Great news! Sadie's stumbles have disappeared.
For 36 hours, she stumbled & tumbled. And the next 36 hours showed very little of those symptoms. As quickly as her Ataxia (wobbliness) symptoms appeared, they disappeared.
She appears to have completely recovered. We have no idea what might have caused her issues. We're not sure if this is a one-off or if they will come back. And I have heard 3 different vets in 3 different practices say "Well, Sadie sure presents an interesting case" ...also known as the worst possible thing to hear from a vet when your dog is having a health crisis. It basically means her neurological issues, if they come back, are rare, may take lots of tests to properly diagnose, and we may never know why she is having these issues. Super.
But we are ever so grateful that she is OK right now. That is all that matters!
For the better part of the last 4 days, I have cursed our dear friend, Google. Shouldn't there be some sort of technology that prohibits our ability to indulge in those worst care scenarios that the internet is so happy to provide?
Our greatest worry was Hereditary Cerebellar Ataxia. Mostly because we suppose she is part Staffie (this is a hereditary disease seen in Staffies) and Google told us all about it. It is a degenerative neurological disease with no effective treatment or cure. She would lose control of her body but be completely sound in mind. It scared the hell out of us.
While I have been cursing Google these past few days, yesterday I developed a deep appreciation for the ability to be prepared with the neurologist. By this time, her symptoms had completely disappeared, which made the neurologist's job a heck of a lot more difficult. We hope that she is just passing a toxin and this will be the last and only of it. There are several other possibilities and without my obsessive Googling, I would not have known about Hereditary Ataxia or the many other possibilities it could've been. I wouldn't have known what to ask about. And she wouldn't have been able to reassure my troubled mind - this awful disease does not come and go in her experience and therefore, we can cross our worst care scenario off the list.
We will of course be keeping a close eye on our dear girl. We are waiting on some test results regarding her liver and those will hopefully show nothing to be concerned about. She seems right as rain for the time being and that makes us so very relieved and happy. What a trooper she is!
I'm so glad Sadie is doing better, I hope this was just a one time scare and that everything will be OK!
ReplyDeleteYay that she is on the mend, hopefully that continues! I agree with the Google debacle - I try to force myself to look away but I just keep reading and reading and reading!
ReplyDeleteYay! So happy to hear it :) I had to keep myself away from the evil Google for the last few days. You are much braver than I am!
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear Sadie is feeling better. What a scare this must be. Hope you find an answer. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteSometimes google does not help. Once my daughter's pediatrician told me he thought my daughter had Lupus. He said don't go home and get on the internet, which is exactly what I did. I then proceeded to cry for three days it took for test results.
ReplyDeleteLet me ask you something, had she been swimming? I'm thinking it might be something as simple as water in the ear throwing off her balance.
Whatever it is, I'm so glad she's better!!
Whoa, what a scare! I'm so happy she's doing better and continues to do so.
ReplyDeleteThat's so scary! Maggie had similar issues after a topical flea and tick treatment. She couldn't move her back legs normally for a day and lost bladder control. She had gained weight since the previous year so we had gone up a weight class and it was much too strong. Our vet sais that she's too sensitive and we should never use this type of product on her again. We used a cedar spray last year which worked pretty well. Hope Sadie is well!
ReplyDeleteYay! I've been out of town, and I'm so happy to come back and hear this.
ReplyDeleteNot knowing is definitely the scary part. I read the post previous to this as well and I can't imagine how worried you were and still may be. How is she doing? I will definitely be keeping her and your family in my thoughts.
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