Need some advice on how to proceed

I need some advice from the pug experts!!

About 6 weeks ago, Ichiro's tail suddenly started to droop. Like it was broken. The curl at the end is still there, but it does not curl over his back.

I thought he had an injury, so we went to the vet. She did xrays and could not see anything wrong. He is still walking, running, jumping, going up and down stairs. In general, acting like nothing is wrong. He pees and poops fine too. Even lifts his leg to pee. Except, the tail is still down.

When I try to lift it manually, I can tell it pains him.

He did 10 days of rimadyl, which seemed to help a bit, although the tail never lifted. We waited a few weeks, and then did another 14 days of rimadyl. Still nothing.

I don't know that I want to do xrays again. And, the vet has felt all over for any pain source. I got a second opinion as well - nothing conclusive.

Here's the advice part:

Do I accept that he just has a "broken" tail that will never curl?

Do I get another xray to see if anything has changed?

The doc offered to do the procedure where she injects him with dye and then xray, but that would require putting him under, which scares me.

So - I am stumped and indecisive. I don't want him in pain, and I want to treat whatever may be wrong, but I don't want to go crazy if it is just something that nothing can be done about

Is there some arthritis going on at the base of tail? I thought I'd read in the past that some pugs who get older and have arthritis can't curl their tails anymore.

I would accept it IF you know he's not in pain anymore. If you still think he's in pain (it hurts to curl it up), I'm thinking another round of X Rays? I don't know, it's hard to say but I'm thinking I'd try something else to see if you can get to the root of the problem, if he's in pain. Poor thing! Let us know how everything goes.

I think since you think he's still in pain, I'd try and get to the bottom of it. I'm not sure what other tests could be done, but I'd be more inclined to let it go if I thought it didn't bother him. I second the arthritis suggestion, I have also heard it can cause tails to droop, and it would make sense it'd be painful.

Thanks for the replies girls.

I am taking him back in to the vet today at 4. I'll talk with her about more xrays, possible arthritis, etc. I don't have a problem just giving him rimadyl long-term if that is all it takes.

I keep telling myself that if it was worse (i.e. a back problem), he would not be jumping, going up and down stairs, or lifting his leg to pee. Hmm!

I thought it was age that had Brooke and Garths tails down. They are not in pain.