Good new's about Charlie

Hi to all,

Just to let everyone know about how Charlie got on at the specialists.

To my amazement my boy hasn't got SM, I'm so happy and relieved.

They are still unsure what is wrong with him,
so he is staying over night and in the morning will be checked over by another specialist,
hopefully it's nothing to serious.

All his symptoms indicated SM and the specialist seemed just as suprised as we were when the test came back with no sign of it, now we just have to wait and see what else it could be.

Will hopefully know more tomorrow
Thanks everyone for your support.

Well that's excellent news to start with.
You're probably still worried but with any luck they'll have an answer for you tomorrow.
Keep thinking positively.
Sins

I had been thinking of you & wondering how Charlie had got on.
It is really good news that he does not have SM, I hope they soon find out what has caused his symptoms and get him sorted out for you.

Been thinking of you both all day. Glad to see it wasnt SM

Hopefully they will have an answer for you tomorrow,and be able to help him out. Keep smiling.

Great news about Charlie :jmp:

WOW what great news. heres hoping you have some answers tomorrow and that it will be something treatable so you can all get on with life with out worry!!!!

That's really good news; hope they can find what is causing his weakness. :xfngr:

Fantastic news

That's great news! Will look forward to another update soon.

Wonderful news
Lets hope they find the cause of his troubles soon

mel

Charlie's results

Charlie's home

His result's are that a MRI scan revealed only mild changes of Chairi- malformation and this ruled-out the possibility that Charlie's lameness is due to this disease,
the fact that Charlie has not responded to the Gabapentin trial also supports this idea.

The Orthopaedic surgeon, Mark Morton, re-examined Charlie and was unable to identify a left forelimb lameness or any area of pain that maybe causing the lameness, so the diagnosis is left open.

On the basis of these findings they are keen to re-examine Charlie when he is actually demonstrating the lameness. This will mean that he should exercise normally in the coming weeks and if he becomes worse then it's back to the vets.

They are encouraged that they cannot find an obvious identifiable cause and also that the problem is not getting worse as this means there is nothing wrong at this stage that will cause him significant problems. However, they cannot rule out that the disease may progress and become more evident.
If this happens they are hopeful this will help identify the underlying cause.

Charlie will not require any further medication for the moment.

what a lot of worry feel like i have been on a roller coaster but at least my boy's ok and hopefully his limp will go away thank you all for your advice

That's great news. At least it is not anything that is really evident. Sometimes you do wish for a diagnosis though so you can move forward with a treatment plan. Hopefully though, like you said, Charlie will just continue to improve and his lameness will become a thing of the past and a mystery that you think about sometimes when he is 12+ years old and wonder what caused it when he was so young.

I can't remember, did Charlie have x-rays to determine if it is a disc or hip problem? My dogs are really good at being stoic when they go to the vet or a specialist and they can rarely elicit a pain response from any of them. Maybe the adrenaline kicks in just from being at the vet and masks some of their discomfort. I know they shed like crazy when they are at the vets!

Thank you. yes he did have exray's. im glad iit's over and nice to have him home i hate it when they have to stay the night. poppy just layed in one spot only geting up to eat & wee she missed him and when he come home she told him off !!! i dont want to go thought that again then telling me one thing he had sm then saying he hasn't now back to there diet's

I am not sure I understand -- I don't think they could have told you he definitely had SM without an MRI as that is the only definitive way to diagnose -- but from what you had said before, they said he sounded as if he had clinical signs and would need confirmation by MRI I think? That is different from saying he had SM and then saying he didn't. I hope you can eventually pinpoint what is causing this strange problem; it must be very frustrating.

Yes i know what you mean
but when charlie was being examined by the specialist he said because they found nothing on the x-ray's
and he has a limp they said every thing leads to SM and gave me gabapentin 100mg twice a day and said he will be on them for the rest of his life so they must have thought he had it and told me all about ME and said i could ring him any time if i had any question about it. when they rang me and told me the result's they sounded surprised as i was after all they had said to me.
but after a very stressful week all is well.so now they told me not to worry to much about his limp to bring him back if the limp get constant. but because it wasn't all the time and he was in the cage he had rested it he wasn't limping with them so we have to see. but they have ensured me he's not in pain

Glad Charlie hasn't got SM, but wondered if his CM produces dilated ventricles? Oliver has a small syrinx which doesn't seem to be doing much damage at the moment, but he does have quite badly dilated ventricles, which do cause problems. And one of these problems could be his intermittent lameness in his front leg. The neurologist put him on gabapentin - I think as a sort of belt and braces approach, in case the lameness was caused by the syrinx. But it can also be a symptom of CM - he has lost the nerve response in his front leg, so the brain may be pressing on the nerves further back (if you see what I mean!). It doesn't seem to hurt - the lameness seems to be because he doesn't trust it to take his full weight, and the unused muscles get tired if he walks too far. But most of the time he doesn't limp at all and does plenty of walking (though I do keep an eye on him).

Kate, Oliver and Aled

Yes that's sounds interesting i wonder? we took him out for his first normal walk today not to bad. i will keep an eye on him but not worry to much as they said i have just got to wait and if he cant walk on it at all. so as they can see him limping i dont know why when he was there he never limped with them. i might vidio him when he limps as i said its not all the time it was every day he seemed when he rested he would walk ok for a bit and then he would start to limp when he came home no limp i thought it had gone but today i could see sighs again but not as bad as before hopefuly it may go away in time i just hate to see him limp because i think he is in pain but they said he is not?