Undiagnosed Pain In Spine And Front Limbs

[Guest Jmazur]

I have a 3 1/2 year old boy who has been suffering attacks of extreme pain in his front limbs for several months now. His blood tests are all normal including a test for tic borne diseases. He has seen an orthopedic surgeon and two neurologists and had an MRI. The specialists all felt that it was systemic. His urine analysis was also mostly normal except for high protien, 1.3 instead of .5 so not a huge issue but he is on meds now for that. When we put him on prednisone three weeks ago he looked like he dropped 10 pounds within 24 hours from an apparent reduction in swelling. Then he promptly dropped about 12 pounds of actual weight. He is getting canned puppy food along with his regular dry in attempt to prevent further weight loss. He is now also on gabepentin for the pain. His pain attacks come at anytime of the day or night and regardless of activity or lack thereof. The gabapentin seems to finally have controlled the attacks but he is still suffering from low level pain pretty much constantly. Now that it is somewhat under control the source of most of his pain seems to come from his lower spine. My vets are at a loss and their latest recommendation is taking him to Colorado State (I live in Utah). Needless to say the financial strain is getting high but I can't leave him in constant pain. If anyone has any suggestions, of other diagnostic tests, a diagnosis or anything else me, my vet, and my boy would be absolutely thrilled to hear it. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

[greyhead]

Thyroid panel?

[tbhounds]

Myleogram!

[Tallgreydogmom]

I would get a Free consult from OSU

 

https://greyhound.osu.edu/consultationservice/

[kudzu]

Spinal tap? Sometimes done at MRI or myelogram. Also agree with above suggestions. Have you tried doxycycline? I know the TBI panel came back negative but... well, TBIs don't always play by the rules.

 

Hope you find the cause or at some successful treatment for whatever it is.

[Guest Jmazur]

Thank you for all these suggestions, I will bring them up with my vet on Tuesday. And we did try the doxy for about 10 days but it did not seem to have an impact.

[JJNg]

Also agree with the suggestion of a spinal tap to check for meningitis, as well as the free OSU consult. Did the MRI include his entire spine? Some tick-borne diseases can be difficult to confirm on tests. 10 days of doxy might not have been enough to make a difference. Sometimes they have to be treated for 4-6 weeks or longer.

 

I also noted that in your tags, you included seizure, but you didn't mention anything about this in the post. Has he had any seizures?

[Guest Jmazur]

He has had two seizures that seem to have been instigated by the pain attacks. The first was around 3 in the morning. He woke up screaming and dropped into a seizure within a few moments. It was a relatively short seizure, less than a minute. He came back to himself with another minute and unlike my prior to pups that had seizures, (I seem to attract the the sick babies) he didn't get up and pace or anything else. His second one was while I was at work. I just know he had it by the telltale pee spot on his bed, the pillow next to it was kicked out of place and there was a bloody foamy spot where he had slobbered. I forgot this symptom in the original post. Also it was only his head neck and upper spine that was done since that was where the pain was at the time. They did say it was the most healthy looking spine they'd seen. They did do the dye as well. I will say since the swelling has gone that his lower spine is poking up more prominently than any other grey I've ever seen. Not sure if that means anything.

Edited July 1, 2012 by Jmazur

[MaryJane]

What are the pain attacks like? Sometimes seizures can manifest in different fashions which is why I'm asking about the "pain attacks".

 

Also, protein in the urine is usually something to worry about - is this being rechecked?

 

Also, have his front paws been checked for corns? Unlikely that it would cause "pain attacks" but, it should be ruled out.

 

I also suggest doing the consult with OSU.

[Guest Jmazur]

The "attacks" are he cries out loudly and cannot tolerate being touched on his forequarters but rubbing his mid spine seems to ease the pain and he will stop crying. He doesn't show any sign of not being focused before, during or after these episodes. The seizure that I saw was a full grand mal with the kicking legs, foaming at the mouth, etc.

 

He is on medication for the protein issue and it will get rechecked. They just put that as a lower concern since it wasn't outrageously high, but we are taking it into consideration with everything else.

 

Checked his paws first thing. Have a friend with a greyhound that had paw issues so we started there.

 

I have obtained an email address for a Doctor at OSU and will be talking to my vet about getting him the work we've done up until now tomorrow at our appointment.

[3DogNite]

Are you going to Cottonwood Animal Hospital?

Dr.Cox is wonderful there!!! we have gone to him for years!,, as is Dr. Law mostly orthopedic.. and Dr. Bagley also has tons of greyhound experience too.

 

Cottonwood is the only place i would go in the valley for serious issues such as this!

I recently moved to Az,, was in SLC for the last 15 yrs!!!

 

if his thyroid is off,, that could trigger a seizure.

I hope you can figure this out quickly --- sounds very stressful for both you and your dog