Lower back pain?

[Kaitee and Orwell]

Hey all,

I had an interesting Thanksgiving yesterday to say the least. At about 1 am Orwell woke up and started pacing my room trying to get comfortable. He would try the bed for about 5 minutes, then the floor and repeat the process until 4:30 am when I finally decided to let him out. I took him out two times to go potty because I thought that might be the issue since sometimes he does get up around 1 am to go potty.

Of course, all of the worst things possible start running through my mind so I call the emergency vet and they were concerned he had bloat even though I am careful to take precaution to prevent that with him and his abdomen didn't appear to look any different than normal. He was a little burpy too, but never threw up. He wasn't as thrilled about food as he normally is, but he did eat. I got an x-ray just to make sure nothing was wrong in his abdomen, and sure enough nothing was. He has been a good boy since his obstruction surgery 2 years ago and I watch him like a hawk.

He did however show discomfort when the vet was examining him on his lower back. He did pull something in his leg a couple days ago while we played in the back yard, but he walked it off like he normally does. It's happened a couple times in his life so I made sure he was okay and he seemed fine until 1 am on Thanksgiving.

I hope he heals on his own. He is doing a lot better with the Tramadol they prescribed him. But, does anyone have any experience with lower back pain in your doodles? I never thought he'd hurt his back because he is proportioned extremely well.

How can you make them more comfortable? He did pretty good last night and he has a little more pep in his step today, but you can tell he is still not his normal self.

[Stella]

Keep him quiet, short walks, no jumping on / off things, gentle heat can help. If you have a qualified canine rehab professional in your area it might be worth an assessment if he is still sore after another couple of days.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Kaitee, I am so sorry Orwell is hurting.  I don't have experience with backs so have nothing to offer other than my wishes for a speedy recovery.

[Kaitee and Orwell]

Thanks guys. I just tapered him off to one Tramadol every 12 hours as instructed and so far he is doing well and is acting like his normal self. My mom actually thinks she knows what happened to him. Evidently while I was gone the night before Thanksgiving, Orwell and my brother accidentally ran into and startled each other. She said that Orwell yelped and skid across the wood floor downstairs. 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

At least you now have a probable explanation for why Orwell has the symptoms.  That is really helpful.