atl_gto

My wife and I ended up getting our first Doberman last week. His name is Cirrus. We adopted him from a rescue up in North Carolina. He's 5 years old, and is one of the sweetest dogs you'll ever meet. He gets along great with our Chihuahua, which if you read my thread from a few weeks ago, we were kind of worried about.

Anyway, we noticed at the rescue that he had a strange gait, but they said he was fine. As soon as we brought him home, we noticed he was apprehensive on the stairs, and stumbled on the carpet. We decided we needed to take him to the vet, and we were thinking it may have been arthritis, or worse-case scenario, hip displaysa.

After meeting with our vet this morning, we're now looking at Wobblers Disease. She indicated he has all the tell-tale symptoms, except for cervical neck pain which he hasn't shown. We are taking him to a local neurologist for a consult. I called the rescue group, and they'll pay for the consult.

Our vet is certain it's neurological, but she said it's not 100% guaranteed it's Wobblers. I hope it's something else that not's so severe...

What makes it even harder is that the rescue is so far away. They said we can bring him back if we have to. I just can't imagine the drive back, with him the backseat and me knowing that I'm taking him away from us, it's a 6 hour drive. We've already grown attached to him.

This has been a very trying morning for us... there is still a chance that we could be looking at something not so serious, but if it's Wobblers I'm not sure what we will do... I've been wanting a Dobie for the longest time, and now that we have found the most perfect, well-behaved one that just fits in great in our house, we find out he has to deal with this. I usually don't cry, but this morning that's what I've been doing. I feel so sorry for him, he he's been through a lot already. He has already been treated for Pancreatitis, hookworms, and a skin infection all in the last few months. I'm hoping for the best...

greenkouki

I saw Cirrus on the DRT site he did look like a really sweet guy, so I'm glad you adopted him. I really hope he isn't diagnosed with wobblers, but if that is the diagnosis it can be managed, and even in some cases may lessen in severity with time. Let us know how the consult goes, good luck Cirrus!

VegasHR

Please keep us posted on his condition. Keeping fingers crossed for you and Cirrus.

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Linda H

That is sad news to hear about your new boy. Honestly I think the rescue should have caught that. It is a well known problem with dobermans.
I am sorry your first doberman may have this problem.
Depending on the severity there are different treatments that can be given but they are very expensive.
Good luck to you and Cirrus. I sincerely hope he doesn't have this devastating disease.

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dobermansrule

Hoping for the best here too. Hang in there. That dobie boy needs you right now and he has lots of love to give. Maybe this was meant to be.

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atl_gto

Thanks for all the kind words. I'm still hoping that's it's not Wobblers. This neurlogist we are going to deals with Wobblers cases from all over Atlanta, so hopefully the consult, while not providing a definitive answer, will at least point us the right direction and we can deal with it.


Anyone else with experience in neurological problems such as this? Is it possible it's something else not so serious, like a past injury, or something that is easliy dealt with?

The vet was able to pick up his hind paws and turn them over in a typical Wobbler test, and he failed it... he didn't move his paws back quickly like a normal dog would. He just let them stay in that position for a while before slowly moving his feet back to their normal position. This was with the left and right hind legs. The left one seems worse than the right.

DLS

Wobblers is a serious health problem for sure. It seems that no two dogs have the same symptoms or progression of CVI. One of my dogs was diagnosed at 6 years of age. Without any treatment at all he lived to 12. He was unsteady in his gait as he aged but after the initial pain when he was diagnosed he lived relatively pain free for the next 6 years.

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tranquility

All the best to you and Cirrus. Hope it turns out ok.

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lyngr

Your post made me shed some tears. I know what it is like to adopt the perfect dobe and be crushed by the possibility of a devastating illness...

Two weeks after we adopted Cinny, the vet discovered mammary lumps at her check up (she was 5 and hadn't yet been spayed) and suggested returning her to her breeder (as not to get too attached or have to spend oodles of money on a dog that we hardly knew)..

2 weeks is not a long time but like you, we had already fallen in love. We decided to look elsewhere for a vet with a bit more compassion and positive outlook and agreed that regardless of the results of the tests, we would keep her.

After what seemed like forever waiting for these test results, they all came back benign. We wanted to go back and slap the original vet for her grim outlook and suggestion.

I truly truly hope you get some positive news and I will keep my fingers crossed for you.

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triciakoontz

I'm sending you and Cirrus many good thoughts and prayers. Your story has touched my heart.

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