Hi,
I posted a couple of weeks ago about my old girl and her cateracts (thanks MM).  I'd also had problems with her putting on weight behind her ribs.  She's lost muscle tone considerably in her back end and I was becoming quite worried.  Anyway, I took her to the vets last Monday and she has been diagnosed with CDRM.  After many tears, much trawling on the internet and speaking to friends, I got the number of a healer (yes, I know some people poo, poo it!).  He specialises in Bio-energy therapy (non-touch) and releases energy blockages (best way to describe!).  I was absolutely amazed at the result.  She settled within a few minutes of him starting to work and I could see from the expressions on her face that this was working.  After her session, the difference in her was amazing, I've never seen a dog look quite so content, and blissfully happy!  Appart from her demenour (sp), she managed to jump into the car much better than usual and raced upstairs to bed last night instead of her usual slow amble.  I know that CDRM is uncurable, but feel that if this treatment helps her feel better within herself and can maybe slow the horrible process down even slightly, then it will be well worth it.  She has another couple of sessions to go and if the first one is anything to go by, she'll be a happy bunny!

Will keep you posted on the next couple of sessions.

Sarah and a v. happy Rhona.

Good luck Sarah & Rhona. I don't think that anything that helps should be poo pooed, as there is so much that we don't understand & if nothing else helps, as long as it makes her feel more comfortable why not. by the way what is CDRM?

CDRM is Chronic Degenerative Radiculomyelopathy or more correctly Degenerative Myelopathy

Basically the nerves in the lower spine fail & the dog gradually loses the use of it's hind legs without any pain

Thanks Diane,
CDRM is very similar to the human M.S, but it only seems to affect the back end of dogs.  It's most common in GSDs and Golden Retrievers from what I've read.  They unfortunately end up totally paralyzed and incontinent.  She won't be allowed to get that far, I know you can get doggy wheelchairs etc. but she is such a proud dog that I don't want her to lose her dignity.  Rhona has her next appointment on Thursday night, so hopefully it will go as well as yesterday.

Sarah.

edited to add.  Thanks MM.  You got there before me!

Thank you both of you! I am sorry, as I have a friend who has MS, but in humans, they can lead a relatively normal life for some time. Hope Rhona carries on doing well with her therapy.

Diane

Thanks Diane.  Hopefully the therapy will help her to feel better within herself.

Sarah.

Hi Sarah I just wanted to say how very sorry I am to hear about your girl Rhona, I lost my Aysha to the same terrible complaint at almost twelve years old yesterday would have been her fifteenth birthday and seeing your post brought it all back to me.
I totally agree with you about not using dog carts and letting your girl keep her dignity the hardest part for me was knowing Aysha was still capable in her mind and the awful puzzled look she used to give me when her body wasn,t responding to her brain, I never let her get to the stage where she bexcame incontinent as I knew how much she would have hated that. She was my angel and I still miss her so much. good luck with your therapy hope you find it worthwile
(((( big hugs to you both  ))))
Sharon

Thank-you for you kind words Sharon, they do help.  I'm sorry to hear about your Aysha.  Rhona is also an absolute angel.  She's my "top dog" in the pack and you could not meet a kinder, gentler dog.

Sarah.

So sorry about your girl, Sarah, and wishing Rhona the very best of luck, the therapy sounds great. 

Just a thought......and no disrespect to your vet's diagnosis; :-) DM is hard to diagnose and is mainly a rule in after everything else has been ruled out. 

It's not painful and most dogs are blissfully unaware that hind leg function is not as it should be and are usually happy and content in themselves.  I'm just wondering for there to be such a dramatic improvement in your dog after her session, if she was in pain in any way? 

Just to make you aware, (you may be already), there are other problems that can mimic the signs of DM, i.e. Disk Protrusion, Spinal Neoplasia, Myelitis, Diskospondylitis,  Lumbosacral Stenosis (Cauda Equina Syndrome), to name a few.  All of which can result in muscle atrophy in the back end and neurological deficits in the hind legs. 

I had a GSD diagnosed with DM 18 months ago from 2 different vets.  It wasn't DM at all; he had a protruding disc that was putting pressure on the spinal cord.  Needless to say, the outcome was very different to what it would have been if we settled for the diagnosis of DM.  He's still going strong and made a good recovery.

Anyhow, best of luck and (((big hugs to you and Rhona))).

Hi Spender,
No, Rhona has been in no pain whatsoever.  The only tests the vet has done were to turn over the back feet and move the back legs outwards to see how quick she moved them back again.  There seems to be more muscle wastage on the right side than left and she has the tell-tale wearing down of the middle nails.  We're still considering getting her sedated and getting the spine, hips and legs x-rayd, but the vet is going to contact the vet hospital first and get advice from them before anything else is done.  She's starting the supplements recommended in the link that MM sent and am hoping these might also help.

Thanks,
Sarah.

hi Sarah

Sorry to hear about your dog Rhona...we went through the same with our GSD Max aged 10 years....diagnosed sept 2005 due to the symptoms....max looked as though he was drunk in the back end wobbling from side to side....the back foot test didnt turn foot back the right way....things progressively got worse fairly quickly...we did have hips spinal xray some months prior as max went literally hopping lame on one side...no cause was found diagnosed possible muscle strain...so we knew these were all clear....
The frustrating thing for us was when we were looking for a GSD pup we travelled far and wide looking for good hip scored parents and all the other things.....had no knowledge of CDRM at that stage not that you can screen for it!!!
I have read that some dogs do manage for upto 2 years others progress quite quickly...we decided in March that enough was enough for max it got to the point he had troubl getting up take him upto 4 attempts...difficulty in walking over lino floor as couldnt stablise hind legs....using the house wall to stay upright when walking down to garden, without it the wobble would take over and he couldnt balance himself out...turning around was difficult and ultimately he became incontinent in the last week...up till sept max was a very active dog and mentally remained so till the last despite his backend....that was the hardest part to deal with...
i really wish you all the best with your bitch....one thing i would have found helpful at the time this was all happening with max was the opportunity to talk to someone else who had been through it...if you want to chat i can leave you my email....
regards jo

sarah forgot to mention that at no time did Max have any pain....suppose that was a bonus...

Hi Jo,
So sorry to hear about your Max.  Rhona's not at the "wobbly stage" yet and I'm not sure how long it will take for her to get worse.  She had her second treatment last night and apparently her energy is a lot better at the back end this time.  She's started to put weight back on too, which is incredible, so just now we're hoping it's been slowed down a bit.
Thank-you for your offer to talk, that would be great.  I'll pm you my e-mail address.

Sarah.

Hi Sarah
Sorry this is late, somehow I missed before it was YOUR girl the thread was abut. I have no experience at all but just wanted to say I'm keeping everything crossed for her to stay well for as long as possible.

Thanks Marianne,
Hopefully she'll be with us for a good while yet.

Any puppies yet?  Poor Ripley must be at bursting point by now!!

Speak soon,
Sarah.

Hi Sarah, I'd suggest swimming for DM too; if there is a local hydro centre near you.  It will rebuild the muscle on the hind legs giving her some stability.  

The only problem is that if there is an unidentified mechanical problem putting pressure on the nerves in the spine and not DM then it could actually make the symptoms worse. 

MRI is a good tool as sometimes not all these spinal related issues will show on plain x-ray.

DM waxes and wanes...slows down, stops, start again etc. 

Anyhow, let us know how Rhona gets on.  Wishing you both the very best with lots of positive thoughts.  Good luck!

Thanks Spender,
Unfortunately we don't have a local hydro centre anywhere near us, but she is still managing the same amount of exercise just now.
Appart from xrays and tests that can be done here, I don't want to put her under any undue stress by taking her down to Glasgow for an MRI scan unless it's absolutely necessary (apparently stress can accelerate the condition). 
I'm going by what my own vets are suggesting just now (they've been brilliant).

Sarah.

Hi Sarah
So sorry to hear of Rhona's problems. We lost our Siberian Husky boy to CDRM last September. It took a while to diagnose as it is much rarer than in say, GSDs. He was never in pain, but did deteriorate fast . One of the first things we noticed was wrong was losing weight, though he was always skinny anyhow. The other thing he did was to walk on the "instep" of his left back foot. This progressed to both back legs as he got worse.
Hope her therapy helps, something I didn't consider with Tal.
Lynn

Hi Lynn,
So sorry to hear about your boy.  The one thing that is giving me some comfort is knowing that she'll never be in pain with this.
I'd never have thought of taking her to a healer, it was a freind of mine who suggested it (had helped her youngster).

Thanks,
Sarah.

Hi Sarah

Good luck with this. My view is, when you have nothing to lose, try anything - you never know what you may gain! When my GSD had spondylosis I would have danced round a tree three times naked in the moonlight if I thought it would have helped. I did get her McTimoney chiropractic & acupuncture, both of which helped considerably in my view. I had a shepherdXlab years ago, that I lost to CDRM, but all the things that are available now weren't then. I did however get a second opinion, which confirmed the original diagnosis, but as Spender said, so many conditions can mimic CDRM.

Good luck, go with it and long may it continue to help

Kat

Thanks Kat,
You're right!  Anything's worth a go! 

Sarah.