Liz Buchanan BVSc MRCVS
Keymaster
Hello - Im sorry to hear about the problems that your two year old dog is having. What breed is she? 'Neurological', includes the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves, so a disc herniation would also come under that heading. However, the problem with nerves is that they tend to be encased in bone (which is hard to see through by x-ray) for much of their journey and when not encased in bone, they are still hardly visable by radiography (x-ray) because they are soft tissue. Sometimes obvious gaps or fractures of the skull or spinal cord can be seen, giving an unsubtle hint as to where the problem is ( so it can be worth looking ) but frequently radiographs aren't as conclusive as we would like. Discs for example, are soft tissue and don't show up very well - as are the vast majority of brain lumps / other brain problems and nerve and neuromuscular problems. Neurologists and GP vets should be able to glean a lot from a specific exam designed to help vets to tell which nerves are affected eg whether its the nerves passing through each section of the spine, or those in the head or face (the cranial nerves), those supplying the body (the peripheral nerves) or indeed various regions of the brain, or even the nerves with different types of synpase (gaps beyween nerves that the impulse has to move across). The breadth of the symptoms you describe appears to be widening, which implies that the problem may be progressing. However, the speed of this may be outside of your control. If things are most definitely deteriorating then a phone call to see an ER vet or even to see the specialist earlier may turn out to be what is needed. However, advanced imaging may not prove necessary; the questions I would ask a specialist before an MRI happens are as follows: 1) given the symptoms so far, is this definitely neurological and what possibile diagnoses are on the list of possibilities? - and which are likely 2) What are the best ways of tellling the difference between them? 3) If we do do further tests to tell the difference between them, how will that knowledge change the outcome for my dog? - if they may require surgery or drugs that we cannot afford, does that change the value of taking the pictures? 4) In our position, as funds are limited, where do you feel that that money would be most usefully spent to have a positive impact on my dog? 5) given what you know already, what is the best thing that this could be, outcome wise? ..... and the worst? Which ones would be be actively able to influence better?
A practical conversation with a specialist ought to be able to arm you with this sort of information before a scan goes ahead. I hope that something there is useful.
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