Symptoms of Degenerative Myelopathy in Dogs. Because of its degenerative quality, DM starts out with mild symptoms.. If you turn the dog's toes under in this stage, the dog may still be able to right its foot, although response time could be longer than it had been.
WHAT IT IS. Degenerative Myelopathy (DM) is a spontaneously occurring, adult-
Degenerative myelopathy is a progressive disease of the spinal cord in older dogs. The disease has an insidious onset typically between 8 and 14 years of age. It begins with a loss of coordination (ataxia) in the hind limbs. The affected dog will wobble when walking, knuckle over or drag the feet.
The early stages of Degenerative Myelopathy start with an almost imperceptible weakness in the hindquarters. DM is an insidious disease and it is all too easy to overlook, in it's earlier stages, unless you are specifically looking .. As the disease further progresses to late mid-stage, difficulty getting up increases.
Dog degenerative myelopathy (DM) resource: age of dogs and dog breeds at risk
The stages of degenerative myelopathy in dogs; progression of the disease and what symptoms to expect.
