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Granulomatous Meningoencephalitis Yorkie GME
Yorkie Granulomatous Meningoencephalitis is being seen quite frequently in the breed now and is a neurologic disease. For information on GME in greater detail, consult veterinary sources and research good internet sites. Your dog will have to see your vet for proper care.
Symptoms:
Usually a middle-aged small breed dog of either gender. What sort of neurologic signs are seen depend totally on what area of the nervous system is involved. Seizures, neck pain, drunken gait, walking in circles, blindness, listlessness, tilted head, facial abnormalities, and weakness can be seen. This does not leave out much in the way of neurologic symptoms.
Immune-suppression with corticosteroids like prednisone is the main therapy for GME. Once the disease is controlled, the vet will slowly drop the steroid dose until the minimum dose required to control the disease is reached. This process can be expected to require 4 months or so. It is unusual for a patient to be able to fully discontinue medication but at least stronger immune-suppressive agents are rarely required.
Tapping of the cerebrospinal fluid (spinal tap) is very helpful in the diagnosis of GME. General anesthesia is required to tap fluid from the nervous system and the procedure is not entirely without risk. Still, the cells of GME should be findable in the fluid. Prior administration of cortisone-type medication may reduce the cells found in the tap and must be considered in the interpretation of the tap.
This testing will help rule out:
Viral encephalitis though further spinal fluid testing is better testing
Parasitic encephalitis (such as toxoplasmosis)
Fungal encephalitis (such as caused by Cryptococcus neoformans)
Breed specific inflammatory disease (Yorkie Encephalitis - NE)
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