# Maltese with possible brain inflammation?



## Nigel (Jan 5, 2011)

Hello everyone. We're really worried about our male maltese dog and am hoping to hear your thoughts.

Over the past couple of weeks, our 7 year old maltese seemingly had an eye infection. His eyes were very red and puffy. We suspected an allergic reaction to something so took him to the vet. The vet prescribed some eye drops. 

Over the days we were administering the eye medication, our dog's mood seemed to change dramatically. He is currently a shadow of his former self. He is curled up and sleeping in his bed from morning till night. He has no spark, no energy, no desire to go for a walk, no desire to do anything. He looks depressingly sad and it's very upsetting to see him so lethargic and unhappy. Also, he is not walking around as freely and as regularly as before. He is scared to go into certain rooms in the house and he doesn't go up the stairs anymore. He doesn't jump onto the couch either. He barely barks.

We took him to the vet again today. His eye problem seems to have cleared up, but that's the least of our concern right now anyway. The vet took a good look at him and recommended we do a blood test there and then. We will be getting the results tomorrow.

The vet mentioned that there's a possibility this could be _"brain inflammation"_. We are extremely worried about this but won't know for sure if this is the case until we hear back from the vet.

If anyone has any knowledge of this or has experienced anything like this, please, please can you respond. 

Thanks very much.


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

Does he have any neurological symptoms? Is he painful anywhere (neck, back)?


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## Nigel (Jan 5, 2011)

He doesn't seem to have, no. The vet did a physical examination and said he was fine.


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

Typically dogs with neurological disorders have neurological deficits and may be painful in the neck and/or back. GME, the type of encephalitis common to Maltese, tend to affect young adult dogs (females more so than males). I would follow up with your vet for the lab results and go forward from there.


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## maltlovereileen (Jan 19, 2009)

I would add to that getting recommendations for other vets if you don't have confidence in this one. We know what's 'normal' for our dogs more so than they do and if it seems they aren't hooking in, sometimes the best thing is to get a second opinion. If any of your friends have dogs, ask who they go to and if they're happy with their vet. Good luck...keep us posted


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## Snowbody (Jan 3, 2009)

Hoping your little boy will be okay and sending thoughts and prayers.:grouphug:


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## bellapuppy (Dec 1, 2008)

Prayers and hugs to you and your precious fluff.


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## bellaratamaltese (May 24, 2006)

Oh please keep us updated on your little boy. How scary for you!


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## Snowbody (Jan 3, 2009)

Checking back to see if you had any results and sending prayers.rayer:


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## Nigel (Jan 5, 2011)

Hello everyone, thanks very much for the replies and well wishes.

The vet phoned this morning with the results of the blood test. She said everything seems to be in order except our dog (Hugo) looks to have "increased white blood cells".

I don't know what this means in terms of a serious, long term problem....but from what the vet explained - it's very possible he has a virus and his body is trying to fight it. She prescribed a dose of antibiotics to give him for the next 7 days.

The vet really, really scared us yesterday, with talk of "brain inflammation". I don't know if that is still a possibility. She's a young vet, just starting her career, so maybe she was just going by what she read in a textbook one time. Our usual vet (who we're very happy with) is currently away on holiday, so she was covering for her I suppose.

I guess we'll just have to give Hugo his antibiotics and work on strengthening his immune system somehow (_If anyone can recommend any ways of doing this, that would be very helpful!_). He's very weak right now!

Time will tell, I'll keep you all informed.


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## Snowbody (Jan 3, 2009)

Nigel said:


> Hello everyone, thanks very much for the replies and well wishes.
> 
> The vet phoned this morning with the results of the blood test. She said everything seems to be in order except our dog (Hugo) looks to have "increased white blood cells".
> 
> ...


I'm wondering whether you should try to see another vet or is there a veterinary school of medicine near you? I don't even know where you're located. It sounds more hopeful but I think given the worry I would rather an old vet see Hugo than a fresh out of school new one. JMO. Good luck and hope some others with more medical knowledge chime in. Still sending prayers.


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## Miss_Annie (Mar 3, 2010)

I'm keeping him in my thoughts. Hugs


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## HaleysMom (Jun 4, 2009)

When will your vet be back in town? Maybe contact a vet school near you as Susan(Snowbody)suggested? Sorry not much of any help but know Hugo is in my thoughts and prayers!


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## Nigel (Jan 5, 2011)

Hi everyone, thanks again for all the replies. I thought I would update this thread to let you know what is happening.

Hugo took the antibiotics for the 7 days. He slowly but surely got his strength back and is acting much perkier than before. He's running around, barking, playing again. 

We took him back to the vet again a couple of days ago. The previous mention of possible brain inflammation that the other young vet scared us with, turned out to be a load of nonsense. There's nothing wrong with Hugo in that department. 

Although, his eyes are still continuing to be a problem. He has already been prescribed two different doses of eye drops in the past few weeks, neither of which have worked. On Monday the vet tried giving him an injection to see if that would help, but it doesn't seem to have worked either.

The vet has checked and says there's nothing internally wrong with his eyes or his vision. But his eyes continue to look red and not quite right. I've attached some photos to show you. Maybe someone else has experienced this with their malty. 




































At times, when he is looking in another direction, or when you lightly blow in his face, his eyeball kinda swivels to one side to reveal something that doesn't look right. This photo captures what I mean:










Does anyone have any idea what this could be? We originally thought it was a case of conjunctivitis. But this has been going on for close to a month now. It hasn't cleared up yet. He does occasionally try to rub his eyes on the carpet. Not that often though.


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## mysugarbears (Aug 13, 2007)

I'm sorry to hear that your baby doesn't seem to be responding to treatment. My first thought when i saw the first set of pics were allergies and then when i saw the other pics i thought of "Cherry Eye". If i were you i would take my pup to an eye specialist. Good luck and i hope you can get your pup's eyes better.


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## aprilb (Jul 9, 2010)

I also agree that he needs to see an eye specialist and hope they can help your little guy. Thanks for letting us know how he is doing.


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## HaleysMom (Jun 4, 2009)

Thanks for the update on Hugo, so glad it was not neurological!! I agree with the others about seeing a eye specialist.:thumbsup:


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## edelweiss (Apr 23, 2010)

Stacy might be able to weigh in here as her pup w/allergies looks a bit like this?


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## bellaratamaltese (May 24, 2006)

mysugarbears said:


> I'm sorry to hear that your baby doesn't seem to be responding to treatment. My first thought when i saw the first set of pics were allergies and then when i saw the other pics i thought of "Cherry Eye". If i were you i would take my pup to an eye specialist. Good luck and i hope you can get your pup's eyes better.


the one pic looks a bit like cherry eye but don't see it in the others.










This is what cherry eye looks like in a maltese. Experienced this a year ago - scared the bejesees out of me!!




edelweiss said:


> Stacy might be able to weigh in here as her pup w/allergies looks a bit like this?


Unfortunately, I do have a dog with eyes that look like this. Is your boy scratching at his eyes? Does he have any lesions on his body that look like pimples? But that become crusty? 

After months of antiobiotics, antifungals, allergy shots, food changes and wearing a hard cone 24/7, this is what my poor dog looks like










but when it's not super inflammed, this is what it looks like









From the pics, it looks like an allergic response. If he is scratching and digging at his eyes (like my poor girl) then you might want to look into putting him in a cone. I would look into a consult with a dermatologist, but only on your vet's recommendation. I would also try a food change - but remember - any thing you do will need weeks to see if there is improvement - the most frustrating part!!! Caira is on Rabbit and Potato limited ingredient food - and while it has not cleared up the eyes, it cleared the skin lesions, so one less thing to torment her.


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## bellaratamaltese (May 24, 2006)

Here are the threads where I talked about Caira's allergies (with pics) and the wonderful advice I got
http://spoiledmaltese.com/forum/52-maltese-health-behavior/106532-cairas-skin-infection-ugh.html

and

http://spoiledmaltese.com/forum/52-maltese-health-behavior/107479-update-cairas-skin-infection.html


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## mysugarbears (Aug 13, 2007)

bellaratamaltese said:


> the one pic looks a bit like cherry eye but don't see it in the others.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
I know the one pic looked like it to me. Chelsea my cocker had Cherry Eye and for a while it would come and go with the season and then one day it didn't go away so she had surgery for it.


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## Nigel (Jan 5, 2011)

bellaratamaltese said:


> Unfortunately, I do have a dog with eyes that look like this. Is your boy scratching at his eyes? Does he have any lesions on his body that look like pimples? But that become crusty?
> 
> After months of antiobiotics, antifungals, allergy shots, food changes and wearing a hard cone 24/7, this is what my poor dog looks like
> 
> ...



Thanks for the info, *bellaratamaltese.

*After seeing poor Caira's eye problem, Hugo's eye situation seems insignificant now. I really hope she is doing better and that something can be done to fix it permanently.  It's really upsetting to see any animal experiencing such obvious discomfort. 

For Hugo, the vet has now prescribed something called prednisolone (5mg). I think it's a steroid. He's going to take it for a week and we'll see how it goes. Fingers crossed. 

He doesn't have any lesions or anything else on his body. The rest of him seems to be fine. He seems in good spirits. He doesn't scratch his eye with his paws, but a couple of times a day he tries to rub his eyes against the carpet. We stop him doing it and he seems fine after that. I don't really think his eyes are bothering him that much. But then again, you can never tell with dogs because they have an instinct to hide their pain and not make a big deal out of it. :behindsofa:


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## uniquelovdolce (Mar 10, 2010)

how is caira as of late? has it cleared up a bit?


bellaratamaltese said:


> Here are the threads where I talked about Caira's allergies (with pics) and the wonderful advice I got
> http://spoiledmaltese.com/forum/52-maltese-health-behavior/106532-cairas-skin-infection-ugh.html
> 
> and
> ...


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## uniquelovdolce (Mar 10, 2010)

nigel im so glad ur fluff has no serious brain imflammation n will be praying that his eye gets better , as someone that suffers from eye allergies thats what i think it is , cause my eyes if i rub them get imflamed in the inner corners as well , go to an eye specialist , good luck n let us know how it goes.


Nigel said:


> Thanks for the info, *bellaratamaltese.*
> 
> After seeing poor Caira's eye problem, Hugo's eye situation seems insignificant now. I really hope she is doing better and that something can be done to fix it permanently.  It's really upsetting to see any animal experiencing such obvious discomfort.
> 
> ...


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## bellaratamaltese (May 24, 2006)

uniquelovdolce said:


> how is caira as of late? has it cleared up a bit?


That was a recent pic of Caira that I posted :crying: Her skin is clear but her eyes are the same. It's very frustrating, let me tell you!!


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## uniquelovdolce (Mar 10, 2010)

i can imagine ! it breaks my heart , poor baby ! have they checked the inside of her lid , it could be inflammated n thats terrible.


bellaratamaltese said:


> That was a recent pic of Caira that I posted :crying: Her skin is clear but her eyes are the same. It's very frustrating, let me tell you!!


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