Sore chihuahua

Dr. Marie replied:

Poor Chevy. It sounds like he is quite uncomfortable.

The first thing I think about when I see a dog who has his tail down a lot is an anal gland issue. Do you know if the vet has checked them? It would be interesting to have the vet express his glands and then see if the problem goes away for a while. If it comes back after a short while then he may possibly even have an infection in there.

However, this shouldn't cause the praying position. The praying position often means that there is abdominal pain. Sometimes we can see this in pets with pancreatitis. However, dogs with pancreatitis usually do vomit and don't want to eat well so this doesn't make sense.

Any time a chihuahua type dog has some type of pain behavior I wonder about a back problem. If this were my case I might want to try a prescription anti-inflammatory medication such as Metacam, Rimadyl, Previcox or Deramaxx to see if it makes a difference. If so, there may be a mild back issue there. If it hasn't gone away completely after the medication is stopped then I'd want to take xrays.

You could also ask your vet about giving some famotidine which is a drug that is available over the counter at the pharmacy. If there is some mild abdominal cramping from time to time then this could possibly help.

I wish I could give you a more definitive answer but I can say that this is not normal to see.

I hope things are better soon!

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