Muscle Degeneration?????
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| I'm glad you're going to see the neurologist. If the weakness is in the back end, a possibility is "degenerative myelopathy" which shows as a gradual loss of use of / feeling in the hind end. A test you can do at home is you support almopst all of the weight of your dog from underneath, across the tummy right in front of the rear legs. Then turn a back paw "upside down" *lift the leg and point the toes down and back so the knuckles are on the ground) and look to see the reaction. Does your dog immediately turn the paw upright, or does she not notice or does she swing the leg around, seemingly not knowing how to correct the problem? I think the latter would be signs of loss of feeling.
If there is some arthritis going on I would think there would be pain, which I would think would show up as a weakening as well. Since they can't talk and tell us that something hurts, and since some seem to want to conceal pain, I think an easy way to test for pain is to give pain meds -- if there's an improvement in 3 to 7 days or so then it's likely there's some pain. I am not a vet, so this info is just pure speculation based on my owning a dog who was in pain and had both hip dysplasia and degenerative myelopathy. |
| Well, here we are...in the same boat. We went to the neurologist last Monday. He did notice a significant delay with her ability to stand up, shortened stride with her back legs, as well as muscle loss. He took blood to test her muscle enzymes, which of course came back completely fine. Then we just had an MRI to rule out anything neurological, which came back completely fine. She continues to have increased difficulty standing up, and yesterday she refused to bear weight on her back right leg, either limping or holding her paw in the air. Has anyone any had anything similar, or any suggestions? I've done some research...but was hoping someone might have had something similar and offer some insight.... |
| Have they put her on some pain medication yet? |
I'm so sorry you're going through this. 
I'm sure they ruled out myasthenia gravis. How is she eating? Kristine |
HarleyLee wrote: Well, here we are...in the same boat. We went to the neurologist last Monday. He did notice a significant delay with her ability to stand up, shortened stride with her back legs, as well as muscle loss. He took blood to test her muscle enzymes, which of course came back completely fine. Then we just had an MRI to rule out anything neurological, which came back completely fine. She continues to have increased difficulty standing up, and yesterday she refused to bear weight on her back right leg, either limping or holding her paw in the air. Has anyone any had anything similar, or any suggestions? I've done some research...but was hoping someone might have had something similar and offer some insight....
Is she touching her toes to the ground in the rear? |
| She's had blood work done to rule out hypothyroidism?
Quote: http://66.102.1.104/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q ... 4-288.pdf+
A subclinical myopathy has been reported in mature dogs with primary hypothyroidism. 9,10 Occasionally, signs of neuromuscular disorders can occur with or without cutaneous signs, and these include weakness, stiffness, decreased conscious proprioception and muscle wasting. 3,10,11 An easier to read list of symptoms is found here- http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-ang ... oidism.htm |
| Thursday evening, Bailey had some difficulty in getting up and around. Her back legs appeared to be stiff and unable to support her weight while getting up. She wouldn't put her left back leg on the ground, but seemed fair when walking around.
She had a couple of episodes of diarrhea, nothing major, but continued to drink. I talked to our vet, who had me give her some bananas. I know that diarrhea can cause potassium loss, but I didn't think it was enough diarrhea to be accounting for her issues. One banana and an hour later, it was like she was a different dog. I was shocked. While I'm not suggesting that the extra potassium will cure you dogs, it would be worth a try to see if it would help. The heat causes the dogs to drink more and pee more, which causes a more rapid loss of potassium in the pee. Might be worth a try. |
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