# Steroid Responsive Meningitis - Diagnosis & Cortisone. Maren?



## Mike Schoonbrood (Mar 27, 2006)

Tiko has had 40+ (104.5+) fever for a week now, he's been on 2 different types of antibiotics since last Monday and on metacam for 2 days. His appetite has come back, he drinks but not as much as normal. His appetite over the past week has come and gone, some days not eating at all, some days eating 2/3 of his meal. He's lethargic, weak, sensitive to the touch, carries his head low, sometimes he seems OK to look upwards, but most of the time he sits down to make it easier to look up, or moves his entire body to look behind him instead of turning his head back. He whines when you manipulate his head, and also whines when manipulating other body parts.

My vet suggested the possibility of steroid responsive meningitis. I am wondering how common this is? The test is pretty invasive with a thick needle to the spine. My vet suggested starting on cortisone treatment and seeing if his condition improves. My concern is that the cortisone will also mask other problems if its not meningitis and I have my reservations on trial & error steroid usage.

I have about 6.5 hours from now (11am EST) before I will be at the vet's office for the 80th time this year. I will obviously talk to her and get some more information, but I'd like to go into the office with a little more information than I have now. I've read all the "what is meningitis" and "steroid side effects" stuff, but it's pretty generic info.

I'm gonna go take his temperature. If it's below 40 then maybe the antibiotics are starting to work afterall...... Blood is being sent to the lab today.


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## Mike Schoonbrood (Mar 27, 2006)

correction. Temp came down to 39.3/39.4 this morning. Called the vet to postpone the appointment and see what the bloodtest shows tomorrow afternoon.


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## Jeff Oehlsen (Apr 7, 2006)

Hope he gets better.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Keeping in mind I can't give out medical advice yet...PM sent!


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## Selena van Leeuwen (Mar 29, 2006)

they have to exam the brainfluid by tapping through the spine, to truly know it is mengitis, I thought?

sterkte!


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Selena van Leeuwen said:


> they have to exam the brainfluid by tapping through the spine, to truly know it is mengitis, I thought?
> 
> sterkte!


Yes, they have to do a spinal tap to examine the cerebrospinal fluid. They look at it under a microscope to look for a certain white blood cell profile. A regular blood panel can be helpful, but the spinal tap is the most indicative.


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## Mike Schoonbrood (Mar 27, 2006)

His temp is down to 39.2/39.3 this morning.

I know for meningitis (thanks Maren) that fever can be intermittent. His movements are better today though.

Thanks for all the well wishes, its always a bit stressful when your pup looks like this lying on the vet's office floor (he wasn't sedated) 










I'll keep ya posted.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Fingers crossed. 
Hang in there Mike!


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## ann schnerre (Aug 24, 2006)

Mike Schoonbrood said:


>


well, maybe just a LEETLE bit stressful...i'm w/Bob--fingers crossed (and eyes, legs, whatever) and knocking on wood. i have a real wood desk so i can knock frequently. and will....


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## Mike Schoonbrood (Mar 27, 2006)

Temp has been down to 39.2/3 the past couple days. Acting more normal now too, and eating fine.

Blood test came back, the first antibiotics didn't do crap, so re-test in 10 days with the new antibiotics.


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## Mike Scheiber (Feb 17, 2008)

Good sign dogs are tough and resilient but when a driven working dog is down it will cause and should be a huge concern looks like he is on the mend!


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Hopefully a turn for the better.


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## Kayce Cover (Oct 30, 2007)

=D> Whew! Good news Mike. I don't know what is best for dogs, but I always try to give immune system boosters, like lycine, vitamin C (and other vitamins), echinacea... Candace Pert wrote in "Molecules of Emotion" about the strategy of keeping cell receptors as full as possible so that replicated viruses cannot get attached to new cells. This seems to work well for me and my animals. I mean, taking this stuff works great, but I don't know for sure what the mechanism is.

May he have a smooth and speedy recovery to full throttle.


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## Mike Schoonbrood (Mar 27, 2006)

Temp down to high 38's, he tried to eat the paperwork off the vets desk, hauled ass into the house and dived onto the sofa, won't shut the hell up in the kennel, and is being a real pain in the ass again.

So, I'd say, he's doing pretty good now


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## Michele McAtee (Apr 10, 2006)

Mike Schoonbrood said:


> Temp down to high 38's, he tried to eat the paperwork off the vets desk, hauled ass into the house and dived onto the sofa, won't shut the hell up in the kennel, and is being a real pain in the ass again.
> 
> So, I'd say, he's doing pretty good now


WOOHOOO!!!!  I'll continue to hope for the next week or so that he pulls fully thru (and that *you* can get thru until his walk/full exercise routines are back in place!!!--I agree to take it slow with him)...what a freaky ordeal. SO glad to hear he's on the upswing.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Excellent!!


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## Lacey Vessell (Nov 18, 2006)

Awwww he looks so pitiful laying on the vets floor.:sad: Really good news Mike that he appears to be getting better. Hopefully we will hear more reports about him improving - when he is driving you nuts....and doing all his "normal" antics - it's usually a good sign. Keep us posted please.


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## Ted White (May 2, 2006)

So hows the boy?


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## Mike Schoonbrood (Mar 27, 2006)

Temp is normal, white blood cell count still a tad high so still on meds, but acting normal otherwise.


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## Ted White (May 2, 2006)

Good... good.


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## Ryan Venables (Sep 15, 2010)

Going through the same thing right now with Mako... although ours may be bacterial meningitis... culturing his spinal fluid to determine a specific cause.

His symptoms:
- severe lethargy
- depression
- fever - reached 40.6 at peak - bounced around 39-40 for two days.
- roached back and appeared to move very methodically
- did not like laying down
- yelping when jumping out of suv

We took him to Ontario Vet College... tapped his spine and all joints. Testing for bacterial meningitis as well as rare tick born illnesses as his "snap" test came back negative (he had a tick in July)


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

Oh man, that's rough. Keeping positive thoughts for Mako. Please keep us posted on what they find out and how he does.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Ryan Venables said:


> Going through the same thing right now with Mako... although ours may be bacterial meningitis... culturing his spinal fluid to determine a specific cause.
> 
> His symptoms:
> - severe lethargy
> ...


When will you receive the spinal tap results?

http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions...ingoencephalitis_meningomyelitis#.UL-X3hxa4zA

http://www.vetinfo.com/bacterial-meningitis-in-dogs.html#b

http://www.pethealthguide.net/bacterial-meningitis-in-dogs.html


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Let's continue this new thread here
http://www.workingdogforum.com/vBulletin/f25/possible-bacterial-meningitis-25374/#post363248
so as not to have two places with responses.


I moved the two responses to the new thread.


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