Anyone have a dog with degenerative myelopathy?

[AHP84]

I have a 2 year old border collie named Eric. I have no idea what his pedigree is; he was a giveaway puppy to a good home.
Since I got him when he was about 4 months old, he has never been "normal." The first abnormality I noticed is he has never jumped up to stand on his hind legs.
Last summer (2007) a vet clinic diagnosed him with mild hip dysplasia and put him on Dasaquin (sp?). Last month I took him and his x-rays to another vet clinic to get an FHO surgery for the hip dysplasia.
He was at that clinic for a week. The vet told me Eric DOES NOT have hip dysplasia at all, and even the x-rays from the first clinic showed no hip abnormalities (needless to say, I won't be taking him back to the first clinic again). This second vet monitored and worked with Eric for a week and diagnosed him with a neurological problem.
These are Eric's symptoms, which have progessively gotten worse in the last year:

-His lips tremble and teeth chatter at random times throughout the day.

-He sways in the hips when he walks (this is on a good day) and even when he's standing still.

-He staggers and stumbles in his back legs when he walks most of the time.

-He cannot walk on smooth surfaces at all, just dirt and pavement.

-He falls down (back legs literally fall out from under him to the sides or out behind him) while attempting to turn around.

-He has a hard time going from standing to sitting, and going from laying down to standing up.

-He cannot go up or down steps.

-When the vet did a pinch test on his back toes, Eric displayed no sense of reflex or pain.

After the vet told me that Eric's problem was definitely neurological, I looked up his symptoms and came across degenerative myelopathy, and it sounds like what he might have. In the next month, I'm going to take him to a vet where he can get a CT scan and further neurologic treatment and hopefully an official diagnosis.
What I'm wondering is if anyone here has a dog with this disease? Did your dog have these symptoms? Did you have to put it down, or is it able to get treatments to slow down the progression? Is your dog in a "doggie wheelchair?" How much extra time and maintenance do you put into a dog with this handicap as opposed to a normal, healthy dog?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[carlyylynn]

I see this post is old, 2008. I am wondering how your dog did after the diagnosis of degenerative myelopathy, and is he still hangin in there? I was looking up degenerative myelopathy when I seen the symptoms that you mentioned, which are identical to my dog. From a young age she would what I call 'do the splits' on any smooth surface, she has to back out of spaces like a mac truck, straight back, slowly. When she sits it's like she is pretending to sit, because her butt doesn't touch the floor. People always think she's cold because she 'shivers' and shakes all the time. She managed throughout her life with these symptoms, and now she just turned ten and is unable to use her hind legs, rather suddenly. I am managing this with a harness and walkin wheels. I am actually hopeful that it is not degenerative myelopathy, because then I think there is a better chance of the paralysis not spreading to her front legs? I can manage with her rear, which have always been awkward, but her front legs have always been normal.  

[AHP84]

I wish I could help you with this question, but it turns out my dog was diagnosed with cerebellar atrophy and not degenerative myelopathy. Might as well be just as bad of a diagnosis as DM, though.
I hope your vet can successfully find more current, effective treatments for your dog.

[Welkinview]

Where can I find current medication treatment protocols for DM?  The Florida State stuff online is about 8-10 years old & that's what my vet is using to treat my dog...  He called FSU, but has yet to receive a reply about current treatments.

[Jaybay]

What a wonderful woman your mom is!  Give her some extra hugs - she deserves them.  :-)  And don't forget to keep us posted on the test results.  Hopefully the problem with be something treatable.

[AHP84]

Thanks for the encouragement and advice.
I'll have to owe this one all to my mom, as she's going to cover the vet costs for this. There's no way I could afford it. In fact, when my vet told me the problem was neurological, he said Eric would need an MRI, CT scan, and/or spinal tap to officially diagnose the problem for treatment, which would cost thousands of dollars with no guarantee of treatment of survival.
I'm barely cutting it as a single parent and living from paycheck to paycheck. So I was pretty distraught and spent a couple days crying about it, thinking I'd just have to watch him become slowly paralyzed and then have to put him down.
Last week my mom told me to call a nearby vet to set up an appointment for the CT scan and she'd cover it for me. She said she loves Eric too much to see him degenerate at such a young age without any chance at getting better. My mom is the greatest! :-)
So hopefully we can get this figured out and prolong his life as long as possible with lots of comfort and love.
Thanks again for your kind words and advice.

[Jaybay]

From the symptoms you describe, I agree with the neurological diagnosis.  However, the causes of a nerve-related problem are legion - just like in humans.  The question now is to figure out why the nerve signals aren't getting to where they need to go.  It sounds like you have a whole lot of testing ahead of you to nail this down.  It could be something as "simple" as a disc issue in his spine, so what you found on the internet.  Definitely bring this issue up with your new vet, but try not to jump the gun and look for zebras instead of horses when you hear the sound of hooves.  :-)

You deserve great applause for pursuing the correct treatment for your dog.  There are plenty of people who would just give up and put him down, and for reasons far less serious than what you are facing.  All you can do is keep on trying, just the way you are.  :-)