Need a second opinion about my dog..please

Hi there, just after some advice if possible. I have seen his vet about it but gave no advice apart from keep an eye on him at the time, so basically for no reason my dog has started acting different, his ear was twitching and he was walking off balance, he also doesn’t really want to run in and outside as he usually would, he is an older dog at nearly 10 but had no issues prior to this. Any ideas what could be causing this? I will contact his vet again when they open tomorrow just hoping for some other opinions really?

Hello!   I always start off with some preamble to this effect, but please be aware that your vet has far more information than I do about this case.  I am in no position to give a second opinion - we are not in that business here - rather, if you are dissatisfied with advice given to you by your vet, it is better to politely tell them (e.g. 'I don't really feel I've got anywhere to go here - could this be the start of something serious and should we be getting more tests done'?)   This should open up the dialogue that you need to hear.   More to come  

It sounds as though this could relative to pain, to neurological change or to extreme tiredness - there are a lot of directions in which this case could develop.  Walking off-balance for example, could be a sign of vestibular disease or of lameness or of ear-ache or even something like mites.  Obviously your vet has seen the patient and should therefore have more information.  Good questions to be asking them include:

What sort of things could be causing.... eg. an uneven gait, reduced appetite and tiredness?  Can we make a list of possible things?  Which is the most likely story in my dog's case?  What can we do to find out?  What will happen if we just try to treat the symptoms?   ... and so on.  Please do let us know what you find out.

Please I am looking for some advice and this is the only forum titel that made any sense and I can't seem to figure out how to start my own thread.   My 11 year old lab pit Deuce seemed to hurt his hind leg yesterday jumping for a frisbie. Last night it seemed he could really not do much with his back right leg.  Today he seemed he could not really use either well enough to not collapse down to his butt.  I took him to his veterinarian and they took x-rays (attached) and could find nothing.  They feel there could be a spinal issue.  They prescribed 3x per day 300mg Gabapentin and 2x per day Novox.  They also talked about a 3 day steroid treatment and also the need for MRI's. I am looking for reassurance we are taking the right path as as they seemed very unsure what the issue was.  How long until something else needs to be done.  Will Deuce be ok in the end? They also started talking about quality of life which took me into a whole other form of nervousness. Will he ever recover?