My dog has myasthenia gravis

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

This morning, my dog Sasha had trouble walking on her back legs. I took her to the vet school clinic, and long story short, after a Tenselon test, they determined that she has myasthenia gravis, which is an autoimmune disorder where she is not getting enough acetylcholine and has muscle weakness. After rest, she can “recharge” for a while, but will soon collapse again.

In radiographs, they also found a mass on/near her thymus gland and they want to do thoracic surgery to remove it, postulating that this thymoma is the cause and removal of it could, maybe, possibly, lead to a complete remission. It’s going to cost around $3500, according to their estimate :eek: . I’m getting a second opinion on Monday, since there’s some controversy about whether or not the removal of the thymus really helps in dogs or not. It’s pretty traumatic and invasive surgery because the thymus is near the heart, I’m sure, so I’m undecided about what to do, since the other option is to medicate her to replace the actylcholine, which would be fine if there was no (maybe, possibly, potentially) curable underlying cause.

I’ve only had Sasha for a year, and she’s always been a pretty sedate, even sluggish, dog. I wonder now if that was due to an incipient illness, though today it was a pretty acute presentation, so I don’t know what to think. She isn’t in any pain and is otherwise stable and fine. Vomiting and aspiration pneumonia is common with MG due to megaesophagus (doesn’t that sound fun?), but Sasha doesn’t have that, probably because of the acute onset. She also has raised bowls, which helps prevent a problem with that.

I’m really not sure what to do, though, due to conflicting information. I’m guessing this is a matter of doctors being unable/unwilling to say anything definitively about an outcome, different schools of thought on treatments, and overall confusion. Until I take her for a second opinion on Monday, she is hospitalized.

Posting this here on the off chance that any of you have experience with canine myasthenia gravis, and can tell me what happened to your dog or cat. Thanks. All the really good articles on thymoma and canine myasthenia gravis are subscriber only too… very frustrating!

2

If you’re at a vet school, they’re more likely to have doubts about procedures, as they are designed both for teaching and research. Then again, you likely won’t find better docs (or more of them or better equipment) at a private practice.

I work at a vet school (as a cashier, but im just an undergrad) and see a lot of people come through with similar dilemmas, just know that they are going to do their best for you AND your pet.

Good luck on whatever is decided.

3

My dog suddenly couldn’t walk last year, and was tested and the vet said she had MG… We ended up putting her on Mestinon, and within a week she was walking again… It was amazing to see her back to normal… It’s been a year and she goes for two walks a day with all the enthusiasm she had before she was paralyzed…

There’s a paper online that gave us the idea, even though the vet told us not to get our hopes up… You can find it by doing a google search for “Fluckiger, Myastenia Gravis”… It was because of that study that we pushed our vet into trying the Mestinon… (I know the name sounds strange, but it’s real, I swear!)

And if you do try it, getting Mestinon is NOT easy… Pharmacies don’t usually carry it, and you need a very small dose… We ended up giving our dog a quarter pill a day…

I feel for you… I hope things work out like they did for us.