Disc problems.

Dr. Marie replied:

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that your dog is having these problems. It sounds quite serious.

Diabetes should not cause the symptoms that you are mentioning.

Was the medication that George put on either Prednisone or Dexamethasone? If so, then these medicines can cause a great increase in thirst and urination. If this is what is happening then you can talk to your vet about whether to lower the dose of medication.

What concerns me is that a disc problem should not cause seizures. When I see seizures in a dog who is 9 years old I get really worried about serious problems like a brain tumor or an underlying issue with the kidneys or liver.

It sounds like George should have some blood tests done to see if there is an obvious internal problem. If these are normal, your vet may talk about medications to help reduce the possibility of seizures. But unfortunately if there is a brain tumor there is not much we can do.

If you have more questions, feel free to respond. I will be offline for the next hour or two though as I am just heading into a meeting.

Dr. Marie.


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Dr. Marie replied:

Yes, the prednisone could be contributing to the urinary accidents.

A seizure could not directly cause a disc problem. However, if there was a weakness in the back brewing, the phyiscal activity of the seizure (i.e. shaking, etc.) could have been enough to trigger the back problem.

Dr. Marie replied:

This depends on a number of factors. If this truly is a disc problem and it isn't healed by prednisone then it means that there is more than just inflammation around the disc. It may mean that some disc material is pushing up on the spinal cord. If this is the case then surgery may be necessary in order for him to heal.

It's also possible that there is a different type of neurological problem going on. For example, he could have an infection in the spinal column (meningitis). This could cause seizures and the problems with the back legs. Or, it's also possible that there is a parasite affecting parts of the spinal cord (such as toxoplasmosis or neospora). Or, it's possible that there is cancer in the the spinal cord and possibly brain.

If the prednisone is not working then the next step is to have your vet examine him again. If you want to go further in getting a diagnosis and possibly seeing if we can help, your vet will likely start with xrays. If there is nothing obvious seen then the next step would be to have your vet to refer you to a specialist to do more extensive tests such as a myelogram or a CT scan or possibly a CSF tap. Unfortunately though these tests can be expensive and there is no guarantee that we are going to find a treatable condition.

I really hope things start to improve.

Dr. Marie