Health problems in older whippet

[Philo]

Percy my Whippet is 10 in August. Recently out walking he hurt his foot. The Vet had to cut two of his claws back as they had cracked. Since then he has balance problems, doesn't like stairs etc., and weakness in his hind quarters. He just isn't his normal self, and is sleeping a lot.

 

[Raven oaktree]

I would take him back to the vets . I could be that his foot is painful so he dosent want to put his full weight on it, this would make him unstable so things like stairs could be scary for him if he feels alittle unsteady. Best getting him checked though incase the nerve has been damaged or there is any infection.

 

[eingana]

I think it's very likely that the injury to his foot included a sprain of one ligament or another, and ligament takes longer to heal than bone even in a young and healthy dog, so it's likely that he's still getting some pain and instability in that foot. He will be favouring that foot, which if it's a back foot will have hugely affected his balance and ability to use stairs and other very high impact actions.

It's also an under-recognised fact that pain makes you very sleepy, so if he is still healing then that is normal.

You didn't say how long ago the injury happened or whether your vet had already diagnosed some sort of ligament/soft tissue injury as part of the fall, but if you speak to any human who is recovering from a sprained ankle you'll find that they still have pain and instability in that ankle months after the injury happened.