Senior Dog Neuropathy

[tania]

Hello all

I would love to start a topic on senior dogs, and the "hind end" weakness many of us see. All to often i get referrals with dogs that have been diagnosed with OA of hips or knees (or both) and this is the "cause" of the weakness and their referral to me.

When i do my patho functional exam i see mild to moderate ataxia of the hind limbs and yes, the xrays show OA but i feel this is not the primary issue but an incidental finding contributing to the weakness.

I have done much research on changes of the neuro system when we (humans and dogs age) and we know that nerves do not fire in the synaptic gap (as quickly) as when we are younger. So the same must happen in dogs, causing the shuffling (as tell owners much like Mr Wiggins in the Carol Burnett show- ok i give my age up here)
I also think many times there is underlying Cancer, Thyroid, cushings, or another internal issue that may make matters worse. But that is not my specialty only a thought.

So to that end, I would love to hear others thoughts and ideas on our senior dogs and what we can do to help..
tania

[lehughes]

Thanks for starting this thread Tania! I would agree with your synopsis - so much more than just OA in many of these senior, and so much undiagnosed neuropathies.

My thoughts and findings:
[*]NECK Degenerative Discs: I had a run on them for a while. Ataxic senior dogs, and initially painful in the neck. Then the neck pain dissipated leaving just the neuro stuff that either went away slowly... and returned a couple of years later. Or ataxia remained or waxes and wanes, but neck pain is minimal or not present.
[*]LUMBAR Stenosis: I think this one is hard to find as well. Exercise intolerance is the biggest clue.
[*]HEPATIC related encephalopathy or neuropathy. I've had a couple of these from a holistic vet.
[*]CEREBELLAR degeneration. I actually think that BOTH of my geriatric seniors have this going on!

I'd love to hear other thoughts as well!

Laurie