Opinion: DM is over diagnosed and leads to poor decision making of both vets and owners.
DM is a horrible disease and I've had dogs that have had it and wouldn't wish it on anyone but I've also had dogs with DM " like" diseases that would've resulted me euthanized a dog too soon. Ivdd, arthrits , spinal cord compression all mimic DM but have medications and procedures that can prolong a dogs life by years.
DM vs other spinal cord diseases:
-Dm is fast acting , it will completely paralyze your dog in a year. The outliers of dogs living longer with DM I would argue do not actually have DM but have some other spinal cord degeneration.
-DM has no pain- where this gets confused is later stages of spinal cord compression may have no pain. That's why its important to notice small changes in your dogs gait, feel for pain initially and document it, even before any neurological signs appear. This can be the limiting factor between a DM dismissal or actual diagnostic work
-DM can only be 100%determined post mortem by spinal cord biopsy, or a 100% rule out of other spinal cord problems (MRI,ct, respone to invasive epidural injections) which most owners wont pay for, which means a incorrect statistically higher amount of cases get a DM diagnosis.
My old GSD was diagnosed with DM and was given 6-12 months to live. It was as quick as looking at his knuckling and hind end weakness, and looking at his genetic panel ( where he had only one copy of the dm gene) What didnt sit right with me was in the beginning when he first started slowing down I noticed if I rubbed his back he would twitch and be uncomfortable and by the time the symptoms of hind end weakness were severe , he no longer had much feeling back there so the doc made the diagnosis. When I questioned why he was still alive 1 year later, I was told it'll be any day now. I got a second opinion , a set of xrays, and some heavy duty anti inflammatories. What really confirmed his diagnosis of spinal stenosis/IVDD was a lumbar steroid epidural, he was back to his puppy self in an hour! This was a manageable disease with treatment options that would've been more valuable ( maybe surgery earlier ) if I hadn't been given the DM diagnosis immediately because of his breed. He is well maintained on spinal injections, anti inflammatories, accupunture, and hot laser, and daily exercise . If he was younger when we made the connection surgery could've stopped the progression sooner.
He's lived 6 years longer than his initial DM diagnosis death sentence, with limited but decent mobility.
I ask vets and owners to make sure they look at their animal holistically and with the greatest diagnostics they can afford so that we can stop the bias of DM being the first diagnosis.
Video of my boy doing water treadmill rehab for the first time ! I am a huge supporter of trupanion pet insurance which has made all the extra care my pup has gotten possible.