Random yelping?

Every 2-3 days or so our 13-week-old Blenheim has seemingly random yelping moments. Not sure if we need to be concerned so I thought I'd ask here for advice.

He could be lying down quietly, or just taking a jaunt across our living room, when out of nowhere he yelps a couple of times as if in pain, sometimes running to his 'comfort spot' but always reaching for either his hind leg or tail to nibble/lick. Literally 5 seconds later though, he's back to his normal self.

We have a vet visit next Saturday so we'll definitely ask then, but I just wanted to make sure this isn't something that requires immediate attention....

Lucky used to do this too. It's almost as if something scares them back there....didn't ever seem to be anything wrong.

His hips and knees and everything else are fine, I'm not too sure why it happens.

Let us know what the vet says.

Puppy yelping ?

I can think of many reasons why a dog will do such a thing, including a 'flea' , something hanging from backside, glands or even a piece of food stuck to the belly.

The latter happened to me last week. A 9 month old puppy went mad in the kitchen, checking himself over and spinning around. He really was going crazy !

The answer was indeed a piece of 'pasta' stuck to his fur underneath and he could not work it out.

The slightly alarming bit about your scenario, is the regularity of the event which would warrant more immediate action if I was you.

Fingers crossed and please update us as and when you can.

Regards Mark.

My Rosie used to do this as a pup, at the time I was really worried about the yelping. It turned out to be her anal glands. She is 3 now and still suffers with her anal glands but the yelping she only did as a pup. The vet will soon know if that’s what it is.

Molly did this from about 9 weeks, I found this quite alarming, the vet thought it was her anal glands, eventually it turned out to be her knee (Luxating Patella), she didn't have to be running around she could just move slightly and it would cause her a sharp pain. I would start with getting all her joints checked and of course her anal glands as this breed do tend to have this problem too. Please let us know how you get on.

ask the vet to check the anal glads, harleys used to get blocked often and seems to have got better as he got older (now 3) i would def say they are causing discomfort. di

Yelping is a sign of something being wrong. You are right; it is not normal for a dog to cry out like this, and you need a thorough check-up by your vet. If your vet can find absolutely nothing obvious wrong, then you an your vet need to be aware of the incidence of syringomyelia in the breed:

www.smcavalier.com

as one of the common early symptoms is yelping for no obvious reason where a vet can find nothing that is seemingly causing the distress. At the same time it would be really unusual for a young pup to show symptoms so it is very likely something else -- you have had some good suggestions from previous posts in the thread . Nonetheless puppies as young as 8 weeks have shown symptoms and diagnosed by three months, so you do need to at least be aware and be sure your vet is also aware (many are not) -- any wise and caring owner will remain on top of breed health issues and know what special concerns may be there.

But please do not delay in having this checked though, as something is definitely distressing your dog (as Mark notes, the regularity and duration is what is of special concern and indicates it most likely is not something as simply as something stuck to fur). Yelping with no obvious cause should ALWAYS be investigated as a possible sign of SM if a vet cannot find a cause -- in such a case, anyone seeing this type of sign really needs a referral to a neurologist once all other possibilities are eliminated, as I know no one would want their dog to be suffering the sometimes severe neurological pain that may not be obvious as a cause of pain to a vet or owner.

Let us know what your vet says; hope this is something simple like anal glands. :flwr:

This happened my my dog Rubin also. He started randomly letting yelps out of him and we took him to the vets and his anal glands were full and starting to hurt him but that wasnt the reason for his yelps. The vet found out that our little one has a blocked valve and every now and then he'd get a gushing of blood through him which caused the sudden pain and yelp from him. This probably will not be the cause of your dogs pain but it helps to get the vet to check him over everywhere because now we have Rubin on medication for this valve which is helping him and he hasnt been in pain since.

Well, we went to the vet yesterday, and described his symptoms. She expressed his anal glands, but said that they weren't really more full than average. Overall she didn't think that it's SM so right now the 'cause' of his random yelping is still up in the air *fingerscrossed*. He hasn't had any 'attacks' this weekend yet, but we'll monitor closely.

He's a handsome litle lad isnt he? Hope he's ok now.

What a handsome pup:lotsaluv:

I hope that he doesn't have anything wrong!

Heather R

He is a gorgeous little pup.
On a more serious note, what did the vet say she thinks it could be?
If it keeps happening I would get a second opinion.

Sabby said:

He is a gorgeous little pup.
On a more serious note, what did the vet say she thinks it could be?
If it keeps happening I would get a second opinion.

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She mentioned he might be trying to get attention, which I think is very unlikely based on what I've observed. She also said the anal glands could be a possibility, even though they weren't too full. The other thing I'm thinking it might possibly is little pieces of dried poop stuck to the hair around his bottom or tail. We try to clean him up with baby wipes each time after he poops, but there have been times that we've missed a spot or two.

Well that response would only make me reiterate: if he keeps doing it, I'd see another practice and get an informed second opinion from someone familiar with the breed and its potential health issues. There's a big difference between barking for attention and yelping in pain/discomfort. I do not think this could be dried poop -- maybe that might happen once but not repeatedly to such an extent to cause a dog to cry out. Anal glands would really need to be causing discomfort before a dog would cry out and puppies usually don't tend to have full anal glands.

It's hard to know -- but if it happens any more I'd see another vet.

Karlin said:

Well that response would only make me reiterate: if he keeps doing it, I'd see another practice and get an informed second opinion from someone familiar with the breed and its potential health issues. There's a big difference between barking for attention and yelping in pain/discomfort. I do not think this could be dried poop -- maybe that might happen once but not repeatedly to such an extent to cause a dog to cry out. Anal glands would really need to be causing discomfort before a dog would cry out and puppies usually don't tend to have full anal glands.

It's hard to know -- but if it happens any more I'd see another vet.

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Thanks Karlin, we'll definitely be keeping a close eye on the situation.