Is This Some Type Of Ataxia?

[yellowgirl]

My 11 year old Chinese Crested boy, Seuss, has just had some sort of 'wobble episode'. I just happened to have my camera right next to me, apologies for the quality though. He'd had his dinner about 20 minutes before and he'd just got down from my lap after a 10 minute cuddle. He seemed a bit 'wonky' when I put him on the floor so I kept watching him and saw that he was lifting his legs, particularly the back legs and then started wobbling.

I've had Seuss for about 5 months, he was in pretty bad shape when he came to me and needed surgery to remove several lumps on his body which the biopsy later reported were about to turn cancerous, so we got to that just in time. He's had several minor episodes of 'funny walking' where he high steps as if he can't work out where the floor is. This is the first time I've seen him wobble like this. He'd been vet checked for the funny walks and the vet found nothing definitive, blood tests were all normal. He's fine immediately afterwards, as he is now. After tonight's episode he went to his bed for a few minutes and then took himself outside to the toilet and came back in wagging his tail, happy as a clam. There's absolutely no sign of anything having been wrong for those few minutes.

Has anyone experienced anything like this with their dog?

Hopefully the video works - it's taken me over an hour to work out how to get it in here.

http://vid685.photobucket.com/albums/vv215/66yellowgirl/DSCN4686%202.mp4

Edit - another short video in post #13.

Edited July 22, 2015 by yellowgirl

[Gallomph]

This looks similar to the mini "seizures" that one of my oldies started having - pacing, wobbly, shivering, uncoordinated movement of legs and head - but not unaware or convulsing, and Ok after 5 minutes or so. It seemed to be related to feeding (within 2-3 hours of eating), when something different was fed to him, or twice when I was late feeding him. Vet investigations (blood and urine tests) turned up nothing. After consulting Dr Google (I know, I know... not the best thing to do, but the vet had no answers..), it sounded a bit like some descriptions of things that can happen in early stage kidney disease, so I thought it couldn't hurt to try him on a kidney disease diet. It seems to have helped - he went from 1 episode a week to only 2 in the past 10 months. One of the two happened after I stuffed up and he got some of another dogs food.

[yellowgirl]

This looks similar to the mini "seizures" that one of my oldies started having - pacing, wobbly, shivering, uncoordinated movement of legs and head - but not unaware or convulsing, and Ok after 5 minutes or so. It seemed to be related to feeding (within 2-3 hours of eating), when something different was fed to him, or twice when I was late feeding him. Vet investigations (blood and urine tests) turned up nothing. After consulting Dr Google (I know, I know... not the best thing to do, but the vet had no answers..), it sounded a bit like some descriptions of things that can happen in early stage kidney disease, so I thought it couldn't hurt to try him on a kidney disease diet. It seems to have helped - he went from 1 episode a week to only 2 in the past 10 months. One of the two happened after I stuffed up and he got some of another dogs food.

Thanks Gallomph, I appreciate the input - the changes you've made sound like they're working for your dog which is wonderful :) Your references to food are interesting, I will watch him more closely after feeding now. All 3 dogs are on low fat, low protein, low salt, no preservatives - basically a kidney diet as my 14 year old girl has kidney disease and pancreatitis and I've found this particular diet works well for all the oldies. I know that the vitamin supplement Nutrigel doesn't agree with him (makes him vomit) so I do think that there might be a dietary related issue here somewhere. Interestingly, he had a fair bit of extra tuna tonight so I'm going to keep note of what he eats and when he has the wobbles.

Edited July 21, 2015 by yellowgirl

[_PL_]

That stepping thing with his back legs is unusual! I would have said seizurey or neuorological, it doesn't look like any classic ataxia I've seen but dogs always like to make life interesting (and worrying) so you never know. :)

Could it be low blood sugar? They do go a bit like that if hypoglycaemic. I keep some glucose powder in the cupboard just in case.

[Loving my Oldies]

I can't be of any help, YG. I've not seen anything like that. Just wanted to input that Danny's back legs are becoming weaker and vet said it was neurological and he wouldn't be in any pain. Hope darling Seuss stays fine.

[yellowgirl]

That stepping thing with his back legs is unusual! I would have said seizurey or neuorological, it doesn't look like any classic ataxia I've seen but dogs always like to make life interesting (and worrying) so you never know. :)

Could it be low blood sugar? They do go a bit like that if hypoglycaemic. I keep some glucose powder in the cupboard just in case.

Yes, I think it's unusual too Power Legs, I've seen lots of different issues when I was fostering seniors and special-needs dogs, but not quite the same as this. I think we'll be going back to the vet and I'll take the video with me. I'll ask about hypoglycaemia too.

[yellowgirl]

I can't be of any help, YG. I've not seen anything like that. Just wanted to input that Danny's back legs are becoming weaker and vet said it was neurological and he wouldn't be in any pain. Hope darling Seuss stays fine.

Thanks DDD. He doesn't appear to be in any pain but he's a very stoic non-complaining type of boy. He was doing something weird with his back legs before I got the camera, my first thought was that maybe his arthritis was bothering him and he'd made himself uncomfortable when he was on my lap, then he started the wobbles.

Gentle hugs to sweet Danny

[Loving my Oldies]

I can't be of any help, YG. I've not seen anything like that. Just wanted to input that Danny's back legs are becoming weaker and vet said it was neurological and he wouldn't be in any pain. Hope darling Seuss stays fine.

Thanks DDD. He doesn't appear to be in any pain but he's a very stoic non-complaining type of boy. He was doing something weird with his back legs before I got the camera, my first thought was that maybe his arthritis was bothering him and he'd made himself uncomfortable when he was on my lap, then he started the wobbles.

Gentle hugs to sweet Danny

Danny saw this and has spent the day demanding hugs - LOL.

Back to Seuss. Could be that he was just trying to sort out pains from being on your lap. Whilst I am not at the wobbling stage, I sure have some awful pains going on if I've been in the one position for a while. Seuss and I have age in common :cry:

[JulesP]

Actually my dog Amber did this but it was all a bit more dramatic. The leg action was jerkier (looked like stringhalt for any horsey people) and she was on her side during the fit part.

This happened just after she was diagnosed with multiple liver shunts. It was a Hepatic encephalopathy episode. It occurred shortly after I had fed her a lamb flap. The vet had said that some of that sort of food would be ok. I pretty much haven't fed her meat since and she hasn't had another attack that bad.

Whilst her blood liver levels were a bit elevated they weren't dodgy enough that the vet would have been alarmed.

[westiemum]

YG I've seen that high-stepping in dogs with cerebellar dysfunction and the ataxia fits with the cerebellar possibility too - so I think the point is that there are a number of things this could be. If Suess has returned to normal I'd make some diary notes to go with your video - date time, duration, description - and then keep a watching brief. Make diary notes of anything else you notice (you'll be surprised at how easily it is to forget the details which can really help a vet diagnostically) If it recurs then you should head to the vet, diary notes and video in hand as unfortunately if you go to the vet now it will be simply be guesswork.

Edited July 22, 2015 by westiemum

[CrazyCresties]

I'm afraid I have no experience with regards to this YG, but just wanted to say all the best for Suess and hope you get some answers that help.

[yellowgirl]

I can't be of any help, YG. I've not seen anything like that. Just wanted to input that Danny's back legs are becoming weaker and vet said it was neurological and he wouldn't be in any pain. Hope darling Seuss stays fine.

Thanks DDD. He doesn't appear to be in any pain but he's a very stoic non-complaining type of boy. He was doing something weird with his back legs before I got the camera, my first thought was that maybe his arthritis was bothering him and he'd made himself uncomfortable when he was on my lap, then he started the wobbles.

Gentle hugs to sweet Danny

Danny saw this and has spent the day demanding hugs - LOL.

Back to Seuss. Could be that he was just trying to sort out pains from being on your lap. Whilst I am not at the wobbling stage, I sure have some awful pains going on if I've been in the one position for a while. Seuss and I have age in common :cry:

I can relate to that too DDD. I did think when he first started doing the little kicks with his back legs that he might have been in some pain or discomfort and that's why he wanted to get down.

[yellowgirl]

Actually my dog Amber did this but it was all a bit more dramatic. The leg action was jerkier (looked like stringhalt for any horsey people) and she was on her side during the fit part.

This happened just after she was diagnosed with multiple liver shunts. It was a Hepatic encephalopathy episode. It occurred shortly after I had fed her a lamb flap. The vet had said that some of that sort of food would be ok. I pretty much haven't fed her meat since and she hasn't had another attack that bad.

Whilst her blood liver levels were a bit elevated they weren't dodgy enough that the vet would have been alarmed.

Thanks for your input JulesP. Was the leg action anything like this? I took it a few seconds before the one in the original post. I've only ever seen him do this high stepping - usually the back legs, sometimes front legs as well, but I've not seen the wobbles before.

http://vid685.photobucket.com/albums/vv215/66yellowgirl/DSCN4685.mp4

[yellowgirl]

YG I've seen that high-stepping in dogs with cerebellar dysfunction and the ataxia fits with the cerebellar possibility too - so I think the point is that there are a number of things this could be. If Suess has returned to normal I'd make some diary notes to go with your video - date time, duration, description - and then keep a watching brief. Make diary notes of anything else you notice (you'll be surprised at how easily it is to forget the details which can really help a vet diagnostically) If it recurs then you should head to the vet, diary notes and video in hand as unfortunately if you go to the vet now it will be simply be guesswork.

Thanks Westiemum, yes I'm definitely keeping notes. He's had his dinner tonight and no problems so far.. although he hasn't come up for his after dinner cuddles yet as he usually does, the heater's on and he's snuggled up fast asleep.

[yellowgirl]

I'm afraid I have no experience with regards to this YG, but just wanted to say all the best for Suess and hope you get some answers that help.

Thankyou CrazyCresties, he's doing okay tonight so far