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!
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
Sadie Stumbles
Our dear Sadie has stumbled. Literally. At about noon on Sunday, she starting displaying unsteadiness on her feet, she would stagger & stumble and sometimes just plain fall over. First, she fell into a kitchen cabinet, then Hurley knocked into her and she toppled over and then she had some muscle spasms. We had never seen anything like this from her before and so off to the emergency vet we went.
The good news is that she appears not to have suffered a stroke or seizure. Her symptoms are consistent with Ataxia, which is basically loss of motor function and is caused by a wide variety of issues. This could be as simple as she got into something that was toxic or it could be as bad as a brain tumor or degenerative neurological disease. Or it could be any number of things in between. We just don't know at this point. We hope that it was just something she got into but since she was not displaying any other signs of poisoning, we think it's unlikely a toxin is the culprit. Her energy level is fine, she's eating & drinking fine and her poops are fine.
The emergency vet gave her subcutaneous fluids and sent her home with activated charcoal, which would help her body process any potential toxins and recover more quickly. We had hoped against hope that it would do the trick and she would wake up this morning 100%. This was not the case.
We're headed off to our regular vet this afternoon for a re-check of her symptoms and a discussion of next steps, which will most likely include a doggie neurologist.
Right now, we're just really scared. While our trip to the emergency vet yesterday ruled out some serious potential causes, we don't have any answers. And not knowing is the scariest.
Please keep her in your thoughts. I'll keep you all posted once we know more.
The good news is that she appears not to have suffered a stroke or seizure. Her symptoms are consistent with Ataxia, which is basically loss of motor function and is caused by a wide variety of issues. This could be as simple as she got into something that was toxic or it could be as bad as a brain tumor or degenerative neurological disease. Or it could be any number of things in between. We just don't know at this point. We hope that it was just something she got into but since she was not displaying any other signs of poisoning, we think it's unlikely a toxin is the culprit. Her energy level is fine, she's eating & drinking fine and her poops are fine.
The emergency vet gave her subcutaneous fluids and sent her home with activated charcoal, which would help her body process any potential toxins and recover more quickly. We had hoped against hope that it would do the trick and she would wake up this morning 100%. This was not the case.
We're headed off to our regular vet this afternoon for a re-check of her symptoms and a discussion of next steps, which will most likely include a doggie neurologist.
Right now, we're just really scared. While our trip to the emergency vet yesterday ruled out some serious potential causes, we don't have any answers. And not knowing is the scariest.
Please keep her in your thoughts. I'll keep you all posted once we know more.
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