McGee, neurological problems
DaisyBumbleroot
Posts: 24,763 Forum Member
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My husband and I have always joked that McGee is a bit special. We've had him about two years now and he has a few idiocincracies, floor licking, circling, etc but you may recall a thread I made about when he bit my husband after we had a row. McGee isn't particularly friendly or unfriendly, he is just dog.
I decided to get a specialist dog trainer in to see if he is ok, and went to this guy from bark busters as he seemed to have a lot of experience and loads of great feedback. It's bloody expensive, but you can pay for a year and have him come out as much as you need.
Anyway, I paid £25 deposit and he came round about three weeks ago and was round for about 90 minutes. He said McGee isn't an aggressive dog, in fact McGee barely registered the fact he was there, he just trotted in and out of the garden doing his thing.
Which is licking the paving slabs in the garden. He does it constantly, same spot where there is a crack, to the point it is wearing down. When he is in the house he has a spot between the back room and the door he licks and scratches too. The guy also observed that McGee walks in circles a lot, always clockwise. I've noticed his circling before, but it didn't register he only went clockwise.
I asked if it he thought it might be because he was stressed or suffering anxiety and the trainer said he seemed a happy dog and not stress, but to get him checked at the vets as he thinks it might be neurological or possibly a diet deficiency. He didn't take the rest of the payment as he said to get smelly boy dog checked out first, find out what's going on then to get back to him so he can decide how to approach potential training, which I thought was very kind of him.
So McGee has been to the vets today. She checked him over and folded his back paws under and she pointed out that he doesn't correct them, so she thinks it's something upstairs or spinal. I said we gave him a faux kennel club name "Barney McGee Cackhands" when we first got him as he had trouble jumping up into the car, or onto the sofa, it seemed like his back legs gave him trouble getting up, but that has actually got better over time and we put it down to him not being allowed up with his previous owner, so never really learned how to do it.
She took blood tests anyway today and we will get the results on Monday. I am happy for him to run a full gauntlet of tests to get down to the root cause of his weirdness as he is insured and so she said he will probably need and MRI done as well.
So, has anyone else had a dog with issues upstairs or nerves? I'd be interested to hear any stories
I decided to get a specialist dog trainer in to see if he is ok, and went to this guy from bark busters as he seemed to have a lot of experience and loads of great feedback. It's bloody expensive, but you can pay for a year and have him come out as much as you need.
Anyway, I paid £25 deposit and he came round about three weeks ago and was round for about 90 minutes. He said McGee isn't an aggressive dog, in fact McGee barely registered the fact he was there, he just trotted in and out of the garden doing his thing.
Which is licking the paving slabs in the garden. He does it constantly, same spot where there is a crack, to the point it is wearing down. When he is in the house he has a spot between the back room and the door he licks and scratches too. The guy also observed that McGee walks in circles a lot, always clockwise. I've noticed his circling before, but it didn't register he only went clockwise.
I asked if it he thought it might be because he was stressed or suffering anxiety and the trainer said he seemed a happy dog and not stress, but to get him checked at the vets as he thinks it might be neurological or possibly a diet deficiency. He didn't take the rest of the payment as he said to get smelly boy dog checked out first, find out what's going on then to get back to him so he can decide how to approach potential training, which I thought was very kind of him.
So McGee has been to the vets today. She checked him over and folded his back paws under and she pointed out that he doesn't correct them, so she thinks it's something upstairs or spinal. I said we gave him a faux kennel club name "Barney McGee Cackhands" when we first got him as he had trouble jumping up into the car, or onto the sofa, it seemed like his back legs gave him trouble getting up, but that has actually got better over time and we put it down to him not being allowed up with his previous owner, so never really learned how to do it.
She took blood tests anyway today and we will get the results on Monday. I am happy for him to run a full gauntlet of tests to get down to the root cause of his weirdness as he is insured and so she said he will probably need and MRI done as well.
So, has anyone else had a dog with issues upstairs or nerves? I'd be interested to hear any stories
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Well yes our old Lucy Manchester terrier was "challenged" is what we used to say, she did some very odd behaviours for a dog and we have had odd dogs so this was quite weird stuff. I am loathe to say it but hers turned out to be a brain tumour which sadly killed her at 2 years old. Vet said even if we had taken her oddness seriously nothing could have been done for her but she was happy to the very end, never known such a happy dog.
I hasten to add her tumour was incredibly rare and I am sure that is not what is ailing McGee !
What kind of things did Lucy do? And what kind of tests did she have for you to find out?
McGee also bites the heads of flowers and spits them out as he walks past and also licks the floor on his walks. Runs a few steps, licks the floor then runs a few steps. He also does these funny leaps of all fours and turns in the air when he is licking the paving slab outside.
His oddities don't seem to be getting worse, but Im sure we will find out.
Lucy would lick a place on the wallpaper obsessively a blue flower which over time disappeared then she moved on to another flower. She would uproot plants just grab them and pull them up. She would dig again obsessively the paving slabs in the garden, worn her nails down to stumps if we couldn't stop her and shadows really bothered her she would snap and try to bite them.
She also never really learned much, she couldn't figure out sitting for a treat or doing anything a small puppy wouldn't. Never really grew up.
She had odd seasons too coming into season when she was 5 months and then every 2 months she would come into season again it was a challenged to find a time to get her spayed as she was constantly coming in or out of season.
She was despite all that a joy to know, so happy and funny.
But as I said before her cancer was incredibly rare, we had another dog Benny who also had cancer at 6 and I had breast cancer twice and my husband had breast cancer too ,we traced it to water pipes in our rather ancient accommodation, we had all been affected. So chances of your dog having the same is remote.
Apart from the shadows bit, you could be describing McGee. Besides the cracks on the paving slabs, he has a spot between the back room and kitchen door that had tiles on it and if he's not licking the paving slabs, he is scratching and licking that, and making yowly whinging sounds. And he bites the heads off flowers when he goes past. There's a few holes in the Tarmac and the Drain covers on their walk that he has to check, but I assumed that was instinct and he was smelling rats.
His blood tests came back clear today, no dietary deficiencies so the vet called and is arranging an MRI. I'm not concerned it's a tumour, I know they're very rare. I think it's maybe developmental because of brain damage ( Of course I'm not an expert, we'll find out in due course) but we were talking about him on their walk tonight, when we first got him he really struggled to get his back legs to do what he wanted unless he was on a roll. Like getting him into the car, we had to pick him up as his top half would go in but his back legs would be struggling to work out how to get the rest of himself in the car. And when we pat the sofa he would only put his front legs up. We just figured the old guy who had him before never let him jump up and so maybe never learnt to, because he can now stumble into the well of the car and jump up if he is invited (though he usually put his front feet up, jumps down, turns in a circle and then leaps up as if he need a half cocked run
He does struggle with obiedience too, he's not a bad dog, but we've had him 2 years and the rule is, at feeding time he should go into his box and stay. Every bloody time I have to say "McGee, basket."... "St..., no, McGee, basket, stay, basket! Stay!" Because he dives in and dives out again. Every day for two years!
Thanks for sharing about Lucy, I'm sure he will be ok, he is about 4 now I think and his clumsiness does seem to have got better, only his floor licking and other oddities are the same
But there was something wrong with his back leg and so she got the orthopedical surgeon to have a look and he said McGee has a grade 4 luxating patella which will require surgery. Hes going to get that done in a few days now.
Dogs are hardy though, they recover quicker than us
(That sounds awful, but he doesn't seem like he is in pain or anything from his knee, he has lived with it since before we got him and he runs and plays without any signs of discomfort so I think an extra week waiting is better than him being in the kennels post OP).
I will let you know how it goes
And thanks Mollipops x