Hi,

i am looking to hear from anyone who has had experience with wobblers in any breed, my beautiful ddb bitch was diagnosed last month with a severe narrowing of her spinal cord and malformation of 6 vertabrae! she suddenly lost the use of her rear legs and i rushed her to the emergency where she was refered that evening and we took her to newmarket for very expensive MRI, this revealed the devastating results and that surgery was an option but with many complications and a very poor success rate with the degree of severity. we opted not to do surgery and took her home for what we were prepared may be a few days.

6 weeks on she is doing really well she is on a low dose of preds and has reduced the dose from 4 a day to just 1, she is very happy and completely painfree which is the most important thing. She is suprising us all and i would love to hear from anyone who has had any experience with the condition and how their dog got on with or without surgery.

We are totally devastated by this and would happily pay whatever it took if we could guarantee are baby would be ok, but i will not put her through such trauma and pain along with months of cage rest to find that she is no better at all or even worse, that would be absolutely heartbreaking and is a real possibility according to the specialist. :( :(
At the moment she is VERY happy and until things change i will not consider any surgery at all.

Any thoughts or advice would be great - Thanks

I am really sorry to hear about your ddb :(
I dont have any experience with this syndrome, but on another website a ddb puppy lost the use of her rear legs, very similar to yours.
If you like I can get this lady to e-mail you? I will check with her first and then if you PM me your e-mail I can pass it on.

Wouldn't want to give you any advice at all as this is something that you would be best getting from a neurologist and a Orthopedic specialist. 

Spinal cord trauma can be very unforgiving and the idea is to get the pressure of the cord as soon as possible and prevent it from reoccurring whether this is conservative or surgical.  Some dogs respond well to cage rest, corticosteroid therapy, and a neck brace to stabilize the neck

I put my 10 yr old through a spinal operation to decompress the spinal cord due to a disc.  He went off his hind legs too but his case was very different to yours. 

According to the specialist it was a mixed of protrusion and exclusion and they could not give me prediction on how it would turn out apart from the prognosis was guarded but optimistic.  That was over 3 years ago and he made an amazing recovery, got his rear end function back and has never had any problem since apart from the nerves.  The nerves in his back legs get very sensitive now and again which we believe is peripheral nerve regrowth.

As your dog is very young at 7 months old and if it's due to a narrowing of the vertebral canal, there is also the possibility that she may grow out of it by enlarging the canal.   In any event, I hope she make a speedy recovery.

Hi mandy,
i am very sorry to hear of your pups problem ,i bet you are devestated ,we had a similar problem with a ddb bitch of ours if you would like to email me i can talk to you in more detail
pat

i have never even heard of this kind of thing before, and dont know how bad it can be but it sounds nasty, i really feel for you as a dog owner myself, i worry abojut the least little eye infection or if they are off there food so i cant even begin to imagine how your feeling, yes keep us all posted and keep your chin up, someone is always watching our little ones you know,

sami x

Sorry to hear about your troubles, but glad she's responding well to treament.

Dobes are known to suffer this to and there are a lot of thoughts about just why it occures at all. I would perhaps give some weight to the choke collar theory, in that the problem seems to occur to the spine in the same area as the choke chain sits on long, strong necked dogs. I'm not saying that is the case and it could be way off the mark and I'm certainly not putting blame on anyone. But to me, it does make simple sense and it is one possible explanation that made me throw away the choke chain and instead, be prepared to be dragged down the road by an over excited pup. I would be intrested to hear what other CD'ers have heard?

Hi

I think i have heard of this before, a bitch DDB pup also. Her back legs just went. They have her on meds and walk her in a sling, think she is perfectly happy looks so in the photos. How very sorry i feel for you, my last litter of ddb pups is around that age and it must be devastating. If its malformation of the vertabrae there isnt any they could do to correct it, like with other cases when they have slipped or fractured and its pressing on the spinal cord. Have you had the option to walk her in a sling? keep her aslong as you can pain free and give her the love she deserves. All the best for the both of you

Louise xx

So sorry to hear of your pups problems, seem to remember it attacks mostly large or giant breeds and there are two sorts of attack, the acute and those where the symptoms are slow to appear. Think it also appears in different breeds at different ages, some in puppyhood and others at 5+ years. Think the prognosis depends to some extent on the type of onset but I would not try to give advice and think the only person who is in a position to know what is best for your pup is your vet or specialist in tandem with you

Hi all,

Thanks for all the kind words, 'Abbey' is doing really well, i think Louise it may be my girl you have seen as she is on meds and in a sling in her pics so could be her!

Sadly there is 3 other littermates that i have now found out also have it too though both the others are not affected as severely as my baby, all three are female too, the specialist said that it is something that she was definately born with and that would of always become a problem just that some come on quicker than others, there is clearly a genetic link and i am pleased to say her breeders have now spayed their bitch.

Abbey is very happy and that is what is most important to me, she is such a little darling and totally carefree (luckily they dont understand eh, its us that have the heartache of knowing what is inevitable)

She is spoilt rotten and loved to bits so she will totally enjoy whatever time she has and a pray that it is a while yet for my precious one!

Thanks everyone x

just wanted to post that my abbey is doing amazing! it is her 1st birthday tommorrow and i cant say how it makes me feel that we will get to celebrate her birthday. we really never dreamed she would see her 1st birthday but she has amazed everyone including the vets. She has got stronger and stronger and is happier than she could ever be which is the most important thing to me.

She can run (albeit very un-cordinated!!) and play with all our others - i am sooo pleased and she makes me smile everyday!

please god she will be around for a long time yet, she really is my special girl and i love her to bits.

just wanted to update everyone who was kind enough to comment and wish her well when i posted originally.

Thanks everyone. :) :) :)

Hi,
Glad to hear that Abbey is doing well.  To give you some hope, a friend had a Dane, who was diagnosed with Wobblers at a very young age, like your girl.  He made it past 6 years of age and had a good quality of life.  Of course, he was very unco-ordinated when he moved, but coped with his condition brilliantly.  They were also told that he would not reach his first birthday.

Karen

Hi Karen,

Thank you for that, i hope my girl can make it to that age, they are amazing arent they! :)

just a quick question karen, your friends dane who lived until 6 yrs old, did he/she need medication for those 6 years, as abbey is on preds but i have been gradually lowering the dose and she is now only on 1 tablet every three days and her condition seems very stable so hoping she can come off them altogether too.

Thanks Again :)

Hi Mandy,

My friend was able to get her Dane off the Prednisolone and only needed to use it for short periods of time if he was particularly bad.
It sounds as if you will be able to do this with your Abbey, as she is now only having a very small dose.  The all important thing is quality of life, so you have to balance the good effects with the side effects of long-term steroid treatment.
Good luck and keep us posted.

Karen

Hi

I'm not sure if this is the same but my young Golden Retriever was unsteady on all his legs.  He was sent to a specialist and they found through a MRI scan that he had a cyst on his neck which was pressing on his spinal column.  They recommended surgery and he was operated on yesterday.  Apparently the operation was successful and the update this morning was that he seemed well and much to everyone's surprise scoffed a whole bowl of food (he's a fussy eater normally).

I hated the thought of surgery for him, especially when I heard the risks and the long recovery period.  However it was awful seeing him suddenly becomming wobbly and he clearly wasnt lifting his paws when he was walking as all his claws are well worn so I went with the vet's recommendations.

He is only a pup as well, not quite 9 months old.

I hope your Abbey continues to do well.

Eileen

Hi Eileen,

i hope your boy makes a speedy recovery and is doing puppy things again very soon, it is such a shame when they are so young.

Unfortunately Abbey has spurs on 6 vertebrae in two different areas of her spine along with a narrow spinal cord so her case is very severe, but i am over joyed that she is doing fantastic and at present she has a great quality of life and that is my primary goal.
All the while she is happy and painfree she will remain my big spoilt baby! :)

Thanks Again
Mandy

Hi Mandy

Thanks for your message.  My boy, Logie, is home after his op although he cannot walk at all.  The vets said it is to be expected but it's quite upsetting to see.  At least he is happy and he was so pleased to be home.

Poor Abbey does sound like a bad case and after seeing what surgery he had just for one small area I totally understand why surgery wasnt an option for you.  I hope she remains happy and pain free for many years for you.  A small coincidence in that Logie's mum was also called Abbey!

Best wishes

Eileen

Hi Eileen,

Hope logie is doing well, it must be heartbreaking to see him but i am sure he will go from strength to strength now he is home.

let me know how is recovery goes and give him a big hug from me

All the best
Mandy