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Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / January 2008PLEASE I NEED SOME ADVICE
I have a nine month old standard poodle. about 4 months ago he started to get a little stiff. I just thought he hurt himself playing with the other dogs. within a day or two he got so bad he started to scream when he tried to lift his head up. ( he keeps his head tilted to the left) when we got him to his feet. We rushed him to the vet. They thought he may be having an alergy to his shots. or he had meningitis not sure if that is spelled right. He spent a week in the vets office. On high doses of steroids. He came home. was on steroids for a long time. we weened him off the meds. Within a week he was sick again. He is back on the steroids again twice a day. I have now noticed that in the evening when his meds are wearing off he gets stiff again. I give him his meds and by morning he can move freely. I am at a loss as to what to do for him. It is killing me to see him in pain. I have already spent a few thousand dollar on his treatments. The vet wants to keep him on steroids for the next six months. It seems like they are not working as well as they did in the begining. > I have a nine month old standard poodle. about 4 months ago he started > to get a little stiff. I just thought he hurt himself playing with the [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > to keep him on steroids for the next six months. It seems like they > are not working as well as they did in the begining. ........My sympathies. A horrible situation, especially without a diagnosis. What tests have been done? Any X-rays? Spinal taps? Neurological exam? Myelogram? Have you talked to the breeder? Is the dog eating well? There's too many things this could be without knowing what was done already and what the results were. Here's Cornell's results for neck pain in dogs: http://www.vet.cornell.edu/consultant/Consult.asp?Fun=F_Sign&spc=Canine&dxkw =&sxkw=neck_pain&signs=1-P20 .......I ran across this while searching for information on something else. Seems, though it happens mostly in middle aged dogs: GME: http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_granulomatous_meningoencephali.html http://www.vetinfo4dogs.com/dgme.html For this disease it depends on what kind of GME the dog has, but long term steroid use is common: http://www.animalmr.com/encephalitis_poodle_case_study.html http://www.acvr.org/activities/case_presentations/ctmri_march_2006.html Streptococcal meningioencephalitis is also a possibility. There's a good list of differntial diagnoses in this paper (including cervical disc disease): http://www.jaaha.org/cgi/reprint/35/5/417.pdf If your dog is going to be on high doses of steroids, ask for something to protect the stomach. Another possibility is cervical disc disease. This again usually occurs in older dogs. I wonder if your dog had an injury? Do your other dogs play rough with this pup? http://www.gcvs.com/surgery/interver.htm http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proceedings.plx?CID=WSAVA2005&PID=11224&O=Gen eric Wobbler's syndrome: http://www.cvm.uiuc.edu/petcolumns/showarticle.cfm?id=205 I wonder about getting a tick panel run. Hope you can find an answer. buglady take out the dog before replying I love having you buglady. You are a wealth of knowledge. You posted when my dog was not well and gave me great direction. It's great to having loving, caring folks in this scary world. Joyce and her shelter girl - Bandit. > I love having you buglady. You are a wealth of knowledge. ........Thanks, but it's mostly a matter of searching and knowing how to search. I ran across GME while searching for info on brain tumors. ,,,I certainly hope she can find some relief for this pup - 9 months is way too young for this kind of problem. :-( buglady take out the dog before replying Hopefully you live near a University that has a Vet School. That would be the next place to take him. Lots of good Vets really interested in unusual cases. Please keep us posted. >I have a nine month old standard poodle. about 4 months ago he started > to get a little stiff. I just thought he hurt himself playing with the [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > to keep him on steroids for the next six months. It seems like they > are not working as well as they did in the begining. Has your vet taken any xrays or done any bloodwork? Conditions to rule out include panosteitis, hypertrophic osteodystrophy, imune mediated polyarthritis, Lyme disease, and Anaplasmosis to list a few. I would hope that some diagnostics were done prior to just loading him up with corticosteroids. "Ladyvet" >I have a nine month old standard poodle. about 4 months ago he started > to get a little stiff. I just thought he hurt himself playing with the [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > to keep him on steroids for the next six months. It seems like they > are not working as well as they did in the begining. |
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