Any vets? How can I tell if my dog is in pain?

[TracyK]

she's 14 and has had stick back legs for a year or so and somtimes loses her balance or slips on the wooden floor. Tonight though she is worse than I've ever seen her. Walking really slowly and staggering a lot. She hasn't eaten any dinner and has only drunk a little water and milk. She is walking her usual circuits out the conservstory, round the garden and back in the back door. I presume if she was in pain she would just lie down and whimper?
When should I call the vet out? I know I'll have to do it one day - but when is enough enough?

ok Tracy - will ask DP! He is currently feeding 4 children so do not want to distract him but will ask after bath!

DP is unsure what 'stick back legs 'are? presuming you mean stiff - he says it if she is losing balance and staggering sounds more like nerve dysfunction than arthritis which is usually not painful. He says take her to vet and she could get painkillers - does not think it sounds like 'enough is enough' time. Hope this helps!

Sorry not a vet, but my vet did say that a dog will lay down and whimper if in pain they are not normally the types to carry on.

Thanks girls - she seems a lot better this morning. We had to lie her down last night as she didn't seem able to lie down and would have wandered around the garden all night! She lay in the same postion for 4 hours not even lifting her head! Then after I went to bed - dh said she got up herself and moved around and got herself back down to lie. She ate her dinner and drank all her water/milk during the night - so maybe it was the heat??

when our dog got to that stage we decided that once she couldn't get up and move around under her own steam, "enough was enough".

I guess you can tell when they just look so sad and bewildered.

well she did look like that last night - but shes back to 'normal' this morning. tbh - I sometimes wish it was over and done with. Every morning I wake up and listen to see if I can hear her collar jangling - to see if she's made it through another night! Plus the heat is driving her (and me) mad.

our dog just couldn't get up one morning (or more precisely couldn't stay standing if we lifted her on to her feet - before that occasionally she couldn't get up but was fine once she was up an moving around) - that was the day we took her to the vet. She looked so sad and tired.