Hi all. My Emmett (see avatar) just got diagnosed as probably having Degenerative Myelopathy. This is when the nerves in the spinal column lose their sheath (myelin) and short circuits start happening. He can barely use one of his back legs now. Three weeks ago he was going on 16 mike hikes - now he gets tired too quickly from using his front legs to do all the work. It's depressing. He's 9 - so not a spring chicken - but we were hoping for 12 or 15 -- one of those really old grey dudes barely able to walk from old age instead of from some weird disease.

Anyway, anyomne who has lived through this -- can you share anything that might help?

I am so sorry for your furry freind. It is so very hard to deal with their pain, it is not like you can explain to them what is going on. Just on the off chance it might help are you feeding him gluten free food? Perhaps that might help, if gluten can mess up our nervous systems it can also mess up a dogs if he is sensitive to it and gluten is in most mainstream dog foods in one form or another. If you haven't tried it already it might be worth a shot.

I found this:
High potency B-complex (B 50)
400 IU of vitamin E daily (over 2 years of age, give 800 IU)
250 mg vitamin C twice a day (over 2 years of age, give 500 mg)
100 mg of selenium daily (over 2 years of age, give 200 mcg)
500 mg of borage oil twice a day
12,500 IU Beta Carotene (over 2 years of age, give 25,000)
1 mg/kg (or 1 capsule) Ginkgo bilboa 2-3 times a day
1 capsule (or cup) Green tea, twice a day
50 mg grape seed extract, once a day
2 sardines or 1 T ground flax seeds
1-2 Raw Garlic Cloves (crushed)


Note: Add the supplements gradually, one new supplement every few days. That way, if something does not agree with your dog, you will know what has caused the problem. Overloading the digestive system of a dog with many new items, all at once, is never advised. Vitamin C is not recommended for dogs with IBD.

http://vetmedicine.about.com/cs/dogdisease...mylopathy_3.htm

I dont know if it will help, but supplements cant hurt - introduce one at a time.

I also found this information for your veterinarian as well as yourself. It is not a common disorder so many vets have not seen it before. It is considered autoimmune.

http://www.upei.ca/cidd/Diseases/nervous%2...0myelopathy.htm

There are several conditions that can cause this kind of weakness in the hind end, in middle-aged medium to large breed dogs. Your veterinarian will do a thorough neurologic exam on your dog and x-rays, to rule out other causes.

For the veterinarian: Rule-outs include diskospondylitis, myelitis, intervertebral disc protrusion, and spinal neoplasia. Abnormalities on neurologic examination are consistent with an upper motor neuron lesion in the T3-L3 region, and include decreased proprioception and placing reactions in the hind limbs, normal to exaggerated patellar and hind limb withdrawal reflexes, normal anal sphincter tone, and sometimes crossed extensor reflexes in the pelvic limbs. Occasionally patellar reflexes are depressed or absent in one or even both legs, but this is an afferent rather than an LMN lesion.

Hope this helps. I am sorry to hear that your active Emmett has been diagnosed with DM

Sandy

Actually, Emmett has been eating raw food for some time, totally grain free. I am a bit worried that because for a spell he didn't have any bone, he might've gotten calcium deficiency, which can affect your nerves.

And, the good news about DM, if such a thing can exist, is that it is painless -- in fact, what is happening is that he's losing communication with his hind end. It starts in the legs, then eventually moves into the bladder/pooper control, then eventually they stop breathing, though that is a long ways down the road I hope. Prognosis is that the dog will die from the disease -- it is just a matter of so many factors as to progression, that no one can guess. Some dogs last weeks, others last years. I'm voting for years!

I'm going to supplement him on B vitamins, copper, and calcium in addition to the omega 3's he already gets. Thanks for thinking of the gluten though! Dog's don't exactly go about baking bread in the wild, do they? That would be a funny site - a pack of wolves baking some bread around a fire!

Thanks so much! I'd been looking at the work of Dr. Clemens, and many of those supplements are on his list, but not all. I'll certainly look into adding those. My vet wanted me to add the salmon oil first to see if it helped - I always add everything and then we can't figure out what helped - but that was before we knew how fast things were going to be progressing. I'm at least going to add copper/calcium/b vitamins OR have him tested for deficiencies there. I almost bought Borage Oil yesterday.

I'll look into these and get started adding them. I don't want to wait too long to do some good.

There is also two drugs that folks use, that you have to have made into paste at a lab, but they help some dogs. They are both some kind of acid I forget the name of right now. I might try that as well, after I try the natural supplements. Thanks again.

Hello, I am wondering if that is what my sisters old Pit bull had. Unfortuneatly he did also get a blood clot in his right hip. so I had to put him down, me and my sister could not afford the surgery to remove it. My sister was in Iraq serving our country when I had to put him down. He was the best dog I have ever known.

They really are such great dogs. We've had two, and will probably stick with the breed (or an English Bull Terrier, which is what my partner wants - he's practically obsessed with them). PB's/Staffys are not prone to the disease, but all dogs CAN get it. They still don't know what causes it. I think boxers have a slight propensity for it.

Emmett is doing alright. We are getting back the last set of blood work, and if it comes back alright, then we are probably looking at DM. Weird - a disease the "diagnose" by everything looking just fine. In fact, they don't officially diagnose the disease until the dog is dead and they do a necropsy.

Anyway, sorry to hear about your sister's dog. It's so tough. We had to put our American Staffordshire Terrier down before we got Emmett. She had massive breast cancer and a mastectomy didn't keep it out of her lymph system.

I wonder how many dogs are orphaned by war - obviously in the place of war, but also back home where folks have to leave. I think of all the dogs orphaned in Katrina. I saw so many dogs for adoption from Katrina -- you can still see it on Petfinder or whatever. That, and cities going with breed specific dog laws. Denver, for example -- a lot of dogs need to be adopted from Denver, and from Yakima, WA.

Take care.

Actually, I think my dog has this. She is a very small (45 lb) german shepherd. She is 12, and was put on kidney food and a medicine because she was wetting her bed (even if my hubby let her out every time she stirred during the night, poor dear). She's also on a supplement for arthritis, which got that pained look off her face.

But when I went back to my vet and said her legs just seemed weaker .. . like, she was such a dominant female, she would lift a leg to pee, and she's started to fall over when she does that, so she squats now. One of the things he did was flip her paws upside down, and he said that the fact that it takes her a second or two to flip them back, indicates its probably that. He didnt suggest testing, because he said testing is expensive and there's really no treatment - plus, 12 is pretty old for a dog.

What I've read said that it can either go fast or go slow - for her, it seems slow. She was dx'd with it at least 3-4 months ago, and she's still walking fine, even going up and down the stairs with no problem - she just trips sometimes tho. We never took really long walks, just around the block a few times a day - but when she was young, she could jump a 4 foot fence from a standstill, and now she falls if she tries to jump up a 2 foot embankment.

I met a woman who said she does chiropractic for dogs to help with that, but I havent been inspired yet . . . i have a hard enough time keeping up with the health problems of me and my three kids and my husband, sigh.

Sorry I dont have any good advice

Well thanks for your story anyway. It does sound like the same thing, and German Shepherds get this disease quite frequently; sometimes it is even called German Shepherd Degenerative Myelopathy (GSDM). For us the diagnosis is harder because you can't really be SURE that is what a dog has -- and since our breed isn't prone to it, there's always a slight question about whether or not it's that or cancer or a bulging disc or what...which is frustrating. Anyway, thanks for your story. Good luck.

Our Emmett has stabalized slightly, and we are about to try him out on some drugs they've got for the disease.