Adventures with Astrid and the Antibody Test

We've mentioned multiple times lately how Astrid doesn't take as many long walks as she used to. She is 12 years old, she has arthritis, and a few months back she experienced what was likely a mild form of vestibular disease, which left a residual a head tilt and occasional unsteadiness on her feet. Astrid still chooses to go for decent walks on weekends, though, when both my sister and myself walk her, and often her Gammy and Pawpaw (my mom and dad) join us.

That was taken on a recent weekend walk. In that photo, Astrid stopped and looked back because her Gammy and Pawpaw were straggling behind her. She informed them that they should hurry up.

On a whole other topic, though, we took Astrid to the vet on Monday morning for a quick blood draw. Over the past couple of months, Astrid has been displaying some new and somewhat progressive symptoms that we assumed were just related to her arthritis and residual effects of having had vestibular disease a few months ago. After a sudden realization recently, though, I asked our vet if he could test Astrid for myasthenia gravis. For anyone who doesn't know, myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disorder that causes various forms of muscle weakness. It can affect muscles in the neck and face, the esophagus, and leg muscles. Dogs can develop an acquired form of this disease.

To give some examples of the symptoms at hand, Astrid's legs have been getting weaker, especially after walks, but also just in general. She's also been experiencing more leg tremors. This is nothing new for her arthritic back legs, but it's grown worse and is now even affecting her front legs. Generally speaking, Astrid has just become a lot more unsteady on her feet, though this is far more noticeable after she's gone for one of her longer walks. Astrid also often hangs her head low, as if her neck is weak. Sometimes she gets stuck with her head down, such as when she eats out of low bowl or sniffs something on the ground. If we lift her head for her, she usually goes back to acting completely normal.

That said, Astrid has also started displaying some symptoms that neither arthritis nor vestibular disease can really explain. For example, she sometimes has trouble swallowing. She'll eat and then sometimes gulp and let out small coughs as she attempts to swallow the food. This issue is far worse if Astrid eats or drinks a lot at one time, or if she eats or drinks out of a low bowl. As a result, we've raised all of Astrid's food and water bowls, which has helped. The problem is that she still tries to steal cat food, because she has not lost her orneriness. Especially because of hind limb paralyzed Evan, some of the cats' bowls simply have to stay on the ground. Sometimes when Astrid steals some of that food, she'll start displaying trouble swallowing. She also had issues swallowing just the other day when she scarfed down a whole can of food and then a whole bowl of dry food in a short time.

Want to know another weird symptom? Lately, Astrid sometimes sleeps with her eyes at least partially open. This is not normal for Astrid. She's never been one of those animals who sleeps with their eyes open even a tiny bit. I've also noticed over the past couple weeks that her eyelids are much droopier than they used to be.

All of the above said, last year, one of my grandma's dogs was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis. Her symptoms included difficulty eating, standing frozen with her head low, and sleeping with her eyes open. During one of Astrid's "episodes" of simultaneously struggling to swallow and standing frozen with her head hanging low, it hit me how much Astrid's symptoms resembled my grandma's dog's before she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis.

I immediately emailed Astrid's vet. Astrid's worst symptoms are relatively new but also relatively progressive, and so I actually hadn't yet even spoken to the vet about all of them altogether. A lot of them we assumed were due to her age, arthritis, vestibular issues, and so on and so forth. The vet and I agree there's easily a chance some of these symptoms are indeed related to those things. But, when I think about it, would the aforementioned health issues cause Astrid to have trouble swallowing, to sleep with her eyes open, or to act like her neck is so weak that sometimes she simply can't lift her own head? If you look at a list of myasthenia gravis symptoms, Astrid has almost all of them, most of which are rather recent developments. When I really thought about all of that, it made me eager to request the same antibody test my grandma's dog had for her myasthenia gravis symptoms. It's just a blood test, and my vet agreed it certainly wouldn't hurt. So, Astrid had her blood stolen on Monday. We might have to wait 10-14 days for the results, but I'm just glad the test is underway.

The vet did note that, though rare, the test can come back with false negatives. I believe this only happens in 2-3% of cases, but it's still possible. If Astrid's test comes back negative, and if her symptoms persist or worsen, I already plan on asking the vet about a trial of the medication typically used to treat myasthenia gravis just to make sure. But we'll cross that bridge only if it looks like we might have to cross it.

I'm sorry for rambling so much, as I so often do, but there you have an odd little update on pup Astrid. Overall, she's doing okay. She has her usual appetite and readily eats her favorite foods (like peanut butter and baked chicken), and she wants to be active and does her best in her current condition. She still has her orneriness, as I mentioned above, so that's definitely good to see.

So, rambling aside, Astrid and all of us here wish you a happy Wednesday!

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Flashback Doodle of the Day

For today we have a slightly spooky summertime doodle from a few years ago. Because why not.

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Tip of the Day

Today's tip is quick and simple. And that is, don’t forget to regularly clean those food and water bowls. We sometimes might forget about the furbabies’ bowls, such as if they sit out of sight on the floor or in another room. But, do include these in your regular cleaning of dishes. Whether the bowls are metal, ceramic, glass, or plastic, grease or other debris from food, as well as dog or cat saliva, can indeed build up and lead to less than sanitary dining. So, do be sure to clean those bowls.