Reggie’s Story

Age at diagnosis: 3 years

Breed: Labrador

Reggie was acting very strangely and panting all night. I took him to the ER and they thought he had tweaked his neck. About 6 hours later he didn't want to get up for dinner and was very reluctant to walk. I called the vet who saw him that morning and they instructed me to rush him to their partner facility with a neurologist. He spent the night in the ICU and had a spinal tap and MRI the next morning. He rapidly declined overnight and couldn't stand anymore. He spent the next 2 nights in the ICU before we took him home. That night he had severe tremors that we thought were seizures, so we rushed him back to the ER. Thankfully they were able to confirm it wasn't seizures. He developed incontinence issues and had reduced feeling in his legs. After about a month we started him with a rehab vet. After about 3 months he started to be able to get up on his own, with difficulty. He broke a tooth while on his highest steroid dose. He also developed severe calcinosis cutis and cysts, so we had to introduce a dermatologist. His skin issues started to improve after we started weaning his prednisone. We are now about a year out and his skin has fully healed and he is able to go up and down stairs, run and play. He's very happy despite his clumsy gait. He had his broken molar removed and recovered beautifully! I am so happy to just have my boy, because I was so scared I was going to lose him when he was diagnosed. We truly went through hell.

Reggie is part of The Theo Project's canine meningitis registry - a growing global collection of MUE, MUO and SRMA stories shared to help families facing this diagnosis.