Vestibular Disease in Dogs

My dog Lola (small mutt mixed with some Chihuahua) has been showing symptoms for the past 3 to 4 months and we took her to a vet a week ago and they had just done a check up on her and said that it might be something with her brain. They recommended to do some radiographs and MRI but we just don't have the money. It started with her losing some hair and biting her feet, that resolved but during that time she just couldn't get up, we had given her some arthritis pills for her. She looked good for a week and the signs of head tilting and circling came back again. She has been eating and drinking and isn't depressed. I don't think she can handle falling all the time now she now whimpers whenever she can't get up.

We have a Border Collie, Jozi who is about 1 and half years / 2 years old. My son told me that he was sleeping when Jozi fell off the bed, then when she started walking it look it looks like she is battling to walk like she walking more to the one side and then wants to lie down on that side, it looks like she's drunk and struggling to stay up. Do you perhaps know what could have happened it only happened a few hours ago and we are unsure what to do.

My 13-yr-old Rescue suddenly fell over on Friday (6 days ago) -- she had torn her CCL (ACL) 3 weeks ago and we thought maybe the other leg went or even stroke. Vet called and said her rapid symptoms and back-and-forth eye movement indicative of Vestibular Disease. She literally couldn't stand or walk and was shaking like crazy and panting (terrified). Took her to vet next day and he said within 72 hours / 3 days she should be much better. She ended up not pooping for 5 days! and while drinking a bit, really won't eat. Only a few slices of turkey and no kibble. She is still extremely unsteady and won't walk, is "moping" and just lying down. We're worried she's weak. Do we still give it more time?

i HAVE A 3 YEAR OLD CHIHUAHUA HER NAME IS SASHA . i GOT HOME FROM WORK AND SHE WAS WALKING AND FALLING LIKE A DRUNK PERSON HER HEAD IT RIGHT TILTED HE HAD POOPED ALL OVER HERSELF AND VOMITED I TOOK HER TO THE VET AND THEY PUT HER ON IV FLUIDS SOME STEROIDS AND GABAPENTIN SHE STAYED 7 HRS AND TOOK HER HOME SHE REFUSED FOOD FOR 24 HRS NOW SHE IS EATING SHE FOUND A WAY TO CRAWL ON HER BELLY AS SHE IS AFRAID TO WALK HER BALANCE IS OFF BUT GETTING BETTER THE VET HAS NO IDEA AND SAYS SHE IS TOO YOUNG FOR VESTIBULAR ISSUES. SASHA HAS NO EAR INFECTION WAS VERY HEALTHY THEY TOLD ME TO TAKE HER TO A DOG NEUROLOGIST WHICH I DID THAT VET SAID ITS A AUTOIMMUNE DISORDER BUT HER BEST GUESS THEY WANT 5000 FOR AN MRI BUT ONLY 50% CHANCE WILL WE DISCOVER WHAT IT IS AND THE ANESTHESIA CAN MAKE HER DIE SO CLEARLY WAS NOT DOING THAT I DO SEE IMPROVEMENT, SASHA CONTINUES TO WAG HER TAIL AND BE HAPPY CAN SOMEONE GIVE ME SOME ADVISE WILL MY DOG SURVIVE WILL THIS COME BACK WILL SHE HEAL SHE WAS SO HEALTHY PLEASE GIVE ME ADVISE I FELL LIKE NO ONE KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT

This may be a first as far as vestibular disease in old dogs. We have 2 GSDs who are litter mates (almost 13 years old). On a Tuesday morning 1/9/19, the one started her morning as usual, but at 9:30 she tried to get up, but lost all ability to balance, walk, sit, even laying was difficult. Took her to the vet and was diagnosed with ODVD. She was given antibiotics and prednisone. That evening she was making some progress, but still needed help. Never vomited at all. After 24 hours she did not need help, and was pretty well back to normal. About 10 that evening (12 hours after the first dog) her littermate sister was throwing up everywhere and had no balance and rapid eye movement. I tried to give her some motion sickness pills and called into the vet to get some meds. She got sick on those anti biotics though, so I took her in on that Fri, and they diagnosed her also with ODVD. The one who got it last has always had ear infection problems and has still got some imbalance problems after 2 1/2 weeks. How long do you think it may be until she fully recovers? She still has the head tilt and weak on one side (left).

I have a foster rescue pom mix who was found frozen and unconscious. We initially thought the nystagmus was from the freezing but it could also be a head injury as one side of his mouth had all damaged teeth.

I worked with him for 3 months now, and hes made significant improvements all round but still has the continuous eye movements.

We cleaned and removed the bad teeth, hes been eating and walking, has learned his name and knows us.

I want to help him regain better quality of life if i can help limit the eye movements. He clearly has trouble seeing clearly


Is there anything that can be done at this point or after 4 months is it possibly as good as it may get?

TIA

We have an 18 year old cockapoo, his name is Oliver. Four weeks ago my husband came home from work to find that he had thrown up and was laying near the front door with his head completely turned, he could not stand, when we tried to stand him up, he would fall to the side. We took him to the Emergency hospital recommended on our vets answering machine (they were closed) and we were told that he had Old Dogs disease, vestibular disease. We were given medication, a pill for motion sickness, one for vomiting and a antibiotic. Oliver would not take the medication, he would not eat although he was drinking water. He did not eat for 5 days and I saw that he was weak because of it. At this point I am carrying him out to go to the bathroom. I called his vet and took him in, they confirmed what I was told at the hospital and I was basically told that I could only hope that he passes in his sleep. I was given canned dog food that is loaded up with vitamins, since he would not eat on his own, I gave it to him through a small syringe. I would take him out in the morning, feed him and take him out again. I was going home at lunch time to take him out and feed him, I was told he should eat three times a day. After 4 days or so Oliver was showing signs of improvement. I then went to the feed store and purchased a larger syringe to get more food into him, all the while giving him the antibiotics that I would mix in the food. I also purchased baby food and canned pure pumpkin to mix in so he would not get tired of the taste. After a week and a half or so, I gave him a treat (he would not take them up to now) and he ate it. On week two I then starting to feed him his regular food, which is boiled chicken, rice and veggies, usually string beans or peas. We are not approaching week five (5), I no longer go home at lunch time, since I can leave his water, he knows where it is and he mostly waits for my husband to get home from work to go out, I leave pads down just in case, which he has used, I give him a light breakfast before I leave. I walk Oliver with harness because his head is still tilted, but he still enjoys going for walks. His sense of smell is very strong, which is so important because he is blind and deaf. I am sharing this only because I was advised to put him to sleep but my heart could not, I was told he was not in pain, so I wanted to give him every fighting chance. Because of his age his routine is pretty much the same as it was before he became ill. Oliver gets excited when I am arrive home, he smells me I am sure, because my husband says he does not exhibit the same behavior when he is home. Because of his age, I know that someday soon he will say good-bye or I will have to make the decision of putting him to sleep, but that decision will be made because it is the best for him, not because he has become an inconvenience. I guess what I am trying to say is, sometimes its okay to listen to your heart and gut. For everyone that received a final diagnosis, tumors and such, well you know that there was nothing else you could do, so do not beat yourself up.

I just want to thank everyone else for sharing their stories. This can be a very frustrating experience and it is difficult to have patience. It is also difficult to strike the balance between doing too much (and wearing the dog out) and doing too little (and risk things like dehydration and bed sores). The stories shared by everyone have been so helpful.

Our dog is currently going through this. It is day 10, and the nystagmus in the eyes has gone, but she still is very uncoordinated on her feet; so much so that she still doesn’t try to stand too often. Still has head tilt.

One “sign” of improvement that I’ve not seen mentioned is what I have called “the two o’clock rush.” The past two days our girl will get a little boost of energy (not a lot, a little) right around two o’clock in the afternoon. Yesterday it lasted until around four to four-thirty and then she was very tired again. Anyone else have an experience like that?

The vet still has not been able to rule out more serious causes like a brain tumor, but the only symptom of brain tumor that we have seen is the disruption of the vestibular system, which began in the middle of treatment for a very stubborn ear/sinus infection. We are not opposed to having a scan done to determine other causes - in fact, we probably will - but for now we are in waiting. Seeing as how this problem presented itself toward the middle of the ear/sinus infection, we are fairly comfortable being patient.

I appreciate so many people sharing their stories on here. It can be so difficult to be patient with these symptoms, and reading other stories has been a great source of encouragement for us to be patient - even as people have told us to just have her put down. Our vet told us that it is not time for that and all the evidence tells us to just wait it out for however long it takes.

Our girl still has a way to go, but she is not in pain. She eats and drinks, she is getting a lot of rest, and responds to us. So we’re just waiting it out and staying in contact with the vet.

This morning around 430am I heard my dog start to vomit. He fell a short distance. Very unsteady on his feet. Reluctant to walk/stand. Rushed to ER vet in fear of stroke. No eye movement. Still within the first 24 hours. His regular vet is on vacation. Seems to be improving, lots of rest and good appetite. Fear of something worse going on.

Hello, my dog Baby recently started showing signs that sound very similar to Vestibular disease. She is a 12 years old, small shih tzu mix. Her symptoms started Sunday night (2/18) and at first we thought it might've been due to the bath she had the day before (maybe she pulled a muscle when tugging away) because she cried when we lifted her the wrong way. A day or two passed and she was no longer crying when picked up, but was walking very disoriented and not able to eat on her own, so we've been hand feeding her since. She is okay during the day, showing only mild symptoms, but at night she starts wondering the whole house, off balance, and sometimes when we pick her up she'll start to cry as if she was scared or frightened (maybe due to the darkness?). She eats normally when hand fed, drinks water whenever she is thirsty, pees/poos normally, and hasn't thrown up at all. The only problem is with her balance and random crying during late nights when picked up. Should I wait a few days to take her to the vet since her symptoms are very mild? or is what she is presenting something I should be taking more seriously and schedule an appointment asap?

Since we rescued Sandra at 1 year old she would randomly hold her head to the side and stumble around for very short periods of time. The frequency remains but the severity is getting worse. She drops to the ground now with her head on one side and when I support her head I see her left eye displaying nystagmus. This can last 10 seconds to 1 minute then she’s back to normal frantically zipping around with no lasting effects.
Obviously this cannot be old dog vestibular disease but could it be congenital vestibular disease? She eats fine, exercises fine but has these little moments.
I must say that the moments do mostly tend to occur when she is excited. What could this be and is there any treatments for her?

My 15 year old dog has Vestibular disease. It came on suddenly 2 weeks ago. He did have an ear infection and spent 3 days in the hospital. A week ago he was making some progress. Up and walking with us helping him balance. Now he is unable to get up or walk. He cries to get up and go outside. What do you think is going on.

My shitzu is 14. Blind, enlarged heart and kidney levels are elevated. 5 days ago I came home and he seemed as if he had a stroke - falling on his side, difficulty standing up, walking in circles etc. I took him to the vet thinking it was time but the think he has vestibular disease. He's been on Propentifylline and robenacoxib for 5 days and not showing much improvement. The walking is a bit better, but head tilt is worse, he is shaking a bit and he only eats/drinks if we hand feed him. I know the vet said to wait two weeks and if there are no improvements we then consider our options but I'm worried he is suffering, particularly since he is also blind. Any advice?

My 13 yr border collie ( onset of this disease was Tuesday ) was diagnosed with vestibular disease and heart murmur last Wednesday. She spend the night in emergency care on fluids IV and blood profile to rule out kidney and liver disease
As of today she still having a hard time standing,walking and going down the stairs so we have to carry her outside so she can potty. Today was the first day she eat with out me using a baby medicine syringe. My question is how long will this vestibule disease last. My husband feels we should put her sleep.

I am expat working in Jakarta, my dog Austin is 16yrs old( had since 6wks) Wednesday morning we woke to him in state he currently is that was diagnosed as vestibular.. the vets here told us nothing can be done.. He has rapid eye movement right, head tilt excessively to right, cannot walk without assistance, we were hand feeding him food and water but he has now lost appetite, he tries to move when needs to pee or poo but cannot without help so currently being washed 5-6 times a day.. My question is can I do anything to assist him? Should I be trying to force him to walk or let him sleep? Is there anything I can do that will assist or is his time up? The vets here say he won't recover but the western vets on u tube say they improve with time.. Jakarta is a Muslim city so dogs are not so common or popular so am wanting a western opinion to help me understand whether I'm making Austin suffer or he van in fact recover .. He has all the symptoms at top of article , he became ill Wednesday but with no vomiting, he vomited first time today Sunday and is now not eating or drinking(today) eyes look alert enough .. does not like the medication which we got from vet yesterday (Saturday) first vet Wednesday gave no medication.. has had blood tests both times with nothing overly abnormal for his age( elevated liver kidney) Thankyou

Read more at: https://wagwalking.com/condition/vestibular-disease#

My Boxer has shown signs of dizziness, "drunk" walking, and occasional side-to-side eye movements for the past few days. The eye movement hasn't happened in 48-72 hours though. No vomiting, drinks water, will not eat much. We believe he had a stroke 1-2 months ago. Given his age (9yrs old), we do not believe an MRI and any chemo etc would be good for him if it were a tumor. Assuming its vestibular disease, how optimistic can we be on recovery or will this be a slow decline? Should he be on an antibiotic or anything we can do to improve things? Thanks!

My dog,Kailani,is a chocolate lab and only a year old. I have looked at the signs and symptoms of vestibular disease and she has been showing most of them.
She was fine yesterday, but today she started to lay on her side and whine and avoid eye contact.When she would get up, she would wobble and fall over and then get back up then walk around like she is drunk.
She has had ear infections in the past, but it is all cleared up now and the vet told us her ears are good a week ago, but now this has popped up.
Does she have this disease at such a young age?

Our 14 year old dog Mila had a bout of vestibular disease that popped up 4 months ago and took a good 6 weeks to recover from. She's been on Dramamine still daily (1-2 vs 4) as this seemed to help but now today it seems to either have flared up again or it's still the same but she has same symptoms as before unable to get up. The first time she went to the vet for all th tests that came back clear. Is this the same episode or a new one? I'm concerned about her muscle atrophy from just a few months ago when she didn't eat for 4 days or walk for almost a week. I'm also concerned about her quality of life although up until now she's been her happy recovered sweet self.

On 3/19/18 my 14 year old Black Lab couldn't walk when I woke up. I got her into the vert and he "thought" that it was ODVD. He really didn't examine her too much. He said he could give her medicine for the nausea but that was it. He really didn't talk to me about a course of treatment or the possibility of recovery. He basically said it was a wait & see situation.

I thought she had a stroke so I was expecting the worse. We then started talking about putting her down. She had some health issues but nothing major. She had been on carprofren for about two years due to but her recent blood tests came back "pristine" (in the words of the vet). Although I was in no frame of mind to make the decision, I decided to put her down mainly because the vet made it seem hopeless.

When I got home, after putting her down, I started researching ODVD and found that the dizziness would have gone away within 72 hours and she would have recovered in 2-3 weeks. I am not dealing with extreme guilt and remorse because I think she could have pulled through.

But after reading some of the posts, it seems like I may have done the right thing. This is the first website that talks about relapses and dogs not recovering. I just need some confirmation that I did the right thing. If you have any questions, please ask.

About a week ago I posted a question about my 15 year old lab having Vestibular syndrom (our vet determined most likely ideopathic but had not ruled out an ear infection yet). He was recovering very well and was almost back to his old self. He was walking around fine but was still a little wobbly with a head tilt. The other morning he was outside by himself for a few minutes and I believe he got excited by the neighbors dogs and while trying to run to the fence he fence he fell into the pool. When I found him I believe he had not been able to swim or stay above water due to his condition. I pulled him out and he was obviously traumatized by the incident. I rushed him to the emergency vet where he stayed for about 4 hours. They did blood tests and X-rays and he seemed fine from the pool incident but his vestibular symptoms had come back full fold. I explained to them he had been recovering from it before but they tried to have their neurologist do the same tests. At this point, Peanut was not even able to stand on his own so they were very limited in the tests they could do short of an MRI, which they were not capable of doing, and it is extremely expensive. They had sedated him to take the X-rays and had a chance to look in his ear and rule out an ear infection (which the other vet had not done) but they sent him home with the diagnosis of a greater risk of central as opposed to peripheral but they could not give me a difinitive answer as to why. They were working under the impression that he had a severe case of Vestibular symptoms come back while he was in the yard even through I told them i was almost positive he fell in while getting exited with the neighbors dogs as that is what happens every morning and the pool is very close to that part of the fence. I tried to explain all the previous tests the last vet was able to do and how he was recovering fine until the trauma of falling in the pool. From what I understood they just didn't know and were guessing. I took him home and continued with his motion sickness medicine. For the 1st 2 days he had not been able to stand at all. He keeps trying to roll over (to the left, the same side as his head tilt), However, he has been eating and drinking fine. The eye twitching is not as bad as the 1st time and he is very alert. When I woke up this morning I found him standing on his own. It did not last for very long but I took it as a good sign. Basically I just want to know if an incident like the trauma of falling in the pool could cause his recovery to regress or does his current symptoms lean more towards a more serious issue which I may need to euthanize him for. An answer I have paid a lot of money to find out but keep getting different answers. I don't want my dog to suffer and have no quality of life but I also don't want to put him down if there is a possibility he will recover as he did last time. I just need someone to clarify if it is possible the fall triggered his past symptoms since he was not fully recovered.

Our Shiba Inu had his second case of vestibular disease hit 4 weeks ago. He hasn’t shown many signs of improvement. He has had 2 steroid shots and a course of 2 antibiotics. He is still spinning in circles, unable to walk straight from room to room, needs assistance eating and drinking, and just has no real quality of life. Is 4 weeks long enough to know if a dog will recover from vestibular disease? We are starting to prepare ourselves to have him put down. Thank you.

Hi, 6 days ago my 14 year old lab mix was diagnosed with Vestibular syndrom. He was throwing up and could not even stand up on his own and could not walk without instantly falling over. The vet was not able to determine conclusively if it was ideopathic or if he may have an ear infection because he would not let the vet look into his left ear (no other signs indicate an infection). She said he would need to possibly come back to be sedated to look at the ear. She sent him home and he's been taking motion sickness meds. Since then he has started walking on his own but still wobbly and stumbling. He is drinking on his own and eating when I hand feed him. He seems aware and happy and trying to play with my other dog but still has a severe head tilt. I have also been watching his eyes and they are no longer flickering side to side. Since he progressing every day do you think sedation to check his ear is still necessary?

We had a 12-13 year old dog suddenly show signs of vestibular disease Nov 2016. Approximately 3 days later she had dramatically improved. However in the following months she quickly lost weight. Wouldn't eat, vomiting, large stools. She was emaciated and walked drunk. Vet found enlarged lymph nodes in April 2017 and suggested lymphoma. Sent us home with anti-nausea meds. Her condition continued to decline and we euthanized in August 2017.

Today her littermate started showing the same sudden symptoms of vastibular disease. Head tilt, unable to stand or walk due to dizziness and unsteasy gate. Won't eat and her left eye twitching back and forth.

I am terrified this is not lymphoma or just plain "old dog disease". I am afraid it is contagious and/or environmental, and I have a 5 month old puppy and a 5 year old dog (not related to the dog showing symptoms) also living in the home.

My dog was staying with some other people temporarily and when he returned home he was exhibiting the symptoms of this tubular syndrome they have not cleared up they have in fact gotten worse he did experience a rather severe flea infestation while he was with them that resulted in really bad worms and I'm wondering if he may have some sort of parasites or some sort of bacterial infection in the middle ear that has been left untreated we've gone to the vet and had blood test done and awaiting the results how will the vet determine if there is an ear issue if there is any vestibular damage that may be permanent how do we determine if there might be brain tumors or in fact brain cancer also how can I know if he may have had a stroke

I believe my 4 yo. Siberian has vestibular (old dog disease) disease. Symptoms started last night of him being drunken and unbalanced. He's thrown up once that I've seen but all around really drunken and lathargic. He seems better today (the morning after) but not much better.