SRMA - Meningitis

[palo1]

I have had a traumatic couple of days with my lovely young dog. Last night I had to take him to Bristol University Vet Hospital (Langford) with suspected SRMA (Steroid Resistant Meningitis Arteritis). He was a very, very poorly dog and had to have morphine to help him through the 2 hour journey. He was taken off me straight away and put on a drip and pain relief. It was incredibly upsetting to see him so unwell though he had unravelled over a couple of days during which I was in regular phone and visiting contact with my local vet. They have been brilliant and hugely supportive.

The vet I saw last night suspected that he would be in their canine ICU for a few days whilst they did further diagnostics and started treatment. This morning the vet rang me to say that my lad was looking so much better that they may not now want to take a spinal tap and start on steroid treatment. The dog is up and about, eating with no temperature or evident pain and the characteristic stiff gait is gone. He may relapse but the advice has been, tentatively, to have him back home so that the insurance money is not used up whilst he is too well to produce the symptomatic markers in the CS fluid. I am very glad for him that he is not immediately facing a GA with a range of fluids being taken from head/neck, back and various other joints tbh!! The vet says he may be perfectly ok now and never have symptoms again or that he may relapse and need the CST (spinal fluid tap) as a diagnostic. It has been an awful couple of days. Has anyone else had any experience of this? I desperately want him back home but am slightly terrified that he could relapse and be even more unwell or die at home. I am absolutely putting my faith in the vet's advice but wonder if anyone else has any experience of this condition sort of resolving itself?

He is a tough little chap clearly and now charming the vet nurses which sounds much more normal!

 

[skinnydipper]

I am sorry I have no experience of this to share.

What an awful time for you.

I hope the little fella comes through this okay and remains well.

 

[{97702}]

Oh Palo, I’m so sorry to read this! I’m very glad your boy is on the mend now, sorry that I don’t have any experience to share so I can’t be any help, but I’m thinking of you both xx

 

[deb_l222]

I’ve no experience at all but didn’t want to read and run. I think all you can do in this situation is put your faith and trust in your vets and keep toes and fingers crossed for good measure.

Hope things continue to improve, it must have been a very scary time.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Gosh, what a nightmare for you. I have no experience of this condition. At least now it’s been diagnosed you would be able to fast track him back to Langford if he became unwell again, but fingers firmly crossed that he’s beaten it for good.

 

[palo1]

Thank you all - even though most people haven't heard of SRMA it is not especially unusual in a referal clinic I understand. The vet treating my lad says he has already seen a French Bulldog and a Bloodhound with the same condition in the last few weeks although he felt it was quite 'early' in the year for something which has a bit of a season to it. It also generally affects young dogs - from 6-18 months old typically and usually the medium/large types.

So far the news is encouraging for my little dog; he is much brighter and seems quite stable and I may be able to go and pick him up later this evening (it will be a long haul but seems better to free up a place for an acutely ill animal tbh). I would hope that any relapse could be fast tracked back to Langford though the vet did say there may be no relapse at all. It is a bit scary to be dealing with such a number of unknowns but all the vets have been brilliant - kindly, clear and reassuring even when things were looking quite critical. I feel exhausted and a bit weepy but will be absolutely thrilled to have my boy home - even if I am facing a bit of uncertainty. I certainly have more knowledge about this condition now than I did a couple of days ago. I could have done without it, lol, but it is interesting....

PS - in my original post I SHOULD have written Steroid RESPONSIVE rather than resistant as steroid treatment (usually for a period of months) is the treatment protocol! Oops. We may or may not need to follow that protocol at some stage.

 

[palo1]

Oh Palo, I’m so sorry to read this! I’m very glad your boy is on the mend now, sorry that I don’t have any experience to share so I can’t be any help, but I’m thinking of you both xx

Thank you for your thoughts Levrier - it really does help to know that complete strangers are rooting for a good outcome and I am so glad of those good thoughts!

 

[palo1]

I’ve no experience at all but didn’t want to read and run. I think all you can do in this situation is put your faith and trust in your vets and keep toes and fingers crossed for good measure.

Hope things continue to improve, it must have been a very scary time.

Thank you - yes, it has been awful but so helpful to have such fantastic vets. I am very grateful for all of the pet owners whose money and love has resulted in the kind of expertise and facilities we have for treating animals here. I don't usually insure our dogs or horses but as I had my lad as a little pup it just seemed wise to do that for a while - I cannot tell you how glad I am about it and will definately re-consider the whole insurance angle now!! I have been fortunate over the years to have really quite robustly healthy animals but of course that run of luck can't last forever! The cost of treating my pup went from a simple £175 to an estimated £4000 within hours. It may yet exceed that and I would struggle to find that sort of sum ordinarily!

 

[palo1]

update: my little chap is home and looking soooo much better; very nearly entirely himself again thankfully. He will be kept as quiet as possible for a little while and I will be watching him like a hawk for any relapse! Langford have been brilliant; very reassuring and helpful with information. I don't know if the SRMA will recur or if he will need steroid treatment if it does - if possible I think I would hope to avoid that as the side effects can be significant. As it is, he has managed to deal with it so far with the help of paracetamol only. It has been very frightening to watch with but I do feel armed with much more understanding now so that if he starts to look poorly again I will know what treatments etc may be needed and how things may proceed. This horrible illness isn't apparently that rare and the lovely vet I spoke to last night when collecting my pup says that they feel it is probably very under-diagnosed as some dogs can just be quite under the weather for a few days before recovering. We are all feeling emotionally drained and obviously I am a bit anxious about pup relapsing but it is just fabulous to have my terrierist back home . We all adore him and have been so worried for him.

 

[{97702}]

update: my little chap is home and looking soooo much better; very nearly entirely himself again thankfully. He will be kept as quiet as possible for a little while and I will be watching him like a hawk for any relapse! Langford have been brilliant; very reassuring and helpful with information. I don't know if the SRMA will recur or if he will need steroid treatment if it does - if possible I think I would hope to avoid that as the side effects can be significant. As it is, he has managed to deal with it so far with the help of paracetamol only. It has been very frightening to watch with but I do feel armed with much more understanding now so that if he starts to look poorly again I will know what treatments etc may be needed and how things may proceed. This horrible illness isn't apparently that rare and the lovely vet I spoke to last night when collecting my pup says that they feel it is probably very under-diagnosed as some dogs can just be quite under the weather for a few days before recovering. We are all feeling emotionally drained and obviously I am a bit anxious about pup relapsing but it is just fabulous to have my terrierist back home . We all adore him and have been so worried for him.

How did I manage to miss this - what a lovely update! I’m so pleased he is home, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that he stays well xx

 

[seaofdreams]

So glad he is doing better, my girl had meningitis just over three years ago now, it was awful and such a worrying time, she was screaming every time she moved (although she is a greyhound so she does scream even for stubbed toe!)
It sounds like she may have had a slightly different type as she did go on steroids and they seemed to help quite quickly, she was on them for sometime and then we had to reduce them slowly.
Thankfully it has never *touches wood* recurred as we were told too that it could and i'm grateful to my vet who picked up on it straight away.
I hope your boy continues to improve

 

[palo1]

Thank you for this! I am so glad to hear your lovely greyhound hasn't had a recurrence of this horrible illness - very heartening for me . I was anticipating having to go for the steroid treatment but it wasn't deemed necessary as he managed a spontaneous recovery bless him. Not the best pics here but just because I am so glad he is better!!

 

[Racheybabez84]

yep we have a French bulldog with this, his is not steroid resistant though, we have recently had a big relapse as we reduced steroids and now know his 'level' which we are working back down to, its a awful thing and we though we were gonna lose him twice.

 

[palo1]

Aw, that is frustrating for you and yes, terrifying but it sounds like you are getting there with a level of maintenance medication. Someone else I have spoken to had a similar experience and her dog was eventually very well on a tiny dose of maintenance steroid. Hope your lad continues to do well now

 

[Moobli]

What a scare! So glad he is feeling better.