Vestibular syndrome in dogs
Discussion
Just under 3 weeks ago our 12.5 year old German Shepherd had an attack that looked a lot like a stroke, which was diagnosed by the vet as vestibular (old dog) syndrome. She couldn't stand or walk without falling over, had a bad head tilt and her head was swaying side to side, her eyes were flicking side to side, she temporarily lost a lot of her sight and she wouldn't eat anything, but drank a lot. The vet gave her an injection to help and anti nausea tablets, as well as tablets called Karsivan (Propentofyllinum) which she has to take twice a day. It took about a week for her to be able to walk without wobbling and for her to be pretty much back to normal and up until today she was fine, able to go for about half an hours walk before it got too much for her and wanting to play and behaving normally. The vet said after the last attack that the majority of dogs recover without too many problems.
When I got up this morning, it looked like she was starting to have another attack, she is wobbling and struggling to stand and walk, the head tilt is back and her eyes are slightly flickering again, she ate her breakfast this morning, so she is booked into the vets later this morning to be checked over again. Has anyone on here had this with their dogs? Did the dog recover or did they carry on having these attacks? When she recovered from the last attack she was happy, normal, back to her old self, but this morning she looks sad and confused again and it's not nice seeing her this way.
When I got up this morning, it looked like she was starting to have another attack, she is wobbling and struggling to stand and walk, the head tilt is back and her eyes are slightly flickering again, she ate her breakfast this morning, so she is booked into the vets later this morning to be checked over again. Has anyone on here had this with their dogs? Did the dog recover or did they carry on having these attacks? When she recovered from the last attack she was happy, normal, back to her old self, but this morning she looks sad and confused again and it's not nice seeing her this way.
Most dogs recover fine from geriatric vestibular disease over a few weeks without any further issues, though some will keep the head tilt or have episodic bouts of being wobbly.
One of the problems is that it is "idiopathic" ie we don't know why it happens, which makes it a little hard to understand. It would however be the most likely reason why your dog is displaying these signs.
It's certainly worth going back to your vet just to make sure there is no sign of anything else going on, and the meds should make him feel a little better too.
One of the problems is that it is "idiopathic" ie we don't know why it happens, which makes it a little hard to understand. It would however be the most likely reason why your dog is displaying these signs.
It's certainly worth going back to your vet just to make sure there is no sign of anything else going on, and the meds should make him feel a little better too.
Thank you 
. She's been back to the vets, who has said it is another episode of the vestibular disease and that it is the first time they've seen it happen for a second time. The vet went off to have a read up about it and came back to say that it does on rare occasions happen for a second time after 2-3 weeks, which is what appears to have happened in our dogs case. We've got to carry on with her meds and the vet has given us some valium to give her if she won't settle and sleep (thankfully she is now asleep) and a tablet to give her if the nausea comes back. If she gets worse we obviously have to take her back, but the vet seems to think that she will recover but it'll just take time.
. She's been back to the vets, who has said it is another episode of the vestibular disease and that it is the first time they've seen it happen for a second time. The vet went off to have a read up about it and came back to say that it does on rare occasions happen for a second time after 2-3 weeks, which is what appears to have happened in our dogs case. We've got to carry on with her meds and the vet has given us some valium to give her if she won't settle and sleep (thankfully she is now asleep) and a tablet to give her if the nausea comes back. If she gets worse we obviously have to take her back, but the vet seems to think that she will recover but it'll just take time.Honestly I wouldn't say it is that rare to have a repeat attack a few weeks after. So much so I have always warned owners just in case the vet didn't.
My old collie had 3 the third one was a few months after the first two and was more serious.
Have your vets discussed using vivitonin? (I see they gave tge equivalent of)
Give her time and she should slowly improve but may be left with deafness or a head tilt, I know how worrying it can be but she should stabilise soon bless her.
My old collie had 3 the third one was a few months after the first two and was more serious.
Have your vets discussed using vivitonin? (I see they gave tge equivalent of)
Give her time and she should slowly improve but may be left with deafness or a head tilt, I know how worrying it can be but she should stabilise soon bless her.
Edited by bexVN on Tuesday 15th September 14:25
Thanks bex . So 3 days on from the relapse and she seems to be doing ok. She's still got a fairly bad head tilt and is still very wobbly, but there are small signs of improvement. This time she didn't stop eating, so I guess she didn't get the nausea that she got last time. We're doing small amounts of walking to try to help her, and she seems to be slowly adapting to the balance problem and is happy to walk along leaning against my leg for a bit of support.
My vets practice is a small 2 vet practice in a fairly rural area, so I wouldn't think they see that many dogs with this problem, which may explain why they didn't know about it recurring. Bex, yes the Karsivan does appear to be the equivalent of Vivitonin here (I'm not in the UK), is there anything else I can give her that may help her? She was getting green lipped mussel and glucosamine before as she was starting to get problems with her back legs, but I've stopped them for the moment until she picks up a bit.
. So 3 days on from the relapse and she seems to be doing ok. She's still got a fairly bad head tilt and is still very wobbly, but there are small signs of improvement. This time she didn't stop eating, so I guess she didn't get the nausea that she got last time. We're doing small amounts of walking to try to help her, and she seems to be slowly adapting to the balance problem and is happy to walk along leaning against my leg for a bit of support. My vets practice is a small 2 vet practice in a fairly rural area, so I wouldn't think they see that many dogs with this problem, which may explain why they didn't know about it recurring. Bex, yes the Karsivan does appear to be the equivalent of Vivitonin here (I'm not in the UK), is there anything else I can give her that may help her? She was getting green lipped mussel and glucosamine before as she was starting to get problems with her back legs, but I've stopped them for the moment until she picks up a bit.
Edited by baker77 on Friday 18th September 12:27
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