CDRM (Chronic Degenerative Radiculomyelopthy)
CDRM is a progressive wasting disease that affects the back legs of dogs. It is most common in German Shepherds and Welsh Corgis, but is also seen in other breeds, including the Golden Retriever. Essentially, there is a degeneration in the spinal cord, which prevents nerve impulses from the brain reaching the back legs. The disease involves hind limb weakness and will eventually lead to paralysis.
This condition usually affects older dogs. You will initially see them scuffing their back paws and they’ll be wobbly on their back legs. After some time, dogs lose their balance, and are eventually paralysed in their hind limbs. Long term prognosis is poor.
Swimming in a heated doggie hydrotherapy pool is a good therapy for dogs with CDRM, and can help dogs to walk for longer than they might otherwise. It’s good emotional therapy for them, too.
Carts are another option, although some dogs don’t take to them while others do.
CDRM is a progressive wasting disease that affects the back legs of dogs. It is most common in German Shepherds and Welsh Corgis, but is also seen in other breeds, including the Golden Retriever. Essentially, there is a degeneration in the spinal cord, which prevents nerve impulses from the brain reaching the back legs. The disease involves hind limb weakness and will eventually lead to paralysis.
This condition usually affects older dogs. You will initially see them scuffing their back paws and they’ll be wobbly on their back legs. After some time, dogs lose their balance, and are eventually paralysed in their hind limbs. Long term prognosis is poor.
Swimming in a heated doggie hydrotherapy pool is a good therapy for dogs with CDRM, and can help dogs to walk for longer than they might otherwise. It’s good emotional therapy for them, too.
Carts are another option, although some dogs don’t take to them while others do.
I have lived with dogs with CDRM, and the good news is that the condition doesn’t appear to cause any pain. In both cases the dogs were in good spirits and happy. Gwinnie, towards the end, used to fall over and smile. Because she walked slowly by the age of 16, we tried to take the younger dogs on walkies without her.
She wasn’t having any of that, and absolutely insisted upon coming with us. Although slow, her love of open fields and country lanes never diminished. Chappie was still able to chase his beloved rabbit smells if you helped him up and set him off on his walk.
My conventional vet, who diagnosed Chappie’s CDRM, was really surprised on a follow-up visit. He did a test to gauge Chappie’s rear-leg reflexes and stepped back in amazement. “My goodness,” he said, “this dog has improved. I’d have expected a dog with CDRM to go downhill very fast, but this dog has improved!”
Chappie was receiving homeopathic Causticum 30c each day, and a herbal tonic called Anima-Strath. The same preparation is sold in health shops for humans under the name Bio-Strath.
The homeopathic vet Richard Allport has this to say about CDRM:
We have seen some very positive responses in a few cases, especially those who are over nine years old at the onset of signs. Some cases have gone on to survive for an apparently normal lifespan, with good mobility.
It appears to be an autoimmune-type disease. We suspect that vaccination may play a part in the aetiology, in some cases, with German Shepherds showing a particular susceptibility in this way. We have even seen several cases of sudden onset after a dog has been given a double booster vaccination, after the annual vaccinations had been allowed to lapse. There is no science to support giving double boosters in this way and it is clearly quite dangerous.
Holistic treatment options used, often combined and carefully integrated, have been veterinary homeopathy, veterinary acupuncture, herbal medicine, LASER and natural feeding.
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