Astrobella

He was wormed a couple of weeks ago (he had some diarrhoea a couple of weeks ago that WAS coccidia and was treated for it. He hasn't responded to the same treatment now and his test was negative for it) The feacal float was negative for everything. The stain was technically negative for parasites and bacteria....but there was this funny thing that had them stumped! By the sounds of it, it's something that none of the vets there have seen in poop before! They thought it almost looked like some absolutely gigantic kind of bacterial something, but the vet who's been working for 20 years still said he'd not seen anything like it before! So we are waiting to see if the meds help and hopefully he can eventually get back to being a happy, healthy puppy!

We've had an interesting morning at the vet.... Marley (who I've posted about before - had meningitis diagnosed about 7 weeks ago), has had diarrhoea for the last 4 days (almost coinciding with when he stopped taking the cortisone for meningitis). We'd been speaking to the vet and treated him with Panacur (a couple of weeks ago he had coccidia and this worked to treat that), but hasn't been successful....the diarrhoea continues! We went to the vet this morning and the did a couple of tests and they are pretty much stumped, there is something very weird in the sample, that is apparently absolutely enormous (much bigger than anything they ever see on a smear). They have no idea, but have given him some metrogyl to try and calm things down a little. His poop is runny, yellowy and very mucousy....They did ask us if we keep birds but we're not too sure where they were going with that... Anyone have any similar experiences??!!

Well a Marley update - he's been steroid free for 5 days now with no return of the initial symptoms (fingers crossed it stays that way). But.... since we stopped the steroids he's developed diarrhoea....so we're back on some meds for that and will just see how we go I spose. One little thing we did notice recently is that when he cocks his ears to attention, only the left one raises fully, the right one doesn't any more (this is a change- we have photos of both of them up!) It's pretty consistent that it just doesn't move like that any more ..... any ideas why? I'm not too sure whether this might be a nerve/muscle thing or whether it's just something that happens??? The vet didn't really have any thoughts on it at this stage.... I can't wait for the day that this little guy is actually healthy.....

We have to wait till he's off the steroids and has had some kind of vaccination for Parvo, so maybe looking at 3 weeks more...all going to plan...

He was meant to start puppy school the day he was diagnosed with meningitis. He hasn't been able to go back as yet because he's still on an immuno-suppressive dose of steroids and hasn't had all his vaccinations so he's not safe to be around other dogs/unfamiliar environments. We did have the trainer come out one day to give us some help, some of which was great, some hasn't really worked for him. We are concerned about his interactions with other dogs...but until he can be around other dogs safely we don't have much of an option.....

Well just an update on Marley...... He's been easing off the steroids (still on 1/4 once a day) ....but now apparently he has an inflamed liver. They don't think it's failing (they did some blood tests this arvo) but grrr can't this little fella just get healthy! We love the little man but are in a lot of debt now because of the vet bills and can't really afford for them to keep climbing! Poor little fella has been vomiting the last few days on and off.... The vet said they suspect a bile duct infection that has migrated to the gut apparently.... He hasn't shown up with any more neuro signs though which is the silver lining... so maybe he's kicked the meningitis...but I really hope he's not going to be a sick little man indefinitely, can't be much fun for him. Anyway, here's hoping he gets a bit better...

Thanks everyone for your help - we will soldier on! There is one thing that is sort of working at the moment.... we have a spray bottle with water in it and if we show it to him when he's doing something he shouldn't he will stop and have a good think about what he's doing....(we don't even have to spray him any more...) It might not be the best solution but it's working for us at the moment! We haven't been able to completely ignore his behaviours because he just escalates (from attention barking...then to biting if he doesn't get any) and we won't tolerate any of the biting because it just plain hurts! I can't wait though until he can run outside in the yard freely though and get a bit of energy out! I am worried about his socialisation though....he's only been around 1 dog before (my parents' golden retriever x) who is such a sweety he lets marley do anything even if it's quite aggressive. We can't have him around other dogs yet because of the whole meningitis/steroids/not fully vaccinated issue, so he's going to miss out on a lot of learning there which is really unfortunate. He can still be around my folks dog because we know him/the yard, any ideas on how to do some socialisation training in this very limited circumstance (with a 12 month old retriever who doesn't do so well with the obedience himself!) I've never owned an ACD either.. .didn't know too much about them initially but got swayed by the Border Collie... (I did have a border collie x Labrador who was the sweetest thing ever). He's a challenge but he's still very affectionate and loyal, and I can understand why he's going a little crazy at the moment.

Hi everyone - I'm desperate for some help! My 14 week old border collie x cattle dog is driving me nutso! He had a bit of bad luck (had meningitis - have posted re: this on the health board) and is on a gradually tapering dose of steroids to treat it (aggressiveness has been worse since he got home from hospital 3 weeks ago, but he was a bit aggro before he even got sick). Our problem is his biting and barking. First with the barking, as soon as we aren't behaving the way he wants us to (not paying attention to him, telling him to get off the couch) he starts barking at us. We have had a trainer out to the house to help before who recommended ignoring the barking - this sometimes works (when it's not paired with biting!). The biting....ah... he likes to bite us. Sometimes it starts off as a game, he strays slightly from his toy and gets us, if we say ouch or take our hand out of his mouth he starts with the barking and attempting to bite more. We were told to get up and leave in this situation so he knows that he gets the game withdrawn, but I don't think this works - first because he will follow us and bite on the way, and when we leave him he can promptly get back on the couch (which we were probably trying to get him off in the first place). Other times his biting seems a bit more deliberately. We had started to take him and tie him up on the leg of the dining room table when he did these things (he's still in the room though, just far enough away from us that he can't get into anything fun and knows he doesn't have freedom). Now if he knows we are going to tie him up he's added an extra part - the chase! He thinks it's great to run from us while we try to get him to tie him up.... So we're in a conundrum. Tie him up but really reward him in the end with the chase? Ignore the other behaviours (although the biting is becoming increasingly concerning because it really is starting to hurt and at the drawing blood stage). We do have him in a smaller part of the house during the day (in the hall way - blocked off with a baby gate), but we don't want him to associate being in there with punishment so don't really want to put him in there when he's done wrong. I do have some sympathies for him since he hasn't gotten too much of an opportunity to be really active these last three weeks on vet's orders, but I'm doubting these behaviours will magically disappear when he gets a bit more exercise... Any suggestions would be really appreciated! Help needed!

Have heard back from Jean Dodds - as predicted a resounding no to any further vaccinations. I've posted her advice below - It seems clear to me from your pups history and timing of vaccinations before his clinical symptoms that the diagnosis of "steroid responsive meningitis" id really just the description of his vaccinosis. See attached article and treatment protocol. Your puppy should NOT receive any more vaccines even for rabies, now that he's had this adverse CNS inflammatory reaction. It is not safe for him to be revaccinated, as our years of experience with this post-vaccinal syndrome indicates that another vaccination is likely to ellicit a more serious reaction or even death, because the puppy has been seneitized to components in the vaccines. Secondly, in my experience over 35 + years, these cases always have very high antibody titers to the vaccine components they received and so the dogs [or cats] are not at risk to contract the diseases they've received in the vaccines they reacted to So we'll be taking this information to our vet and discussing with them further, but we'll probably push for just having titre tests and hopefully he will present with immunity to a few things from his first two vaccinations. Hopefully we'll be able to socialise him before too long...he's the kind of puppy that needs some help behaving politely around other dogs....

I've sent an email to Dr Dodds and will feedback on here any reply I get from her. Marley has been behaving like an angel ever since the dog trainer paid us a visit today...remarkable. Yes he's still peeing everywhere and everywhere, but at least he's not jumping up on the couch straight afterwards while he still has it on his paws! Here's hoping he keeps improving (especially since we have to go back to work next week...they don't tend to give out extended leave for puppy care unfortunately...)

Erny - thanks for your input. I'm a health professional myself (although for humans...) so I've experienced the rigid protocols some doctors follow in spite of new research, simply because it's the way they've always done things. I did read a couple of Dr Jean Dodd's articles that I found online and I get the impression that this may be the case with canine vaccinations. I would be interested in getting an opinion from her - then I can discuss this further with our vet as well. I found the hemopet email address - is that the email you have used? It's tough being a parent and trying to make the right decisions (I'm almost dreading having human children..... too much can go wrong!!!) Thanks again for your suggestions - it's been really helpful and makes me feel like I'm actively doing something for my little baby instead of sitting back waiting to be told what to do. I guess that's really quite empowering.

He had his 2nd vaccination on the 2nd January so it wasn't particularly close to his showing symptoms. He went back to the vet today - she was pretty pleased with him. He just has a bit of wobbiliness in his left hind leg otherwise looking pretty good. We've been told that he needs to be on a lower dose of steroid before he can have contact with other dogs or to get his final vaccination. The vet surgery we go to has been really good to us - they realise we spent a lot of money at the emergency vet so they haven't been charging for check ups, just meds. This at least helps a lot! We had a dog trainer come over today (from puppy school) and gave us some help which is good. But now we have been finding chicken bones or something in the back yard and have no idea where they're coming from - they all seem to be at the bottom of a big tree in our yard, I wonder if it's from people throwing them or birds or cats or who knows what?? Will be extremely PO'd if it's people... He got to one while the trainer was there and we weren't able to get it out of his mouth so I'm really feeling ggrrrr..... He also then vomitted today for the first time, our feeling is that it's because he has had so much to eat today (from us, the vet, the trainer, his normal brekky).... But we're watching him carefully in case anything else appears off. We hope he keeps on improving and nothing else comes along to make his life miserable... he hasn't had a good run at all yet....

Marley (the puppy - no...not because of the movie...) is on 15mg cortisone twice daily - since he is only about 7.5 kg I understand it's a pretty high dose. We're going back to the vet tomorrow so will ask about when he may be able to be around other dogs. In terms of how he got it...we did ask the vet if it could be from injury (he actually ran into a wall head first earlier on the day we first noticed something really wrong), but they didn't seem to think it was related. A few days before the 'head butt' he'd been taken to the vet for a rash, and had presented with a temperature and a fast pant rate that day (was put on antibiotics). He had actually been a little more quiet the couple of days before the rash as well, so perhaps it was developing and the head trauma aggravated it. They did confirm it was meningitis though on the spinal tap. His constant peeing though is getting frustrating! We were having some success with toilet training before this (he was mostly going on newspapers in the laundry) but now he just pees all through the house (funnily enough he will still do all his poops in the laundry). We're not too sure how to tackle this one, since he would probably fill the laundry up in an hour and can't be let outside in the yard by himself yet (when we are around we do take him out periodically though). But peeing every 5-10 minutes it's very hard to police! Any ideas?? Thanks everyone for your input and well wishes, it's good to have people to discuss this with outside my immediate family!

Yup they did a spinal tap on Sunday night - just inflammatory cells in the CSF, no sign of bacteria or parasites. It sounds like we were pretty lucky - it seems that it often takes them a while to decide to do this diagnostic procedure (I guess because of the risks associated with it). But now we're left with the prospect of long term steroids (and the side effects/issues with long term use) and some personality changes that will hopefully not become problematic later on. He hasn't had his 3rd vaccination and had just started puppy school - now he can't be around dogs for a few weeks (because his immune system is supressed and is likely to catch anything and everything) so he's unlikely to be particularly well socialised in the next month or two, in addition to his increased aggressiveness I don't know what to do! It's a bit of a catch 22 - protect his immune system and maybe end up with an aggressive dog who doesn't do well around others, or risk him being around dogs at puppy school and learning to socialise more appropriately. Any opinions?

Hi, We have a 13 week old border collie x who was diagnosed with inflammatory/steroid responsive meningitis over the weekend. He's doing much better than he was (physically he's more steady on his feet, not complaining of neck pain on movement), but his behaviour has changed significantly. I understand that steroids have lots of side effects (like the excessive drinking and peeing), but the one that concerns us is his new habit of growling/barking/biting us at times. We feel that part of it is related to him being frustrated that he isn't allowed his usual freedoms (e.g. running around the yard, excessive playing) because we've been told to keep him relatively calm and quiet. He will mostly start this behaviour when he has been denied something. So far we have been walking away and ignoring him when he does this, but I'm starting to wonder if this is actually confirming a belief he has that he can control us? I'm also wondering about other peoples' experiences with this disease and changes that they may see in their dogs long term? Physical or behavioural? I realise he hopefully won't be on steroids indefinitely (as long as the symptoms of meningitis don't reappear when the dose is gradually lowered). Any advice or tips would be much appreciated - it's hard to get back into training mode after we were so worried we would lose him over the weekend...hopefully he continues to improve...