It seems we never run out of opportunities around here to get acquainted with new and interesting diseases. This year we've learned about HGE, or hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, which struck blind Widget and blind Penny. Just last week we learned about corneal dystrophies because of blind Carmel. And last night we encountered FCE, or ... ready? ... fibrocartilaginous embolism. It's basically a spinal stroke -- not a brain stroke. More on that in a minute.
Yesterday afternoon (Sunday) Alayne and I were taking a group of visitors over to see the dogs at Widget's House, and in the distance I saw blind Dusty struggle to get up and out of a hole in the gravel he had been dozing in. He had dug this shallow hole next to the Widget's House porch, and he seemed to have trouble rising to his feet. (Dusty is very shy around people and will move out into the yard when groups show up.) Although he did manage to get up and start walking, it was clear he had some kind of problem, so I made a mental note to check him out when our visitors left.
Alayne told me later that while we were over there with our visitors, she had noticed Dusty slinking down on his hindquarters a bit, definitely not looking normal. Yet he was walking, if stiffly.
Our visitors had just left and I was heading back over to see Dusty when my phone rang. It was our employee Cindy, who had just arrived over at Widget's House to feed the dogs. She said, "There's something really wrong with Dusty. He's scooting around on his back legs and can't get up." I told her we knew something was going on with him and I would be there in a second.
Dusty was on the porch, sitting on his hind legs and unable to rise. I lifted him up and he walked into the building, which gave us hope. Once inside, Cindy held Dusty up so I could palpate his legs and spine, but he didn't seem painful at all. With enough coaxing, he could get up on his own, but it was clearly difficult. And as soon as he was upright, he wanted to sit down again.
I started him on some prednisone, fed him dinner, and left him in his crate instead of putting him back outside. We've been around the track enough times now that I knew prednisone would be the first thing our vets would put Dusty on, and I figured I'd see a response soon enough if it was a steroid-responsive issue.
But a few hours later, Dusty was no better, and he dragged his feet coming out of his crate. Hmm. At that point I called the emergency number for our vet clinic in Helena, Montana Veterinary Specialists. A few minutes later Dr. Britt Culver, Brenda's husband and a board-certified internal medicine specialist, was calling. I described Dusty's symptoms, told Britt the pred dose I had already given him, and asked what he thought.
Britt told me it was most likely one of two things -- either Type 2 intervertebral disk disease or FCE, which he then rattled off as fibrocartilaginous embolism. I said, "Fibro what?"
Essentially, it's when a tiny piece of disk material somehow gets into the blood vessels in the spinal cord and causes an obstruction, or clot, that chokes off the blood supply to that part of the spinal cord. In effect, it's a spinal stroke. It only effects that particular part of the spinal cord, so where it occurs will determine how many limbs are affected and the degree of severity. For a great write-up on this condition, see this PDF.
Britt thought it likely, based on how I described Dusty's symptoms, that it was FCE. This was a good thing, he said, because FCE is typically not progressive and the animals can often regain use of their limbs. What you see in the first 24 hours is all you're going to see. It just takes time for the spinal cord to learn how to re-route the blood supply and nerves.
Britt wanted me to increase the dose of prednisone for Dusty overnight and then see how he was in the morning. Well, this morning Dusty was about like he was last night, which I was actually happy to see. Our biggest fear was that he would get worse, because that was a bad sign and would mean it wasn't FCE.
So I gave Dusty another dose of prednisone with his breakfast and then Alayne helped me load him in the truck for the trip to Helena. I took the photo above of Britt doing a neuro exam on Dusty at the clinic this morning, and then he took X-rays of his spine:
The X-rays confirmed Britt's view that it was FCE, because Dusty's spine was healthy and showed no disk disease. Britt was confident that Dusty would recover from this spinal stroke, but that it would take some time. Dusty will continue to get prednisone on a tapering dose over the course of the next couple of weeks, and then we'll see how he's doing.
Dusty was very relieved after all the poking and prodding to get back in the truck and head home to the ranch!
So there you have it -- fibrocartilaginous embolism. I had no idea the spinal cord could have a stroke.
Just wanted you to know how years later, a post like this can be helpful. One of our dogs suffered from a loss of use of his front limbs today and after some testing, FCE is the leading candidate. Just doing some web surfing and research now.
Posted by: The Thundering Herd | September 30, 2011 at 07:13 PM
My 7 year old tibetan terrier had a spinal stroke and was completely paralysed , please do not give up on your dogs as he was given a 50 50 chance of recovery but with alot of 24 hour care and love he made a recovery leaving him with a weakness in one of his front legs but apart from that he is back to normal .
Posted by: kelly watson | February 13, 2011 at 04:11 PM
Reading this reminded me of a dog, Bobby I had back in the countryside when I was 5. I remember that before dying he couldn't move anymore. It could have been this.
I really hope Dusty gets better soon.
Posted by: Helena | November 09, 2010 at 09:29 AM
This just happened with us - we have a 9 yr old minpin who was acting normal and then one evening she just got real wobbly and by morning she was not able to stand on her feet. We have a great Vet who believes in treating problems directly and usually does not order unnecessary tests. She treated our Yellow Jacket with an antiinflammatory and some other drugs i don't know the name of. Here it is 2 weeks later and our Yellow Jacket is about 90% back to normal. I had no idea about this condition. I am so grateful we were so lucky with our beloved YellowJacket and I will add to my prayers any other pet owners out there going thru this. It was a very long week before we saw improvements but now i realize how fortunate we were. Thank you for posting information like this for all of us dedicated pet owners.
Posted by: Terisa | April 24, 2010 at 01:14 PM
Yesterday my 5yr old chocolate lab, Jackson (who I love more than anything) was playing fetch like normal and all of a sudden he lost the use of his back legs. I rushed him to the vet. My vet told me I needed to take him to UC Davis Vet Center. They think he has FCE. My heart is broken. Jackson loves to swim and is crazy about playing catch. To see him unable to walk and having no ability to control going to the bathroom on his own was and is beyond comphrehention.
Jackson is still at the hospital and I really don't know what to do. My Doctor says that there is a possibility Jackson could recover. I want to do what's best for Jackson. It's also a matter of cost. They quoted me 5 to 6 grand. I can't afford that kind of money. Is there any kind of place that may be able to help pay for his medical bills? Should I try at all to see if he could recover? I'm just at a loss and I need advice.
Posted by: Hope | June 16, 2009 at 12:28 AM
My German Shepherd had a spinal stroke about a month ago, while he has done wonderfully with regaining control over his back legs and tail, which were paralyzed, he is not doing so well with his bowel movements, he doesn't know a movement is coming until it is too late. I was wondering when your dog regained control over his bowel movements and how long it took?
Posted by: michelle west | April 09, 2009 at 02:22 PM
My wife Monica called me at work yesterday AM informing that our beloved Shi-Tzu Gizmoe (13 lbs) was lame and couldn't walk very well. Normally on any given hour we'd see him chasing and being chased by our other beloved dog Mochi, a 6/1 lb. Maltese. Monica took Gizmoe in to VCA Animal Hospital and was prescribed some sort of muscle relaxer and cortizone pills for him. They offered to X-Ray him but my wife declined initially because she did not think they were very competent given that they got our pet's medical records mixed up (another story). When she got home with Gizmoe and administered the meds he crawled into his day bed in the living room and went to sleep, where he remained until about 3PM when Monica carried him to the yard to releive himself. It's at this time she noticed that he had lost all control of both hind legs. I got home from work about 5PM, assessed the situation, read the FCE and Type 1 disc herniation pamphlets she had brought home from VCA, then immediately packed both Monica and Gizmoe into the car for a return trip to the VCA animal hospital and had an X-Ray taken of his back. Dr. Wong at VCA told us that Gizmoe responds to "deep pain" in his rear legs, the X-Ray's do not show anything abnormal, and there does not appear to be any pain along his spine. Gizmoe got admitted to the hospital last night following a $1500 deposit. I called them this AM and they report no change in his condition other than to say that they had to catherize him in order to relieve his bladder. I have no idea if he can manage a bowel movement yet. VCA (Dr. Wong) said she would call me again this afternoon and discuss progress and schedueling an appointment with the surgeon whereupon we will have Gizmoe undergo a myelogram because MRI's are not available for animals here in Hawaii (what a shame). If the myelogram indicates a Type 1 disc herination, then surgery will take place immediately; if not, we will treat with drugs and therapy. My dear wife Monica is beside herself. You see Gizmoe bonded mostly with her whereas Mochi has bonded with myself. It's all very hard and depressing to think that Gizmoe may endup paralized for life, whereupon we will likely have to consider putting him down.
Gary
Posted by: Gary Hanson | February 03, 2009 at 06:40 PM
I read your story today about Dusty and I suppose hat I am a day late. We put our dog Hogan (9) down last night after several days of inconclusive reports from our vet. He was on morphine and other drugs to "keep him comfortable." However, Hogan's symptons very similar except that he could not move his head eiher. But in the end the vet said she believed it to be a spinal stoke and could not say whether or not Hogan would recover. Ultimately we decided that the humane thing to do was to put him down for his final rest. We are sad and will miss him forever.
Posted by: Adrienne A. | November 10, 2008 at 11:50 AM
I came across your story on spinal stroke. My husband was told a month ago that he may have had a spinal stroke which left him
paralized from the waist down. We
are now awaiting word from Mayo
Clinic if they will except him. We had never heard the expression up until now. There is not much
info on the subject on the web.
Posted by: Carolyn McCann | September 28, 2008 at 04:07 PM
Hi,I just want to thank your site, my dog Harry is in the hospital as I write, the vets are perplexed as to what is wrong with him,as his MRI and X.rays showed nothing as wrong. Harry is presenting the same symptoms as Dusty, who I hope is well on the mend. I have passed your info on FCE onto Harrys surgeon, who have been a little surprised by my research ! I think it is a doc thing. Harry is a huge part of my & my husbands life, what wouldn't we do to get him well. I will keep watching your site, to see if any physio or hydrotheraphy is used on Dusty and see if that helps, I am guessing that is the route we will be taking to get Harry fit. We wish you al well. Sandy & Norman
Posted by: sandy | September 26, 2008 at 02:17 AM
How I hope Dusty will be as good as ever. He seems like a wonderful caring animal. You are so lucky to have him and he is lucky to have both of you.
Posted by: Claire S. Moen | June 25, 2008 at 01:17 PM
I'm so sorry that poor Dusty is having to go through this, but so glad that it will pass! I've never heard of this either. It's amazing how much I've learned from your blog! It's great that you knew what to do & have so many wonderful Vets! Thank you for taking such great care of these precious animals!
Big hugs to all,
ginger, Tobias & Tlingit
Posted by: ginger & Tobias (the greythound) | June 24, 2008 at 10:19 PM
Man, the ranch residents surely keep your vets on their toes. You deal with the strangest stuff! I hope Dusty will be better very soon!
Posted by: Heidi & the kitties | June 24, 2008 at 01:09 PM
I've never heard of a spinal stroke either; albiet interesting, it's a scary situation when it happens to one of your beloved animals.
I hope Dusty is able to be in tip top mobility form soon. He's a darling pup!
Posted by: Boundforglory | June 24, 2008 at 09:28 AM
I've been wanting to hear a story about Dusty...but not like this! I have three Siberian Huskies, one which is blind.
Hope Dusty gets better soon!
Posted by: Carisa J | June 24, 2008 at 08:20 AM
I'm sending out lots of love to Dusty and hoping he gets better real soon!
Posted by: Carisa J | June 24, 2008 at 08:18 AM
It is said that you learn something new each day. I will always be glad for what the RDR teaches me. :)
Posted by: Andrew, NZ | June 24, 2008 at 07:50 AM
Dusty is such a special soul. He's so shy and cautious. We lost our siberian husky last year, so I'm drawn to this breed. Dusty is such a valiant husky boy! Get well Dusty.
Don't forget to vote in Animal Hero of the year! Steve or Alayne!
http://animal.discovery.com/
Posted by: Shirley * James * Portland, OR | June 24, 2008 at 01:08 AM
That sounds like it must have been a scary experience for both you and Dusty. I am glad to hear that he is going to be ok. I hope he is able to get back to full range of motion. Do you do any physical therapy exercises with Dusty to help him relearn how to use the muscles?
Posted by: maggie | June 23, 2008 at 09:46 PM