Welcome to Taj's story
Taj was born 12 November 2003 and died 3rd August 2006, aged 2 yrs & 8 mths.
In early June 2004 I rang a breeder looking for a Great Dane pup and was told there was someone who had left a message that they needed to sell a 6 month old male fawn Great Dane because their living circumstances had changed.
An older dog suited me at the time as I was working full time and was concerned about not being able to give appropriate time to a puppy. When I met Taj it was love at first sight.
No one noticed anything peculiar about Taj, with the exception that he had splayed front paws (turned outwards).
I first noticed Taj's problem when we went for not a particularly long walk (less than 15 minutes) and his rear end just gave way and was shaking uncontrollably - Taj just sat down and couldn't get up. Luckily some other people were walking their dogs nearby at the time and I asked them to hold Taj while I ran to get my car. Taj also seemed severely heat stressed though it was winter.
My first vet appointment for this problem was 21 August 2004. I explained what had happened during that walk and the vet examined Taj closely in terms of structural examination and watched Taj walk up and down the corridor. The vet then basically said that while there were no guarantees, Taj looked fine, he's growing very quickly, the vet knew the breeder and there had been no problems with their dogs. He was a fine, healthy specimen who had probably just over exerted himself.
Of course it happened again - and every time I took Taj on more than a 5 minute walk - and Taj's gait had become quite peculiar from the rear. He also can't use his rear legs independently in anything faster than a walk - when he runs he 'bunny hops'.
Diagnosis
We booked a home appointment with our local vet in September so that they come to my house. We all went for a walk with Taj, as he did not display the stress and rear end wobbles in the surgery. My local vet then clearly saw Ta's problem - while he thought it was probably a structural problem (hip dysplasia) he did not discount neurological or muscular problems.
He referred us to the Adelaide Veterinary and Specialist Referral Centre, where they could do X-rays and other tests if necessary. At the appointment on 30th September 2004, Taj had x-rays and was cleared of hip dysplasia but Dr Warrick Bruce said Taj's reflexes weren't normal and recommended we see Dr David Davies at the same clinic, who specialises in internal medicine.
Taj was booked in for neurological and muscular tests and biopsies and I received the test results on Tuesday 16 November.
Taj was diagnosed with Central Core Myopathy identified from the muscle biopsies.
In early June 2004 I rang a breeder looking for a Great Dane pup and was told there was someone who had left a message that they needed to sell a 6 month old male fawn Great Dane because their living circumstances had changed.
An older dog suited me at the time as I was working full time and was concerned about not being able to give appropriate time to a puppy. When I met Taj it was love at first sight.
No one noticed anything peculiar about Taj, with the exception that he had splayed front paws (turned outwards).
I first noticed Taj's problem when we went for not a particularly long walk (less than 15 minutes) and his rear end just gave way and was shaking uncontrollably - Taj just sat down and couldn't get up. Luckily some other people were walking their dogs nearby at the time and I asked them to hold Taj while I ran to get my car. Taj also seemed severely heat stressed though it was winter.
My first vet appointment for this problem was 21 August 2004. I explained what had happened during that walk and the vet examined Taj closely in terms of structural examination and watched Taj walk up and down the corridor. The vet then basically said that while there were no guarantees, Taj looked fine, he's growing very quickly, the vet knew the breeder and there had been no problems with their dogs. He was a fine, healthy specimen who had probably just over exerted himself.
Of course it happened again - and every time I took Taj on more than a 5 minute walk - and Taj's gait had become quite peculiar from the rear. He also can't use his rear legs independently in anything faster than a walk - when he runs he 'bunny hops'.
Diagnosis
We booked a home appointment with our local vet in September so that they come to my house. We all went for a walk with Taj, as he did not display the stress and rear end wobbles in the surgery. My local vet then clearly saw Ta's problem - while he thought it was probably a structural problem (hip dysplasia) he did not discount neurological or muscular problems.
He referred us to the Adelaide Veterinary and Specialist Referral Centre, where they could do X-rays and other tests if necessary. At the appointment on 30th September 2004, Taj had x-rays and was cleared of hip dysplasia but Dr Warrick Bruce said Taj's reflexes weren't normal and recommended we see Dr David Davies at the same clinic, who specialises in internal medicine.
Taj was booked in for neurological and muscular tests and biopsies and I received the test results on Tuesday 16 November.
Taj was diagnosed with Central Core Myopathy identified from the muscle biopsies.