Re: No vet can figure out what is wrong This must be pretty distressing for you and your family. I doubt that us bunch of dog loving non orthopaedic vets who haven't seen your dog in person will really get to the bottom of it but there have been a few people chipping in their ideas, and I have to admit it has made me very curious. It probably won't help enormously, really, but getting a good video of her walking and how she behaves might give the vets some extra info....particularly if there are things she does or doesn't do that the vets haven't seen. I support the need for a specialist for this even though expensive. I hate to bring this up, but if she seems in pain, have the vets actually suggested amputation or even euthanasing? It's not something anyone wants to think about particularly when there is no definite diagnosis. I really feel for you and your family
Re: No vet can figure out what is wrong It's a forelimb issue right? Sciatic nerve would present as hind limb issues. Cruciate surgeries also likey to be unrelated as also hindlimb. That image shows a very prominent scapula spine from what I can tell so I definitely think your looking at a neurological issue of the nerves supplying shoulder muscles. That issue could be at the level of the spine or further down closer to the muscle. Further than that it's difficult to say without seeing the dog and examining the diagnostics. Sorry I can't be more help.
Re: No vet can figure out what is wrong Don't have any ideas for you except to second trying for a specialist opinion with a vet who knows about nerve damage. I'm sure this is very distressing to you, I hope you get somewhere with this sooner rather than later!
Re: No vet can figure out what is wrong These things can be very difficult to diagnose; I would chase OSU about the MRI report - was it requested by a GP vet or did an OSU neurologist/orthopaedic surgeon request it? The reason I ask is that MRI scans, like almost any diagnostic test, can be very difficult to interpret if you haven't seen the dog to examine first. It would be remarkably easy for OSU radiologists to accede to a request for an MRI from a GP vet who perhaps didn't request exactly the right area to be scanned. When a normal scan of that area ensues, further scans would then be required looking at different areas. And sadly yes, that would cost more and is why in the UK we reckon that seeing a specialist before any scanning work is done is actually often cheaper in the long run. So for me, if the MRI was requested as part of a workup by an OSU neuro/ortho surgeon then they should be able to help you more anyway but if it were requested by the GP vet then the GP vet should be able to call up the OSU specialists for a chat about the MRI results and see what they have to say regarding if they think referral to them is appropriate. The question I would want an answer to prior to taking it much further would be that given the scan results so far, which conditions could cause the problems that you see (and the GP vet can give a detailed precis of the clinical findings) which can be resolved by an accurate diagnosis and treatment in this case? In which case focus all resources on identifying the treatable conditions and not worry too much about the more esoteric but untreatable conditions simply for the sake of putting a name to the diagnosis. If they suspect this neurological process is essentially untreatable despite any further scans/specialist referrals then focus on what can be done (if anything) to relieve the problem symptomatically. Hope this helps.
