Sorry if this is a bit long - spent most of the day yesterday at the vet’s office after waking up to a normally active dog who would not get up off the floor. The day before (Sunday) was a relatively normal day for Tango (almost 5-year-old GSD) – he chased his ball and did most of his usual activities without much that seemed out of the ordinary.

Yesterday morning, when I finally helped him into a standing position, he stood very awkwardly with his back end arched up in an odd way. He was reluctant to walk and it seemed his back legs were very painful for him although he never yelped or whined. I ended up carrying him into the vet’s office.

I assumed this would be a structural problem (a vertebra or something with his hips) – Tango has HD with his right hip being worse than his left but has never shown much in the way of signs of pain or reluctance to go up stairs, run, jump, etc… His gait however has always been abnormal.

To make a long story short, after taking about six X-Rays with various different views the vet noticed what appeared to be an enlarged portion of the small intestine. Gave him barium and did another x-ray about two hours later and it looked the same. I am scheduled to bring him back in today for another x-ray – if it looks the same we will have to make a decision about surgery to remove the possible obstruction.

This morning he acted much more normal (got up on his own and was able to get around without as much trouble). If anyone has had a similar experience or has an idea of what might be causing this or any other possibilities please post. Thanks.

No experience but I'll be thinking of you and Tango!

Thank you Jennifer. I am off to the vet's in a few minutes...

Keep us posted please!

 Quote: mike bishop

vet noticed what appeared to be an enlarged portion of the small intestine. Gave him barium and did another x-ray about two hours later and it looked the same. I am scheduled to bring him back in today for another x-ray – if it looks the same we will have to make a decision about surgery to remove the possible obstruction.

Hi Mike, poor Tango! I know how frustrating mysterious diagnoses are... been there waaay too many times!

Was just wondering, anything out of the ordinary with this dog's bowel movements? When was the last time he had a poop? Was it normal? Bad obstructions will have an effect on "normally scheduled programming"...

~Natalya

****Crossing fingers for Tango.****

Its great that you noticed a problem and got him to the vet.

Natalya – his bowel movements had been a bit off but not enough to cause me much concern. Over the last few days I had noticed some subtle behavioral changes which I attributed to his hips bothering him (not quite as eager to run, a little less excited about food, etc&hellip. On Saturday I went out and bought him some glucosamine hoping that would help.

Anyway, I just got back from the vet’s office so for those of you interested in this kind of thing here (in brief) is what happened. They took another x-ray to determine if there had been any change and there was a very remarkable difference from yesterday’s x-rays. Today’s x-ray looked much closer to normal.

It appears that a section of his small intestine had overlapped on itself – the outer portion folding over the inner portion causing pretty severe distention (hence the pain and, oddly, the crippling of the rear legs). The affected section was about 5 inches long and was probably 3-4 times the normal size (it looked like a balloon). They do not know what causes this to occur but the vet told me that they recently had to euthanize a dog because of complications from this condition.

I never would have imagined his symptoms could have been caused by an intestinal problem (he had rear-leg weakness to the point of being unable to walk or even stand up without help yesterday). Right now he is on the mend but the vet says that it can happen again and in cases where it doesn’t correct itself it may require immediate surgery.

Anyway, huge relief and thanks to all for the replies.

Wow, really glad to hear he's ok, but what a scary thing... with the potential for much greater complication I'm SO glad you got him into the vet and could be monitoring this - good work! I don't blame the poor boy for not being able to walk with such awful abdominal pain - a lot of women will attest to how debilitating cramps can be, but I'm sure a twisted, swollen intestine was even worse!

Did your vet have a name for this intestinal overlapping?

~Natalya

Intussusception can indeed recur, now that the intestine has gone this route once.

From what I understand, the possibility of recurrence is largely based on what caused the initial event. Did the vet have any idea at all about cause? (There are several.)

How old is the dog?


P.S. Lucky lucky dog that you were alert and that the vet saw it. A huge "whew."

Sounds like an intussusception. Hard to believe it resolved on it's own. Lucky, lucky lucky!