vestibular(old dog disease) - Page 1

hi everone, just looking for some support.

 my old dog Rudiger was diagnosed Monday with this and STILL hasn't come out of it.

would like to hear about anyone else's experience with this.

I've had two old dogs go through it.  If it is truly vestibular, he should start to come around pretty soon I would think.  If it's vestibular they will come around, it can just take some time.  And they may not be totally normal afterward.  The one recovered rather quickly, whereas the other took some time and always had a head tilt till we had to put her down.  Has the dog showed any improvement at all?  Is he on any motion sickness medication?  Sometimes they will also be put on a steroid.  As that can help them to feel a little better.  It's very hard to see them like that.  There's a very good chance that it is vestibular if it happened suddenly.  However, there are two other things to consider if the dog does not show improvement.  Brain Tumor or a middle ear infection.   You are almost at a week, and sometimes it can take several days to a couple of weeks from what I've seen, if it's vestibular.   Are the eyes still moving back and forth?  It can also happen in "younger" dogs too, not just exclusively the geriatric patient. 

My first dog that had it, completely freaked me out.  I thought that the time was come and had already mentally prepared myself.  When we got to the vet, he said most likely vestibular, but it could be brain tumor or an inner ear infection.  He "recovered" within a few days.

My second dog that had it, since I had seen it before and since my first dog had it, I had starting working for a vet.  Where I had seen it a few times.  Did not freak me out, but totally freaked my husband out.  She too recovered, except for the head tilt.  I found it helpful to keep the dog confined to a crate or a very small area.  So that they didn't try to move around.  Only helped her out to potty, then back in the comfort of the crate.  The motion sickness meds helped too, quieted her down a little bit and she just slept.

We once saw a Pomeranian with rather severe vestibular.  When put on the ground it would literally roll itself across the room.  The vet that I worked for, thought that it might be vestibular, but due to such a bizarre presentation, we sent the little dog to a neurologist.  And it was just very severe vestibular and the dog recovered.

Hi Harley,

Sorry to hear about your old dog... idiopathic old dog vestibular syndrome is pretty common.. years ago, it happened to one of our girls, she was just short of her 13th birthday.

Starting taking dogs out and noticed she appeared to be like a slowly skidding vehicle, but she came in and went to her crate for her breakfast, which she wolfed and still didn't seem like anything else was wrong... let dogs out of their crates and heard all this commotion.. she was stuck between her crate and my husbands dresser.. totally turned around.. and then the vomiting started....all the classical symptoms .. head tilt, nistagma (not sure of the spelling.. eyes like pinballs!) and she was soooo nauseous

Put her on antibiotics and bonine (meclazine for the vertigo).. the cause is uncertain, in most cases.. an ear infection (thus the antibiotics) or worse....

We also gave some valium because she was so anxious and needed to calm down. For 3 days she had to be helped outside and often would fall down along the way.

Some dogs recover and some don't, our girl got slightly better but had a really severe head tilt and just wanted to be in her crate .. she would go out and do her business and then go right back to her crate.. i suspect she had something else going on.... her nickname was Miss Bossy so not being in the midst of everything was definitely out of character for her 

After a week and no more improvement we decided to put her to sleep............

Weird thing was, we had had a session with an animal communicator several months before that and she communicated with her and was shown a picture of her being crooked.. so she told me Chelsea feels like things are crooked... very eerie and it occurred to me several months after she was gone...

Good luck with your old timer, it's tough

 he was totally normal monday morning. i went inside to get dressed and he was stumbling his eyes were going back and forth and he was falling over to his left side. i rushed him to the vet. he stayed over night until i heard he had fell into his feces, so i brought him home tuesday morning. i am seeing that his eyes are almost better but he can not get his balance. they only gave him pills for motion sickness.

scared the crap out of me!!!!!!

his appetite is fine and he did not throw up. his personality is coming back now i just wanted to here from everyone "HOW LONG' .i know it's an individual thing but it's killing me to see him like this..

thanx so much for sharing your experience 

oh,he'll be 13 next month

Sounds like he is well on his way to recovering.  But remember too, that the head tilt might still be present.  My second dog that had it, now that I remember, did have another "episode" though not as severe about a year later.  In her case, I think that she too had "something" else going on.  The eyes going back and forth are what makes them feel sick, if that has stopped he should really be feeling better.  If he's eating, that's really a good sign.  I think that you'll be pleasantly surprised at how he looks a week from now. 

thanx rezkat,

i hope so. cause this is killing me

I know how hard it is to see them like that!  Especially if you've never seen it before.  When my old girl had it (the second one) I was like, oh, it's vestibular, but my husband was totally and completely freaked out.  As she was his baby.  So to calm him, as I knew what it was, most likely.  I called the vet that I worked for to talk to him to help "soothe" him.  LOL

 Harley,

I have a lot of experience with this. The bottom line is give the dog the supportive care it needs, for example, in helping it stand without falling and helping it to eat, and give it the meds prescribed. Usually those are anti- inflammatories and sometimes some sort of steroid. No one knows exactly what causes it, but, barring something else going on, it will resolve for the most part. It IS possible that the dog will have some minor residual effect, such as cocking its head to one side or the other. But just help the dog for now and wait. I have seen it resolve in 3 weeks and in other cases a little longer.

Good luck.

hi hodie,

3 weeks!! my poor back.

i am giving him everything i have. i haven't left my house since tuesday. LOL i figure he has given me all of him for almost 13 years this is the least i can do for my old man..

 i just was led to believe that he would be better in 3 days