Vestibular Disease

I haven't posted here in a little while, mostly because things here have been kind of stressful.

About a month ago, we woke up and found out Dahlia couldn't stand. She'd try to get up and fall over. She vomited and her head was moving all over the place (turned out her eyes were too, but it was too dark to see that!).

We thought she had had a stroke and were devastated. Thankfully, the vet told us it was something called Vestibular Disease (an inflammation of the nerve going from the inner ear to the brain) and is fairly common in older dogs (and they often called it Old Dog Vestibular Disease). It's been a rough month but girl is mostly back on her feet. She's still a little wobbly and gets knocked over easily and she still has a bit of a head tilt (common with the disease), but otherwise she's recovering.

Anyone else have any experience with it? Tips are always great!

Also, if your older dog (or cat) ever can't stand, vomits, has a weird head tilt, and their eyes are moving rapidly back and forth, it probably isn't a stroke and is Vestibular Disease. And they recover really well from it in most cases!

I've not heard of it before Crysania so I'm glad you have posted about it.

Not sure if it is the same with dogs, but magnesium is good for the nervous system. Maybe ask the vet if supplementation might help?

I'll ask about it!

I had never heard about it either before I took her in, assuming she had had a stroke and we were going to have to put her down. But ever since it happened I've met SO many people who have had it happen to their dogs. It seems more common than I would have thought!

It's definitely something to be aware of in case it ever happens to other people's dogs (or cats!).

Yes Crysania it happened (almost precisely as you described) to Rianna (our elderly Newfoundland) we had to call the vet to our house and she said it was either Vestibular disease or a stroke and she went into the hospital for a couple of days. I posted about it on here but can't find the thread now.

She made a complete recovery and we were told that often it happens only once in the dogs life, but sometimes it can come back, medical science has not reached a point where they can predict this.

Also our vet said there was not much we could do to prevent a re-occurance so I can't pass on any tips but I hope neither of our lovely dogs contract this illness again.

Our vet basically said "It's likely vestibular disease but if she doesn't start to improve in the next week it would be something worse." Thankfully she improved! She also told us it rarely comes back but then I've heard from enough people that have had it return a month or a year later to realize this COULD happen again. Which is heartbreaking. Once was tough enough.

At least if it does, we won't panic because we know what we're looking at. And we might be better prepared for how to deal with it. It's been so heartbreaking as it ended her agility training, which was something we both enjoyed. And she's only about 10ish or so, so seems awfully young for it to happen!

Just enjoy the time you have with her, it's a shame she has to give up the agility but you still have the walks with her. On a different subject (Arthritus in rear legs) our vet told us to ensure she had a regular walks which thankfully we can do. At present she can do about 2 to 3 miles every day.

My old boy Sam had two episodes of Vestibular about 8 months apart. It took him three or four days to get over them. He was left with the head tilt, but other than that, no other effects.

There's no treatment other than to make sure there is no underlying ear infection. It's scary while in progress, but is quite common in older dogs

Isn't Vivitonin meant to help?

I think Vivitonin is for dementia? I think that's what I read.

Dahlia is about 99% back to normal. She still is a little wobbly at times but she's racing around the backyard with our other dog and even leaping over things. I'm not sure I'll ever go back to formal agility training (she's around 10 at this point) but she's doing well otherwise!

Thanks for the update, glad she's doing well, at age 10 she should be just taking things easy and enjoying being with you, agility is probably not for her at her age, I know it's not for me either