Hello~
I am hoping I can find some help here for a friend. Her 12 year old girl is having some issues and she emailed this to a group of us looking for advice. I immediately thought of you guys. I am hoping someone can offer experience and/or advice for Katie.

Thanks in Advance for the help. Lori

See Below~
We now think Katie is about 12 years of age.

In June, Katie had her first experience with Vestibular Disease; essentially dog vertigo issues. She lost balance suddenly, collapsed and had to be hospitalized for 3+ days. As I have learned over the last several months, this is “common” in older dogs of multiple breeds. Essentially, the dog has immediate onset of dizziness, disorientation, inability to stand/walk, head tilting and eye movement (up and down or left to right). In extreme cases (which Katie suffered with her first issue) the inability to eat, drink and possible dehydration.

The cause of Vestibular Disease can be due to significant physical issues such as a brain tumor or deep inner ear infection (that cannot be noted during
a vet evaluation). Often the cause (especially in older dogs) cannot be determined (idiopathic).

Katie has been diagnosed as having: “Idiopathic Vestibular Disease”. Since June, Katie has had four other episodes (thankfully none as bad as the one in June). Katie is under the treatment of Dr.(who I think is wonderful) and our general vet. She has had an MRI, spinal tap, blood work, etc. Thankfully, she has no diagnosable issues that can be attributed to her condition. She however, continues to have “episodes”. Her overall stability and stamina have suffered; she is just weaker and stumbles occasionally. Overall, she is still getting around pretty well and is a very happy girl!

Our current treatment is Meclizine. Has anyone had a similar experience? Can anyone offer guidance or suggestion?

Thank you,

My mother's 11yr old Gordon Setter has the same thing. My understanding is that it can come and go with no real cure.

I will tell you, they tend to adapt and cope fairly well. My mom put several throw rugs down to help when Abby gets wobbly but for the most part she is doing really well.

Best of Luck

Lori,

Had a girl get Geriatric Vestibular Disease at the age of 11. The emergency hospital did nothing for her. She would not eat or drink for them, so IV was necessary to keep her hydrated. Took her home to take care of her myself. My regular vet recommended over the counter dramamine. We gave this to her for about 4 mos until most of the symptoms subsided. She did have a slight head tilt and trouble turning to the right, but managed very well. Never a reoccurance, but had the motion sickness meds on hand just incase. She lived to the ripe old age of 14 1/2.

Good Luck

Michele

Thank you very much for the info. I will definitely pass this on. It is so tough when there is no defined "answer". I know she just wants her girl to be happy and healthy. Poor sweet girl.

Thanks and have a wonderful night. Happy New Year everyone.
Lori

I have had several old Labs get it. The first episode was the worst each time, and they did have recurring episodes - usually months later, more than once. When they had trouble eating I was able to hand feed them. None ever stayed at the vet. One who was particularly bad got a shot of valium to get her through the first day, but we still took her home and piled dog beds and pillows in the corner of one room so she wouldn't hurt herself flopping around. I lifted her and walked her with a harness on the back and sweatshirt on her front that I could hold her up by so she could pee and poop with my support. (I didn't care if she went inside, but she did and I wanted to keep her happy!) I held water for her to drink or sprayed it in her mouth. It took a week or so for her to be able to stand or eat at all by herself and several weeks to get mostly better. Another old girl also took 3+ weeks to get mostly better. Dramamine was suggested as possibly helping after the fact, but otherwise my vets did not give any other remedy except time.

I had that with my first lab when he got older, the Emergency vet was no help at all, so I took him home gave him some Antivert and he was better in about 2 hours. If he started to have an episode after that our regular vet said to give him that, he couldn't find anything wrong,our boy lived to be 13. If I gave the medicine at the first sign of it it wouldn't progress, otherwise it would take an hour or 2 after the medicine for him to get better.

When one of my older girls got this, I thought she had a stroke. But my vet explained this condition and that it will not likely be a problem. He did treat with a mild steroid.

My old girl lived to be 13. She kept a slight head tilt for the rest of her life but was pretty much normal otherwise. I think I recall her have other small episodes but knowing what they were, I never even involved the vet. The key to recognizing this is the eyes.

PS My vet explained that whatever is happening in the inner ear does not really ever get better. The dogs just need to retrain their brain to deal with the inverted/conflicting messages it is getting from the eyes and ears.