Wesson(Neosporosis) So Stubborn! Coyote wounds now!

Hoping for the best!

I brought him to the vet last night to be weighed and he lost 4 lbs putting him at 82 lbs. Despite what we can do to try and get him to eat more he is eating less. We already make it mush so he can eat it easily but he still eats a bit then stops. We add our leftovers (we actually make extra food so there are leftovers) or eggs or meat, we tried teriyaki (he liked that for a bit) then bbq sauce but no matter what we put in he doesn't eat more than a 1/4 cup or so morning and evening.

The pig, Moo Shu, is always trying to steal his food and he will not allow it. We thought perhaps this had something to do with it so we tried feeding him separately. When he was separated he would not eat at all. It seems Moo Shu's pigginess is forcing him to eat at least some... He feels better with the pain meds but has not increased feed intake at all. The vet did not seem surprised and just said to let her know if things change. I will continue to feed him as much as possible and watch him and weigh him.

FYI, because of this we decided to bring our purchase of another LGD pup forward from Spring to this Fall. We are hoping that Wesson can help us train her as we had originally planned. One more reason for us to need/want him to get better. We thought we would have him with the pup for at least 2 years to aid in training.

Another side note, my useful for nothing but nannying Pyr has lost weight, in a good way, and has become far more active. The worse Wesson gets the better Smith seems to. I always knew that he was the "backup" but I am glad to see him more active. Hopefully that activity is guarding not running all over the hills and getting into trouble. Smith has been eating more as well (and asking for seconds) which must be due to his highly unusual activities.... We were losing chickens at the barn since we locked Wesson in the pasture but Smith now seems very comfortable down there... Perhaps that is where he is disappearing too. I wish I had a clue. With Smith and Wesson watching over the animals I have allowed myself to get very busy. Now without Wesson I am working even harder. It would be nice if Smith steps up at least until the new pup can do her job and give Wesson a break.

So all in all concerning, confusing, and frustrating. Mr. Awesome is deteriorating, Mr. Rug is improving, and new pup training just for spice! How does anyone with livestock live without LGD's?????

Love your pig's name! Too awesome. Sorry that Wesson isn't getting better. Glad to hear that Smith may be picking up his slack. Hope you luck into a real keeper of a replacement pup.

I am still praying for Wesson, and am glad you finally have a diagnosis. When DH first got sick, the worst part was not knowing what it was. MS is a lousy disease, but as diagnoses go it could have been sooo much worse. MS is hardly ever fatal anymore, so overall it was a much better diagnosis than we expected. If your results with traditional treatment are not what you hope for, you can always try the EPM treatment or some ginger. You might want to give ginger anyway, since it could keep him healthier overall. You said you've tried lots of flavor enhancers, try bbq sauce with ginger added, or Arby's sauce--ginger is their secret! Anyway, thanks for keeping us abreast of all the developments, and our prayers and best thoughts are still coming your way.

After burning myself multiple times trying to make cheese alone without my handy dandy cheese tools (kids put them somewhere????) and my pot that was for deviled eggs catching fire (yes the pot itself caught fire!) I decided I needed a break and a glass of wine. So I will update you with what was decided last week.

I went back to the neurologist for a refill of the clindamycin and he came out to talk to me. He was very concerned that Wesson has shown no improvement at all and has decided to start him on a different antibiotic. At the same time he wants to put him on steroids instead of the NSAID. The NSAID had to be stopped for 4 days before he could start the steroids and during that 4 days I felt like a truly terrible and selfish person he was in so much pain. The steroids have helped his pain since he started them. I was concerned that the steroids would give the neospora more of a chance to multiply and the neurologist said that was true but with the new antibiotic he thinks it might not be a problem. The joys of medicine, cross your fingers. He is also hoping the steroids will increase his appetite, a good for us side affect.

So the new antibiotic is sulfa based and far stronger than the last. Some of the problems are that it will also attack his good cells and has a very good chance of shutting down his liver. He wanted a base line blood chemistry done and then another done after two weeks. However, he told me not to worry about the first as being in the car is painful for Wesson. The chemistry is to see if/how fast his liver is shutting down.... On the other hand, I can draw blood and volunteer at a vet clinic so I just took his blood into work and they ran the base line chemistry. No pain for Wesson and we can actually determine more accurately how the new drug is affecting him. The neurologist told me that most people at this point do not bother with the chemistry and that I didn't have to do it. He called this drug a "last chance" drug and said it would either kill him or the disease will and that is why a lot of people don't bother with the chemistry (they are expensive, even more if you have the vet draw blood).

So he could be on this sulfa based antibiotic for the next two months, I believe he said no more than 8 weeks... And we hope that this will kill the neospora and maybe ease his symptoms. The biggest problem here seems to be that there is no real way to tell if the clindamycin actually killed the neospora. They can't do titers again to tell if they are gone because they will show up anyway because of the antibodies. The only way to be sure is if his clinical signs go away. The reason this is a problem is that the damage is often permanent.

So I am concerned that we may end up injuring his liver when the neospora were already gone and he would be ok and just not able to walk well... If he is just unable to walk well that is fine by me so long as he is still here. He is doing a great job training his replacement and I can always put him with the chickens instead of the goats. Less work for him to do. If he weren't so awesome we would turn him into a house dog. But while he loves being in the house and getting hugs, he will only put up with being locked in for a short time before he is stressing about getting outside and chasing intruders...

and for you both

Hugs to you both

Prayers and positive thoughts sent your way.

It has been a while and there has been a lot of communication between the neurologists and myself about Wesson. Luckily the main neurologist is finally off maternity leave. She had no doubt it was caused by Neospora. She did give him the treatment they use on horses for EPM. Basically a "why not?" moment, they are both caused by protozoa. She also took him off the steroids, yes they were dangerous, and put him on gabapentin(?). He continued to show the neurological damage but he got to the point where he is no longer in pain. This was great for us as it has been hard trying to decide whether to put him down or not.

Wesson continued to lose weight however, a few weeks ago he dropped to 74 lbs despite all we tried. I weighed him at the vet yesterday and he went up to 86 lbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No more pain and gaining weight!!!! We are so excited and relieved we didn't jump the gun on euthanasia! He will still be "crippled" for life but it has not stopped him so far! I also weighed his replacement yesterday, she turned 6 months on the 2nd and weighed in at 99.8 lbs. Now I am watching hoping she doesn't decide to challenge him before he teaches her as much as possible. We are building a new fenced area that is more level and near our barn where he can go when she is ready. This way he can guard the chickens and various babies without so many hills or so much land to cover (it will only be a few acres).

I still need to call the neurologist and update them. I hope this will be properly recorded so that someone else going through this wont have to deal with the huge lack of recorded or recognized cases and can see what can be done.

Glad hear