I had an experience that might be worth sharing and I'm hoping sharing doesn't bring back bad memories for a fellow lister. (I am not suggesting anyone here who has shared that they lost a dog to DM didn't have an accurate diagnosis). My (recent) experience involves another breed of dog, and quite honestly I don't know all of the genetic "bads" that can occur in that breed, but this dog developed symptoms that looked just like DM. I would have bet the ranch on it. And you know what...I'd have lost. The specialist (I was there) made IMO a very astute observation...he wasn't going to treat this dog like a particular breed or dog or presuppose a particular breed's propensity for a particular disease, but, (naturally w/ my friend's permission), he was going to get to the bottom of it. (SUPER vet BTW). Following a mylogram (sp?) and possibly other tests it was determined the dog had cancer and the tumor was creating DM like symptoms. Just like we have vets who look at a dog and without x-rays proclaim a dog to be dysplastic, I have no doubt that we have vets that see a dog w/ DM like symptoms in a breed where DM is known to exist and proclaim a dog to have DM. Furthermore, I don't expect every owner to run up the type of costs my GF incurred (mid-4 figures) to find an accurate diagnosis, especially when the prognosis whatever the diagnosis appears to be dire, nor do I expect someone who has just lost a marvelous companion to go through the expense not to mention emotion of an autopsy. Again, I am NOT suggesting this was true in your case/experience Penny. I am merely suggesting that dogs with DM like symptoms can have a few other things that cause the same or similar symptoms and that it wouldn't surprise, given the emotional and $$$$ cost, that tests to rule out other causes aren't routinely being done now, and they certainly were available to most dog owners all that long ago. Kathy, member GSDCA, DVGSDC Celebrating generations of Dual Titled TC'd Champions visit _http://www.pinehillgsds.com/_ (http://www.pinehillgsds.com/) In a message dated 12/14/2011 9:21:13 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, ketchy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes: Yes, it was diagnosed by our vet as DM. I didn't say that Lance had DM--I said he was blamed for a lot of problems. Since this was a Lance-FREE pedigree, no one could blame Lance for this one. Penny On Dec 13, 2011, at 10:37 PM, Theresa-GSD Stolz-Scenecrest Farm wrote: > Did you at the time know it was DM? Jack Flash was the first GSD > that I heard of with diagnosed with DM. > > I did not hear that Lance had DM but did read in a magazine > somewhere years > ago he died of blood vessel cancer now called Hemangiosarcoma. I > have been > looking everywhere for this magazine but I own so many throughout the > years don't know which one it was now. > > Theresa > > On Tue, 12/13/11, Penny & Bill <ketchy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > I don't know the first dog either, but in 1990 we lost CH ptd > Landsend's Obie of Jeenellyn, CD, OFA (By ch ptd Jeenellyn's Congo, > CDX, OFA < CH UFO son> ex Jobes Sha Na Na <CH UFO daughter>. Obie > was 10 and it was the most difficult thing in the world to see his > body deteriorate from DM, while his mind stayed keen. His was a > Lance-free pedigree. I say this only because Lance has been blamed > for a LOT of things. Not this time . . . > > Penny in NC > The Farm Dog > > > On Dec 13, 2011, at 8:00 AM, InquestGSD@xxxxxxx wrote: > > > I dont know who was the first dog, but I know we lost one of ours > to DM in > > 1999, he was 11 years old, and trust me, this was not an easy > thing to > > watch. > > > > * Ileana * > > ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2011. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Each Author is responsible for the content of his/her post. This group and its administrators are not responsible for the comments or opinions expressed in any post. 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