Back leg weakness in a young dog-now we don't know what it is
So we had a scary incident with Oskar, and I'm about to go to the vet this afternoon, but thought I'd see if anyone else has run into this.
Oskar was acting odd the other night. It was late, and I'd just got home, and he wasn't as effusive in his greeting as usual. Then I noticed he was systematically getting out his favorite toys (egg baby platypus for the record..he's had it a year and it is still his favorite) and laying down with it, but while he was looking for his toy, his tail was down. I thought something was up, because of that. He brought his toy over by me and laid down near me and was much more "clingy" than usual....like he had to be in physical contact with me. He just looked kind of scared.
Then he tried to get up and couldn't. He's always been slow to get up (which now worries me), but this time he tried, and his back legs collapsed under him twice, and his tail was down. We got him up with a towel, but he was scared and agitated, looking at his back legs....he couldn't keep them under him, and couldn't seem to control them. We got him to lay down, and palpated him--range of motion was fine, and though he was curious, he also clearly was in no pain. But also no control. He could stand but not walk easily. We went back and forth on the emergency vet (our place is like 5 times the cost of the regular vet and they take your credit card as you walk in the door, so I avoid it unless there is bleeding or severe pain or something clearly critical), but he wasn't in pain, and after about an hour, he was able to walk ok, though we noticed his toes were turned in a bit on the right side. We put him to bed then, and when he got up in the morning, he was walking ok, except for a very slight lag on the right side, and by the end of the day he was walking normally.
He was clearly alert the whole time, so I don't think it was a seizure. I think that the tail down was not just a sign of discomfort, anxiety now, but might have been something in the spine since the weakness in his legs was bilateral.
He's not even two. He'll be two at the end of May. He's 120 pounds, and could probably stand to lose 5 pounds (which will be a priority after this), but it seems more than just weight....
I'll let you all know what our vet says today, too, but it was super scary, and I really want to know what is going on with our big boy!
Oskar was acting odd the other night. It was late, and I'd just got home, and he wasn't as effusive in his greeting as usual. Then I noticed he was systematically getting out his favorite toys (egg baby platypus for the record..he's had it a year and it is still his favorite) and laying down with it, but while he was looking for his toy, his tail was down. I thought something was up, because of that. He brought his toy over by me and laid down near me and was much more "clingy" than usual....like he had to be in physical contact with me. He just looked kind of scared.
Then he tried to get up and couldn't. He's always been slow to get up (which now worries me), but this time he tried, and his back legs collapsed under him twice, and his tail was down. We got him up with a towel, but he was scared and agitated, looking at his back legs....he couldn't keep them under him, and couldn't seem to control them. We got him to lay down, and palpated him--range of motion was fine, and though he was curious, he also clearly was in no pain. But also no control. He could stand but not walk easily. We went back and forth on the emergency vet (our place is like 5 times the cost of the regular vet and they take your credit card as you walk in the door, so I avoid it unless there is bleeding or severe pain or something clearly critical), but he wasn't in pain, and after about an hour, he was able to walk ok, though we noticed his toes were turned in a bit on the right side. We put him to bed then, and when he got up in the morning, he was walking ok, except for a very slight lag on the right side, and by the end of the day he was walking normally.
He was clearly alert the whole time, so I don't think it was a seizure. I think that the tail down was not just a sign of discomfort, anxiety now, but might have been something in the spine since the weakness in his legs was bilateral.
He's not even two. He'll be two at the end of May. He's 120 pounds, and could probably stand to lose 5 pounds (which will be a priority after this), but it seems more than just weight....
I'll let you all know what our vet says today, too, but it was super scary, and I really want to know what is going on with our big boy!
Comments
I knew of an older rescue Jindo, who also had discoid lupus, who developed degenerative myelopathy.
P.S. I understand your hesitancy towards going to the ER vet. My first ER experience in SD consisted of two different people coming up to me and charging $500 (x 2) to my credit card before they would start looking at my dog.
And I should I did check to see if he had feeling in the legs, and he did (we would have taken him to e-vet immediately if he had not). But he couldn't control his back legs or his tail.
Unfortunately, Oskar's episode sounds too familiar for me. However, I doubt his problem is anywhere near as severe as Nola's (stroke brought on by a massive seizure and compounded by pressure in her brain from a tumour).
However, I did want to ask if there was any way that you (or your husband) might have given Bel's pheno dose to Oskar by mistake. (I did that once, gave Bella Nola's pheno and Nola Bella's thyroid meds, and while the results were not quite that dramatic, Bella did have some ataxia as a result of the accidental dose.)
Either way, I hope that it was a one time incident and that there is nothing wrong with Oskar from a neurological standpoint.
Oskar will be 2 years old at the end of May. His spine looks terrible. It probably was a pinched nerve that caused the weakness in the back legs.
Right now we're sort of sitting with the news, and figuring out what kind of conservative treatment can keep him mobile as long as possible. He needs to loose some weight. Walks--no running, no jumping--will be good, and always with a harness so there is no stress on his cervical vertebrae. Swimming would be good, but in NM, that's not an easy thing.
He was probably born with a weaker spine, and the body has been building up bone to help support him.
Of course, he likely will not have his full life span, given how bad of shape his spine is in already, but he's also still fairly flexible now, and not in pain, so he should have some more good years. As I told my husband, it's kind of like he's an old dog in terms of his spine. I remember when we looked at the xrays of my GSDs spine, and it looked like this, and he was 7 years old, and my vet said "he's too young for his spine to look like that" but now we're seeing the same thing, except that Oskar isn't even two.
At first, I thought it was just puppy clumsiness. Then we said "oh, he's just so tired at night." But when I told my vet about that, along with the problems in his back legs, he immediately thought it was a red flag, and that was the moment he said we for sure needed x rays right away. He said the the problem was Oskar's spine has never been strong, and so the hesitation we've been seeing is him trying to get his legs working.
I don't know that there's much that can be done once a dog has this condition, but I guess, now, if I saw a young put with that kind of hesitation consistently, I'd probably take them in and have xrays done sooner.
Ok, the info I can provide that may help you is Velvet Elk Antler - It's like a dream supplement for Kaia (and Ahi). Check this out: http://www.natraflex.com
Also, our vet does adjustments on Kaia for her back and it seems to really help her. She has studied canine chiropractic care.
This is so sad for such a young dog.
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I might have to order some for Saya to try.
You guys will be in my thoughts.
Hoping progression will ease up a bit with supplementation.
Snf