Our Peruvian Viringos - neurodegenerative disease

Zara is back living with me after most of the pred is done. There hasn't been any change in her condition since being on the pred treatment, still slowly deteriorating. It's hard to tell if it's having any impact at all, besides making her want to eat more frequently. She's still been happy and playful, and stubborn. On the plus side the bladder stones are gone, there are no crystals in her urine and fewer white blood cells. She does still have a bladder infection, but we're not treating it at this time since she is asymptomatic. The vet recommended this course since they've been finding that in some cases continuing to treat a bladder infection that keeps coming back can just make the bacteria more resistant to antibiotics. Also that there is no change for the dog, for better or worse.  Working from home with her yesterday and today has been a bit of a challenge, I think she still remembers that I'm not usually home during the week. She still...

July 3, 2012 - March 23, 2020 Had to stay in the car and wait..the staff came out to us. Trying to get a selfie with Sonko I can't do selfies...esp when crying One of the Tech ladies carried Sonko from my car to his room to be prepped. Then came back out to get me.  Dr. Otamendi talked to me a bit..he wanted to know if he could look inside Sonko's head/brain (no charge). Since we can't get a necropsy (place that does the type he would have needed is closed down - COVID 19). He said he is not a pathologist but he knows some from his schooling. He doesn't know if he will find anything from just looking. Since many neurological diseases are on the microscopic level. He will look for tumors, lesions, size, any thing that might be abnormal. He will let me know what he finds.   Dr. Otamendi really hopes either he or the research vet in Penn finds something. So we can better understand what is happening to "our" dogs.  If t...

Haven't been updating..so much going on with the Covid19 Pandemic. Alameda County and 5 other counties on Shelter in place per the California health department then the Gov gave an order for all of California to stay at home (not as stringent as the health departments but very close). Zara, Sonko and Sassy in the back. Today sonko acted like he wanted to go outside (1st time in days) I carried him down the steps and he just followed me ..meandering around. Sassy and Zara tried to get him to play ball. He declined.  He just wanted to stand/lean against me. Then I carried him back up. Sponge bath and fresh diaper And walked him to his blanket. I held the water bowl up for him. He kept falling over trying to drink This is what I posted in the FaceBook group "Peruvian DNA Results" page: Was going to do a necropsy on my Sonko..but that has changed now. The Vet hospital that does this service has shut down completely due to the COVID19. I am taking Sonko to the h...

Just putting this out there: Discharge notes from the Neurologist that saw Sonko today. Zara, Sonko, with Sassy in the back. Where they nap while I"m on my computer, on two memory foam pads  Discharge notes from the Neurologist exam today: Thank you for bringing Sonko to the BAVS Neurology Department, he was a pleasure to work with! Sonko is suffering from progressive neurologic signs that are most attributable to his brain and spinal cord. Based on the chronic and progressive history, as well as the family history of progressive neurologic disease, the top suspicion for his signs is a genetic disorder. The most common genetic disorders that affect the central and peripheral nervous system includes neurodegenerative disease such as lysosomal storage disease, organic acidurias, and in-born errors of metabolism. Patients with these diseases often present with clinical signs at a young age and slowly progress over time. Diagnosis can be difficult, but MRI and spinal tap...

Sonko on 1/2 dose of Pred. He is not doing well on it. I let his Dr know. On full dose of 20 mg 2'x per day he was able to maneuver steps easier. Now, not so much. He never got to being "normal" but he seemed like he was better. Less stumbling/falling. Getting up easier, rearranging his blankets, jumping into the dryer (he used to like the get the wool dryer balls) and snuggling. That has pretty much stopped again after about a week on the 1/2 dose Pred. 

Heard back from the vet last night about the ultrasound and what our next steps are. Kidneys, intestines and bladder wall are all good! She does however have a lot of "grit" in her bladder, which is the cause of the infection coming back. So we're going to change her food to S/O food, which should reduce the grit and she should recover better from the infection. She's going to stay on the antibiotics for 7 more days, and also start the probiotic and d-mannose supplements which should help as well. We also decided to go ahead with the Prednisone instead of waiting for another month, so we'll be picking that up with the food and the probiotic later today. Zara will be staying with Mom while she does the Prednisone treatment, our apartment will be a lot emptier during this time but thankfully Mom lives pretty close so we can go visit Zara easily. :) In a month we'll check in with the vet to make sure everything is going well.

A bit of a late update. The urinalysis at 4 days into the antibiotics had good results, the antibiotics were working. Mom took Zara in for the ultrasound this morning, the vet will hopefully give me a call later today and then we will discuss the next steps. When they called regarding the urinalysis they said that the next steps will likely be to get Zara on the same suppliments as sonko, the d-mannose and the probiotic and then start the Prednisone and continue the antibiotic. Zara is staying at Mom's for now, and will stay there while she does the pred treatment. Mom is home more frequently and can keep an eye on Zara. I will update again when I know what our next steps are and what the results of the ultrasound are.