Hi everyone,
Penny is 2 years old and has suddenly come down with some mysterious behavior. She has always been extremely hyper and kind of nervous - always licking, panting, barking, etc, but she is the sweetest girl in the world.
She has been having "episodes" where she stumbles, falls over, has trouble walking straight, etc, and ends up vomiting and defecating/urinating uncontrollably. Each episode lasts about 5 minutes, though the last one was more like 10.
Here is what has happened so far:
Incident #1: Penny was stumbling around, acting almost drunk. Vomited and defecated around the house. Lasted 5 minutes.
Incident #2: Same day, about 20 minutes later at the vet's. Stumbling, vomiting, defecation. Lasted 2-3 minutes.
Incident #3: 2 days later. Holding paw up strangely; stumbling, vomiting, urination. Lasted about 5 minutes.
Incident #4: 9 days later (yesterday). Happened while we were not at home - vomit and diarrhea found in her kennel.
Incident #5: Same day, later in the evening. Stumbling, vomited 4 or 5 times, defecated, urinated. Got the stumbling on video this time. Lasted 10, maybe even 15 minutes.
Blood sugar, blood panel, and abdominal x-rays looked fine.
Last week, we had a bile acid test done. Penny's pre was 26.1 and her post was 56.0, so abnormal but not indicative of a shunt.
Other than acting somewhat lethargic (possibly due to the sudden warm weather) and having some loose but controlled stools, she has been fine in between episodes.
After talking to our vet, we are going to do an ultrasound to check for a shunt, and if that's negative we plan on treating Penny for MVD with diet and meds (assuming she's stable and not getting worse). If she isn't stable, then we will take her to a neurologist to check for something like meningitis or encephalitis.
Any other thoughts on what this could be? I'm worried I'm going to make the wrong decisions and do the wrong tests, and only find out what's wrong once it's too late. All of this just came on so suddenly. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Penny is 2 years old and has suddenly come down with some mysterious behavior. She has always been extremely hyper and kind of nervous - always licking, panting, barking, etc, but she is the sweetest girl in the world.
She has been having "episodes" where she stumbles, falls over, has trouble walking straight, etc, and ends up vomiting and defecating/urinating uncontrollably. Each episode lasts about 5 minutes, though the last one was more like 10.
Here is what has happened so far:
Incident #1: Penny was stumbling around, acting almost drunk. Vomited and defecated around the house. Lasted 5 minutes.
Incident #2: Same day, about 20 minutes later at the vet's. Stumbling, vomiting, defecation. Lasted 2-3 minutes.
Incident #3: 2 days later. Holding paw up strangely; stumbling, vomiting, urination. Lasted about 5 minutes.
Incident #4: 9 days later (yesterday). Happened while we were not at home - vomit and diarrhea found in her kennel.
Incident #5: Same day, later in the evening. Stumbling, vomited 4 or 5 times, defecated, urinated. Got the stumbling on video this time. Lasted 10, maybe even 15 minutes.
Blood sugar, blood panel, and abdominal x-rays looked fine.
Last week, we had a bile acid test done. Penny's pre was 26.1 and her post was 56.0, so abnormal but not indicative of a shunt.
Other than acting somewhat lethargic (possibly due to the sudden warm weather) and having some loose but controlled stools, she has been fine in between episodes.
After talking to our vet, we are going to do an ultrasound to check for a shunt, and if that's negative we plan on treating Penny for MVD with diet and meds (assuming she's stable and not getting worse). If she isn't stable, then we will take her to a neurologist to check for something like meningitis or encephalitis.
Any other thoughts on what this could be? I'm worried I'm going to make the wrong decisions and do the wrong tests, and only find out what's wrong once it's too late. All of this just came on so suddenly. Any help is greatly appreciated.
