Whew...it has been horrible the past couple of weeks. We noticed a couple of weeks ago that her eye was cocked off to the left, she looked alot like Marty Feldman! Pretty strange looking. We took her to our vet and he was stumped, she still had vision, but her eye was not moving and the pupil was completely dilated but nothing else seemed wrong with her. He wanted us to come back in a week for a recheck. We thought maybe she got bonked in the eye with a toy. We have another boxer and they play so hard, it seemed pretty possible. He gave us some anti inflammatory meds. A couple of days later she had a seizure, I was so worried about her. We took her to a trauma vet and many meds and alot of unanswered questions we were referred to a neurologist. Yesterday we had our appointment and the doctor was AMAZING. He did such a thorough exam on our girl. His initial thoughts were not good. He was thinking she had a tumor inside her brain and she would be terminal. She showed some neurological deficiencies and one of the main nerves that control the movement of the eye and the dilating of the pupil was not functioning. He said that he has never seen only one main nerve affected like that. That is why he was leaning towards tumor. He suggested a MRI to gather more information. The expense of an MRI is outrageous but my husband did not hesitate for a second! So the waiting game began....from the time they took her to the back and brought her back to us was almost 5 hours. Of course we were worried but they assured us that was pretty normal for a dog...after all they needed to put her under so she would be completely still, and then they had to wait for her to come out of it. We were so nervous to hear the results. He was very happy to report to us that there was NO TUMOR!!! Her brain structures are normal and the pathway to her eye was normal, but there was an area that was inflamed. He suggested we do a spinal tap. He was still concerned that it could be lymphoma. So he did a spinal tap and the preliminary results show she is not suffering from lymphoma! His thought is that she has meningitis. That is treatable with steroids. Of course we need to wait til Monday for the final results but we are very relived. VERY RELIVED. Apparently young Boxers are suseptable(sp)to Meningitis So the waiting we have to do this weekend isn't as stressful since we have that little bit of good news. We were not ready to say goodbye to her. Of course we wont be 100% relived until we talk to him on Monday.
I can only imagine how difficult this time has been for you - actually, I don't need to imagine as I have been through this many times. Hopefully, this will be one of those times that we can post something positive -
Let us know as some as you learn the latest - in the meantime - many good thoughts going out to Miss Ozzie and all of you...
I do hope everything turns out good. This kind of thing is a perfect example of pets not being "cheap". One day all is well and the next day you've spent enough to buy a small car. But that's what we sign up for and what we do. I think you and your husband are awesome and really hope your dog gets better soon.
Posts: 2094 | Location: NE Georgia | Registered: May 21, 2006
I know what you're going through. My boxer Queenie had similar symptoms a few years ago. But when we were preparing for a cat scan it was determined that she had heart failure, and could not be anesthetized, so there was nothing to be done except bring her home.
The next day she stepped in front of my husband's truck, and died instantly.
Oh, Bo Peep, so sad to learn about Queenie - my heartfelt condolences but have to say, sometimes, things just happen. I wouldn't go so far as to say "for the best" but they do happen. I hope your dh hasn't carried guilt about driving the truck - as I said, sometimes, things just happen...
An update on Miss Ozzie. Vet finally got the results back from her spinal tap. Things are looking up but we are not out of the woods. The vet said that the findings were consistent with meningitis......but that is a hard disease to treat. If we see improvements over the next 2 weeks then a happy ending is QUITE possible.
A quick update....Miss Ozzie has now been on steroids for a couple of weeks...along with her antibiotic and phenobarbital....she seems to be willing to play with our other boxer more and more. I can definitely see an improvement in her "attitude". Both my husband and myself would bet money that we saw her eye move a tiny bit the other day. I take her back to the neurologist on Monday. I am looking forward to getting GOOD news finally. I will post more when I have more news.
Well, Miss Ozzie had her appt. with her neurologist this morning. He is so pleased with all the progress she has made over these last couple of months. We need to wean her off the last of her meds for the next month and then we will be done, if she doesn't relapse during this time. With the way she has been acting there is NO DOUBT in my mind that she is 100% Boxer!!! It's great to have her back to her old self.
Thanks, superheroesmom, for up-dating us since your last past back in November - so very happy to hear the good news! We all need to hear "and it ends happily every after" once in a while! And, am so very grateful that it looks like this will be one of those times for you and Ozzie!
