Our old black Lab X Jackson had an episode last Tuesday, right in front of me, where he lost all balance and crawled/fell around the living room, pooping and peeing as he went. I thought he was having a seizure. He had lost bowel/bladder control twice in previous weeks-we did not witness the first episode at all; the second we caught the tail end of and he was also crawling/falling as he went- but he snapped out of it. Weve known for awhile that at 14, his time with us was limited. In July he had a UTI and also seemed very stiff/sore after; we thought he was on the way out then. But he rallied and had been acting just like our 2 younger girls again, just a bit slower. Now, this. Another emergency vet visit. It could be a brain tumor or it could be inner ear. The vet (who I dont care for- not our regular guy but it is a multi-vet practice and the regular vet was off that day) said Ill do whatever you want me to do... its not fair to you that hes pooping and peeing in your house. This did not quite register with me until later, I was already so upset, but I replied we have hardwood, its not really a problem to clean up (his reply- oh, we have cream colored carpet). He just stroked my fur backwards... as if a sweet old dog having accidents in the house a few times was cause for euthanasia? The second choice was wait and see. I could not make a decision and Jackson was horribly distressed, falling, flailing about in bewilderment. I was in tears. I asked for the vet to run bloodwork because obviously if something was amiss, maybe the liver which had been slightly abnormal back in July, it would be a more clear decision. The bloodwork was all fine except for the pancreas. His comment was this dog should have pancreatitis but that doesnt fit with his symptoms. At this point I decided to just wait and see, put Jackson on some steroids and if he wasnt better in 48 hours bring him back for the last time. I am glad I waited. Jackson is still affected, but every day is a little bit better. I rigged up a dog car harness to help him up and down the porch stairs to go outside to potty (it was a bit small but some jerryrigging with a collar over the back and it fits well- not too snug), and brought every non skid rug/pad we have into the great room and kitchen to make a non skid path for him. I have some non skid boots on order. He has a head tilt now but eats well and seems happy. The head tilt may go away or at least get better. In talking with my sister Kate (shes a vet in Ohio) apparently this is very common in older dogs and they usually get much better in 1-2 weeks. In researching it, it seems a lot of people think their dogs have had a stroke and put their dogs down :-( Kind of sad reading the comments from those folks on this very good article (but theres lots of good result case studies there too): thebark/content/idiopathic-or-old-dog-vestibular-disease?page=1 Hopefully he will recover from this... every day is a gift. I can TOTALLY relate to what he is going through, having had an epic battle with viral-caused vertigo for 8 months back in 2003-04. Thank goodness he could still eat- at one point I went through 6 weeks of nausea so bad I lost 40 pounds and lived off Ensure. It is something I would never wish on anyone or anything. Only folks whove experienced it can really understand, I think. Heres a video taken 48 hours after diagnosis. He does much better outside on good footing, and when traveling in a straight line. He is one tough old dog- he had fallen backwards on the porch stairs earlier, before this was taken (also before I rigged the harness up so I could guide him up/down the stairs) youtu.be/O--nxEZZLwY Thank you to my dear sister Kate Hornick, vet extraordinaire, for giving me far more information in 5 minutes over the phone than our vet did in several hours. You rock!
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 23:07:29 +0000
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