3 weird patients for your brain picking:
1). I have a 12 yr old FS Standard Poodle, "Pumpkin", belongs to a vet, has been radiographed- with some evidence of narrowed disc spaces in the T3-L3 region, normal-appearing cervical spine- on rads- I have not examined her or palpated her yet- Will do so tomorrow- No Advanced imaging- MRI or CT scans.
Mom is concerned with progressing PL hypermetria- started in October- noted only occasionally when walking- started in RPL and is now happening on LPL- but not all the time- not so much weakness or ataxia- but progressing hypermetria
I have a few videos from mom if this helps? I can send along
2). I have another neuro pal, "Jack" who is a 13 yr old MC Mini Dachshund- who I conned another vet friend into adopting 10 years ago- so he's my godson- technically. His owner surrendered him to a rescue when he was about 3 yrs old- with IVDD- complete loss of all motor and deep pain BL PLs - no surgery or treatment was done for the dog at that time- he adapted well to wheel chair life- and has been a poop stim and bladder expression kind of guy his whole life- He even ran in the Doxie Derby at UC Davis- in his wheels- came in last- but still.....
& He has been a VERY GOOD spinal walker since she adopted him-
Minimal tail stim and he started patterning both rear legs-
When he's in his wheels- his back legs start patterning on their own- but he drags them when running- so he's got them "slung back" with booties on - for protection.
The problem is- that in the past few weeks- he's developed spontaneous, strong, spinal walking patterning with both back legs
and starts spurting urine- when he's resting and not moving- and he seems stressed by it-
It only abates with high doses of Gabapentin and Methocarbomal- and when he's asleep it stops-
I have started acupuncture--
But- do you have any articles or training videos- that can help me understand what is happening- and what else I can do?
3). Lastly- I wanted to ask about another dog- 14 yr FS Chihuahua, "Zoe" with severe hyper- reactive PL reflexes- she is a chihuahua with cervical and T-L IVDD=
has had progressive RPL hyperreactivity- and now she pretty much keeps her leg in complete flexion- with her rear paw up by her right ear ALL THE TIME!
She did have a period when it would relax- after she acutely reinjured a disc lower down in her spine- and had some flaccidity of both PLs for a brief period of time-
None of my treatment modalities, manual therapies, or Pharma- have really helped this dog-
She now locomotes by wheelchair. using front legs- and her RPL is completely flexed and up by her ear! It's insane!
Thoughts?
Can you steer me in the right direction on addressing hyper-tonicity and hyper-reactive spinal reflexes?
ugh!
Thanks for any insight as ALWAYS!
hope you are well up there in Canada- and have gotten your COVID vaccines!
I.
Hypermetria and other weird neuro cases
Re: Hypermetria and other weird neuro cases
3 in 1!!! Wow!
I’m going to post this on the Forum as well… because they are all STRANGE cases!
1) PUMPKIN: I’ll put cerebellar degeneration (or just something cerebellar) into your differentials. Admittedly, I googled 'hypermetria rear limbs canine’ to give me some ideas, and Cerebellar came up. It makes sense. It’s really the only thing that does.
2) JACK: So, it sounds like there is an increase in the spinal loop. Which could be a second disk? More inflammation at the spine? Any deterioration in neuro dogs, I throw Urinary Tract Infection into the thought processing. So a combination of trying tail pulls and therapies to the spine plus a urinalysis might give you more answers. If neither of these things yield results, then you try to figure out how you can dampen down the spinal cord reflexes… but I’m thinking that a UTI might be where I’d look first. Some kind of an irritant that is aggravating / sensitizing the spinal loop. On FourLeg re: bladder -
Articles - Neurological Rehab: Bladder control in the neurologic patient
3) ZOE: Well this one has me a bit stumped! Other than it fits my thought process re: Jack… that the double whammy of spinal cord injury resulted in a strengthened spinal loop… but why just the RPL??? Could there be nerve root irritation / inflammation that could create this? Nah, not this degree to which you describe! Could there be more function of femoral nerve over sciatic? But then again, I’ve never seen this! So I go back to strengthened spinal loop… and since they are all in their teens.. I think that has something to do with it! So… maybe we can’t fix it. If there seems to be no pain and it doesn’t affect function… then I suppose you look at is as ‘functionally dysfunctional’… and you sort out how you can manage the dysfunction (i.e. protect the funny little leg in the position it is seems to get ’stuck’ in!)
Oh, boy! Brain teasers! Thanks for that! And now I’m posting them so that others can read and think too!
PS We are slower in our vaccine roll out… but it’s underway, and we still have some lockdown measures in effect… but not at all like the UK!!
All the best to you!
Laurie
I’m going to post this on the Forum as well… because they are all STRANGE cases!
1) PUMPKIN: I’ll put cerebellar degeneration (or just something cerebellar) into your differentials. Admittedly, I googled 'hypermetria rear limbs canine’ to give me some ideas, and Cerebellar came up. It makes sense. It’s really the only thing that does.
2) JACK: So, it sounds like there is an increase in the spinal loop. Which could be a second disk? More inflammation at the spine? Any deterioration in neuro dogs, I throw Urinary Tract Infection into the thought processing. So a combination of trying tail pulls and therapies to the spine plus a urinalysis might give you more answers. If neither of these things yield results, then you try to figure out how you can dampen down the spinal cord reflexes… but I’m thinking that a UTI might be where I’d look first. Some kind of an irritant that is aggravating / sensitizing the spinal loop. On FourLeg re: bladder -
Articles - Neurological Rehab: Bladder control in the neurologic patient
3) ZOE: Well this one has me a bit stumped! Other than it fits my thought process re: Jack… that the double whammy of spinal cord injury resulted in a strengthened spinal loop… but why just the RPL??? Could there be nerve root irritation / inflammation that could create this? Nah, not this degree to which you describe! Could there be more function of femoral nerve over sciatic? But then again, I’ve never seen this! So I go back to strengthened spinal loop… and since they are all in their teens.. I think that has something to do with it! So… maybe we can’t fix it. If there seems to be no pain and it doesn’t affect function… then I suppose you look at is as ‘functionally dysfunctional’… and you sort out how you can manage the dysfunction (i.e. protect the funny little leg in the position it is seems to get ’stuck’ in!)
Oh, boy! Brain teasers! Thanks for that! And now I’m posting them so that others can read and think too!
PS We are slower in our vaccine roll out… but it’s underway, and we still have some lockdown measures in effect… but not at all like the UK!!
All the best to you!
Laurie
LAURIE EDGE-HUGHES