Elderly dog dragging front right paw

Hi Vets, I have a 15yo Maltese shitzhu with various health issues including a progressive (grade 4) heart murmur, bad/infected teeth that can’t be operated on (discussed with vets this would be too risky on his heart) as well as arthritis. He’s on pimobendin for his heart and gabapentin for pain management for his arthritis & teeth. He was prescribed cerenia for the symptoms of his murmur (coughing/sneezing attacks) but as of late hasn’t needed it. I have noticed a slow progression with a little more obvious signs that one of his legs is going lame. He has been xrayed twice this year (he slipped a disc in his neck a couple months ago trying to be a puppy) and I’m going to guess this is also due to his arthritis. I have a video in id love to share but can’t hear. It’s of me walking him tonight which shows him dragging his paw as he walks, and he’s been falling more often as he has way less stability. My question is more comfort based for him (unless this is more serious than just his body aging through arthritis). What things can I or should I be doing to help him through this? Should I expect this will continue to progress or would more exercise help (he has been on limited activity while he has healed from his neck issues)? Would restarting cerenia help at all? Thank you !

Hello!   Let me start with the easy question about the drug;  as far as I know it acts on sickness centres in the brain - the mental urge and trigger to vomit, as it were.  This problem may originate in the brain, explaining why your vet thinks it may still be necessary, or perhaps they were thinking about tapering it off when the vomiting stopped, or only wanted to give it for a short period in the first place.  Whichever, it is a prescription drug which means that it would be illegal, especially for myself, to meddle with your vets instructions.  You need to speak to the vets who prescribed the drug, who have much more contact than I do, so that they can keep track of what is going on.

Given that you need to speak to your vet anyway, here are some questions that it would be helpful to ask them:   1) Why is my dog struggling with their stability?  (Most lameness is caused by pain eg arthitis, joint pain, as you identified.   However, some cases are called by underlying neurological conditions - the nerve not getting messages through to the leg - which need to be treated differently and may be progressive).

In fact, given that you mention neck issues, it may be likely that the lameness is neurological, perhaps even caused by an issue with the spine.  If so, this progression would be very significant - indeed, more significant that arthritis -and your vet would need to know about it.   I fully reccommend that you report the symptoms to your vet right away.  They may even turn out to constitute an emergency ( the condition may be triaged over the phone).

Wishing all the best to you and your old dog from here