A Tale About Nox’s Tail

November 3, 2021

Nox loves to run up the stairs to get into the RV.

We have Nox wait at the bottom of the stairs so we can get the door open and then we allow her to run up the stairs into the RV. We do this so we can open the door without knocking her in the head or body as the door swings out.

On October the 26th, after our evening walk, Nox didn’t wait at the bottom of the stairs instead, she ran up the stairs to the top step. That meant Bruce couldn’t open the door without hitting Nox’s head.

We have trained Nox to back up when we say “Back, back”. Bruce told Nox, “Back, back” and she backed up one step without any problems. She then tried to back up another step and went over the side of the steps and landed on her bottom, almost as if she sat down off the steps. I saw her start to fall, but I wasn’t able to catch her. Nox made a little yip and wanted to be picked up and carried inside.

I carried her inside once Bruce had the door unlocked. Nox wanted to be held and she snuggled into my arms. We looked her over and she seemed to be fine.

The next day, as we were getting the RV ready to move, I realize that Nox was not able to lift her tail. I thought at first she was just nervous about all the activity. When I took her for a walk, I realized she couldn’t lift her tail. She also managed to get the leash wound around her backside with the tail caught between the leash and her body. She cried because it hurt.

Once we had moved the RV into the new location, we called her vet. The vet determined a problem with Nox’s tail was not an emergency and set up an appointment for Nox on November 2nd.

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By Friday, Nox was lifting her tail up a little bit. She was holding it even with her back, but still no curl to her tail. She couldn’t wag it normally either.

By Sunday, she was lifting her tail into a curl on and off. She was still not wagging it normally. Since she seemed to be recovering, we debated if she needed to still see the vet, but agreed that she should see the vet, just in case.

On November 2nd, we took Nox to the vet. Once Nox realized where she was, she started shaking. She didn’t want to get on the scale, but was a good girl and sat on it when told. She weighs 11.6 pounds. We took turns holding her while she shivered with fright while we waited for the vet.

The vet poked and prodded Nox and then told us nothing was broken. The vet said Nox has some bruises and her condition was similar to swimmer’s tail. Nox relaxed as soon as her examination was complete. She still wanted to be held, but she stopped shivering.

I had never heard of suimmer’s tail, so the vet explained that swimmer’s tail is a condition that happens when a dog strains the muscles used to wag the tail. Labradors get this when swimming, as they love to swim and wag their tails in the water because they are so happy to be in the water swimming. This causes muscle strain on the muscles used to wag the tail and the next day they can’t wag their tails because it hurts from the muscle strain.

The vet prescribed something for the pain and said Nox should be a lot better by the end of the week.

This morning, Nox is curling her tail high over her back and wagging normally. I did see her drop her tail several times today, but Nox appears to be well on the road to recovery.