Australian Shepherd with hind leg weakness and progressive loss of coordination

Hi there, and thank you in advance for taking a look at my post. I have an amazing Australian Shepherd named Zippo. He is a rescue, and is estimated to be about 7-8 years old. Zippo first came into my life about 8 months ago ... I adopted him from a family that previously rescued him from an abusive environment. Around mid July this past summer, Zippo began to have trouble slipping on hardwood floors. The problem wasn't significant at the time, and only manifested as a slip here or there and trouble jumping onto the couch. About a month ago, he started having more difficulty to the point where his hind legs would give out behind him whenever he tried walking on hardwood floors. I took him to the vet, and had x-rays completed for both his spine and hips, which were unremarkable and looked quite healthy. The vet said his difficulty moving was perhaps behavioral, or more likely a strain of his hip adductor muscles. I am not a vet ... But I am a physical therapist, and know enough to recognize a symptomatic muscle strain. I proceeded to seek a second opinion with another vet. Zippo's new vet thinks his symptoms are likely neurological, and I agree. She initially suspected Myasthenia Gravis ... Chest x-rays were taken, which indicated megoesophagus (a finding often associated with MG). A second chest x-ray with barium contrast was taken (which is used to rule in megoesophagus), but this was unremarkable. We had additional, more specific testing completed for MG, and this was normal. Meanwhile, Zippo's symptoms are only progressing. Previously he ran, jumped, played, was able to go up and down stairs, get in/out of my car, etc. He can no longer run (tries, but is unable), cannot jump onto furniture or into my care, cannot go up stairs, and has great difficulty on hardwood floors. His hind legs can give out even on carpet. He has grown progressively less coordinated, and appears to be having difficulty sufficiently lifting his leg when urinating. This has all happened quite rapidly over the course of about a month. Possible diagnoses Zip's vet has suggested include Wobbler's Syndrome, Neospora Infection, Cerebellar Injury/Disease, Myopathies, Neuropathies, and Disc Degeneration. We have discussed Degenerative Myelopathy as a possibility, but Zip's vet doesn't feel he demonstrates the expected proprioceptive deficits. We are scheduled to see an internal medicine specialist in 2 days. I anticipate an MRI will need to be conducted, in addition to other further testing ... possibly antibodies, muscle biopsy, EMG, etc. I am concerned, because he is rapidly declining, and I am afraid, if and when a diagnosis is reached, these symptoms may not be reversible/treatable. I am DESPERATE. Has anyone experienced similar situations with their four legged best friends? Please, any insight, suggestions, etc. is welcome. Thank you.

The usual DM is sod1 there is another rare strain cannot remember sorry but it effects from the neck not the rear.
it was one of the diseases my Bernese showed along with myopathies and neuropathies. He had always been exercise intolerant and although we felt he suddenly had these problems it turned out they had always been there they got worse as he got older.
He was also tested for MG came back clear.

I hope you find the problem troubling your boy and he can get back to normal.

Welcome to Dogsey by the way,

Thanks so much for your input, I appreciate it. I'm sorry to hear about your Berner ... Wonderful breed, my parents have a BMD and Akita mix. I am suspicious that Zippo's condition may be Wobbler's possibly given his traumatic and abusive history. I hope to get an MRI done early this next week, which should be helpful in ruling things in/out. I only hope his condition won't progress a great deal between now and then. Do you mind sharing the symptoms your pup presented with, and the course of treatment(s) you pursued? Thanks!

Its a bit long but here goes.

Ollie had always been exercise intolerant we thought lazy at the time, had suffered with intermittent lameness on and off from 6 months old but they do suffer from pano when growing so we put it down to that and so did the vet he was not a good patient which made things difficult too.
He was overweight and difficult to keep weight off.

At 41/2 in the October he became very lame on his front left we thought leg. Pacing crying when laying down. Took him to the vet and by the time we arrived he was fine so again suspected muscle strain.
All fine till the 1st December. Normal walk he had his spurt of energy in the snow running then slowed down as he always did then spied his OES friend had a play went home and he settled Later that day he started to pant a lot and seemed uncomfortable, sitting on the stairs leaning into the wall. We ended up out of hours in the animal hospital. They suspected bad urinary infection possibly gone into the bladder and was given painkillers we came home but he didn't get better he was still restless took him back as advised the next day to our regular vet and still felt really bad urinary infection so we were given AB's to start that evening with his meals. When we came home our son pointed out he was rolling like he was drunk that came on suddenly between vets and home we put it down to the strong painkillers.
Ollie never refused food but did that evening so we got the AB's down him with treats then his back legs just gave way twice. He seemed very unwell so back to the out of hours vet hospital.
They were very shocked at the severity of his ataxia which came on so suddenly. So he was admitted. Before this for a month or two I had noticed when we walked him he was walking with his head lowered this is we now know the DM.
By the Saturday he wouldn't get up for the vet we thought this is typical Ollie he always did this on walks and were prepared to bring him home. It wasn't happening he had lost the use of his back legs completely and dragged himself to see us.
He then underwent so many tests to rule out DM all came back borderline or clear it was a total mystery.
He came home to us a week before Christmas walking but badly and on steroids. He then developed a nose bleed. Only ever the one. His walking seemed to improve so we were hopeful then it got bad again and one day while toileting he fell over we knew it was time to call it a day. He also seemed very depressed.
The front leg gait all this time was always very short not nice long strides.

The vet hospital offered us PM free of charge which we took. Then it all became clear all diseases were underlying and had been from a pup hence the exercise intolerance.

I can remember some of the results.
DM rare strain in the neck.
Myopathies cannot remember the name but it is common in heavy horses the muscles do not convert the food need into sugars to feed the muscles. Neuropathies his nerve endings were dying the sheath that covers and protects the nerves.

All quite unusual and especially all together at once. He was one very unlucky boy as were we.

I think it is very unlikely your dog has all of these together like Ollie did. Good luck with the tests and I hope they can find what it is and give him something to help him. Keep us posted please.

Thank you for sharing your (and Ollie's) experience. I doubt it's much consolation, but I am so sorry you and your pup endured such difficult circumstances.

It has been a difficult month watching Zippo as his ability to move declines. I am, however, hopeful, that we will find a diagnosis soon. I will certainly keep you (and other dogsey participants) informed of, what I hope will be, Zippo's progress and swift recovery. Thank you again for your input, and for sharing experiences I'm sure were not easy emotionally to recall. Wishing you and yours all the best.

All of this screams DM to me. I have had dobies with this and everything you say is bang on with what I saw.
It seems to come on later in life, so before you could lab test for it you never knew if you had it in your dogs till it was too late. Now we can test for it and know if a dog is carrying it or will become a full blown sufferer.
My last dobie was 11 when she was pts due to DM, but she lived a decent life until the last few months when she become incontinent.

So very sorry to hear about your beloved boy, like TW, I too feel it could be DM.
I hope you can get a swift diagnosis and help your boy.

Thank you for your input. So sorry to hear about your dobies. I too am suspicious of DM ... And am very fearful that this may be what is ailing Zippo. He doesn't, however, present with the typical proprioceptive deficits and gait abnormality. Zip doesn't drag his leg(s) when walking, rather he tends swing his hips out to the side? And he seems to do best when slowing down, but when he tries to move more quickly, his hind end almost "floats" behind him and deviates to the left (this appears to be the more involved side). Are these signs and symptoms similar to what your dobies experienced? Thanks so much. And I was so glad to hear your dobie had a good quality of life - comforting, thanks for sharing.

Nothing useful to add.
Just wanted to say I hope you can get to the bottom of the issue and something can be done to give your boy some quality of life back.


Alex

Thanks so much Alex, I appreciate your kind words.