw when I saw Hunter that Labrador who came in. That's the first thing that clued me into him is that he had his tail horizontal and then the rest of it just hanging down.
It can be even more cryptic than that, though. It could be that their tail just doesn't want to wag like it [00:07:00] still curls normally, but just doesn't want to wag. Can you imagine going into your local ER and trying to explain that you're worried because your dog's tail just isn't wagging.
I'm sure it sounds a little bit crazy, but it really can be a problem. And I'm sure that's how Hunter's dad felt, when we just talked about the fact that he was just painful any time he'd sit. Other things that pet parents though might notice at home is that they have like pain over just the base of their tail.
Remember that's the part that's closest to the body. Their pet just might be lethargic. They might just whine or cry out when the muscles are moved or pushed on. They might start licking or chewing at the back end. Or they might have the fur on the base of their tail really raised. Those are all kind of indications that there might be something going on there.
These clinical signs though can be due to a number of different things. That's unfortunately a part of veterinary medicine is that it's not always straightforward. I can't ask my patients where exactly it hurts. I can't ask them what they were doing when they became injured. So I have to rely a lot on my physical exam and then [00:08:00] also The pet parents history as well.
Some pets can be really stoic when they're in the exam room with me. They're not going to show pain all the time when I'm pushing on certain areas, like pushing on their back or pushing on their tail. So it really does make a difference to me to hear what the pet parent sees at home. So that way we have a better idea of where they might be hurting when they're not showing me in the exam room.
Other differentials, though, are problems like the anal glands. They have glands that are right next to their anus and they release this like brownish grayish material and those can become impacted. Which I've talked a little bit about before when I talked about abscesses, but they can be painful.
They'll chew on that area. So it makes it look like, this could be a tail problem when it might be an anal gland problem. Fleas could be another big one that could be causing this chewing and this yelping, especially in the back end area, which I'm sure Dr. Z will touch on in a couple of weeks when we talk to her about fleas. [00:09:00] But they could have some sort of trauma to the tail as well.
Maybe they whacked it on the corner of something, some dogs are super happy and they get something called happy tail. They smack their tail on things constantly. So it could be that we have that. Or maybe they got their tail shut in a sliding glass door or in a regular doorway, something like that.
They could also have some sort of spinal disease. Something called Cauda Equina or IVDD, which I'll put on the list for future podcasts for us to talk about. So don't worry about that. But they might even have things like an abscess on the tail, which we've talked about before so you can go back and listen to the abscess episode, or the other thing might be cancer on the tail.
That might be something that we don't see externally. It might be something we have to see internally, like on the bone. I usually ask open ended questions first. Do you know of anything that could have happened? What was your dog doing yesterday or the day before or today?
And then I have to start asking like more specific questions. Is it possible that they could have gotten out of the yard? Cause then I'm going to be looking about [00:10:00] trauma. Did they go swimming or did you take them hunting recently? Cause then I'm going to be more thinking about, things like trauma or swimmer's tail, but remember all of this list of causes. So when I asked our lab, Hunter's, dad though, he said that they did go hunting a couple of days ago, and he seemed pretty tired the next day.
He just chalked that up to the fact that he was just getting older and it was harder for him to recover now after such an exciting day. But my top differential then became that it was swimmer's tail. So can I rule out other possibilities? No, unfortunately not. But those are lower on my list, just from getting his history and also seeing what Hunter's tail looked like.
So how are we going to diagnose this then? There is no test to diagnose this, unfortunately. It's mostly going off of pet parent's history, my physical exam, and also differentials as well. So what if Hunter had not gone hunting a couple days before? What if he had had just a very normal couple of days lounging around on the couch?[00:11:00]
My next steps would be to perform radiographs, also known as x rays. I would generally do radiographs at least of the tail. Sometimes the hips, like I'll have a lot of people ask me, can you get some x rays of the hips as well? The only problem with that is that the tail is really skinny. It's like really tiny, right?
And their hips are a lot wider. So that decreases the detail of what we get, so if I get just the tail, I'll get a lot more detail of the tail, so I can look for those finer things, like air trapped underneath the skin, or those tumors or something of the bone, versus if we do the hips and the tail, I'll get a lot more detail of the hips and a lot less detail of that tail.
So it just depends as to like, what we're looking for as to whether we can do the hips and the tail, or if it's just going to be the tail and the hips separately, if that's what's needed. lIke I said, we can't look for swimmer's tail on radiographs, but I am looking for other things like fractures of the tail. Dislocations of each [00:12:00] one of the little vertebrae of the tail. And sometimes I can even, like I said, see air underneath the skin. And that kind of clues me into that there's some sort of wound that's there that I might not have been able to see because they have so much fur. So with Hunter, they did perform radiographs to make sure that there was not something that he had injured himself on while he was hunting.
Because he could still injure himself while it's cold out and he's doing excessive activity, right? And luckily, I didn't see any signs of trauma on his radiographs.
So now, how are we going to treat this disorder? This is mostly just time to heal, and doing other things to try to help keep our pups comfortable.
So for Hunter, I prescribed a couple of medications. If you've ever thrown out your back, you probably know some of these. And I'm not gonna go into the specific names of each medication, just kinda in general, what these medications do. The first thing I'm usually gonna prescribe is something for pain specifically.
I wanna make sure that every time he sits down, it's not so painful for him. The second thing is going to be an anti inflammatory. Those muscles have a lot of [00:13:00] inflammation in them right now, and I want to bring down that inflammation. So we have an anti inflammatory. And then the third one is going to be a muscle relaxer.
This is the one that usually people who have back problems are very familiar with, because your muscles are so tense and so tight, like you cannot relax, and it just creates more pain. So I want to relax those muscles so that way they can be able to heal. So our goal here is to help control the pain and keep the pet comfortable so that their own body can heal it.
None of those medications are specifically going to heal that, besides like bringing the inflammation down, but really it's just giving them time to be not as painful. They may not be pain free and that's not necessarily our goal. Our goal is to be less painful while they're healing.
So let's talk about some of the things that you can do at home as well. So first thing is to have a really comfortable place for them to rest. Just like when, again, you get hurt, you throw out your back or something, you want a really comfortable bed to rest in, right? They're gonna need the same thing. They're gonna [00:14:00] need a comfortable bed or a comfortable space to be able to rest in.
We don't really want to put them in a smaller kennel. Make sure they have a really big kennel if they do get kenneled. So if that way that their tail isn't pushing on the kennel or anything, that's just gonna cause a lot more pain. The next thing that you can do is to do some ice or some heat.
Ice and/or heat, for these like the biggest thing to remember is that you should be able to hold it on your skin, without it causing any pain to you to make sure it's not going to cause burns and stuff to them. In human medicine even it's like debatable as to whether you should do ice first or heat first or do ice for 24 hours and then alternate ice and heat or do you only do heat.
I mean there's so many different opinions that you're going to get. For me, I am really big into just making sure that they are going to be comfortable. So if that means that they do not like ice, don't put ice on them, put warmth on them. If they do not like the warmth, put the ice on them, which everyone is going to make them more comfortable.
[00:15:00] So it's hard to tell with them because again, they can't talk to us. They can't tell us whether they'd say that that's like too painful to put ice on them. So really you'll be able to figure out when you do that, which one that they're going to be more comfortable with. I'd say most pets are more comfortable with heat, but some dogs have just like really thick coats.
They prefer not to have that heat and want to have that cooling agent instead. But it should be for about five to ten minutes, two to three times a day, at least just to try to help reduce some of that swelling and also help with the pain for them as well. One last thing, which I think is the hardest thing to do, is to avoid excitement.
So the more excited they are, the more their tail wags, right? This is just part of their nature. They're really happy to see you when you get home, or when people come over, and they just want to play. Especially when we've made them feel better with the medications and with the icing and stuff like that.
So it's hard to say how long this usually is going to take for each pet to feel better. It really just depends on that pet, but I'd say the average recovery [00:16:00] for this is about 2 to 24 days. I'd say most of them are usually recovered within the first week, but can be a little bit longer for some other ones and that's okay.
Lastly, we're going to discuss how to prevent this. Prevention is always the key, right? Keep them in a bigger kennel so that they'll have more room and they're not going to be squished and cause those muscles to hurt. If this is due to hunting or having more activity than you're used to, then the best prevention is to slowly increase that activity leading up to it.
We kind of expect our dog sometimes to be ready to go when we are, because that's part of their instincts or because they used to be that active, we expect them to go from couch potato to go on a 12 hour hunting trip, and that's really hard on them. Again think about like us, if you used to run in high school, maybe you used to run track and field, or you used to run cross country, and then you don't do that for 10 plus years.
And suddenly in your 30s, if you were sitting on the couch to [00:17:00] the next day being like, I'm going to go run a 5k. You're probably gonna be hurting a lot and you may or may not finish that as well. So we can't really expect that from our pets either. Like we have this thinking that they should be able to do that.
I'm guilty as that is that as well. I've definitely been like, all right, we're going to go on our eight mile hike because I haven't gotten to do that in a couple of months. So really, it's just getting them slowly into it. So increase their activity over time slowly, just to try to help to get them conditioned for this.
If it's due to hunting trips, you don't have to go hunting with them each time, but maybe it's playing fetch or going on short runs or something to just try to help them build up to it slower. All right that's it about swimmers tail. Hopefully everyone can recognize those signs, know what to do, and can help prevent this from occurring.
One question I do get is, will this happen again? And that's not necessarily if you do those things to help prevent that from happening, just by like slowly increasing activity, they [00:18:00] may never have it again. Or maybe you just get a bigger kennel and they don't have it again. But if we do this every year that we go from like couch to hunting for a full day. Then yeah, it might happen again.
All right, let's talk about our animal facts now. So today I decided to do an animal that kind of lives inside the water as well because we're doing swimmer's tail, right?
We're going to be talking about the Chinese giant salamander. So it's actually the biggest amphibian in the world, which is crazy. They're also known as baby fish, like literally like a baby fish, because they produce a sound that is very similar to a baby's cry. These guys are anything but a baby though.
These guys have been around since the dinosaurs, like they were there with the dinosaurs, saw them go, and have now, lived on past them, and can grow to nearly six feet in length. That's pretty crazy for a salamander. These creatures are really interesting, though. They [00:19:00] live underwater, but they don't have any gills.
So when you think about a lot of underwater animals, they either have to come up to the surface to be able to get oxygen, or they have to have gills to be able to filter out the water to get the oxygen out of it, right? But these guys actually absorb oxygen through their skin and because of this they have to live in like really fast flowing rivers so that way they can get as much oxygen passing their skin as possible. Their coloring kind of allows them to do that though that camouflages them at the bottom of these rivers because they're like this greenish gray color with really small eyes.
They're definitely not adorable to look at but they obviously their looks have gotten them this far from the dinosaurs to here right so that's pretty impressive. Unfortunately, though, these guys are really critically endangered. There was once they were very revered animals, but in the 1970s, they started being poached for their exotic meat.
People were really excited about exotic meats. And then it was also used in some traditional medicine as well.[00:20:00] There are salamander farms that they've created they usually will poach them from the wild and then bring them to these farms for most of them and a lot of those will go for $1500 per salamander.
Some of the farms though do try to send a lot of those salamanders back into the wild. The problem with that though is they carry a lot of different viruses and diseases that the wild salamanders have never been exposed to, which kind of kills off more wild salamanders, unfortunately.
And these guys have become really exceedingly rare. So in some places where they were known to frequent, people haven't seen them for over 20 years. So there are many other interesting things about these guys. Like you definitely should look them up. I think they're really cool. Yeah, there's, there are not very many giant salamanders in the world.
There are like the Japanese one that is smaller than this one. And in the U. S. we do have one, but it is much, much smaller than, than a six foot salamander for sure. Alright that is it [00:21:00] for today, my friends. Next time, we're going to be talking about what you should do if your pet is having vomiting or diarrhea, just kind of like some of the things you should watch for, things that you can do at home as well.
We're also going to have Dr. Z back on in a couple weeks to talk to us about fleas. You might be wondering why we're talking about fleas in the winter, and don't worry, she will fill us in on that. And then we're also going to be talking to a couple people from the Humane Society in a couple of weeks.
I'm really excited about that as well. So hit that subscribe button so you can make sure that you don't miss out on those things. As always, keep your pet happy, healthy, and safe. Thanks guys.
Thank you guys for listening this week. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or you just want to say hi, you can email me at Suggs, S U G G S @ VetsplanationPodcast.com or visit the website at VetsplanationPodcast.com or find us on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok at Vetsplanation. Thank you all for listening and I'll see you back here next week.[00:22:00]