Medical Mystery Round 3: Seizures? Allergies? Steroids? Help! Hi There, I dont know if anyone has been following my saga but I'm on vet 3 now and I thought we had things in a good place but apparently not. I'd appreciate any input or advice. So let me give you a synopsis of the last 6 months. My rescue dog who at the time, I had for 6 months suddenly started biting towards (not actually biting skin) her rear. LIke it was itchy. It was incessant and all day all night. shed jet around the house, trying to get under the furniture or under the covers. she was miserable. no sleep. she also started drinking lots of water. and having accidents. I took her to my regular vet and few times and they didnt know what was the issue. So i took her to the vet my rescue used and she thought it was an infection due to elevated white blood cells and put her on antibiotics. they helped. her symptoms subsided for a month then came back. the rescue vet thought the infection was back and put her on antibiotics again and the symptoms subsided after awhile and we thought things were ok. though she admitted she wasnt sure what the issue was. So I found a third vet, my neighbors vet. I go there and show him a video of her behavior. He says they are seizures and suggests liver shunt. She has her bile acids tested and he said they were borderline but he wasnt worried that it was liver shunt and suggested that it was seasonal allergies. He put her on prenizone (sp? a steroid) and the symptoms subsided once more. he said if the symptoms come back, it's allergies and id go thru another course of steroids but this time augment with an allergy medication called Atopica. So, her seizures came back...and we went back on the steroids along with Atopica this time. It is day 4 and the seizures, lots of water drinking and lots of pee pee accidents have not subsided and NOW SHE HAS DIARRHEA accidents too( atopica?)! Any idea what this could be? PLease help. She's miserable. i'm miserable and my other yorkie, Bindi feels neglected. :( Thanks for reading. |
Has this pup had an MRI of the head/brain ? as these can all be symptoms of a Chiari malformation. |
If Bile Acid Tests were borderline, I would think about repeating them. You might want to consider a board certified internal med specialist. In my experience it is often easier to just go to one and let them rule things out in one shot rather than having to go back and forth with a regular vet. This could be neurological, but I would first go with medical. I recently met a couple at the specialists and they went through something similar...went to neuro and a MRI was done and they actually did find chiari; put the pup on some kind of meds after which exacerbated her symptoms...they ended up with medical and found out she had a liver shunt. They were there for her follow up appointment after her surgery and she was doing very well. |
No, my Nimki has not had a MRI or scan of her head/brain. Though the last two vets mentioned it could be neurological (lesion on brain?) but it was unlikely (I dont know why but both said this). Chiari malformation? What is this? Is this common? Treatment? How does one find a board certified internal med specialist? I was thinking to maybe take her to a dermatologist for allergies? Is this not a good idea? At least if it is not environmental allergens they would be able to rule that out. Would repeating the Bile Acid Test reveal different results than borderline? My other yorkie, Bindi had liver shunt. I sure hope Nimki doesn't! I also called back my new "regular" vet to let him know she's still having seizures and diarrhea now as well. I hope to hear back from him soon and will relay any new information here. At the moment I do not see the benefit on keeping her on either of the two meds, granted its only been 4 days...maybe i need to give it more time? |
You can find a board certified internist here: http://www.acvim.org/PetOwners/FindaSpecialist.aspx Personally, I would start there since there really is nothing diagnosed as yet. Sounds like too much of a guessing game going on right now. I am never comfortable with that. Whenever I go to the specialists they are very thorough and give me a list (usually a short one) of things that could be the problem. They then give an estimate of cost. I have never been dissatisfied. |
UGH I keep getting 0 results for my zip code :( |
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Please keep us updated sure hope they find the cause soon |
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got it. What type of specialist should I look for? Small Animal Internists ? |
Sorry to hear that Nimki is unwell. I don't have any direction for you to go... sorry:( I just thought I'd pass my 'Get Well' wishes and to say you are both in my thoughts. I sure hope that you will find info from another YT'er. Please keep us posted... thanks! Cheers! |
Julianna and Cummins: thank you and you go it! |
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Thanks! |
So I found a vet hospital near by that has all those specialities from that link. I called to make an appt with the internal med doc (SAIM) but upon hearing my case and consulting with a nurse and a doc they suggested a meet with a nuerologist as my primary concern are these seizures. Thoughts? Does this seem reasonable? |
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Good luck and please keep us posted. |
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