Dealing With Degenerative Myelopathy in Dogs | Vet Tips

hey everyone I'm Dr Kirsten veterinarian here at moneypets and in today's video we are going to talk about a disease known as degenerative myelopathy which I will call DM because it's much easier to say so DM is a disease that affects the dog's spinal cord and the spinal cord is made of two different types of tissue we call gray and white pattern so when there's an issue with the signals that your brain is sending the white matter of the spinal cord that is what is affected with DM very commonly will cause loss of sensation or loss of ability to move in the hind end now degenerative myelopathy or DM is very similar to Als in people and will commonly be mistaken for other diseases that we see in dogs such as osteoarthritis because one of the most common symptoms is difficulty standing up one of the biggest differences between DM and other conditions that it might be confused with is that degenerative myelopathy is not typically a disease that causes the animal pain whereas diseases like arthritis definitely will cause discomfort so some of the most common signs that we'll see with DM will be things like an ataxic or a wobbly gait difficulty supporting their body weight challenges from getting to a sitting or standing position or vice versa and even knuckling or kind of dragging their hind legs when they're walking so what exactly causes DM while we are still learning about what we think contributes we do know that there is a genetic component now dogs that have two abnormal copies of the sod1 gene which stands for superoxide dismutase we know those dogs are going to be at risk for developing DM now it doesn't necessarily mean those dogs will develop the disease but we know that if they do have those two abnormal copies it is a possibility degenerative myelopathy is going to be a disease that we are typically diagnosing in older dogs I am usually going to be seeing these cases come around after a dog is eight or older it doesn't mean that they can't develop it when they're younger but again more commonly going to be something they see in older dogs some of our most commonly affected breeds are going to include German Shepherds poodles Collies and boxers now again this diagnosis is going to be something that we call a diagnosis of exclusion or presumptive so what we do is with clinical signs and with a history that are suggestive we want to rule out other diseases first that might fool us things like spinal tumors arthritis slipped discs Etc so we use blood testing and imaging to help rule out those other diseases also we can do genetic testing or blood testing which can suggest that the dog is at risk so if we are seeing signs of DM and we have ruled out other diseases and the dog is positive for two abnormal copies of the sod1 gene we can be extremely suspicious that Dia is our bread so as a pet parent what can you do if you suspect that DM might be going on in your dog first things first if you are noticing concerning clinical signs please go see your veterinarian please ask your vet they are always there to help you when you are concerned and they can also help plan out a route if we do need to do diagnostics they may also consider referring you to a Veterinary neurologist for more specialty workup now it's always going to be about support for these guys so keeping your pet at a healthy weight is going to make it much easier for Mobility also another important component to managing patients with DM is going to be things like Physical Therapy we want to keep strength in their back end and the more we can keep up the muscle mass the easier it can be for them to support themselves unfortunately there's no way to get around the fact that DM is a progressive chronic disease there is not currently a cure and typically with these patients we are going to see progression over time to the point that it's affecting their quality of life it will eventually affect the ability to stand on their own control their bladder decrease sensation and decrease Mobility overall alongside some of these other supportive management tools we should be thinking about what does our house look like so considering things like Mass where the ground is slippery to provide some stability also the positioning of their food and their water bowls if it's easier for them to sit to eat that might be easier because they are not having to put weight on their back end for extended periods of time additionally if you have stairs in your home considering things like ramps can also make it easier for your pets to get around if you do have stairs in your home they will start to struggle with these I always recommend to my clients that people consider using a baby gate across the stairs to prevent pets from trying to go up and down when they may need extra help one of my most important tips that I like to give my clients is not only is it important to take good care of your dog when they have DM but it is equally as important to take care of yourself this diagnosis can be very stressful for owners and very overwhelming it's important to remember to focus our energy on supportive care and providing a good quality of life for as long as we can we want to make as many memories as we can with your pet as long as we can thanks for listening I hope this video has been helpful