beardiedawg

My six year old rescue Sheltie has been having episodes that I am wondering if they are BCC. I've had him since June 2018 and these episodes started in January of this year. They occur after getting excited and can happen within minutes of that excitement. He will do it after he is fence fighting with neighbor dogs, barking at the garbage truck, getting excited from me getting home from work, and the dog park. He will lose coordination and fall over. After a minute, he is back to normal and the episode doesn't happen again. If it's at the dog park, it's usually within five minutes of us getting there, he'll have the episode, get back to normal and then can stay and run for another hour with no issue. I've sent a copy of this video to the University of Minnesota but wanted to get an opinion here. This episode happened on Saturday after he was fence fighting with the neighbor's dogs. When I hear him bark, I call him in immediately so the actual barking may have only lasted about 30 seconds. https://youtu.be/PWpuy17oiSY Thanks for any opinions.

I had this problem with my bearded collie. I used a combination of an herbal supplement, cholodin, and anipryl. Cholodin had gotten really good reviews and possibly would have done well on its own but Gemma had a setback after some anesthesia and her dementia got worse so I added in the anipryl. Best decision I made because I had her back with me once again unitl it was her time.

No advice on the pack thing but I know what you are going through with the CCD. My 15 1/2 year old beardie had it. Luckily a mixture of anipryl and cholodin worked for her. I found that it was much harder to deal with than all of her physical problems. Before the meds kicked in, I also wondered if I would know when it was time. It was also tearing me apart with the thought of euthanizing her and her not even knowing I was there and loved her. At the end, she started having seizures so I knew it was time. From what I remember, the anipryl may take a bit longer to fully kick in. It has to build up in the system. Since he did show some improvement and roll over for pets, I'd give it a bit more time.

It is real easy to have them tested from WSU. They send you a kit that includes cheek swabs. You mail them back and they e-mail you the results usually within two weeks. It cost $70 to have one dog done. Because this is the only place that does it, it is cheaper than getting your vet involved because they mail it to a lab that in turn mails it to WSU. I just adopted a rough collie and had her done and she is mutant/mutant so I am glad I did it.