Simba's toughest week ever! Meningitis :(

Hi, one of the biggest reasons I joined this forum was to let others know of what I've just been through with my staffie. This was the worst two weeks of my whole life & if by writing this I help make others aware of the illness and the associated symptoms then that's great because not many dog owners unless they have been through it are aware of it.

So this was my dog Simba, for those who don't know she is 8 this year, never had many problems with her health apart from cuts & other small issues.



Ok, so can't remember time scales exactly at the beginning but on the Tuesday evening we noticed Simba had some lumps on her head, so I turned up the lights to see what they was and was shocked to see at least 30+ bumps/blisters on her head some bleeding. So I immediately took her to the bath to clean her up so to try an figure out what had happened. After cleaning her up and lots of guessing and looking around the garden we concluded that she had gone head first through some extremely bushy stinging nettles in the garden, had some sort of reaction (maybe due to the amount) had rubbed alone the floor because they iched causing the bleeding, this seemed to work out and matched some online images of bad reaction to stingers, anyway although they looks bad I was happy that she was be fine and we agreed to just keep and eye on her, making sure she didn't scratch etc.

Wednesday arrived not real change Simba seemed fine although at little scabby, was eating, drinking & completely normal.

Thursday morning Simba ate/drank fine, no real worries she seemed a little hot but not majorly & she was booked into her vets Friday for her annual booster so I gathered that I could get them to double check anyway

Friday off to Companion care vets chatham for annual booster, vets said although she seemed ok, her temp was up to 42.2 which was extremely high, they said was a bit strange but gave us antibiotics & wanted to see us Saturday to see if her temp had come down, they didn't go ahead with her jabs.

Saturday came back to vets no real change they couldn't understand why Simbas temp was that high as they wouldn't expect even with infection for it to be that high, they agreed as she seemed ok and was eating drinking and on antibiotics for us to return with her Monday.

Sunday morning Simba ate but seemed hesitant to finish her food which is not like her at all, she also seemed hesitant at Getting on the sofa going out the back door and generally was acting odd, she wasn't drinking so I kept taking water to her, made her comfy and kept her cool.

Monday morning Simba couldn't jump down two little steps indoors so I carried her, still not drinking and didn't eat at all, when put outside she slowly waddled along looking very Awkward and ached, I was really worried but relieved we were off to the vets again today.
Once in vets Glenn our vet checked her over, temp still high, slightly dehydrated achy and very quiet, he knows she's a nutter usually and said she's a very poorly girl, he agreed she seemed to be walking awkwardly but had not idea what was wrong, so he wanted to keep her in, put her on IV drip to get her hydrated and pump her with strong antibiotics, we obviously agreed and sadly left her there, the vet said he wondered wether the stings on her head were secondary to a bigger problem or just so happened to come at the same time she became poorly, basically they knew them stings would not cause this. He added that if Simba made no real improvement soon they would like to run some blood tests , again we agreed. Simba stayed at the vets on drips that night.

Tuesday - Glenn (the vet) rings with a morning update, Simba seems much worse and don't seem to want to get up at all, still not eating and very depressed. They took blood that morning and suggested that and X-Ray May also be needed, fast forward results come back no issues at all. Her liver, kidneys, lungs everything perfect, so X-ray next, fast forward X-Ray came back clear nothing showing at all looks like a very healthy dog, Glenn now suggested that this was looking like a much more complex illness and suggested neurological, he said they are running out of options as what to do and Simba was still in pain (although she's on pain relief) he said we could send off her blood to a specialist lab to see if her electrolytes levels were high, as he wondered wether she had Addison's disease?  Ok so if it was Addison's we have options , lifelong medication but we could make her better :)so we agreed to further blood tests, Simba stayed at vets again on IV drips etc.

Wednesday - Glenn rings, Simbas much worse and now seems completely paralysed waist down, cannot walk at all don't react to them touching her feet and is weeing without knowing all over herself :(he said he was now incredible worried wether Simba would get through this as she was getting worse very fast, the results came back from specialist with normal levels so it was not Addison's disease, Glenn told me that we had now ruled out all simple illnesses and was possible looking at Meningitis or cancer :(he went on to tell me my options;
1. Be refereed to specialist vets that deal with neurological issues (South Downs vets) but told me to see them was £400, then they would require MRI £1500, he was happy to refer me but suggested that he personally thought we could end up spending £8000 and what they find May not be curable. (I literally started crying down the phone to him at this point, SO SHOCKED! my Simba a week ago was fine and now he told me if she don't start improving we need to look at her quality of life and may have to make some tuff decisions.
2. He personally thought it was meningitis or cancer and told me that they would be treated with steroids. That may not save Simba but it gave her a huge chance and was exactly what the specialist vets would do if they found them illnesses. He told me he was happy to start Simba on steroids straight away if I wanted.
After lots of crying and talking with my partner, we decided to go ahead with the steroids & asked if we could see her later that day, so that's what we did, was so upsetting to see her with no hind legs working :(we walked her in Monday and now she looked weak, lost and lonely, she still had refused to eat, so they asked me to try, after 10 mins she finally started eating wet food from my hands :)she had turned down chicken and lots of other tasty foods from the nurses so they were very very shocked, we left sad but praying for her.

Thursday - Glenn rings , Simba seems more alert (she had been staring at the wall the days beforehand) but legs still the same, we planned another steriod shot at 15:30 again and was told we really should start seeing some sort of change with her leg safer 48hrs on steroids, again he reminded me Simba may not get through this and to prepare for the worse, I've never cryed so much in my whole life!. Around. Lunchtime vet rings and asks permission to test her blood for inflammatory levels ask although this wouldn't give us a diagnosis, if it came back normal we could rule out meningitis & it was only £12:50, we agreed and told them I would be coming in to see Simba at 5pm to give her, her dinner,
5pm vet asked to speak to me first, tells me she has results and they are shocking, the normal reading for inflammatory levels is less than 10. Simbas were 180      They were so so shocked and had never in there lives seen a reading like this, they told me that they was not surprised her legs wasn't working with this reading and explained that the nerves that control the hind legs run down the outside of there spine, so being that inflamed  they would be the first to get squashed and stop working, this all made sense , they said that Simba may be left paralysed for life because of this and if so we would need to again think about the quality of life she would have, sadly we agreed knowing Simba would hate being bed bound, but on the upside we were still treating with the right medication thanks to the vets thinking, they did say that most dogs react within 48hrs but were willing to give her a third shot of steroids tomorrow, I obviously agreed completely and told them without the third short I wouldn't be able to make any desisions, I hand fed Simba again and cuddled her for ages, then left her agiain

Friday - vet rings no massive changes today and explained because of the Easter weekend that obviously Simba would need to be moved to another vets with 24hr care or if I was happy with it, I could have her home later and have her until the Tuesday when I would need to bring her back, he was happy she was complete hydrated, in no pain and could send me away with steriod tablets that were the same dosage he had started giving her, I obviously agreed and said that this is what I had planned to ask him anyway, if this was my last days with her I wanted her home, so I picked her up at 5pm, so she could have another steriod injection before I collected her, she was laid in my car panting away :)I was prepared with extra beds , incontinence pads etc and medication.
When I got back the hours flew as was constantly picking her up moving to another bed to clean the one before, It broke my heart when I sat In garden with her and she tried to get up and collapsed in a heap, I made her comfy that night she sleep next to my bed

Saturday - we could see with our very eyes that Simba would not be happy paralysed for the rest of her days so as sad as it was it was clearer than ever that this may be our last days with her, so I went to tesco brought a cooked chicken came home and fed her & my our dog stitch this chicken :)trying to make her as happy as possible, I then took her to have a bath so she didn't smell of urine :(she had her medication and enjoyed a great day with me. I was washing beds like mad to keep up with her and wiping her all the time, the pads stopped the majority of her wee but it ment she was still sat In it so throughout the night I had to turn her and clean her every 2hrs or so.

Sunday - I woke up thinking we've gotta try more with her so laid her in the garden bending her legs to see if we could get something, well we noticed she was moving a foot to get away from her own pee :)that was something so we kept on and on, and the more we did the more she did, I was feeling slightly possitive by this. We also brought a vet bed as these stay dry when weed on as it's goes straight through, so we laid pads underneath it and it worked a dream, Simba was no longer laying in her own wee, she had her meds and dinner was drinking loads (side effect of steroids ) and was happier to be home

Monday - the best day ever!! We started standing Simba in garden with a piece of fabric to support her back end she wasn't putting weight on the back end but sort of walked around with us supporting her hind legs with the harness :)I was amazed this was a mazzive improvement and meant I could take her outside more today would a long day but successful

Tuesday / due back at vets, everyone was expecting me it carry her in for the horrible decision of putting her to sleep :(but to my amazement Simba was walking today without the harness :)she was very wobbly but walking and wagging her tail, you can already probably imagine the vets face when they called her name and saw her walk into the room    Yep they was so shocked nearly crying!

Ok, so I know that long winded but in that short time that's what happened. We nearly lost our special girl, and everybody I've told says the say thing "I didn't realise dogs could get meningitis" but they can & if not dealt with fast they can die and many many do, some never recover I'm so lucky to be able to write my story with this ending.
Simba is still on steroids and will be for up to 12 months, they have bad points as well but if I didn't do this Simba would be dead. She has a long road ahead of her building back her mussels and even then this could and can come back.
She went in weighing 18.4kg came home weighing 16kg so she looks different but I'm just happy to have her home.

Meningitis in dogs is Much like in humans, the system of membranes which envelops the dog's central nervous system is called the meninges. If this system becomes inflamed, it is referred to as meningitis. Meningoencephalitis, meanwhile, is the inflammation of the meninges and brain, and meningomyelitis is the inflammation of the meninges and spinal cord. More common in beagles and boxers but any dog can have it, it's not catchable, it's caused usually by the body attacking itself. I do know more but if you want to know more il let you research it

Feel free to ask questions, I'm sorry if my writing is poor but very tired

Thanks for reading
Charlotte

My goodness how awful for you all, great to hear that simba is on the road to recovery though   thank you for sharing your experience with us xxxx

Oh my what a terrible time you have had, glad Simba is on the mend. Again thanks for sharing it will I am sure be so beneficial to lots Xxx

Oh Charlotte, what a terrible time you've had. Must have been like a nightmare as it happened so quickly. Hope she continues her recovery and I'm sure she will, with the love and care you will give her.
Lots of people hate steroids but in cases like this they are a wonder drug for our much loved babies.
Big kisses and hugs from Stella and me to you both xxx

Big hugs to you and Simba! What a story and for sharing the experience. I'm so glad that Simba is on her way back to recovery

Charlotte, as I said before I can't begin to imagine this.

I am so pleased that Simba is well on the road to recovery and well done you for not giving up.

Thank you for sharing this as I am sure that the vast majority of people won't realise this can affect our 4 legged furry friends.

Thank you for all your lovely replies, Simba is still doing well, she's back at the vets next Tuesday for a check-up, I agree many hate steroids but they saved our girls life along with great vets & lots of love & care.
I'm glad I can make people more aware of this horrible illness

Thank goodness you acted quickly and also got a quick diagnosis. Very pleased to hear that Simba is on the road to recovery sending many huge hugs to you all     

Cried my eyes out reading yours and simbas story, thank goodness you acted swiftly and your vet was fantastic! So happy to hear simba is on the mend, thanks for sharing you story and do keep us up to date xxx

It was a very sad & Tough time, we have learned so much from it, it's amazing how you can have a very healthy dog one week & be close to losing them the next with a illness that I wasn't even aware affected dogs thanks for your lovely kind comments

I thought i would update Simba is now 13! She will be 14 this year.. she did have a reoccurrence a few years back but we acted quickly & she managed to pull through again! She’s now looking very old & she’s deaf! She’s also Pees in her bed over night, we are now 5/6 years on from originally writing this post which I think is incredibly considering we’ve nearly lost her twice. She ended up on steroids for 18 months in the end but eventually weened her off. This whole illness cost well over a £1000 plus £80 a month for a year and a half but she was worth every penny! She’s happy now but we are keeping an eye on her due to some eating habits we’ve noticed & a lump on her side. We plan to watch an when we feel she needs seeing taking her back to the vet. I would love to say she has years left but I’m not convinced, and will be shocked if she gets to 14 which will be in September.. anyway I just wanted to update in case anyone ever reads this an wonders how she got on.
My vet said at the time that any time she had after that was extra borrowed time, she’s managed an extra 5 nearly 6 years from it, so I’m a happy mum! We love her so much. Thanks again . Charlotte

So glad she's still a fighter, amazing spirit Thanks for giving us an update on how she's been doing

Thank you so much for sharing your story and for the great update.
How blessed to have all this extra time together.
Not sure who has the bigger fighting instinct, Simba or you
But you make a great team and may you continue to cherish each and every day together