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Permalink Reply by Gail L on March 8, 2009 at 1:29am

Sorry to hear that Maggie is having back problems. My Cobi (11 1/2)was diagnosed with degenerative disk disease in Oct '08. We tried rest and anti-inflammatories, talked to an ortho surgeon. Decided not to do surgery as the dr thought with his other health issues and the fact that there was more than one disk involved, his chances were not too promising. So we chose not to do the surgery and instead got him a wheeled cart. He adjusted to the cart quite well and it did help to lift his spirits. He was doing very well with the cart (walks, running and playing ball) and scooting around in the house, but for the past 4 weeks he has not been doing as well. Not interested in scooting around anymore, some weakness now with his front legs, a few potty accidents if he isn't taken out about every two hours. Only alert for maybe an hour or so each day otherwise he is mostly sleeping. He still loves his food though!! It is hard to say if this recent decline is due to the progression of the disk disease or his other health issues. He has been epileptic for about 9 years and had lupus for about 1 year. He has been on meds for the epilepsy so that can cause problems with liver and kidneys. He really has been a trooper through all of this, he doesn't seem to be in pain, but it is so hard to see him like this, he was always very active.

I am hoping that Maggie recovers after the rest and maybe physical therapy could be an option, I have read that pool therapy is very beneficial if you have access to that. It sounds like Maggie is in otherwise good health so if things don't improve she would probably adapt very well to whatever you decide to do for her.

hoping for the best. gail

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Permalink Reply by Sam on March 8, 2009 at 7:24am

May I highly suggest that you seek out the yahoo group Wheelcorgis. This is an excellent group with much experience and most supportive. They were there for the duration of my Deions DM and quite frankly I do not know what I would have done without them. They are a very friendly group who will welcome you, laugh with you and cry with you.

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Permalink Reply by Jill M on March 15, 2009 at 4:45pm

So sorry you are going through this......
Is degeneratvie disk disease the same as degenerative myelopathy? I have a 5 yr old Male (Payton) who in the last year has had a sudden onset of epilepsy and has recently been diagonsed as having DLE (aka collie nose). We are also talking about him possibly being a corgi who will end up with DM due to the way he "recovers" from seizures (which it's been almost a year without those (knock on wood) and the fact the he tends to be sensitve in his back. They have pinpointed recently the gene that causes DM which is a hughe break through beacuse if they can then figure out how to help our pups they are sure it will help humans with MS. here's a website about DM http://www.caninegeneticdiseases.net/DM/testDM.htm
good luck. my thoughts are with you.

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Permalink Reply by emmawilliams on March 15, 2009 at 5:17pm

Thanks Jill! I don't think it's the same thing - epilepsy is - I don't think - related to spinal cord disruption or vertebral disease. I could be wrong - I know that epilepsy is related to the nervous system but it's a different form of affectation -- the intervertebral disease basically causes disks between the vertebrae to physically "interrupt" or "invade" the spinal cord - basically push into it - causing disruption of the nerve communication and potentially paralysis (keep in mind this is completely my arm-chair assessment and interpretation of what's going on!).
I am glad to know they've found the gene for DM -- what a great breakthrough as I know it will help humans as well as our animals!
I'm checking out the website too!!! thanks so much - good luck with Payton!!!!

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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on May 5, 2009 at 8:33pm

I'm not a vet nor an expert but I do work in a medical genetics lab and I've read the DM paper. If I have it right, a DM test will be of limited value in making a diagnosis. 66% of the unaffected controls in their study were homozygous at-risk for DM. Only a small percentage of those will develope DM. As Bobbie says, it could rule out DM.
The DM test, I believe, is chiefly useful to breeders, so they can breed this risk factor out of the population.
My best to you and your friend.

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Permalink Reply by emmawilliams on May 5, 2009 at 9:42pm

Bobby and John - thank you both for the info on the tests. I think right now the diagnosis is largely empirical based on some physical tests. One of the biggest issues is her right hind leg, which drags. She doesn't always "know" where it is and you can actually put it in a "wrong" or odd position and it will take her several seconds or longer to realize and move it back (as compared to her properly functioning leg). Based on this, some very clear issues with mobility -- which have improved drastically since she has been on limited motion, no walks, no stairs, no jumping, no running - and by "feel" on her back (just like with a horse you can identify the 'sore spots' from about half-way down her vertebrae all the way to her tail.

She is not on any anti-inflamms now and unless it because absolutely necessary to put her on any more I do not plan to (she was on them for a couple of weeks and it seemed to help a little but her leg issue is clearly here to stay as it's obviously nerve damage probably from impingement of a bulging disk)...

So...that's where we are. Vet said 10 days ago that she needed another 4-5 weeks of very, very restricted activity.

The good news is that this is getting harder as she is definitely back to being my "usual" Maggie - full of beans and ready to go. It's a bit like a sprained ankle though - I think she is in that time of feeling better and not hurting all the time but still not 100 percent ...

Based on the brightness of her attitude and general "feeling good"-ness, I'm definitely convinced that so far we have taken the right course of action...

The big question is, what's next...

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