Just wondered if people who had dogs suffer from this what they went through, medication their dogs were on.
recovery period and did they make a full recovery..

A friend's dog we think has this, just waiting for the final diagnosis and thought i could bring more help and information to her on this.

I'm a bit busy right now to do a search on previous postings on this, so any links or added information would be very grateful.

Thanks

Anyone,,

And i know i've spelt the topic name wrong before anyone mentions it.. ;-)

Last summer my flatcoat x Boz suddenly presented with a high temperature (103), couldn't lift his head and found moving very painful, particularly trying to get up and down stairs. He was very stiff. We (vet and I) thought it was leptospirosis and he was treated with antibiotics. His temperature continued to rise. Not quite sure why I thought of meningitis, but suggested it to the vet and he agreed it could be, so we treated Boz with steroids. Temperature started to drop within an hour and within 24hrs he was almost back to normal. The conventional treatment is to taper the dog off steroids over 3 months or so but the vet I saw with him is a minimal medicationist - we tapered him off the steroids over 3-4 weeks instead. Four months later, he had another bout and my heart sank. We caught it quicker this time and again tapered him off the steroids quicker than is recommended.

We presumed it was aseptic meningitis but decided to not go through the spinal tap etc that was needed for a definitive diagnosis as it is quite invasive. I did a lot of research and read that the prognosis was not brilliant - that he is likely to have recurring bouts that will respond less well each time.  But, touch wood, Boz has not had a recurrence since the last one in November.  Of course, we may have the wrong diagnosis, but just to say that nothing is a given and every dog is different. Boz, meanwhile, is as fit as he ever was - running miles every day, wolfing his food and enjoying his twin roles in my pack as the jester (he stands on his head on the sofa to get a laugh) and doctor (he cleans the other dogs' eyes, ears and small cuts + grazes).

Jemima

I have a Husky who had it 4 years ago, she is blind because of it.

All other Huskies or Mals I know who had it died from it :-(

Well the report so far is that the dog is standing up alone and has taken a few steps.
Eaten a small amount of food from hands.

So far is been good reports, very slow and steady improvements.

In March I lost my lovely little man Ike to Meningitis he was only 20 months it was heartbreaking and still feel so sad. He was ill from 14 roughly weeks old and had what they call Steroid Responsive Meningitis. It took a good few months for him to be officially diagnosed as he would only be ill for a day and be fine the next day as he got older the bouts got worse and would last several days if not treated. He was treated initially with steroids which he responded to and they did a spinal tap to confirm it was Meningitis, after many many months of steroids and reducing the dose of steroids he wasn't able to get rid of the Meningitis. So we did some research and decided to use Chemo (a six month course), so we did the 6 months and he responded so well and really thought he had won his battle. However not long after finishing the course which the Meningitis came back (worse than ever) the chemo had masked it so we decided we would try one last drug. Before we got the chance Ike started to fit and it was not epilepsy he had suffered brain damage. No drugs could treat him fairly, he behaviour turned from a lovely soft little dog to an angry, unhappy, aggressive dog who would just didn't understand what was going on in his head and body. It was one of the most awful decisions I have ever had to make, but we had to set him free. I'm so sad we know longer have him but relieved he's not in any pain or suffering anymore.

I hope your friends dog is ok.