In the spring of 2005, Tira began to show signs of hind-end weakness. By the summer, she was scuffing her back feet and struggling with steep inclines when hiking. After x-rays showed no signs of hip dysplasia or arthritis and pain killers seemed unhelpful, we tried prednisone. Not only did prednisone not help, she was decidedly worse after the treatment ended. By late summer, Tira could barely get up the stairs, her legs would sink when she walked, and she was scuffing her back feet badly.
By the process of elimination, it appeared that Tira had 'degenerative myelopathy' (DM) which is believed to be the degenerative neural muscular disease causing the loss of sensation and control of the hind limbs. To be honest, it sounds like a grab bag disease. Although it is very common in German shepherds, it is known to also occur in huskies. As there is really no proper treatment for DM, my vet suggested we try acupuncture, and I would say that the acupuncture has kept Tira mobile and has stopped her degradation. After a session she has a lot more energy and stops scuffing her back feet. This seems to last for about 3 weeks at this point (she has been going since September 2005).
I would highly recommend trying acupuncture if you are faced with a similar problem. If it works, it is well worth the money. The International Veterinary Acupuncture Society at http://www.ivas.org/ lists all certified acupuncturists, and allows you to search for one in your area.
2 comments:
I'm glad acupuncture helped Tira! I have had bad tummy problems for a year now. My old vet wanted to put my on Predinsone for several months, but mom said no. She said that right now only my tummy has a problem, but if I was on Prednisone long term probably other parts of me would get sick too.
She took me to a new holistic vet who checked me out, asked lots of questions and took blood for a food allergy test. Right now all I can eat is raw chicken, some banana and some apple peices (no seeds). I hope we find more foods I can eat! But this new vet said that acupuncture might help me, we will see when the test results come in.
Wow Indy, only raw chicken and fruit?!?! You poor thing!! Although the raw chicken sounds okay. But maybe you could persuade your mum that raw beef will fix your tummy. I'm fairly certain that beef is good for everyone. Mum disagrees, but what does she know, silly humans with their 'vegetarianism'! I'm not a big fan of prednisone either, let me know how things go with the acupuncturist.
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