It wasn't something you learned about in veterinary school. Old timers called it cold water tail because episodes most often were associated with wet and cold weather."
...The three most common causes for limber tail are climate changes, especially exposure to wet, cold weather, underconditioning or overexertion, and being confined in a crate for long periods of time," Steiss says. Veterinarians tend to see limber tail in sporting dogs during certain seasons. It commonly is seen in retrievers and pointers as they start back into heavier training in the fall or in young dogs out for the first time that come down with limber tail from overuse of the tail muscles."
Though limber tail is rare in the dog population as a whole, it is common in hard-training pointing and retrieving dogs and has been reported in Labrador, Golden and Flat-Coated Retrievers, English Setters, English Pointers, Beagles and Foxhounds.¹ Males as well as females are affected
...-ray images of the tails showed no fractures or other abnormalities of the spine. "This combination of findings - elevated CK with a normal X-ray - suggested a problem that is muscular in nature, without involvement of the bony structures of the tail," Steiss says.
Other testing included thermography, a special heat-sensing camera that detects differences in an animal's body temperature. This identified one of the most striking abnormalities," Steiss says. "Dogs affected with limber tail showed significant 'cold zones' in their tails several inches from the tail base. Temperatures in the affected portion of the tail were 2 to 3 degrees Celsius cooler than normal. These cold zones likely represent local areas where swelling after the injury has caused a decrease in blood flow."
Electromyography (EMG) was used to assess the electrical impulses conducted by nerves passing through a select group of muscles. "Abnormal electrical activity was observed in the muscles of the base of the tail of dogs with limber tail," Steiss says. "Biopsies showed microscopic evidence of muscle damage. The muscle group most
severely affected was the intertransversarius ventralis caudalis. These are the muscles used in lateral flexion (side-to-side motion) or wagging of the tail."
"Based on this study, we concluded that limber tail syndrome is associated with damage to the tail muscles," Steiss says. Ultimately, the results of the tests suggested that limber tail appears to be linked to a general condition called ischemia, meaning a lack of blood flow, and in this case to the muscles of the tail," Steiss says.
"The tail muscles are located in a small space surrounding the tail bones, and the entire tail has an outer layer of dense connective tissue. Because bone and dense connective tissue are inflexible tissues, they cannot stretch to accommodate the swelling of the muscle," she explains. "From the pointer who completes a lengthy weekend hunt or field trial to the Labrador in a field trial or cold duck blind, each animal has an active tail and may experience injury to the tail muscles during or following exercise," she says.
"Because there is not room for the muscles to expand, they essentially become entrapped by a natural tourniquet, resulting in decreased blood flow. So, limber tail may be a type of compartment syndrome," Steiss says. "Without normal amounts of oxygen-rich blood, muscle cells start to degenerate. This causes.the pain and dysfunct
about my Ace face. He is normally always wagging his tail, has it sticking up in the air and is always so full of life. The last couple of days, his tail has been done, almost between his legs. He will wag it some, but won't stick it up in the air. His tail used to go crazy and would always hit things when he wagged it. I'm worried. Is it broken, sprained or is this normal in Basset Hounds? He is still pretty young, just turned 3 about 2 weeks ago.
