Need Some Advice, Please

[Guest team_weasel]

My husband and I are looking for some advice. On January 22nd we took our greyhound, Sandy, to the vet because she was rubbing her face. It turned out she had a small piece of bone about the size of a peppercorn stuck in her gum. The vet removed it and prescriped a weeks worth of antibiotics (clinacin). On the following Tuesday we noticed that she was rubbing her right eye and the area on her head between her ear and her eye so we took her in again on the Thursday (27th Jan). The vet removed another smaller piece of bone from the same area and used the fluorescent stain and checked out her eye. She said it was a little red but looked ok otherwise. She prescribed another week of clinacin, 5 days of metacam and BNPH ointment for 7 days. The scratching/rubbing was happening about twice a day for some significant scratching/rubbing and a little rub and scratch several times a day. She finished all the medications but still seems itchy. The main itchiness seems to still be the right eye/head but she also does scratch the left side, rubs her body up against furniture, licks her paws sometimes and just generally seems itchy. The last couple of days has seemed worse with the scratching and rubbing. We took her to the vet again yesterday (Feb 16) who looked at her eyes, teeth, ears etc. but she said everything seems normal. The vet gave us some shampoo and some "conditioner" called Resichlor. She has no visible skin issues or "hot spots". She has a good appetite and seems to be in good spirits but she does seem really itchy. The vet said that we could give her benadryl at 1mg per pound of body weight to see if that helped but warned us that it might make her drowsy. We feed raw, no grains.

 

I suspect there may be some allergy issues, but this isn't our main worry at the moment. About 3 weeks ago she started stumbling around. the best way I describe it is that she looks as though she is drunk. She is knuckling as well, and losing her balance. I should also add, these are all very, very uncommon symptoms of hypothyroidism. And yes, I agree it is way over-diagnosed. As it turns out, she "is hypothyroid". We got 2 different vets to look at the results, both of which were stumped and didn't expect hypothyroidism. I know there is a huge debate in here about hypothyroidism and I don't really want to get into that debate, as I have read all the discussions aboout it. Our main concern at this stage is the stumbling around. We are fearing the worst (tumour??). Next step for us will be to have an xray done on her back. We can't afford an MRI at this stage. She is still in wonderful spirits, eating well, waggy tail, etc. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Batmom]

Would certainly be worth an x-ray. You won't always see anything useful there, but sometimes you will. Hopefully your vet is one of those who will do it without sedation.

 

Sending prayers.

[macoduck]

Perhaps Dr Jean Dodds at Hemopet could review the lab work for you. She did it for us at no charge, via email.

 

The stumbling - an inner ear problem maybe?

[MaryJane]

Did you have any bloodwork done? If not I would have bloodwork and an x-ray of the area where the bone had been removed. I would be concerned that there is some bone still in there and it might be causing an infection. Note that I'm assuming that the bone was removed from an area at the back of the mouth that is close to the eye/ear area.

[Guest dancewkathylee]

I have no ideas but, I'm sorry for how you must be feeling. I know how frustrating it is to have something bothering your pup and not having any answers! Good luck. I hope you get some answers soon.

[JJNg]

I would agree that the neurologic issues are much more of concern than the itchiness at this point. Sorry, I'm a little confused about the timeline. The timestamp shows that this post was sent today, but you referred to a vet visit yesterday with the date Feb 16? When did the neuro signs start relative to the itching? How old is Sandy? If it was something like a brain tumor, it's even possible that the itching might be related.

 

Has Sandy had a thorough neurologic exam to try to localize the signs? That's usually the place to start with signs like stumbling, knuckling, and loss of balance. As you mentioned, hypothyroidism would be a very unlikely cause and would be much lower down on the list of possibilities. Any other illness also affects thyroid levels and makes hypothyroidism even harder to diagnose.

 

Is the knuckling occurring in all 4 legs, or just the back legs? Is the unsteadiness more in the rear, or all 4 legs? Any other abnormalities to her gait such as long or short stride, high-stepping or shuffling? How are her proprioceptive responses - when you turn her feet upside down, does she correct it right away - any difference between left and right, front and back? When she stumbles and loses her balance, is consistently to one side or the other? Any circling, head tilt, or nystagmus (side to side eye movement) to indicate a problem with the vestibular system?

 

I'm not expecting you to answer all these questions...these are all things a vet would be looking for when they do a full neuro exam. These are the types of signs that help localize where the problem may be arising from. If the neuro signs localize to the vestibular system or brain, there would be no reason do x-ray her back. Or if front legs are also involved, it may indicate a problem in the neck area, so it would be more prudent to x-ray her neck instead. Or if there are multifocal signs (more than one area involved), it may indicate a systemic, or at least genearlized neuro, problem.

 

Best wishes for your girl, and hope it's nothing serious.

[Guest team_weasel]

Full physical was done, ears checked, full blood panel, including thyroid tests (FT4, T4, and TSH). The bone in her gums was at the front of her mouth. Could any of these symptoms be a result of a systemic yeast infection? She gets acidophilus from the supplement she is on (Nupro).. Is that even enough..

 

This is what I fear; that the xray may tell us nothing, which is what our vet said could happen.

 

Thank you all for your thoughts.

[Guest team_weasel]

Forgot to mention, full neuro exam was also done. Whoops, I put "yesterday" in the sentence (in orginal post) when I shouldn't have. We will see the vet again on Monday. I'm sure she'll suggest how we need to proceed. I guess deep down I was hoping someone would come up with some common-sense issue that she may be having that really isn't that serious. I am just terrified of findng out that something really bad is happening with our little girl :-(

[JJNg]

What did the vet find after doing a full neuro exam? Did they think the problem was in her back, hence the back x-rays? Will keep you and Sandy in my thoughts. Keep us posted after your vet visit on Mon.

[Guest team_weasel]

As we suspected, xrays came up normal (possiby not showing what the problem may be). She was put on a non-steroidal anti inflammatory.. a couple days later she started having diarrhea/soft stools with blood, so we stopped those pills. Yesterday was started a steroidal eardrop. Not sure if it will help, but we're trying to stay positive.

 

Will keep you posted.

[BertnLil]

Sending good thoughts for Sandy.

[Guest dancewkathylee]

No advice,just good thoughts for your Sandy.

[Guest davidsl88]

PLEASE check for corns (press each pad, ever so gently). Our vet AND the consulting neuro - at world-renowned Angell Hospital in Boston - missed this. We took him there because of our (and our vet's) fear he had brain cancer (he had seizures!!), and/or long bone cancer!! The ortho "caught' it walking by in the hallway - on his way to the bathroom! Symptoms vary and cover everything: herky-jerky movement, stumbling/falling while walking, falling up and down the stairs, loss of appetite, refusing the walk and the ride.. it was endless!!! It's arthritis - wait - no, it's not!! It's IBS or unspecified infection - A/B's followed and the resultant (more) irritable stomach followed... then came more puking, more weight loss (18 lbs!!), diarrhea, probiotics, special diet... water! WATER!!! It was endless - and it was a CORN!!!!!!! Sometimes, the stupidly simple is right there and everyone misses it!!! I hope you and your doggie are okay!

[greyhead]

I'm assuming she is taking a thyroid med. How long ago did she start taking it?

 

Our dog with lumbosacral stenosis also stumbles and knuckles when he's overdue for an acupuncture/chiropractic adjustment, which is how we've been handling the problem for 2-1/2 years. It's an easy test, just applying pressure to that area of the back. Has anyone evaluated her for that?

Hoping you can get a handle on it, whatever it is. I know it's hard to have multiple problems popping up, try to solve them, and just find more.

 

 

[4My2Greys]

PLEASE check for corns (press each pad, ever so gently). Our vet AND the consulting neuro - at world-renowned Angell Hospital in Boston - missed this. We took him there because of our (and our vet's) fear he had brain cancer (he had seizures!!), and/or long bone cancer!! The ortho "caught' it walking by in the hallway - on his way to the bathroom! Symptoms vary and cover everything: herky-jerky movement, stumbling/falling while walking, falling up and down the stairs, loss of appetite, refusing the walk and the ride.. it was endless!!! It's arthritis - wait - no, it's not!! It's IBS or unspecified infection - A/B's followed and the resultant (more) irritable stomach followed... then came more puking, more weight loss (18 lbs!!), diarrhea, probiotics, special diet... water! WATER!!! It was endless - and it was a CORN!!!!!!! Sometimes, the stupidly simple is right there and everyone misses it!!! I hope you and your doggie are okay!

OMG your experience was exactly like mine with Nadir's corn. It took nearly three years, 5 different vets, a full neurological exam with MRI and spinal tap, not to mention having his system permanently damaged by NSAIDs before a new vet to our area whose specialty is orthopedics diagnosed it in about 5 minutes.

[Guest LokisMom]

If thyroid medicine isn't helping and she isn't showing any of the other visible signs of hypothyroidism, I would stop those meds until you figure out what is going on. More meds can lead to more problems as far as side effects and the like. It took me and my vet who was a greyhound owner himsekf about 3-4 months to get our old greyhound on the correct dose of thyroid meds.

 

I would deal with this stumbling problem first. The thyroid issue second (again assuming no serious thyroid symptoms like extreme weight loss or gain etc.)

 

Try a holistic vet who offers acupuncture or chiropractic services. We had a paralyzed grey that we were seriously thinking would have to be PTS before we took him to a doggy chiropractor. One little adjustment and our grey walked out of the office.

 

I don't have any other suggestions and I'm not trying to start the thyroid debate. I would offer the same advice for any medication that wasn't 100% necessary.

[Guest team_weasel]

We're looking at seeing a chiropractor/acupuncturist asap.

 

Anyone have any experience with Wobbler's Syndrome?

 

And the first thing we checked for were corns.. We've had experience with corns with our fosters/hulling and treating corns.

[Guest davidsl88]

PLEASE check for corns (press each pad, ever so gently). Our vet AND the consulting neuro - at world-renowned Angell Hospital in Boston - missed this. We took him there because of our (and our vet's) fear he had brain cancer (he had seizures!!), and/or long bone cancer!! The ortho "caught' it walking by in the hallway - on his way to the bathroom! Symptoms vary and cover everything: herky-jerky movement, stumbling/falling while walking, falling up and down the stairs, loss of appetite, refusing the walk and the ride.. it was endless!!! It's arthritis - wait - no, it's not!! It's IBS or unspecified infection - A/B's followed and the resultant (more) irritable stomach followed... then came more puking, more weight loss (18 lbs!!), diarrhea, probiotics, special diet... water! WATER!!! It was endless - and it was a CORN!!!!!!! Sometimes, the stupidly simple is right there and everyone misses it!!! I hope you and your doggie are okay!

OMG your experience was exactly like mine with Nadir's corn. It took nearly three years, 5 different vets, a full neurological exam with MRI and spinal tap, not to mention having his system permanently damaged by NSAIDs before a new vet to our area whose specialty is orthopedics diagnosed it in about 5 minutes.

 

Holy crap!!! Yeah - OY!!! The tale of the corn is almost too long to tell!!!! What problems he had, so (seeminlgly) random - so unrelated!! Your experience was worse than ours I think, and for us the the diagnosis process was BRUTAL!!! An ortho, accidently on duty (called in for emergency surgery) caught it (as I mentioned) on his way to the bathroom (EWWW!!! LOL!!). He'd been confronted in the hallway by the neurologist who was literally at the end of his rope! Since last summer, we've dealt with with 3 additional corns, and consider ourselves 'lucky' we know what we're talking about - finally!! LOL!!! Is Nadir okay now - or still experiencing pain? Poor YOU!!! LOL!!!

[4My2Greys]

PLEASE check for corns (press each pad, ever so gently). Our vet AND the consulting neuro - at world-renowned Angell Hospital in Boston - missed this. We took him there because of our (and our vet's) fear he had brain cancer (he had seizures!!), and/or long bone cancer!! The ortho "caught' it walking by in the hallway - on his way to the bathroom! Symptoms vary and cover everything: herky-jerky movement, stumbling/falling while walking, falling up and down the stairs, loss of appetite, refusing the walk and the ride.. it was endless!!! It's arthritis - wait - no, it's not!! It's IBS or unspecified infection - A/B's followed and the resultant (more) irritable stomach followed... then came more puking, more weight loss (18 lbs!!), diarrhea, probiotics, special diet... water! WATER!!! It was endless - and it was a CORN!!!!!!! Sometimes, the stupidly simple is right there and everyone misses it!!! I hope you and your doggie are okay!

OMG your experience was exactly like mine with Nadir's corn. It took nearly three years, 5 different vets, a full neurological exam with MRI and spinal tap, not to mention having his system permanently damaged by NSAIDs before a new vet to our area whose specialty is orthopedics diagnosed it in about 5 minutes.

 

Holy crap!!! Yeah - OY!!! The tale of the corn is almost too long to tell!!!! What problems he had, so (seeminlgly) random - so unrelated!! Your experience was worse than ours I think, and for us the the diagnosis process was BRUTAL!!! An ortho, accidently on duty (called in for emergency surgery) caught it (as I mentioned) on his way to the bathroom (EWWW!!! LOL!!). He'd been confronted in the hallway by the neurologist who was literally at the end of his rope! Since last summer, we've dealt with with 3 additional corns, and consider ourselves 'lucky' we know what we're talking about - finally!! LOL!!! Is Nadir okay now - or still experiencing pain? Poor YOU!!! LOL!!!

Yes he is doing extremely well except for a suspect torn ligament on a toe on another foot. I opted for surgical removal of that corn. It's been a year now and no more reoccurances thankfully. Up to the time of the latest toe incident he was actually trotting on his morning "walks". It really did my heart good to see him move like that when in the past with that corn he could barely walk across the

road.

[4My2Greys]

We're looking at seeing a chiropractor/acupuncturist asap.

 

Anyone have any experience with Wobbler's Syndrome?

 

And the first thing we checked for were corns.. We've had experience with corns with our fosters/hulling and treating corns.

I have no experience with Wobbler's, but in the Food Forum on pg 2 there is a thread titled Food Recommendations to Aid Skin & Coat. On pg 2 of that thread on the 2nd post Galgrey posted an article Crazy for Coconut Oil. In that article it mentions a Doberman with Wobbler's that was helped by adding coconut oil to his diet. I'm not saying that this is a sure fix if he has Wobbler's, but there are a lot of health benefits to coconut oil you might want to look into.