Tremors and hypermetric gait in JRT

RE: Tremors and hypermetric gait in JRT

Martin Atkinson — Fri, 04 Nov 2016 11:56:53 GMT

Bit of a tangent but just seen little dog ostensibly with neuro symptoms. It had been getting slow and increasingly aggressive for ages apparently and now was going into a trance like state, falling over then twitching and suddenly waking up again. It turns out a friend/neighbour had taken it to the vet up the road and they not only had not called us for history etc but just given it Tramadol for what I can see is no good reason other than it might have been in pain at a dose of 50 mg tid for a 6.7kg dog!! Might explain the odd neuro symptoms as they've only started after they started the tramadol. Now booked in for investigation of why it may be getting aggressive and slow.

RE: Tremors and hypermetric gait in JRT

Aine Seavers — Fri, 04 Nov 2016 01:11:11 GMT

I have been told dogs don't get parkinson its a PRIMATE disease - you can burn out the substania nigra on both sides and they dont get it - only monkeys and up.One of the caveats about prolonged cerenia use for > 5 days comes from it causing dopamine imbalance in humans but vets have used it for months in stomach cancers in gsd and dogs have been fine. That said I have seen aberrant dopamine responses in dog on Maxolon which is why maxolon causes a nasty aggression in some dogs. With regards to this dog- do the tongue muscles twitch? What are the optic discs like size and vessel wise? This is very much just brain storming as we need a video but a lecture from USA Diane Shelton, the no1 neruromuscular research vet anywhere globally- she showed a cat with hypert4 in what was almost tetanic twitching. The lecture hall was packed with feline specialists and general practitioners from Europe and Australia and we had never seen this manifestation. your dog reminds me of that cat and whilst hyperthyroidism is very rare in dogs, it would be good to get a thyroid level. Shelton would recommend a muscle biopsy, she is mad keen on them but it would be curious to see what the thyroid and magenesium levels were. Other than that is there anything weird in the dog's diet?

RE: Tremors and hypermetric gait in JRT

Richard Carter — Thu, 03 Nov 2016 11:11:32 GMT

lower the propalin dose or try off to rule out s/e of current meds before doing MRI.

There can be old scarring of previous injuries to brain (thinking clonic contractions of dogs recovered from distemper) which as above would be benign and if you really concerned, diazepam etc may help with the muscle relaxation.

Dogs get parkinsons? write a paper!!

RE: Tremors and hypermetric gait in JRT

David Mills — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 23:43:50 GMT

Any chance of a video?

Terriers get all.sorts of weird and wonderful things. it's probably benign.

Mark Lowrie posts on here occasionally and is more than happy to look at vids- he's at dovecote referrals now look him up and send it to him.

RE: Tremors and hypermetric gait in JRT

Katie Limb — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 20:55:05 GMT

Thanks guys. Do you think it's still cerebellar without intention tremors? Don't think they'll go for mri.

RE: Tremors and hypermetric gait in JRT

Katie Limb — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 20:54:27 GMT

Thanks guys. Do you think it's still cerebellar without intention tremors? Don't think they'll go for mri.

RE: Tremors and hypermetric gait in JRT

Bob Russell — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 17:54:42 GMT

Why the one star? Hypermetria and wobbliness are classic manifestations of cerebellar disease and lesions. MRI a pretty understandable diagnostic tool.

RE: Tremors and hypermetric gait in JRT

Liz w — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 12:09:44 GMT

cerebellar problem? Would they want to go for MRI?