Encephalitis
 

My 7-year-old, 3-pound rescue Yorkie had 2 seizures on Thurs night (6/27/08). This was completely unexpected; she had just gone on a short walk around the neighborhood and behaved normally. We took her to an after-hours emergency clinic and they recommended she see a neurologist. We are about 65 miles from UGA vet clinic and took her there.

They did an MRI, spinal tap, and blood profile. The MRI showed inflammation in her brain. At this time, they do not know if the cause is viral, bacterial, or sterile inflammation. They seem to be leaning toward Yorkshire Necrotizing Encephalitis, but started her on antibiotics last night in case it is bacterial.

Nothing I read gives me any hope for a positive prognosis, and the vets are reluctant to either.

Does anyone have knowledge that could help us? I am so scared, she is so little...

We have had her for 5 years and she has made such wonderful progress. She was being used as a kennel breed dog and is much too little to breed. We have just let her be a lap dog when she wants and princess all the time. She is the boss of our 5-year-old 11-pound Maltese who can't figure out where she is.

I am terrified that we are going to lose her to this condition....If anybody knows anything that could help, please let me know.

I am so sorry that your baby is going through this...Hopefully someone on here will have information for you.

Deborah, I am so very sorry that you precious little Chrissy has yet another hurdle to conquer. I appreciate you calling me. I hope in some small way I might have been able to help. Perhaps the UGA Vet Staff is able to locate her records, and perhaps help in the treatmetn of Chrissy.

Your family is in my thoughts and prayers....

I am so sorry! I've PM'd you with a lady's email that has gone through this and has done wonders with her Yorkie.
Back in '04 I had purchased a Show male from a breeder. I Showed him myself and he was only 1 Major away from his AKC Championship, and I decided to breed him during a break in Shows. No puppies.. So I had him tested and he was completely STERILE :eek: Although devastated, I knew there was no sense finishing his Championship and I placed him with a very loving family. I got several emails and updates and all went well for a few years. She then called me to let me know that he had Encephalitis. Thank God, he was sterile, and had produced no offspring because it was confirmed hereditary Encephalitis. He had terrible symptoms, and they all went through hell. She emailed updates as things progressed, and just yesterday sent pics of how well he was doing. She will be of great help to you, I am sure.
Good luck and God Bless!

I sent you a PM, please call me!! My Brooke has GME and is now in remission!! There is hope but you must get her on the right medicine protocol! There has been a lot of changes in the treatment of this disease & the prognosis is much better than before, provided you start her on an aggressive protocol. Please read my pm and call me when you can, I can help.

Update on Crissey's Encephalitis
 

Hello All,

Sorry I haven't updated until today. I have been spending as much time with her as possible and since it is about 3 hours roundtrip, I am exhausted from the emotion and the trip.

But the news as of now, is good. She has a mild case with very little damage. We caught it early and she is responding to treatment.

For any of you who are facing this disease, this is a critical issue:

The doctors have told me that there are 2 basic types of canine encephalitis. It can be either INFECTIOUS, or STERILE. The infectious type can be viral, bacterial or fungal. The sterile type is like an auto-immune disorder where the body starts attacking itself. This type has no KNOWN cause, but there are several theories including genetics and triggers associated with vaccines. Within the sterile type include GME, and breed-specific types like Pug Dog Disease and Yorkie Necrotizing Encephalitis.

They say that about 70% of the dogs with encephalitis have the sterile kind. And about 30% have the infectious kind. Because Crissey is a Yorkie, the chances are greater that she has Yorkie Encephalitis.

But there is still about a 30% chance that even a Yorkie can have the infectious kind rather than the sterile kind.

And this is where it gets really scary. If they start treating her with the drug protocol for the sterile kind which includes high doses of steroids, the desired effect is to suppress the immune system so that it stops attacking itself. And that is great, as long as the underlying cause of the disease is truly sterile in nature.

But if we start giving her high doses of steroids, and it is actually infectious in nature, then we will probably kill her because we will have suppressed her immune system to the point that it cannot fight off the infection.

However, if we start treating her with antibiotics and it turns out to be the sterile kind, then we have a better chance of being able to reverse the course, change the treatment protocol, and still her.

So the decision is really a sort of "lesser of two evils" choice. Many times they can diagnosis the infectious kind from a spinal tap, but Crissey's was inconclusive. And they didn't feel that her case warranted another spinal tap.

So the bottom line for us is that she is much improved and she came home yesterday on antibiotics. They are still not sure if her improvement is due to the antibiotics, or due to the residual effects of the low-dose steroids they gave her in the beginning to reduce the inflammation. So she could get worse over the next couple of weeks and then we would deduce that she actually has the sterile variety rather than the infectious.

At that point we would have to switch her to the high dose steroids combined with another drug, cytosine (also called cytozar), that acts as a sort of chemotherapy.

So please keep us in your prayers over the next couple of weeks. We are at a very critical phase with this disease and can use all the support and prayers that we can get.

Thank you all for your concern and support and I will keep you posted on her progress. I am SO HAPPY to have her HOME!

Deborah

Evaluation Tomorrow - Crissey
 

Wish us luck and please continue your prayers. Crissey goes back to UGA for a check up tomorrow. She is almost through her course of antibiotics and is symptom free at this point. We are hopeful that it turns out to be infectious and that we can cure it. The docs are still concerned that it may be sterile and her symptoms will return and perhaps worsen.

She is doing well for now and for that, we are very grateful. We are praying for a full recovery.

Thanks to you all and I will keep you posted! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow!

Prayers going up that Chrissie continues to get better and goes into remission. I'm so sorry that she and your family are experiencing this. It breaks my heart when these babies are so ill.

Prayers for your baby...

I pray sweet Chrissie will respond to treatment. It sounds like she is getting the best possible care.

Chrissy will be in our thoughts!

Hope you get some answers soon! Hang in there!

We are also going thru this with our 4 year old female. No one knows what this is. Or really how to treat it. Would love to talk more to you.

I'm praying that your baby will beat this aweful disease! Two of my good friends have lost babies to this (they were littermates)...we lost Taffy just this past Saturday to encephalitis. :( Their cases seemed unique though in that they went downhill so quickly (within 24-48 hours). I hope your baby will be okay.

special thanks
 

That's to Crissey"s Mom . We got the ball rolling. we need prayers from all. Thanks again

Sending thoughts and prayers your way that Crissey beats this awful disease.

I lost my baby Kosmo in March 2007 to this disease, his health just spiraled downhill so fast, and just recently, this past Saturday, his littermate Taffy was taken by this disease, in less than 48 hours. Kosmo was only 18 months old, Taffy would've been 3 this September.