In yesterday’s post I shared the story of Sampson’s trip to our veterinary clinic and his diagnosis of Degenerative Myleopathy.  I tried to indicate to you that despite an initial devastating diagnosis all was not lost.

Based on some of the comments, I’m not sure I accomplished that and for that I’m sorry.

Some of you will know the symptoms of DM but for those that don’t there are two pronounced indicators.  

One is what is called Knuckling, where the dog’s toes turn under and he basically ends up walking on his ‘knuckles.’  Understandably the nails on the dogs toes get very worn down.

The second indicator is often times referred to as a ‘wiggle’ although from the video I saw, it looks more like a ‘hitch’ to me.

You can see a video of dogs with DM here.

After my vet consulted with the original vet, she told me she thought it best to go ahead and test him for DM.    I scheduled the blood draw for Wednesday, January 8th, and immediately became obsessed with watching Sampson run and walk.  I shot video of him walking on gravel, grass, leaves and pavement. I shot video of him running and walking side by side with Delilah.  I posted all of these videos to my Facebook page and tagged my friends.  Even folks who didn’t know why I was posting video were commenting and none of them could see anything that made the vet think DM.

Tuesday, January 7th I noticed Sampson shaking his head.  A LOT.  He wanted his right ear rubbed and I spent a good part of the evening with my finger in his ear, rubbing it.

Wednesday I called the vet and asked if I could add an ear exam to my blood draw appointment.  Thanks to the amazing ladies at the vet’s office, they fit me in to see our regular vet at 4:20.

After confirming an ear infection my vet said, “Do you mind if I exam his back end?”

Are you freaking kidding me?  I’ve only been praying you would every second of this day since I made the appointment!

I reined in my excitement and simply said, “No, go ahead.”

She examined him thoroughly and asked, “When was the last time he saw the Holistic vet?”

She recommended he be seen again as his spine is out of alignment, she also feels he may have some arthritis in his hips and then she asked, “Do you mind if I take him back to see Dr. B? (the vet who diagnosed him with DM)”

Of course not!

I could hear them chatting, but I couldn’t hear what they said, BUT when my vet came back she said, “Dr. B doesn’t see what she saw last week.  I don’t think it’s DM at all.  I think he has a partial ACL tear.”

She based this on the fact that Sampson’s knee was considerably looser than it was in December and then went on to explain that Sampson is a very stoic dog, which is why he hasn’t exhibited any signs of discomfort.

One of the tests they do to check for DM is to take the dogs toes and turn then under.  Typically because DM is neurological the dog will hesitate to ‘fix’ the toes because he can’t feel them.   She recalls the surgeons at Tufts telling them that ACL can mimic DM because a simple act of fixing their toes can be extremely painful when the ACL is torn.  Since Sampson had been on anti-inflammatories and pain medication for a few days he was feeling better and quickly fixed his toes.

SO the blessing of an ear infection brought us a different diagnosis, which is challenging in and of itself, because our goal is to give Sampson the time he needs to heal on his own without having to do surgery.

For now we are keeping him on the Herbal supplements we came home with, keeping him on the anti-inflammatory and pain medications and trying to keep him quiet.  No free access to stairs, no running and no jumping and he is limited to five to ten minute walks.

He is pissed off.  And he pouts.

I don’t see how you think an ear infection if a blessing, you don’t have this funky crud in YOUR ears.

He’s ridiculous.

But it’s something we can work with.

Thank you for hanging in there with me and all your words of comfort and support and for sharing your stories and virtual shoulders.  I’m extremely hopeful that we can get Sampson through this, and allow him the time he needs to heal so he doesn’t need surgery.