Oskar is much worse this weekend. He can barely get up, and is clearly confused and probably in pain but we have no idea where he is in pain. He is eating still, but he's acting like my GSD who died of cancer two years ago. It's really awful...it hit him so fast and he's like a very old, very sick dog right now.
On Thursday when we were in cleaning out his eyes, I asked about entropion and glaucoma. the latter of course can't be diagnosed easily outside of the optomistrist's tests, but the vet didn't see anything that made him suggest a trip to the optometrist. IN fact, Oskar seemed way better: after his eyes were cleaned out he seemed a little more chipper (not a lot but a little). There were no scratches on the cornea and things seemed ok. He's got some eyedrops which have kept his eyes a bit clearer and probably more comfortable--he's not scratching at his face today. The vet was a bit puzzled by the irritation, but thought he'd either got something in his eyes from digging or he was having a very severe allergic reaction to something.
We also thought the antihistamines were making him very tired.
The vet also mentioned "wobbler syndrome" which he believes Oskar may have--at least is probably likely from the already extensive problems in the cervical vertebrae (he also, however, has damage to thoracic and lumbar vertebrae). He thinks there is already some neurological damage, which would explain his behavior now.
Perhaps the eye stuff is just unrelated. But in any case, our boy is very, very sick. We may take him to the urgent care vet tomorrow if he's not better, though I don't know there is much they can do. But I'd like to know if something else is going on in addition.....or we're missing some other problem because of the extreme bad shape of his spine.
Anyway, that's where we're at. Thanks for all your well wishes and for this space to talk about it....we appreciate it.
We took Oskar to two vets in the past 24 hours, as he has had an increasingly stiff neck and been unable to lay down, and also has some of what I think of as typical neurological type problems--confusion, lethargy, standing with his head in the corner, etc.
One didn't even look at him (but at least they didn't charge us). The other redid his xrays and did a full exam and bloodwork. Now we have more questions than answers. On all the high tech xrays on the computer, this young vet did not feel it was necessarily spondylosis. She saw some problems in the lower vertebrae but not as bad or as much as on previous xrays from our regular vet. She also did not see as many problems in his cervical vertebrae. This would be good news, except that now he won't move his neck at all if he doesn't have to, and by the time we left, he was starting to cry if it was touched, though nothing seems wrong on the xrays and his blood work was good.
he has an upper respiratory infection for sure, so we're treating for that. He has dry eye syndrome, so treating for that too. But the cervical/spinal problem is inconclusive. She didn't see anything that looked problematic, but did say it was clear something was wrong still. Of course, when she went over possibilities, they were scary as hell--one is meningitis, though he does not have the usual accompanying fever. I decided not to focus on that right now, though she said it more than once. One is not quite as bad is that he does have "wobbler's syndrome" but that she simply can't see the damage on her xrays. This is a distinct possibility--it is what our original vet thought was a possibility as well.
In any case, he's back home and I guess a neurological consult is next. We just spent a fortune today for no real answers.
He's clearly very sick and doesn't feel good, and of course who knows where the infection came from, but now we have to keep him away from the other dogs, so now we have two dogs who have to be separated.
Overall, I've had better weeks.
But you know, even though having a very sick dog and a puppy at the same time is exhausting, at least we have the pup to also make us laugh at his antics, and have something positive to focus on.
I sooo hope you guys can find some answers for him. Hopefully your vet will have an "Aha!" moment and you'll be on the road to some comfort for Oskar. Sincerely wishing you the best for your situation!
Sorry to hear they're no clear answer what is up with Oskar.
I can't imagine how it can be to go through this. I've been through seizure with our 13year old boxer and then leukemia with the 7year old boxer a month after Pearly was put down due to seizure being worse.
So hard to see him so low energy and not happy looking.
When We didn't know Bella had hypothyroidism she was very fatigued barely played even with new toys and only got happy when mom came home then she would go back to laying down.
We brought her in vet did blood draw and meds help her so much. I was afraid it was something much worse!
I hope things get cleared up on what this is and something can be done for him. I agree puppy antics helps when times are tough.
Does your vet have access to a vet teaching hospital that might be able to look at Oscar? (When Sukoshi was having problems with the liver shunt, I took her to the University of California Davis Vet School. They located the liver shunt after several tries and preformed the liver shunt surgery. This literally saved her life.)
Keeping my fingers crossed for Oscar. Shiba hugs to all!
He seems to be feeling better today--I think the infection was kicking his butt too. I'm taking the new xrays back to my regular vet along with oskar and everything else for another consultation to see what they think.
Gotta say, though, that other vet, though very good, was more than twice as much in price than our regular vet.
Just another Oskar update. I think we're back to the original diagnosis. We went over the new xrays the new vet took, all 11 of them (no wonder our bill was well over $500!) and even I could see the narrowing spaces between the vertebrae, and the spurs. We did not, however, see any fused vertebrae--the orginal xrays my regular vet took were a bit overexposed in the lumbar region so that was a mistake. But the other things...yes, they are there. I asked why the new vet might have acted as if they weren't a big deal (she saw them, but said the were "normal" in large breeds) and my vet said he wondered if she mistook Oskar's age for older. I wonder if it is just experience--she was great and willing to try a lot, and quite helpful, but also very very young, and fresh out of vet school.
My regular vet also got a much better look at the cervical vertebrae because they know Oskar and knew they could bend his neck more without hurting him or him complaining, and they did get much better neck xrays, and I could see the unusual bone growth on the vertebrae there too.
Anyway, I have no doubt the spondylosis is there. And how else to explain some of his problems, like the weakness in the back legs which we now recognize he has had since a pup, and the fact that he is still weak there?
So while some of his problems this weekend were exacerbated by an infection, the original problem still remains.
For now, we're just going to manage it with meds as needed. The young, new vet said, well if it is spondylosis or wobblers (the other, related possibility) he needs to be in cage rest all the time and not allowed to run. I told this to my regular vet, who simply said, what kind of life is that for him? which is what we thought. We'd rather go for quality of life, even if that means his life is shorter.
But for now, he is back to his old self, if with a bit of weakness in this back legs off and on.
Thanks for all your thoughts and sympathy. It really means a lot to us.
Does the fact that his spine was not actually fused (but rather the old x-ray was overexposed) make his prognosis any better? I mean, obviously it's just not good news to have this condition but I am so hoping that something will look up for him.
Yeah, it may be a good sign that the vertebrae aren't actually fused yet in the lumbar region. It means it is not as bad as we originally thought, so it is some good news. The real problem here is the bone spurs pushing into the spinal cord, or the narrowing vertebrae causing a disc to bulge out (again, possibly into the spinal cord). He's showing some neurological problems already, so.....It's not great news, but it is still a bit better than we thought, which is something.
I did ask my regular vet about a neurological consult. Of course he said I should do it if I felt the need to, but pointed out what they could do would probably be things I wouldn't want to do. They can do a spinal tap, but that would mostly be for meningitis, and it is highly unlikely he has that. They can insert dye and do an xray to see if the discs are bulging into the spinal cord, but unless I'm going to do surgery on the discs, that seems a bit unnecessary. Or they can do an MRI. So I will mull over the neurological consult, but will not be in a rush to do it now.
Hi, I am so sorry to hear about Oskar. We are going through something similar right now with our Shikoku, Hugo. He has hind leg weakness and he is just under 2 as well. Our xrays came back normal and now we are seeing a neurologist. The first consultation and his intial thoughts are Hugo has a neuromuscular disease of some sort. But now we still need to find out what and how to fix it. If anyone else knows of any known muscle weakness problems in Japanese breeds please let me know. Any information would help. As for Oskar I hope he feels better soon.
I'm sorry to hear this about Hugo. I have no ideas what this could be, though maybe someone else does? Please keep us posted on what your vet says. Did the neurologist mention any possible types of diseases? What are they going to do in the follow up?
I'll be thinking about you and Hugo. Keep us posted on his progress.
Oskar is doing quite well. His back of course is not going to get better, but right now, he is happy and does not seem to be in pain. Our vet wants him on some muscle relaxants, but I prefer not to medicate him if he doesn't need it, and right now he seems quite happy. We're not giving him a lot of exercise, but he romps in the yard with the puppy and that doesn't seem to bother him. We walk him with a harness not a collar. he also has lost about 10 pounds so I think taking the weight off helps him as well.
I know that he will likely have other bad days, and that this is not going to magically go away, but right now he is doing well.
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On Thursday when we were in cleaning out his eyes, I asked about entropion and glaucoma. the latter of course can't be diagnosed easily outside of the optomistrist's tests, but the vet didn't see anything that made him suggest a trip to the optometrist. IN fact, Oskar seemed way better: after his eyes were cleaned out he seemed a little more chipper (not a lot but a little). There were no scratches on the cornea and things seemed ok. He's got some eyedrops which have kept his eyes a bit clearer and probably more comfortable--he's not scratching at his face today. The vet was a bit puzzled by the irritation, but thought he'd either got something in his eyes from digging or he was having a very severe allergic reaction to something.
We also thought the antihistamines were making him very tired.
The vet also mentioned "wobbler syndrome" which he believes Oskar may have--at least is probably likely from the already extensive problems in the cervical vertebrae (he also, however, has damage to thoracic and lumbar vertebrae). He thinks there is already some neurological damage, which would explain his behavior now.
Perhaps the eye stuff is just unrelated. But in any case, our boy is very, very sick. We may take him to the urgent care vet tomorrow if he's not better, though I don't know there is much they can do. But I'd like to know if something else is going on in addition.....or we're missing some other problem because of the extreme bad shape of his spine.
Anyway, that's where we're at. Thanks for all your well wishes and for this space to talk about it....we appreciate it.
I'm so sorry
One didn't even look at him (but at least they didn't charge us). The other redid his xrays and did a full exam and bloodwork. Now we have more questions than answers. On all the high tech xrays on the computer, this young vet did not feel it was necessarily spondylosis. She saw some problems in the lower vertebrae but not as bad or as much as on previous xrays from our regular vet. She also did not see as many problems in his cervical vertebrae. This would be good news, except that now he won't move his neck at all if he doesn't have to, and by the time we left, he was starting to cry if it was touched, though nothing seems wrong on the xrays and his blood work was good.
he has an upper respiratory infection for sure, so we're treating for that. He has dry eye syndrome, so treating for that too. But the cervical/spinal problem is inconclusive. She didn't see anything that looked problematic, but did say it was clear something was wrong still. Of course, when she went over possibilities, they were scary as hell--one is meningitis, though he does not have the usual accompanying fever. I decided not to focus on that right now, though she said it more than once. One is not quite as bad is that he does have "wobbler's syndrome" but that she simply can't see the damage on her xrays. This is a distinct possibility--it is what our original vet thought was a possibility as well.
In any case, he's back home and I guess a neurological consult is next. We just spent a fortune today for no real answers.
He's clearly very sick and doesn't feel good, and of course who knows where the infection came from, but now we have to keep him away from the other dogs, so now we have two dogs who have to be separated.
Overall, I've had better weeks.
But you know, even though having a very sick dog and a puppy at the same time is exhausting, at least we have the pup to also make us laugh at his antics, and have something positive to focus on.
I can't imagine how it can be to go through this. I've been through seizure with our 13year old boxer and then leukemia with the 7year old boxer a month after Pearly was put down due to seizure being worse.
So hard to see him so low energy and not happy looking.
When We didn't know Bella had hypothyroidism she was very fatigued barely played even with new toys and only got happy when mom came home then she would go back to laying down.
We brought her in vet did blood draw and meds help her so much. I was afraid it was something much worse!
I hope things get cleared up on what this is and something can be done for him. I agree puppy antics helps when times are tough.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wobbler_disease
Does your vet have access to a vet teaching hospital that might be able to look at Oscar? (When Sukoshi was having problems with the liver shunt, I took her to the University of California Davis Vet School. They located the liver shunt after several tries and preformed the liver shunt surgery. This literally saved her life.)
Keeping my fingers crossed for Oscar. Shiba hugs to all!
Gotta say, though, that other vet, though very good, was more than twice as much in price than our regular vet.
But he seems to feel much better today.
My regular vet also got a much better look at the cervical vertebrae because they know Oskar and knew they could bend his neck more without hurting him or him complaining, and they did get much better neck xrays, and I could see the unusual bone growth on the vertebrae there too.
Anyway, I have no doubt the spondylosis is there. And how else to explain some of his problems, like the weakness in the back legs which we now recognize he has had since a pup, and the fact that he is still weak there?
So while some of his problems this weekend were exacerbated by an infection, the original problem still remains.
For now, we're just going to manage it with meds as needed. The young, new vet said, well if it is spondylosis or wobblers (the other, related possibility) he needs to be in cage rest all the time and not allowed to run. I told this to my regular vet, who simply said, what kind of life is that for him? which is what we thought. We'd rather go for quality of life, even if that means his life is shorter.
But for now, he is back to his old self, if with a bit of weakness in this back legs off and on.
Thanks for all your thoughts and sympathy. It really means a lot to us.
I did ask my regular vet about a neurological consult. Of course he said I should do it if I felt the need to, but pointed out what they could do would probably be things I wouldn't want to do. They can do a spinal tap, but that would mostly be for meningitis, and it is highly unlikely he has that. They can insert dye and do an xray to see if the discs are bulging into the spinal cord, but unless I'm going to do surgery on the discs, that seems a bit unnecessary. Or they can do an MRI. So I will mull over the neurological consult, but will not be in a rush to do it now.
As for Oskar I hope he feels better soon.
I'll be thinking about you and Hugo.
Oskar is doing quite well. His back of course is not going to get better, but right now, he is happy and does not seem to be in pain. Our vet wants him on some muscle relaxants, but I prefer not to medicate him if he doesn't need it, and right now he seems quite happy. We're not giving him a lot of exercise, but he romps in the yard with the puppy and that doesn't seem to bother him. We walk him with a harness not a collar. he also has lost about 10 pounds so I think taking the weight off helps him as well.
I know that he will likely have other bad days, and that this is not going to magically go away, but right now he is doing well.
We both got Oskar & Wraith around the same time, so it feels like they're related lol Oskar is like the nephew I never had
Poor baby. ~