Hi - I have a 1yr old male Berner that vets believe has sterile meningitis. When he was 4 months he started to show signs of lethargy and he stood with a rigid spine...When the vet moved his neck side to side he let out a scream and when he felt down his spine he screamed again..He would not want to eat and he would hardly get up..This would last for 3-5 days and then he would get better...Then the symptoms would return. He had a spinal tap, but they performed it on a day the symptoms subsided..He tested negative for sterile meningitis. The vet believed it was a false negative and put him on Prednisone. He had no symptoms after that. We tried to ween him off 2 months ago very slowly and the symptoms returned. Now the vet wants him on Atopica, a form of Cyclosporan. Does anyone have a dog with this problem???? He is also very small..We got him from a reputable breeder..his parents are both over 100lbs and his is about 65lbs at 14 months. I don't know if there is a coorelation or not...Our breeder wanted him on NuVet Supplements since he was a puppy...A joint supplement and regular...I don't know if that had anything to do with it... I dont want to keep him on Meds forever..Can anyone shed some light???

Our little one Lola has the EXACT same symptoms as your dog does. We could not afford the diagnostic tests that were required though, so her vet gave her Prednisone, Amoxicillin, and pain medication to help with all the symptoms and hopefully cure the illness. She takes the meds, improves somewhat, and then falls ill again a couple of days later. Very lethargic, and when we try to move her, she'll yelp and cry very loudly. We have NO idea what to do with her as it is reoccurring and don't want her to suffer, so we've started to contemplate the idea of putting her down. She is also very small in size, she just turned one on Saturday and she is 67lbs with both of her parents towering at over 110lbs. If you find any kind of solution or treatment that helps your little guy let us know, we'd greatly appreciate it.

Hi..We started Wyatt on 15mg of Prednisone 2x a day for 2 months. No antibiotics or pain meds..Only Prenisone..His symtoms were gone and he was running and jumping.barking and playing after 3-4 days on the meds!!..After a month we weened him down to 10 mg 2x a day for a 1 month and then 5mg 2x a day for a month and then just 5mg 1x a day and he started to show symptoms again...We increased the Prenisone again and he was FINE...This is an autoimmune disease...The dogs "menges" in the neck and spine become inflamed and cause them major pain...It usually comes on in puppyhood...3-4 months old..This CAN GO AWAY!! Please don't put your dog down...I know to watch them in pain is heartbreaking, but I've done a ton of research and talked to numerous vets...This can go away..Sometimes it can reoccur down the line, but you can treat it again with the Prednisone....Predinsone can be dangerous in high doses for a long period of time, but the 15mg 2x isn't very much..Now Wyatt is being fully weened off the Prednisone and he has started something called Atopica... it is a version of Cyclosporan..This med. controls the inflamation and is used for long term control of the disease..Somewhere down the line I'd like to take him off all meds and see if the symptoms return, but for now the prednisone treatment was wonderful for him..He is leading a normal life and is pain free! Talk to your vet, you may want to take your dog off everything but the Prednisone and try the 15mg 2x a day for a good 2 months...Please let me know how things are going and any other info..or if you have any other questions I did not answer..Let me know...Good Luck!! What state are you in? I'm in NJ

Hi to everyone, and welcome to BernerTalk. I am so sorry that your "babies" have this horrible disease! I know first hand about Steroid Responsive Meningitis. Our boy, Riley ( the reason my husband started this website ) has it. He first showed symptoms in October/November of 2005 at around 4 months of age. Hard time getting up, lethargic, pain, etc. His white blood cell count was through the roof! Long story short, he was diagnosed and treated for everything from growing pains to lyme disease . This went on for about 3 months and during that time it would seem he was getting better and then it would get worse again. In March of 2006 , he got really sick ( white blood cell count was even higher ) so our vet did an ultrasound. They found a mass in his stomach / abdomen. Assuming it was cancer, they did surgery only to find out that it was one of his kidneys! It had become necrotic and was poisoning him. They removed the kidney, and even though he recovered well from the surgery, he wasnt getting much better. In May our vet who was wonderful, but comepletely stumped at this point referred us to a Specialty Veterinarian Clinic. They did a spinal tap and confirmed that it was Steroid Responsive Meningitis ( also call Aseptic Meningitis) He was put on Prednisone,60 mg a day, for 2 weeks, and then, 40 mg a day for 2 weeks. Also important to add that he also took Pepcid AC the whole time he was on the pred, as it is really hard on the stomach. After the first month,in addition to the prednisone, the vet added Azathioprine, 75 mg a day for two weeks and after 2 weeks, 75 mg every other day. We continued the abovefor 6 full months. After 6 months of time,( this was now the beginning of 2007) we started to ween him off of both drugs. I dont have he papers in front of me and will have to pull them out to tell you exactly the dosages we used and how long it took, but I think it was about 6 or 8 weeks until he was off of both medications. During the 6 months he was on the pred and azathoprine, we took him in in every 2 to 4 weeks to have blood work done. More than anything they were monitoring his kidneys or I should say kidney since he only has one now. During the first year after he was in remission we still had blood work done every three months to make sure everything was staying in check. And I am happy to say that he has not had a relapse. From everything that I have read ( and I can promise you, it is everything I have ever been able to get my hands on ) the most important part of treatment is to keep them on the pred long enough, and to ween them off as slowly as possible so there isnt a relapse during the weening off period. Since this is an autoimmune disorder, Riley was off and on antibiotics for bladder infections, ear infections, kidney infection, blah, blah, blah continusously. The vet eventually put him on what they call "antibiotic therapy". Which means he takes amoxicillin every other day. He has been taking that for almost 2 years now and hasnt had any infections at all. I know this a long post, sorry....But please dont think that you cant help your puppy. Riley is a perfect example that a Dog CAN live with this disease and without the pain. And also with a kidney! I know it can be really scary, and there were so many times that I didnt think he would make it, but he will be 4 years old this summer and I dont know what I would do without him! Let me know if you have any questions that I didnt cover, I will help you any way that I can. Good luck, and let me know.....

To you both, THANK YOU! It doesn't even begin to express how thankful myself and my family are for you two!! After reading the intial reply to my post, I called our emergency vet whom took some time to call around to some vets who specialize in Berners and she agreed with the steriod responsive meningitis diagnosis for our little Lola! She started her on only Prednisone and within 2 hours of taking the high dose she was perfectly fine. We are continuing the Pred, dosing it down for a month and seeing how she does, but God willing she'll be great. It honestly brings me to tears that if it wasnt for you two, we wouldn't have little Lola with us anymore. Thank you so much! And if EITHER of you two ever visit Kansas City, please let us know as you will have an open home to visit anytime!!

I am happy to hear the news! The internet is an amazing thing, huh? Did your vet mention the Pepcid AC (famotidine )? The pred is really hard on their stomach. Riley took 10 mg twice a day. He weighed about 60 lbs at the time. But it really made a difference. The prednisone does work fast like you said. It was amazing how fast Riley felt better too. If you have ANY questions, please feel free to post them or you can send me a private message too. Although I am not a vet, I have LOTS and LOTS of info. Again I am so glad that Lola is doing better!! Please keep us updated on her!
Berner Hugs to Lola

I'm SOOO Happy to hear about Lola!!!! I'm glad I put that post up that day!! Please keep us posted on how she does!! I'll let you know if anything new comes up with Wyatt!

To all who replied to my last post, I am here to bother you again. Our little Lola was given a high dosage of prednisone for one full week, and then been slowly weened for 3 weeks and we had gotten her down to only taking the pred once every other day. This morning though, she seems to have fallen ill again with all the similar symptoms she had before. My question to you all is, is this normal? Do berners with SRM relapse often?

Thank you so much for all who reply!!

Sorry to hear Lola seems ill again...Yes, they can relapse if weened off too quickly. My dog Wyatt did relapse and is now on 60mg of Pred a day and we also started Immuran. The goal is to get him off the Pred. and just on the Immuran for a course of 6 months. I have been back and forth with this illness with our dog and from things I've read and other berner moms, this course of meds has helped put their dogs into remission. Some dogs need to stay on meds their entire life... I'd talk to your vet about a slower ween off the Pred. That is what we are doing...Also ask about Immuran. So far so good with Wyatt. Good Luck and please keep us posted!!

Hi all,

I realize all these posts are old, but just in case others find this site, and need some reinforcement that their Berner can get back to normal after having Aseptic Meningitis (AM) or aka Steriod Responsive Meningitisl...my Finngean started yelping when touched at 6 months. After 2 trips to the Emergency Vet, multiple visits with a Chiropractic Vet, I finally get a diagnosis from a smart Neurologist that he had AM. After calling my Breeder, I found out another littermate also was diagnosed with AM. I was a little more than upset that she didn't notify every owner from that litter about the possibility that this could be genetic. After speak with her, she did send out a note to all other owners, and we found another littermate showing symptoms. So definitely call your breeder so they will hopefully spread the word to other owners who bought out of the same litter.

Anyhow, after multiple months of Pred...Finnegan at almost age 2 has been off Pred for almost 5 months, and when he hits 6 months clear, I will be able to breathe a little more easily. I kept him on some very low doses of Pred until he was 18 months old (5mg every 3rd day).

Finn had two relapses, but putting the dosage back up cleared that up within a day...so all in all, it is a treatable but unfortunately scary condition to deal with. Unfortunately not enough vets know about this condition that can effect Berners as well as other breeds.

Gail