Beagle meningitis
Discussion
Our 18 month beagle Mable has just been diagnosed with meningitis and is currently enjoying her overnight stay with the vets. She was diagnosed early and the vets are confident that she will make a good recovery. Has anyone else on here ever experienced this and have any tips for her recovery?
Thanks for replying anyway, the vets are confident that they caught it early and have started her on a high dose of steroids that she will slowly reduce over the next 6 months. We pick her up this afternoon and thats when the learning begins! There is a lot of information online about the symptoms and the initial treatment but very little about the recovery process, I will try to keep this thread up to date with what we learn along the way.
Mable was fine on Tuesday, we walked her as normal throughout the day and took her with us to the pub where she ran around in the beer garden. Wednesday morning she was a different dog, she was lethargic, hunched, had sickenss and diarrhoea and generally not herself. We took her to the vets and they said they thought it was a gut infection and gave her a course of antibiotics. Friday morning she was even worse, she had stopped eating and would scream if you went near her neck or picked her up in a way that moved her neck. Back to the vets and very quickly the vet that we saw this time was doing pain tests around her neck, she was fairly confident that it was meningitis and sent us over to the main pet hospital to start treatment, they took bloods but felt they didn't need to do a spinal tap to confirm these as the symptoms she was showing and the results of the blood test were fairly conclusive.
They started her on a heavy dose of IV steroids last night and she will begin her high dose oral steroids this evening which she will slowly be taken off of over the next 6 months. The vets say that she is much more confortable now and that the IV steroids have already started to fight the meningitis.
From what we can tell we will have 6 months of her being excessively hungry and thirsty, her immune system will be weakened and she will be a very different dog for the next few weeks as the steroids take effect.
I'll do my best to keep this up to date so that others have a recovery journey to relate to should they ever find themselves in the same position.
Mable was fine on Tuesday, we walked her as normal throughout the day and took her with us to the pub where she ran around in the beer garden. Wednesday morning she was a different dog, she was lethargic, hunched, had sickenss and diarrhoea and generally not herself. We took her to the vets and they said they thought it was a gut infection and gave her a course of antibiotics. Friday morning she was even worse, she had stopped eating and would scream if you went near her neck or picked her up in a way that moved her neck. Back to the vets and very quickly the vet that we saw this time was doing pain tests around her neck, she was fairly confident that it was meningitis and sent us over to the main pet hospital to start treatment, they took bloods but felt they didn't need to do a spinal tap to confirm these as the symptoms she was showing and the results of the blood test were fairly conclusive.
They started her on a heavy dose of IV steroids last night and she will begin her high dose oral steroids this evening which she will slowly be taken off of over the next 6 months. The vets say that she is much more confortable now and that the IV steroids have already started to fight the meningitis.
From what we can tell we will have 6 months of her being excessively hungry and thirsty, her immune system will be weakened and she will be a very different dog for the next few weeks as the steroids take effect.
I'll do my best to keep this up to date so that others have a recovery journey to relate to should they ever find themselves in the same position.
Sorry, no experience, although the treatment is similar to Sam whippet, who has had two episodes of Immune-Mediated Haemolytic Anaemia.
The steroids treated his illness, but as you say, they made him very hungry and thirsty and can't be stopped suddenly - they have to be reduced very gradually. He also lost a lot of weight and muscle mass, so we put him on puppy food to keep his weight up.
Fingers crossed, he hasn't had a further episode, and we hope it will stay that way.
Very best of luck to you and Mable.
The steroids treated his illness, but as you say, they made him very hungry and thirsty and can't be stopped suddenly - they have to be reduced very gradually. He also lost a lot of weight and muscle mass, so we put him on puppy food to keep his weight up.
Fingers crossed, he hasn't had a further episode, and we hope it will stay that way.
Very best of luck to you and Mable.
Yes our Whippet Ruby had it twice.
You're lucky that your vets diagnosed it in time, ours at the time didn't have much of a clue so our girl ended up having an exploratory op she didn't need. Then when they couldn't find anything we were referred to a specialist. After a spinal tap it was confirmed.
She made a full recovery, but then had another episode of it after she was spayed. All very distressing ( and expensive) at the time but all OK now.
She was treated with steroid drugs, gradually reducing the dose over several weeks.
Hope all goes well for you.
You're lucky that your vets diagnosed it in time, ours at the time didn't have much of a clue so our girl ended up having an exploratory op she didn't need. Then when they couldn't find anything we were referred to a specialist. After a spinal tap it was confirmed.
She made a full recovery, but then had another episode of it after she was spayed. All very distressing ( and expensive) at the time but all OK now.
She was treated with steroid drugs, gradually reducing the dose over several weeks.
Hope all goes well for you.
And also don't worry to much about recovery. Assuming and hoping she responds well, it will be be just a bit more peeing and keep an eye on her weight .
It will always be the same girl as she always was. With our girl recovery was fast once diagnosed hope you have the same luck.
Best wishes.
Pat.
It will always be the same girl as she always was. With our girl recovery was fast once diagnosed hope you have the same luck.
Best wishes.
Pat.
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