by: Anonymous

I am not sure if I can help but your dogs problem made me think. Have you thought it could be a back problem or pinched nerve? I have had both and they come and go when they please. Sometimes it is a sudden movement that brings it on both are extremely painful for me. Maybe your boy has the same sort of thing going on? Only like me he can not speak to you and tell you. I would look into a chiropractor for dogs or a dog body alignment specialist. See what they think and if it does help please post back so I know. The only other thing I can think of it could be a rare neurological disorder.

by: Anonymous

4 weeks ago my 5 year old female pom began to experience intermittent episode of pain lasting 15 to 20 minutes. I thought abdominal in origin. Blood tests and Xrays were normal. The pain then became more generalized and persistent, and there was reluctance to eat unless hand fed. We began to think about spinal pain.

Then she began to have seizures and the provisional diagnosis was granulomatous meningo-encephalitis. This is a very bad disease of unkonwn etiology, but can sometimes be controlled with medication.

Sadly, our little girl did not recover from a complication of a diagnostic spinal tap and we had to euthanize her 10 days ago. We are heartbroken. She was my baby, a perfect little dog. If your dog’s blood tests are normal and xrays are normal, talk with your vet about arranging for an MRI to examine the spinal cord and brain. A CSF analysis is helpful in diagnosing GME, but there is risk, as we unfortunately learned. There is little risk with MRI, just a little associated with anesthesia… Very low these days in the hands of a veterinarian who has the right monitoring protocol.

GME can affect any dog, but Pomeranians seem to be over-represented and middle aged females also seem to be over represented. I hope you are able to obtain a diagnosis and successful treatment of whatever your dog’s problem may be. I don’t mean to frighten you. This diagnosis is an uncommon one… just be aware that there are these uncommon problems and don’t be afraid to ask your veterinarian ahout them when general testing for more common conditions doesn’t lead to an answer. BTW, I am a veterinarian.

by: Rita Rail

I am sorry that your puppy is ill. I must ask if any ex-rays were done on your puppy’s ribs. I had fractured my ribs twice in my lifetime, once on the right and once on the left. Two freak accidents and I will not say “how” because it takes too long to explain the hilarity in this. As it so happens, I was hardly able to walk and I folded into myself to protect my ribs but was deterring the healing by adopting this position. In my experience with dogs, when they first cry in pain, try to run your hands gently on all parts of the body. If they do cry in pain in a certain area you must then explore this with ex-rays. If there is no pain, your vet will probably do a blood work-up which will or will not indicate the problem. Poms hurt themselves easily because of their very small bones, even a “knock” on the leg causes a lot of pain and will heal. This is equal to us knocking our leg on a hard chair or anywhere and it is extremely painful that we do not want anyone to touch it. I sincerely hope you find a solution. Take care RR.

by: Rita Rail

I had previously written to you about your little pom and a thought came to me. Have you investigated for arthritis? Poms do get arthritis in their necks. Try putting some heat there if possible and if this soothes him, I would call my vet again and report this,. Perhaps he would want to do another examination. His problem can be a number of things such a pinched nerve, a disc in the neck. Have you had x-rays done on his neck, I know this is expensive because your dog has to be put asleep for this and x-rays are expensive also. Sometimes we have to “bite the bullet” and have this done for him. Take care. RR