Has anyone has had experience or advice about a dog with immune based encephalitis?
Gertie, was diagnosed with encephalitis in late July. She had been exhibiting odd behaviors that would wax and wane. She would circle to the right, weaving, and barking when attempting to walk on floors (not wanting to) or when comimg up two steps. Other times symptoms displayed like a phobia or falling while walking through the house. An analogy would be, if she stepped off of her dog bed that she would be stepping into shark infested waters; sheer terror. The symptoms would abate, but return.
Things got worse and began isolating herself, sleeping a lot, barking at objects in the middle of the night, and prior symptoms became constant. She was seen by a neurologist and found to have a lack of menace response, partial paralysis on the left side of her face and dragging her back paws. The neurologist said because her left side was affected he was certain she had a right cortex brain lesion. The right cortex affects behavior, personality and would explain the recent behavior changes, circling to the right, etc.
The options were a MRI of her brain and test cerebral spinal fluid (CSF), or treat her with high doses of steroids (thank goodness for pet insurance). We opted for the scan as I didn't want to treat blindly and know the prognosis. The CSF had high levels of neutrophils, and MRI no apparent lesion. The neurologist was certain it was a brain tumor, so this was good news!! She was started on high doses of prednisone 2 x daily with a slight taper after 5 days.
The root cause of Gertie's encephalitis could not be determined through additional testing and typically is immune based in dogs. The vet said that 70% of dogs respond to treatment and the remaining 30% are on a dose of prednisone for the remainder of their lives. He was optimistic as she initially responded to treatment. The prednisone was horrible at higher doses and big dogs apparently do worse (lucky us)! The leaking of urine and anxiety are the worst symptoms. She has been on prednisone for over four weeks and was reduced to every other day. By the next dose, symptoms displayed. Now prednisone is given daily and is somewhat tolerable for all. As of now, she'll have treatment for at least two more months. What is concerning is since mid-week she started not wanting to walk on floors in a few rooms sporadically; if this continues the steroids will be increased. The circling, having to walk on sticky mats, falling and isolation symptoms are gone; facial response improving. We're going to a holistic vet this week for other options.
She's still a young, happy, friendly and loving dog. I cannot justify not doing treatment at this point. I am concerned about long term steroid use as well as the prognosis. She'll have a re-check with the neurologist in a month and am to call if the symptoms aren't improved. It's scary and I'm afraid I'll lose her from this.
Thank you for reading and apologize for the long post. I haven't heard or read much about dogs with encephalitis. Some journals do not sound optimistic about long term prognosis, and say most do not live more than a year. I just want my girl to have a long, healthy and happy of a life as possible. I feel bad for putting her through this at times. But, with some improvement am slightly encouraged.
It is true, it does break your heart when our fur babies are sick.