Abdominal Muscle Cramp?

[cometdust1]

About a week ago, after my greyhound (Jeep) had been running in the dog park, He was lying down and suddenly jumped up doing the GSOD and looking very pained. It seemed to subside after a few minutes and I figured he just cramped up after running. 2 days later it happened again,he was also laying down this time, only this time it was more severe.He was trying to run away from the pain and kept turning around and biting near his penis, crying the whole time. I couldn't get near him until he calmed down a bit, he's not a biter in any way but this time he kept snapping at me because the pain was bad. I finally got the chance to check him and he had what appeared to be a balled up muscle about midway between his last rib and his penis just right of the midline of his abdomen. I checked the area about 1/2 hour later and it was back to normal.I felt no difference between the left and right side and he did not appear to have any tenderness to the area.He's been fine until late last night, it happened again. I felt the same lump, about 11/2 inches big. Again, it went back down on it's own. This morning, it happened again. It always occurs after he is lying down; it always resolves itself after a few minutes; and Jeep always seems fine after it happens. He had a dental on Monday and I don't know if they stretch them out on their back to do the dental; maybe that or coming out of anesthesia aggravated it again? I have not been running him to give it a chance to heal. Has anybody else had this happen to their hound? Could it be something else? Can they get hernias(other than umbilical which this is not)? Should I be concerned or just give it more time to heal along with continued restricted activity?

[GeorgeofNE]

I'd take him to the vet and have him looked over.

[inugrey]

If he's muscle cramping in the area you will probably see the muscles tensing up. My boy went through a period of cramps in his abdomen. If it is cramps I would make sure he is properly hydrated. Just make sure the water bowl isn't empty.

 

To get past the problem for Inu, I added potassium and calcium supplements to his diet including increasing water added to his food. In our situation it resolved quickly and after a few weeks of the added supplements, I took him off and we never had an issue again.

 

I learned about the supplements from a trainer who was on this board at the time.

[cometdust1]

I thought about potassium too. Iwas going to give him a banana every day.He's on fresh factors, I have to see how much potassium is in there. How much should be supplemented?He has free access to water and I add a decent amount of water to his food already to keep him from choking on it.

[Guest GreytOD]

Pepper had something similar as described above both with Jeep and Inu- He didn't have a ball but you could see the muscles tensing up. Of course it wouldn't do it while he was at the vet but they had us do potassium and calcium supplements with his food too. We'd give him a banana and two tums with his dinner. After a week or two with the supplements and no more incidents we've stopped the supplement unless he runs really hard that day and we haven't had any problems since.

[inugrey]

I honestly don't remember the amount of the supplement. I'll have to look at the bottle at home. The calcium was just Tums. I added it to make absorption of the potassium more efficient.

[cometdust1]

Thanks! I will try the banana and tums and see if it helps.