Natalya, this is interesting, and may cover the gamut of symptoms:
Epilepsy and hypothyroidism

My first GSD had something that sounds almost exactly the same. The only real difference I see is that she would turn her head to the side so her muzzle touched her side and do it. The first couple of times she did, I checked her for fleas thinking maybe she was biting at one. There was nothing, and as it worsened, I realized something else was going on.

Blood panels all came back normal. Multiple thyroid checks looked fine. Neither MRI (done about a year apart) showed anything all that remarkable. Her symptoms continued to deteriorate at about the rate you describe. She got so weird with cars on walks, I had to take her out to areas where there weren't any, and she started getting aggressive with me. We had always had to manage pack structure with her pretty carefully, but it really amped that problem up. She was much worse when there was activity going on and better when it was quiet and she was just with me.

Even without conclusive evidence, we tried medication for epilepsy. It helped quite a lot although things didn't totally get better. It bought us another good year with her, at any rate.

Interestingly, a vet (not our normal one) prescribed a pain killer for her after a spay surgery. The medication absolutely freaked her out. Her regular vet said that medication in particular will cause seizures in dogs with epilepsy. I can't remember what the pain med was, but if I can find the copy of her records, I can look it up.

Her condition continued to deteriorate. We tried acupuncture and really anything we could think of. She had always been raw fed. Nothing helped for all that long. Her immune system also continued to weaken as the disease progressed. She started coming down with weird infections. I'm not sure if the epilepsy medication could have contributed to that aspect of it.

It may have had an environmental cause. There were several other dogs imported from the vendor that came from the same kennel (Czech and only the dogs that had been in one specific building) and a number of them came down with the same sort of symptoms over the course of a couple of years. Lead exposure from the lead pipes in the kennel was believed to be the cause but never conclusively proven.

The vendor had success returning three of the dogs to normal using I think some kind of chelation therapy...I could be wrong on that though, it's been a while. We started the therapy with Pida. She finally showed real improvement, but there had been so much damage done by that time that we couldn't bring her back enough.

I hope it's something treatable or something different. It was a hard and expensive way for her to go. We never knew conclusively what it was. We could only go with the things that helped the symptoms.

Edited by MichelleMeyer (03/17/2009 02:08 PM)
Edit reason: added we never did find cause

Thanks for another great link Lynne - I could definitely place Echo's behavior into some of the descriptions listed. I wonder how closely the vet checked his thyroid results...

Michelle, I'm SO sorry to hear about your Pida, it sounds like a very agonizing ordeal and I'm sorry it didn't end better - though the similarities between Pida's case and Echo's sound eerily alike. Did her symptoms start at a fairly young age? At least you have a little bit of information about her kennel environment and toxins that could have effected multiple dogs... not that it's any consolation, but it's one more piece of an otherwise mysterious puzzle. Echo was adopted as a wee pup from a shelter, so who knows what kind of environment he was whelped in, what mum was exposed to during pregnancy, or how the other sibs are faring...

I'll keep you all posted as I get more info.
Thanks for all the support/suggestions.

~Natalya

Pida was about 6 years old when her symptoms started. The dogs that were affected ranged in age from 4 to 7 years old, if I remember correctly. Symptoms appeared 1-3 years after the suspected exposure.

I looked up my notes from that time since epilepsy seems to be one possibility. This site was very helpful to me at that time. It contains a lot of resources on epilepsy. For example, they recommend a more natural diet (although I don't believe they have info on raw on the site) and minimal or no vaccinations.

Epi Guardian Angels

The site helped me have the information I needed to work better with my vet and understand the various treatment options.

Caught up with my neighbor last night... more troubling news...
Upon multiple visits to a group of veterinary specialists it was determined that A. Echo was now suffering actual full body seizures (not just facial ticks), B. his vision was deteriorating (on top of everything else) and C. it was highly suspected that he has GME (Granulomatous Meningoencephalomyelitis). I knew nothing about the disease, but after some reading, I'm thoroughly concerned for this dog. Seems like there are a great many ways GME can effect the nervous system, causing various degrees of severity, but at the end of the day, even with prednisone, corticosteroid, chemo or radiotherapy treatments to control symptoms, the majority of cases do not survive for long.

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_granulomatous_meningoencephali.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granulomatous_meningoencephalitis

Echo is getting a spinal tap and an MRI today, which should give a clearer picture of how bad his particular case is. I feel awful for his owner - on top of the great heartache of watching her puppy deteriorate, she (along with so many others) is under some pretty serious economic stress, and these are very expensive diagnostics for something that likely won't leave her much time with him. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for them.

As I type this, Buck, Echo's husky companion, is in his backyard howling the most mournful howl in Echo's absence... I'm going to go hug my dog now...

~Natalya

What terrible news, Natalya. Sorry to hear this...

I'm very sorry to hear this, too.

Thanks for providing links, Natalya...I've never heard of GME.

Oh no.

I have heard/read of it. The survival rate is very low, treated or not.

I have to say that I'd be introducing the idea of considering PTS if the diagnosis is solid.

Natalya said ".... these are very expensive diagnostics for something that likely won't leave her much time with him. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for them."

I hope someone is saying this to the owners, who may be feeling as if they are letting the dog down if they have this terrible diagnosis and don't continue to assess the degree, etc. IMHO, they would not at all be letting down the dog.

I'm so sorry to sound cold; it's the exact opposite.

Yea,
To echo Connie, beyond making a definitive diagnosis, what is the prognosis for the quality of life even if the odds are beat with a cure or an arrest of progression?

Being there for the dog means more then supplying care in the hard times.

Sorry for your friend.
Randy

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

I have to say that I'd be introducing the idea of considering PTS if the diagnosis is solid.

I hope someone is saying this to the owners, who may be feeling as if they are letting the dog down if they have this terrible diagnosis and don't continue to assess the degree, etc. IMHO, they would not at all be letting down the dog.

Oh, I know. I only refrained from mentioning that Echo's owner has definitely considered this option because I didn't want to sound COMPLETELY doom and gloom... but she is certainly willing to do what's best for Echo, and unfortunately, that could mean letting him go. It's just so hard to comprehend this, as it's come on so quickly...

Randy, I'm really not sure about quality of life with treatment in this case - it probably varies a lot from dog to dog, depending on the symptoms to begin with. Echo has so much going wrong for him, I can't imagine that he'd be completely comfortable under any treatment plan, if there is hope for improvement at all. It is, without a doubt, exceptionally sad.

Will update if I hear from Echo's mum this evening...

~Natalya