Mill Road Vet Hospital / Tuesday, 27 June 2017

Max & his wonderful recovery

Max, a 5 year old Sydney Silkie, was brought to us by his owners because he was starting to walk stiffly in his hind legs and had a change in his bark. His owners noticed this really early on because he had a previous episode of similar signs a few years before.

We initially suspected that he had tetanus due to his stiff gait and started treatment for this, which included antibiotics and a tetanus antitoxin, while waiting for some blood and radiograph results.

Over the next 2 days he gradually deteriorated and the stiffness progressed to generalised muscle weakness, so that he couldn’t stand up or lift his head. At this point we decided that tetanus was very unlikely and had a phone consultation with Courtney, a medical specialist at the Veterinary Specialist Group in Auckland. She suggested a few possible diagnoses. These included Botulism, Tick paralysis, Rabies and Polyradiculneuritis. As we don’t have Rabies or Tick Paralysis in New Zealand we rapidly removed them from our list.

The other two do not have a specific way to diagnose them and there is no specific treatment, except supportive care. So Max’s hospitalisation was continued, with I/V fluids and intensive care from the vet nurse team, including turning him regularly, hand feeding him, helping, with toileting and regular checks to make sure his swallowing and respiratory muscles remained functioning.

Polyradiculoneuritis was originally called Coonhound Paralysis as it was associated with dogs that had been bitten by a racoon. More recently it has been realised that it can be associated with infections with other bacteria and viruses. These stimulate the immune system abnormally and cause the symptoms. As Max did, affected dogs show deterioration over about a week then can remain the same for 3 weeks and then spontaneously start to improve over 2-4 months.

Max remained stable after his initially deterioration and his owners opted to take him home for them to nurse, after 3 days in hospital. They did a fantastic job of syringing food and water into him and keeping him comfortable. And the best news was that he started to improve! The progress was gradual but steady.

He came in to visit us last week with his owner and you wouldn’t have known he had been so sick just 2 months ago. We were all so happy to see him looking so well and congratulate his owners on such good nursing care!