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What causes hind leg weakness and difficulty peeing in my senior dog?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Goldendoodle | Female | spayed | 12 years and 3 months old | 55 lbs

We have a 12-13 year old Golden Doodle and recently she has been having problems with using her back legs. It's very hard for her to swat to pee and poop. In fact she primarily just walks as she doing it. It's hard for her get up and down. Also, she has pooped in the house twice, having never done this before. Started giving her glucosamine, and vet gave her meds for a week and said should take care of it. It's getting worse. Suggesting XRays. Just looking for second type opinion...

3 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Dr. Strydom, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on January 19th, 2018

Yes, I agree with your vet, x-rays are a good idea.

Glucosamine is fine to give but it is not likely to significantly impact her at this stage. It will not hurt anything but it probably won't help much.

If she has arthritis in her hips or spine then she likely needs long term therapy with NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatories like Rimadyl) and pain medication (like Tramadol or Gabapentin). The combination of these two types of medications works wonders for arthritis. She will need to be on them for the rest of her life.

If there is no arthritis then this could be a neurological issue which would need another type of therapy (mainly steroids like Prednisone).

The x-rays will help to narrow this down.

Hope this helps. Best wishes.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

Related Answers from Veterinarians

Answered By Andrea M. Brodie, DVM
Veterinarian
Published on July 24th, 2018
If Loki is an older dog she may be suffering from osteoarthritis of the hips, which would not be helped by her weight either. Her hips and joints likely are hurting which makes her unable to get up or she just does not have the strength to get up. She is in pain (the fact that the advil helped a bit....please do not give any more advil as dogs can get poisoned by it, or any other NSAID meant for humans). Pain also can cause her not to eat as can other health conditions. Please make an appointment with your vet for an exam. He will likely want to do a blood test to check her kidney and liver function and then can prescribe NSAIDs for dogs which will help your dog be pain free and willing to walk again.
As for not eating, there may be an underlying other cause, which can then be addressed by your vet as well.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Answered By Stacey Anstaett, DVM
Veterinarian
Published on April 11th, 2019
Unfortunately its very hard to interpret pictures of X-rays that have been uploaded; detail and subtle changes are difficult to appreciate. Having said that, I don't see anything in these X-rays that is terribly concerning to me. It may be that she does have some arthritis pain causing her occasional limp. Glucosamine supplements can be helpful. Cosequin is a great one , so is Glycoflex.
Physical therapy offered by a canine rehabilitation professional can be helpful for older dogs in terms of maintaining comfort, health, and mobility. Find someone here: https://www.rehabvets.org/directory.lasso
Acupuncture can also be really helpful for these guys. Ask your vet if they do acupuncture, or if they recommend anyone in particular. If not, find a veterinary acupuncturist here: https://curacore.org/find-a-practitioner/

I hope that helps! Thanks for asking PetCoach!
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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