Polyneuropathy in Dogs

[shells]

I havent posted in a long time but I am at a total loss. 5 weeks ago my nearly 9 year old mini Poodle  suddenly couldnt walk. Initially my vet suspected a back injury so she was crated for a week and given pain meds. She got worse so they referred us to the Animal Referral Hospital in Canberra. The Dr there said straight away she looked like she had a back injury (she was very stiff when she walked and had a obvious curve in her back) but after a very thorough full body  examination we realised she had no pain and physically there was "nothing" wrong with her. Raw chicken was mentioned and there was an incident 2 weeks prior to the paralysis were she had a terrible vomiting for 8 hours  and the symptoms seemed to fit with coonhound paralysis or actute iditopathic polyradiculoneruitis. 

 

So whilst she can now scratch herself with her back legs, bark and  wag her tail again her front legs have become totally lame. She cant stand or put weight on front legs she now commando crawls around and only she is desperate to move. Last weekend she could stagger around on all 4 legs but would tip toe on her right front leg. So over the week there has been a decline. 

 

She isnt really eating much - its a real effort to convince her to eat. This is a worry for me as she is generally a little piggy. She is drinking water. I am wondering if the paralysis is making it difficult to eat

 

 

We are back at the ARH on Tuesday. She isnt in pain and is happy to see me and has a bark at the pesky magpies that land in the garden. I was really just wondering if someone had experienced something similar. 9 years isnt old and she has been a really healthy dog until the last 5 weeks ago - 7 weeks ago she was still coming along on my 5km twice weekly runs.

 

Thanks for reading if you got this far

[RuralPug]

Some dogs are incredibly stoic and just don't show pain. This doesn't  mean that they are not in pain - the loss of appetite would make me suspect chronic pain. But spinal injury can sometimes preclude messages travelling from the brain to the limbs - so no pain messages in and no muscle control out, if you see what I mean.

The sudden and severe onset, with no improvement from anti- inflammatories and crate rest, but mostly the visible spinal curve and no sign of breathing paralysis as with a paralysis tick really sounds like an injury or some sort of degeneration of the spine or of the spinal nerves.

Without Xraying to check for bone spurs pressing on the nerves in the spinal column and myelograph (spelling? not sure) to check the state of the spinal cord itself it does seems a big leap to me to assume there is no underlying degeneration or injury.

I would ask to follow it up with xrays or soft tissue scans in case there is spondylosis or some other sort of degeneration or there has been been an injury. Coonhound paralysis is not found in Australia as it is a reaction to raccoon saliva.
"actute iditopathic polyradiculoneruitis" is not actually a diagnosis but basically a description of the main symptom. Not to blame the vet, some times wiyh illness or disease that is a little out of the ordinary symptoms is all you can be sure of, the cause remains unknown.

 And if they don't find anything on the xrays or scans then I would probably then consult a greyhound chiropractor or Bowen therapist. That's what I would do,  it is not necessarily what most people would do LOL.

I do hope you find out what the problem is or at least how to relieve it - now that you are back don't be a stranger and keep us updated please!

[Dogsfevr]

i would be seeking a bowen person for sure or asking for a more in depth scans sooner than later depending on what path you wish to follow.

If it was me i would be finding a kids toy on wheeels or create something to allow the dog to move more freely,trying to minimize muscle wastage is important .

 

I have owned a dog with spondo & generally you see the signs leading up if you know your dog,have owned a another dog that injured his back leading to read paralysis.Both dogs where x rayed & the other had a mylogram .Keeping fit was a must .
Both dogs received regular bowen treatment ,keep in mind pinched muscles can leave a dog unable to walk.

I have alo had a dog who pulled a muscle just below his tail that made him unable to use his rear end & when he could was very drunk un co ordinated ,Bowen solved that .

But you need to feel happy what path you take

[shells]

She is eating better. Still not moving better but is definitely more "herself". Barking, wagging her tail, sitting up more.  The vet still wasnt too concerned and suggested a battery of tests we can do or we can give her a bit more time. So I have decided to give her another week or 2 then we will start with some tests. She has been on no pain meds for 3 weeks now and they didnt actually make a difference when she was on them.

 

The ARH is the main Vet hospital in Canberra and she is being seen by an orthopaedic specialist so I am confident in the vet but will look into a Bowen person too

 

Apparently Coonhound paralysis is quite common in Aus. Its not actually from racoons and there is a specialist in Sydney who believes it is an auto-immune response to camplyobacter from raw chicken (which fits with her symptoms as she had a bad vomiting bug after some chicken a week or 2 before the paralysis started)

 

https://www.dogslife.com.au/dog-news/dog-health/coonhound-paralysis

 

[JRG]

I had a bitch who survived a number of years with this condition.  I wrote about her when she died (a couple of years ago) in the  Rainbow Bridge section (sept 20th 2015  The End of an Era). Please feel free to PM me if you think I can give you any other help.

[RuralPug]

1 hour ago, shells said:

Apparently Coonhound paralysis is quite common in Aus. Its not actually from racoons and there is a specialist in Sydney who believes it is an auto-immune response to camplyobacter from raw chicken (which fits with her symptoms as she had a bad vomiting bug after some chicken a week or 2 before the paralysis started)

 

https://www.dogslife.com.au/dog-news/dog-health/coonhound-paralysis

 

Thanks for the info - something I didn't know! Learning something new is always appreciated!
 The the US it is usually a reaction to raccoon saliva (as stated in your link) but this is the very first time I have heard of it in Australia and yet that link quotes it as reasonably common. Looking at the comments in that article, it seems all over Australia and also to be experienced in the UK.

[shells]

So nearly 2 months after this all started my beautiful girl is walking again. She has a long way to go but she can stand up from lying down and walk very wobbly few meters. Considering a week ago she couldnt move or hold her weight standing I am very happy.

 

I noticed a week ago she was starving. She hadnt eaten much at all for the previous 6 weeks so we offered her more regular food. She also started sitting up a lot more. From there she has been able to move more every day.

 

Its amazing how quickly she became sick and paralysed and how after such a long period of inactivity she is starting to move again. I guess the nerve lining is slowly reparing

[Tassie]

So glad she's dong well, @shells..  And thanks so much for that link.  Very interesting, and really helpful information, particularly in Tassie, where we don't routinely use tick protection since our proportion of paralysis ticks is very small .. but presented with the voice change and the paralysis and the lack of tick protection, most owners (and possibly vets) would immediately suspect tick paralysis.

[westiemum]

If there is a voice/bark change, its also important to rule out laryngeal paralysis, particularly with any hind end weakness (LP-GOLPP).