Mary Is Sick (long)

[Guest bonnebike]

When we woke up yesterday (Saturday) we saw that Mary had thrown up stomach acid/bile -- no chunks. We've had her three years and this is the first time she's done it. She threw up two more times. She fell coming down the stairs. We were able to make an appointment at the vet on short notice. By the time we got there, her rear legs were not working.

 

The vet suspected either a toxin or some type of injury and consulted some neurologists up in Portland. There was really nothing different about her routine (other than the weather) so we could not pinpoint any time when she might have been exposed to a toxin. The told us to come back in a few hours while he took blood and xrays. When we came back, Mary's front legs didn't work.

 

The blood has to go to a lab for a work-up so we won't know about that until Monday. The vet took xrays to check the spine. He did see narrowing between a couple of the vertebrae, but that would not explain the progression of Mary's problems. They don't have facilities to keep her overnight so she was sent home with some prednisone and tramadol. He told us to watch out for things such as nystagmus to measure if things were getting worse. He called later in the day, but she was pretty much the same. She had some water, but couldn't really stand. We tried taking her outside a couple of times to see if she would potty, but I don't think she could do it with 2 or 3 people holding her up.

 

She normally sleeps upstairs in our room. We arranged for one of us to sleep in the living room with here. At 2:30am I got up to go the the bathroom. She realized she was alone and managed to get herself up and stumble up the stairs. It was pretty noisy so I think she fell at least once. After that we left her upstairs on her regular bed and put up a baby gate.

 

About 5:30 in the morning we could hear her panting and whining just so slightly. I got dressed and carried her outside and stood her up in the yard. She was able to stumble around and pee. I carried her back upstairs and she was quiet until we all finally got up for good.

 

So far today she has improved a little. She stays on her bed almost all the time. We've let her out twice to go potty and she's able to get herself up and out although she walks like a drunken sailor. She's taken water and eaten a little bit of food. She started trying to clean herself a little, too. Other than that she lays very quietly on her bed for long periods of time which is unusual for her.

 

I'd appreciate any ideas or advice that you folks can offer. I am hopeful that she will recover. I'm not sure she will every be back to her old self as I fear she's got some permanent neurological deficits.

 

NOTES:

1. Mary had a badly broken leg as a puppy so one of her rear legs is deformed and shorter than the other. Her gait has never been normal and often walks on 3 legs. She is too unsteady to do her 3-legged walk since she got sick.

2. It was snowy here for the last week. She loves our walks in the snow and is always sticking her nose in it and eating some. The best theory I have is that she did ingest some toxin on one of our walks but other than a de-icer I don't know what that would be. It does not seem to be the right season for pesticides.

3. Mary and Del are always eating grass or dirt in our backyard. Our backyard is pretty "natural" as the dogs tear it up pretty good. We have not put any chemicals down back there.

Edited December 22, 2008 by bonnebike

[dmdsmoxie]

Any chance she got into some anti freeze on your walk?

 

Dick

[silverfish]

Anti-freeze is very toxic, and if de-icer contains ethylene glycol too, so would that be. Not sure it would produce those symptoms though - I think the usual thing is organ failure.

 

Could she have vestibular disease?

 

Edited to add link

Edited December 21, 2008 by silverfish

[Guest bonnebike]

Any chance she got into some anti freeze on your walk?

 

Only if someone poured in on the sidewalk. There were no pans of fluid out for her to drink out of.

[Guest bonnebike]

Could she have vestibular disease?

 

The symptoms seem to match somewhat. This came on very suddenly -- essentially overnight -- so I don't know how well that matches up. She is definitely better today. I hope that continues.

[Guest argolola]

Prayers for your little sweetie.

[Batmom]

Another possibility is FCE (fibrocartilaginous embolism). I don't have a link for that handy. Sometimes steroids are given, but as with vestibular, the treatment mostly consists of supportive care and time. Will pray for your sweet pupper, that she continues to improve.

[RobinM]

Hope she continues to improve.

[Batmom]

Here is some info on FCE: http://greyhound.mousetrap.net/altus/fce.html

 

[patricia]

Sending prayers for Mary. Please update us as you can...I am so happy that you are seeing some improvement.

[Guest bonnebike]

Another possibility is FCE (fibrocartilaginous embolism).

 

This sounds like what the vet was looking for. He tried two different techniques to get a different contrast on the picture, but there was nothing definitive that he could see.

[Fiona3]

She could have vestibular disease as was suggested. We had a grey that was fine at bedtime and it literally happened within a few hours. He couldn't stand at all and looked like he had a stroke. With supportive care, he gradually regained the use of his legs although he was unsteady on his feet for almost a week. It is very frightening to see but he made a total recovery. Hopefully Mary will continue to improve - it sounds encouraging that she is on the road to recovery.

[Guest shelbygirl07]

hope mary continues to improve, good luck and keep us posted if they find out anything

[4My2Greys]

Could she have vestibular disease?

 

The symptoms seem to match somewhat. This came on very suddenly -- essentially overnight -- so I don't know how well that matches up. She is definitely better today. I hope that continues.

 

 

She could have vestibular disease as was suggested. We had a grey that was fine at bedtime and it literally happened within a few hours. He couldn't stand at all and looked like he had a stroke. With supportive care, he gradually regained the use of his legs although he was unsteady on his feet for almost a week. It is very frightening to see but he made a total recovery. Hopefully Mary will continue to improve - it sounds encouraging that she is on the road to recovery.

 

I read an article on Vestibular disease not too long ago and as mentioned above it does come on suddenly. The good thing about it is that it usually clears up within a week or two. Ask your vet if this could possibly be her problem. From the symptoms you describe, nausea and inability to walk, it really does sound possible that this is her problem.

[carronstar]

Sending lots of prayers and good thoughts for Mary.

[nyGreys]

Sending lots of prayers for Mary.

[Guest bonnebike]

Mary is better today. She is trying to act more like herself, but she is too unstable on her feet to let her be as exuberant as she wants. The vet is still having trouble getting lab results because of the bad weather here. His normal couriers are not running. He's trying to call in favors at Oregon State University.

 

I talked to the vet today and mentioned FCE and vestibular disease. Both were on his list, but he is leaning more toward FCE or a slipped disc. He says it may be in the cervical area. Unfortunately, he only x-rayed the lumbar area because that's where the symptoms pointed at the time. He says Mary's lack of nystagmus and the way she walked make him think that vestibular disease is less likely. If it were vestibular, he'd expect her to list to one side or walk in circle. Mary walked like she didn't know where her feet were. He also did a little test flipping her feet over and try to make her stand on her "knuckles" as it were. Most dogs will immediately right their foot. Mary took several seconds to correct it.

 

Anyway, she is a lot better. We are very grateful. Thanks for all the good thoughts.

[MandysMom]

I'm glad Mary's doing better. Sending prayers for continued improvement.

[Guest FullMetalFrank]

Glad she is feeling a little better and hope you get a diagnosis soon!

[silverfish]

Good to hear that she is improving! That's a very positive sign, no matter what the cause.

 

We're dealing with compressed discs in the neck here, with Renie. The reason I didn't immediately think of that with Mary is that vomiting isn't usually a symptom ... but pain is.

 

With a disc lesion/compression severe enough to cause loss of limb control to the extent of staggering and falling, I'd expect some screaming too - certainly when she fell on the stairs. Of course, all greys are different, and I'm not a vet, so these are only my personal observations. Is Mary the truly stoical type? Or does she squeal when she's hurt?

 

From your description of her lack of coordination, and bumbling, staggering gait, it didn't sound as if pain was a factor.

 

I hope you manage to find the cause! It's very worrying when these things happen to our beloved dogs - especially this close to Christmas.

[Fiona3]

Glad to see there is some improvement. Even if she is still unstable on her feet, it is a good sign. I'll be thinking of her and hoping you get some results that will give you the answers you need.

[Guest bonnebike]

Is Mary the truly stoical type? Or does she squeal when she's hurt?

 

Mary has a pretty high pain threshold unlike our "big baby" Delgado who will yelp and start shaking at the littlest bump. With her left back leg being all messed up she may have dealt with pain all her life. It doesn't show though. She is higher energy than Del and certainly wants to run more than he does. She runs on 3 legs, but is still pretty fast. I don't know if we'll get that part of her back, but some of her goofyness is still there.

[patricia]

Sending more prayers for sweet Mary.

[silverfish]

Is Mary the truly stoical type? Or does she squeal when she's hurt?

 

Mary has a pretty high pain threshold unlike our "big baby" Delgado who will yelp and start shaking at the littlest bump. With her left back leg being all messed up she may have dealt with pain all her life. It doesn't show though. She is higher energy than Del and certainly wants to run more than he does. She runs on 3 legs, but is still pretty fast. I don't know if we'll get that part of her back, but some of her goofyness is still there.

 

Aww! She looks like Jack, and it seems she's got a similar personality, too!

 

I wonder if they have any common ancestors? Jack raced as Flashing Star.

[crazygang]

Sending well wishes for your beautiful Mary.......