Young lab with Wobblers?

Snoozinsusan

Snoozinsusan

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I have a 16 month old black lab who has never had the best of movement. This has become progressively worse over the last few months and he has been to 2 vets who have said he would need X-rays, etc, to get a diagnosis.

Neither of them said Wobblers but after looking at a NL post about horses earlier, everything clicked into place so I have been googling, etc and now believe that this is his problem.

He struggles to get up when he is lying down, his back legs sway and he has fallen over many times. His back toeails are very short due to him dragging his feet and he keeps his head in a low position. We now have to support him when he does a poo and he has had a few accidents in the house.

Has anyone had a dog with this condition, how was it diagnosed, treated and what is the prognosis. I think I know the final outcome but knowing about other people's experiences would be a great help.

I intend to return to the vet's in the next few days, hopefully armed with more information.
 
My lab had something similar which the vet said was like wobblers. She lost the use of her back legs quite suddenly when out on a walk, I took her immediately to my vet who took xrays and could see some problem with the discs in the neck pressing on the spinal chord. She was referred to an orthopaedic consultant who did a myleogram( injecting with a dye) so they could see more clearly what was happening. He then had to operate to remove the bulging discs that were causing the problem. Tiggy was in hospital for a week and then it took another couple of weeks at home before she fully recovered. She had no further problems although was arthritic as she got older but she lived happily for another 5 years before I lost her with a tumour aged12. Hope you can find some answers for your dog
 
I had a 5 yr old Dobe who after a long walk would be swayed back and the vet did think it was the start of Wobblers which is progressive. No treatment was offered but just told to bring him back if he got worse, he wasnt in pain.

I did lots of research and the only treatment seemed to be implanted gold beads, they were doing this in the US. I tried the herbal route and although I cant claim they helped he didnt get any worse. The herbs were seaweed,garlic and devils claw. I was very careful about his weight as not to put any strain on his back and never over exercised him.

He was 11yrs old when he was pts and only went downhill towards the end. Whether he had Wobblers or not we never had a definitive diagnosis but he was never as bad as your dog.

Good luck with your dog and I hope he can live a long and painfree life as my old brown bear had.
 
Has he actually had X-rays yet? That would be the first thing I would be doing TBH.
I would definitely rule out a spinal issue.
If he was an older dog I would say CDRM but he seems far too young.
 
My GSD has spondylosis which has a lot of similar symptoms. I'm not sure why your vets haven't already x rayed, I would have thought it would be their first action. What pain relief is he on at the moment, Cartrophen is helping my girl, but obviously you do need a diagnosis first. Hope you can get him sorted.
 
Thanks for your replies, all helpful.

He doesn't seem to be in pain, more frustrated when he can't stand up and a bit shocked when he falls over! So no medication at the moment.

Going back to vets for a firmer diagnosis.
 
Snoozinsusan said:
I have a 16 month old black lab who has never had the best of movement. This has become progressively worse over the last few months and he has been to 2 vets who have said he would need X-rays, etc, to get a diagnosis.

Neither of them said Wobblers but after looking at a NL post about horses earlier, everything clicked into place so I have been googling, etc and now believe that this is his problem.

He struggles to get up when he is lying down, his back legs sway and he has fallen over many times. His back toeails are very short due to him dragging his feet and he keeps his head in a low position. We now have to support him when he does a poo and he has had a few accidents in the house.

Has anyone had a dog with this condition, how was it diagnosed, treated and what is the prognosis. I think I know the final outcome but knowing about other people's experiences would be a great help.

I intend to return to the vet's in the next few days, hopefully armed with more information.
Click to expand...

Yes i have...

My dog was diagnosed with hip dysplasia but i knew it wasnt HD. It was very sudden onset. I just kept thinking...he is wobbly. Which is when I googled wobblers in dogs and found out that ir really was a possibility.

I got in touch with the Great Dane society as had no joy with the Mastiff club and they put me on to someone else in the Mastiff Association who gave me further support and advice. The cost of diagnosis and treatment was huge with a very poor success rate in Mastiffs so not reallistically an option.

So as a last resort, I then contacted a holistic vet who suggested a McTimoney Chiropractor. He said that in the USA there had been a lot of success with chiro for wobblers and it was worth a shot.

I went with this despite my vets poo pooing it as nonsense.

Six treatments, £20 per session and my dog was ok. He then went hydrotherapy swimming to help muscle tone. I continued this for longer than was really necessary as he had missed out on socialisation as a pup due to his problems.

He was 8 months old when he became wobbly and is now nearly 8. I know the problems will come back to haunt him but he has had a lot longer than had I sat back and accepted the standard response. I have had to be really strict about his weight and exercise though.

There is a lot more to this than I can say here as it would take far too long but essentially, find a good McTimoney Chiro to take a look and then look at swimming once he is stronger.

If you want to speak to the vet I contacted, he is Roger Meacock. You can google him.:)

It is certainly worth a try and wont cost the earth or do any harm if you think it is wobblers.
 
Other tips were not to have a collar on the dog at all as it is too easy to grab it and that puts pressure on the neck vertebrae. Use a harness for walking.

Put carpet tiles down on slippery surfaces.

Raise the feed bowls.

Also check the reflexes by turning the back paws over so they are top down on the ground. A normal reflex in a dog wont let you do this. You need to do this with a normal dog to compare to as my dog's reactions were slow but the vets missed it. When i compared to my healthy bitch there was a clear difference.


Pm if you want.
 
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Thanks, Dozzie.

Your post and tips are great.

Took Bailey back to vet yesterday. As useful as a chocolate teapot!

He didn't seem to be quite as bad at the surgery, maybe a little adrenalin kicking in to spur him on! However she did see his problems but didn't think it was wobblers due to muscle wastage, not typical in wobblers. However, as he can't get a lot of exercise I'm not that surprised that he has that.

Basically, it's a case of waiting until he is in pain and not happy in himself then making that final decision!

We've googled McTimoney Chiropractor and we are going to go down that route.

The vet is going to investigate further (probably google!) and then get back to us, probably taking bloods and going from there.

Going to buy a harness tomorrow, can see the problems with ordinary collar.

How much exercise did you give your dog? Maybe I should be giving him more. Probably doesn't have enough as I thought I was protecting him!

Thanks for your advice. All suggestions welcome. :)
 
You know it does sound like CDRM to me, although I have no experience of Wobblers to compare. Has your vet never suggested x rays, because surely they would help narrow down the diagnosis. If I were you I would ask for a referral, sounds like you are getting nowhere with your current vet.
It is annoying when they don't show symptoms at the vets, try videoing him on your phone at his worst, and show that to the vet, that is what I have done in the past with mine.
 
Snoozinsusan said:
Thanks, Dozzie.

Your post and tips are great.

Took Bailey back to vet yesterday. As useful as a chocolate teapot!

He didn't seem to be quite as bad at the surgery, maybe a little adrenalin kicking in to spur him on! However she did see his problems but didn't think it was wobblers due to muscle wastage, not typical in wobblers. However, as he can't get a lot of exercise I'm not that surprised that he has that.

Basically, it's a case of waiting until he is in pain and not happy in himself then making that final decision!

We've googled McTimoney Chiropractor and we are going to go down that route.

The vet is going to investigate further (probably google!) and then get back to us, probably taking bloods and going from there.

Going to buy a harness tomorrow, can see the problems with ordinary collar.

How much exercise did you give your dog? Maybe I should be giving him more. Probably doesn't have enough as I thought I was protecting him!

Thanks for your advice. All suggestions welcome. :)
Click to expand...

He didnt have exercise as it was too difficult for him to stand up he just went out in the garden. (He did the splits with his back legs frequently- that was the biggest sign.) Every time he turned round his legs went. Once he was able to walk more easily I took him swimming (in a hydrotherapy pool as more controlled obviously than swimming in the local pond!)

This helped with the lack of muscle tone.

Re the pain- wobblers does not cause pain.

I am not sure how common wobblers is in labs tbh so dont rule out CDRM or HD which will require an xray if he doesnt improve with chiro. My dog started to show visible signs of improvement after his third treatment.
 
Bailey was pts today as he had deteriorated so much in past few weeks. Now galloping over the rainbow bridge to meet my pony, Misty, who died last week.:(

We took him to a chiropracter and we changed to our equine vet practice. He had x-rays last week, no spinal problems were found so possibly brain stem tumour.

He had anti-inflammatories for a week and had a little improvement to start with but went downhill fast in past few days. He was acting very strange last night and attacked my OH (the one who fed him!) as if in a frenzy and also my other dog. Amazing how the adrenalin kicked in!

RIP Bailey. You enriched our lives for the time we had together.

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I'm so sorry, I wish I had of seen the post earlier, I must have missed it, you boy had the same symptoms are my wire haired pointer, if it was along the lines of that, it is very hard to spot or diagnose:( I had a good few vets look at him, I near enough had a nervous breakdown until one vet finally listened to me. Of course it may not have been and could have been more tumour related esp with the sudden aggression, my do did also get rather snappy esp when it got to the point he lost the use of his legs and could not urinate, luckily we got the meds that day.
Sleep tight little man xx
 
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