Overview | Symptoms | Treatment | Management Degenerative Myelopathy (DM), sometimes referred to as CDRM (Chronic Degenerative RadiculoMylopathy), is a fatal, neurodegenerative disease characterized by a general lack of coordination of muscle movements in the pelvic limbs. Dogs diagnosed with DM have axonal (a part of a nerve cell, or neuron) and myelin (an electrically insulating layer around an axon, also known as the myelin sheath) degeneration at all levels of the spinal cord. As motor neurons degenerate, they...

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Overview | Symptoms | Treatment | Management Degenerative Myelopathy (DM) is a fatal, neurodegenerative disease characterized by a general lack of coordination of muscle movements in the pelvic limbs. Dogs affected slowly lose control and function of their hindlimbs. DM is a condition that progresses slowly and typically affects dogs 8 years of age or older. DM has been detected in dogs as young as 3 years. If you observe a sudden onset of disease...

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Overview | Symptoms | Treatment | Management Due to the lack of standardized medical treatment guidelines for patients diagnosed with Degenerative Myelopathy (DM), treatment is mainly supportive and palliative. Nutrition, exercise, therapy and mobility aides have all been recommended in managing DM dogs.   Nutrition DM dogs in the early stages of the disease may benefit from diet supplements such as  Vitamin E, Omega-3-fatty acids, Gamma linoleic acid and, L-Carnitine. These supplements are free radical scavengers...

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Overview | Symptoms | Treatment | Management Standardized medical treatment guidelines currently do not exist for patients diagnosed with Degenerative Myelopathy (DM), and unfortunately, there is no cure for DM. Because there seems to be an immune mediated component of DM, some DM dogs with acutely deteriorating cases can benefit from short courses of corticosteroids at anti-inflammatory (low) doses. These drugs should not be taken concurrently with non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.   Diagnosing DM DM...

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Overview | Symptoms | Treatment | Management Degenerative Myelopathy (DM) is a fatal, neurodegenerative disease characterized by a general lack of coordination of muscle movements in the pelvic limbs. Dogs affected slowly lose control and function of their hindlimbs. DM is a condition that progresses slowly and typically affects dogs 8 years of age or older. DM has been detected in dogs as young as 3 years. If you observe a sudden onset of disease...

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Overview | Symptoms | Treatment | Management Degenerative Myelopathy (DM), sometimes referred to as CDRM (Chronic Degenerative RadiculoMylopathy), is a fatal, neurodegenerative disease characterized by a general lack of coordination of muscle movements in the pelvic limbs. Dogs diagnosed with DM have axonal (a part of a nerve cell, or neuron) and myelin (an electrically insulating layer around an axon, also known as the myelin sheath) degeneration at all levels of the spinal cord. As motor neurons degenerate, they...

Read more