Dog slowing down

[Crazydoglady1980]

I’ve got a 7 year old hienz 57 (he looks like a Jack Russell and we think there is Westie and Yorkie in the mix).
In the summer I noticed that he was starting to slow down on walks, (this started about 5 - 10 mins into walk, so a short distance) he was starting to walk behind us instead of pulling in front, so I started him on yumove on the advice of the vet. This seemed to help and he was back to his usual self until the beginning of November when he started slowing down again and was carrying his left hind leg at times during our walks. He has no difficulty jumping up and down off the sofa or running about when playing.
I took him back to the vets and he was prescribed metacam for two weeks, the lagging behind stopped again but he carried on carrying his leg at times on the walk. The vet has continued to prescribe the metacam and my dog has an X-ray booked for Tuesday. I’m assuming looking for arthritis.
Has anyone had any experience of this? I’m not sure that it is arthritis because it’s only on walks he is affected, but not sure what questions I should be asking of the vet or what other things I should be looking at. Any advice would be appreciated

Have they ruled out patella lunatics and crucial ligament rupture these would be in my top three considerations for a7 year old JRT.

They haven’t ruled anything out yet. I’ll have a look at those so I can talk to the vet about them. Thank you

A friend's dog did this, a bit younger, and it turned out to be kidney disease. It's worth getting a blood test.

Thank you @Spanielsarepainless

Ah it’s so stressful when our
little family members aren’t well. It’s likely something that can be fixed.

Luxating patella, where the knee slips out of the groove or a torn/ strained cruciate ligament are likely what they are looking for with intermittent holding of the back leg. Both are treatable, maybe surgically, maybe not - see what the vet advises.

7 isn’t old for a terrier, mine have all made at least 14 and a couple 16.
Hope he gets on well and he has many years of healthy life ahead of him.

@GoneToday Thank you, it is worrying but hopefully you are right 🤞🏻
As you said he is still young for a terrier.

I've got a 14 yo blind deaf and diabetic terrier wh still pulls like a loon when we go out. He sounds young to be slowing down, more investigation needed.

I would be asking about luxating patella, hip dysplasia and cruciate tears at that age - it could be arthritis but he's still young and doesn't sound like a big dog.

Cruciate issues were my first thought.
Hope you get some answers.