On Our Feet

Well, after a long day, and some semi-panicked phone calls in the evening to the vet in order to find out if my dog "was even still living,"  Miss Maisy is up and in as fine form as ever (minus a patch of hair above her tail, she's so embarrassed..)

Phew.

The neurologist was super friendly, informative and very straight forward.  Maisy apparently has a HUGE amount of fluid around a couple vertebrae that is causing more of a compression on her spine than Miss P has.

(dog - internal view).

No wonder she walks like a walrus!!!

The good news is that apparently  Maisy doesn't display the typical conformation deficiencies that most frenchies do, so that's nice to know.

What we leaned is that the ataxia is being caused by the fluid, but we haven't determined is what exactly is causing the fluid to gather...  Our options are basically one of the following:

1) Trauma (a thwack, smack, or severe twisting of the spine)
2) Infection (meningitis or something similar)
3) Cancer (wah).

In order to rule out #2, I authorized a spinal tap to analyze the fluid, which we should hear back on today or tomorrow.

#3 is unlikely, (and expesive to diagnose) so we're moving forward with treatment for #1 and will circle back to #3 if we don't see any improvement in the rather near term.

So Miss Maisy is on some low dose steroids and seriously restricted movement. No playing, no running, no stairs, no jumping onto the couch, NOTHING. She's to be carried to her lawn, peed, and returned to her bed for the next two weeks.

Enjoying a brief moment of freedom for breakfast, and a chilly back.

 She's going to be so disappointed, especially because frolicking in Christmas wrapping is among her favorite annual joys...

The one thing that I still don't have a lot of clarity on is how this explains both the long-term proprioceptic deficiencies (toe pointing, leg dragging) and the more recent hind end lameness.  The fact that she's always pointed her toes and dragged herself around like a walrus would indicate to me that this fluid has nearly always been there.. but it doesn't indicate why it would now show itself with the progressive lameness in her left hind.

Dr. Neurologist didn't really have an answer for that, though I refer back to P's initial vet who said, "well, if you couldn't tell where your legs were, you'd probably twist your ankle or tweak your back eventually too."

So, until I get more info, I'm not going to worry about it too much.  The one possibility that Dr. Neuro suggested was that the lameness was being caused by increased pressure on the cord (from an increase in the fluid) which is something we would like to be able to eventually explain.

But for now, one step at a time as we isolate the variables and a big sigh of relief for an easy round of anesthesia.

On the Horizon? a few horsey packed days:

Tomorrow is a much needed visit to P
Friday is my first (gasp) Dressage lesson in what feels like forever.
And Sunday is a trip to see that big black mare!  

All very fun and exciting things...

Waiting on the MRI, and more shopping...

Dropped the pup off nice and early this morning for her MRI.   She's so darn cute.  And for the record, this vet facility is TOP NOTCH.  Some small animal vet clinics just give me the heebie-jeebies, but this place is clean, doesn't smell like terrified animal (read: Spit and cat piss) and the whole experience is pro from start to finish... So I'm feeling about as I can when there's a snub nosed doggy under anesthesia....

Clearly needing a distraction, my shopping perusal continues.  Here's another guy I'm liking and might go see in the next few weeks  He's just over the boarder in Canada.. He seems to be a little more over his back than the mare I like - plus he's only 4.  (also he seems to like jumping... always a bonus)

This has to be a joke.

I can't remember if I've blogged about this or not, so in my wedding addled brain, I'll just run the risk of repeating myself..

 About two months ago I noticed that Maisy (the beloved frenchie) was favoring her left hind and really protecting it when jumping up and down from her couch.  No issues chasing her Frisbee, but when asked to do something she didn't want to (get in car, go out in rain, etc) the limp became rather pronounced.  It also increased with lengthy walks or extensive playing (not good).

Additionally, I finally picked up on the fact that M-dog was refusing to "trot" choosing instead to perfect her walk/canter transitions (at least one of my animals has??).  I became worried when Maisy flat out REFUSED to trot, regardless of our pace or her energy level.  That's when she hitched a ride to Sequim and talked to our vet about her little ham hock leg.  Vet gave us a referral to her favorite orthopedic vet over here and off we went.

I was lazy, so it took me a few weeks to book the appointment, but we had it today and I am currently still baffled at the current diagnosis.

Anyone want to guess? Bueller??

One word:

Wobblers.

ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDING ME??????

Of course at this point I'm a total skeptic, so I was peppering the orthopedic (and then the Neuro specialist they brought in) with about a ga-zillion questions, but it all came back to neuro.  As it turns out, Maisy's adorable "pointed toes" on her hind legs (she always points them when she sits, or stands.. it's cute) is actually a perfect example of disconnect in her hind end and a comprimised spinal cord.  Since, as we learned in our earlier adventures with Miss P, the bundling of the spinal cord has all the hind end stuff on the outside.  Ergo, it shows symptoms of damage before anything else does.  (ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh).

Apparently however, this is common in Frenchies, and (unlike most equine cases) is often the result of something that is degenerative.  Most commonly, cysts in the spinal canal or malformed vertebrae that fall out of alignment are to blame.... WAH.

Either way, Miss Maisy goes in for an MRI tomorrow to see where exactly the spinal cord is damaged and what's causing the symptoms.

Since Maisy has pointed her toes like this since she was a puppy, I'm hoping that the stenosis is just the result of a crumpled bulldog spine and that the increased lameness in her left hind is a simple strain, sprain or slipped disc that can easily be managed.

Things we aren't interested in seeing include: cysts, tumors or turbo-bad arthritis.

You should have seen the look on my face when the neurologist tried to give me the "Wobblers 101" speech.   Thank god I was holding the pup, or I might have involuntarily punched him.

More tomorrow.  Fingers crossed for the puppy please....

Confession

Forgive me readers for I have sinned, it has been... uhhhhhh.... a really long time since my last confession.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been allowing myself to casual peruse Dreamhorse, just for fun, just to see what's out there.

Casual perusal slowly became religious checking and updating, which has quickly led to a more in depth search that involves me checking out favorite breeders and trainers both locally and smeared across the nation.  Which has in turn led to numerous conversations with self, always along these lines:

"but don't you have a Pia?"

Yes... Yes I do.

"and don't you have a wedding coming up that you should be focusing on (/ allowing to suck up all your extra $$$)???"

Why yes... yes I do.

"and haven't you thoroughly discussed how much money a second horse will cost, especially while paying for P's summer camp?"

Yes, yes I have.

"and yet, you still allow yourself to semi-seriously search for another horsey to have and to hold"

Apparently, yes... yes I am.

Apparently I have ALSO decided that I have won the lottery, as the price tags seem to be skyrocketing - even though I keep assuring myself that this is a "buyers market" and I should be able to find a steal of a deal...

Anyway.  Part of me is hoping that I come to my senses and stop this train before it gets to far along... buuuuuut part of me hopes I act like an idiot and add to the collection.

I mean WHY NOT.

I still have a few months before P comes home (I think) and even though I can't fathom where the time would come from... I'm sure I could manage two beasts... right?

So this is the girl I'm currently on the top of my list.. She's a little tight in her back (I think), but she recently had babies and so this is still "getting back into shape" footage... hard to tell, but I really enjoy her lines.

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