Rottweiler with a stiff neck?

My 7 year old rottweiler randomly get what appears to be a stiff neck. His head stays turned slightly to one side and he cannot turn it the other way. It also makes him walk around in circles, or at least he can only really walk in one direction. He doesn't seem to be in any pain and I can rub his neck without him seemingly be bothered by it. It has probably happened 3 or 4 different times over the last year or so.

He also has a very large fatty tumor on his stomach which the vet is not concerned about, and Cerveza doesn't even seem to know it exists - I don't think there is a connection but wanted you to know about the tumor. Thanks, any insight would be greatly appreciated.






Hi
I'm afraid I'm not a veterinarian and this isn't something I've had personal experience with, so I would definitely recommend that you talk to your veterinarian about your dogs symptoms as he/she should be able to give you much more help than I can.

However I believe there are a whole host of possible causes for the stiff neck you mention, and I personally doubt that it is related to the fatty tumor. These types of tumors or cysts are fairly common, usually benign and can appear and disappear very quickly generally without causing any other symptoms.

The stiff neck could be due to a soft tissue injury, or an injury to, or degenerative changes of, the spinal column and vertebrae. It could be a neurological issue or a neuro-muscular one, or possible a form of 'Wobblers Syndrome' which is most often seen in large or giant breed dogs and onset usually appears in Rottweilers and Dobermans somewhere around this age, rather than when they're puppies.

Only a veterinarian can make an accurate diagnosis and get the right treatment started, so I'd just suggest having your vet examine Cerveza fairly soon so that you can find out what's going on. Best of luck, hope he's doing much better soon.