Hello!
I have a mystery regarding my
shetland sheepdog Juliet that I have been trying to solve since June last year. I've sought the opinions of several vets but I'm confused as ever! In short,
a few vets say she has IVDD, a few say she has fibrocartilagenous embolism (
FCE or spinal stroke), one said she has a
partial anterior cruciate ligament tear. Her symptoms aren't "textbook" hence the various diagnoses. There are
no specialist neurologists in my country (I'm in Singapore) that I can go to unfortunately. What I would really really appreciate is if someone here might have some knowledge or heard of something similar, so that I at least have a way forward (instead of living in fear)!
I've set out chronologically what happened. Juliet was 3.5 years when the incident happened and she does agility.
28 June 2013 (8am) - When I woke up I found that Juliet could not get up. She could lift the front of her body but not her back. When I carried and put her on her legs, she would stand for a short while (10 seconds), cannot walk and will flop back onto the ground. She looked a bit stressed but responded to noises outside the house (barked like she normally would), and would eat treats. The night before she was her usual self, running around. I will also mention that the 2 weeks before this incident, we had little outdoor activity because of bad air pollution (reached hazardous levels on the air pollution index). 28 June 2013 (10am) - I took Juliet to the nearest vet (not our usual) when it finally opened. Vet #1 stretched J's legs out and put her on the floor. J took a few steps but
did not put weight on her left hind leg (toe touching only). Vet #1 manipulated left hind leg, no pain response. Did drawer test a few times. Vet #1 diagnosed as
partial cruciate tear, suggested second opinion to determine if we should go for surgery or conservative treatment. Sent us home with
[!]meloxicam after a
cartrophen jab. As this was not our usual vet (who was out of town) I took J to another vet we have been to a few times before. After this vet visit, J would not want to get up and did not want to walk, only lie down.
28 June 2013 (4pm) - Vet #2 examined J, said
no swelling at joints, no crepitus,
no discomfort. He did spinal
x-rays, and upon review
said she had IVDD, with narrowing in the thoracic vertebrae at T9-T10, T10-T11, and T11-T12. He gave her a
[!]Dexafort/ betamox jab and prescribed supplements (
omega oil, [!]gingko and neuroforte). Nothing more. Just said she should never walk stairs again and I may have to live with the fact that she may not walk period. X-rays at this link on Google Drive -
drive.google.com/folderview?id=0ByYdnHAoFZ0kSmpVZENNNWs5ZHM&usp=sharing28 June 2013 (6pm) - After the vet visit, upon reaching home, J was
walking again with no problem, just a bit more effort than usual in getting up. I f
lipped all her paws upside down one by one and placed them on the ground and she flipped it back almost immediately. I did some very low cavalettis to see if she's picking up her feet, and she did. I got her to back up and she would move - total control and awareness over her back legs.
29 June 2013 (AM) - By the next morning she was her usual self and jumped onto the sofa to beg my husband for a bit of his sausage bun.
No sign of pain or limping to this day.
For
3 weeks after that I kept her on strict crate rest. She was
allowed only very short walks. I also
added corset "whale bones" to a thunder shirt and put that on Juliet to keep her back straight as a makeshift brace because I would not have been able to get one shipped in from the US quickly. Subsequently, I slowly increased her activity levels and did more conditioning work on the peanut and took her swimming almost once a week. In December we
resumed agility once a week.During this time I also wrote to and sought the opinion of other vets, with some agreeing that it could be IVDD and others saying it is a more likely FCE as it is commonly seen in shelties. However, the fact that she got well so quickly (less than 24 hours) is unusual in both cases! It takes days if not weeks and even months of physio to get dogs with FCE mobile again and with IVDD you would be familiar with the recovery period.
About 2 to 3 months since the incident, I noticed that J kept breaking her Sit stays (for obedience) because her right hind leg kept sliding out (the floor had texture - it wasn't smooth). I have since noticed this on multiple occasions even now - obviously worse on marble or smooth tile, but even on slightly textured flooring her right hind leg will slowly slide out from under her while she is sitting. I have also noticed that
when she walks on pavement, there is a slight scraping noise. It's not constant (I don't hear it every time she is walking) but comes and goes (she will walk with not scraping for a short while, then I will hear the noise, and then nothing, and then the noise again).
I have been doing conditioning work on a peanut and wobble board, swimming every 2 to 3 weeks and recently added uphill walking (on an incline treadmill). She is, for all intents and purposes, 100% her usual self in movement and mobility. Could she really have IVDD? It was recently suggested to me that I should take her for an MRI or CT scan. I'm not sure if doing that NOW will be of any use to show if she does have IVDD (or FCE). Any ideas on that too?
I'm so sorry if it is not appropriate to post here but I am desperately seeking answers and wanting to do right by my girl. It doesn't help when the standard of vet care here is atrocious and specialists are non-existent.