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 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.

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 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!

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.

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.