MaxLhasa

We have been so fortunate that he didn't vomit at all & his appetite returned after being on the drip for 24 hours. We also had the vet discuss a scan with us & so far the improvements he's made don't make the scan necessary. The poor little guy has been through so much in the last 8 months, developed indolent ulcers in both eyes in October & lost his 16 yr old brother in November. I just hope he can now live out the rest of his days pain free, comfortable & happy. ........... now I have to cuddle him........

Any unusual activity makes me run to the vet with him, especially at 17. In some of my reading about it there were many people who were encouraged to put their dog to sleep only to discover that they may not have needed to. I was lucky to have come across 2 vets who are very experienced in seeing the symptoms. Both vets were in towns with aged populations of owners & dogs. What I wanted to get across to everyone is to make sure your vet has ruled out vestibular disease/syndrome before they do anything drastic. I think I would have been led down that path initially when he was circling, falling & eyes frantically darting. I straight away thought "stroke, we're going to lose him!" Both vets we saw are getting giftbaskets this week. I've just been out in the sun with my little man & he followed me round the garden, albeit shakily, having a sniff of everything. Love him heaps

I've never posted before but I thought this should be something for everyone to be aware of. Last Wednesday we decided to make a car trip from Melbourne to Adelaide with our 2 babies, 17 yr old Malt x & 10 month old Lhasa Apso. They both LOVE going in the car. We stopped halfway (Horsham) for a wee/walk rest & the 17yr old wasn't standing very steady. He is an extremely agile old boy & shows no signs of athritis pain. (I credit years of Sashas Blend to this.) After walking him around alittle bit he began spinning in circles & staggering as if he was drunk. I thought perhaps he was developing a bit of travel sickness with his age. I popped him back in the car & his head was bobbing around like he was watching a fly buzzing in his face. Then I noticed his eyes moving rapidly left to right. SCARY!! I called my vet back in Melbourne who recommended I see a vet in Horsham before we continue on. After almost 2 hours at the vet she diagnosed Geriatric Vestibular. His symptoms, while there in the room, calmed down & he began walking quite nicely again with slight swaggering. The vet gave him a shot of anti-nausea & we decided to continue on to Adelaide. I did some internet research on the subject & it calmed down my fears done slightly regarding his symptoms. The next day (Thursday) he was still unsteady (worse than yesterday) on his feet, falling down & bumping into things but eating & drinking well through the day & generally quite bright. Although he did have very mucky poos during the day & his eyes were still left/right darting but not as pronounced as in Horsham. By 11pm that night he was refusing water & food, actually turning his head away from boiled chicken. He loves his chicken! Friday morning he was at the vet & she immediately put him on IV fluid. He stayed in hospital for 2 nights. Turns out that he also had gastro along with the vestibular. He had NO vomitting at all during this entire saga. By this stage he had a very severe head tilt & just looked plain sad ;) Monday we decided to make the trip back home to Melbourne & he travelled extremely well. Still very unsteady on his feet, needing me to hold one side of him while he moves about. But drinking water very well. Today I've stayed home from work to give him a rest in a familiar environment & make sure he drinks etc. THANKFULLY he is very much improved, head still tilted but eating (cortizone!!GRRR) & drinking. He seems to be coping with his dizzyness & walks slowly to compensate. We're off to our vet tomorrow to get some more blood tests etc & just make sure everything is right. With all the reading I've been doing on vestibular, it seems that many people have put their baby to sleep thinking that the symptoms were a stroke or something not recoverable. I panicked & thought the same thing when he was circling & staggering. If your pooch starts doing the drunken walk, circling & falling over, eyes dart back & forth, tilting head to one side & bumping into things then please do some internet searching on GERIATRIC VESTIBULAR. There are other symptoms which we have been lucky not to be suffering with at the moment, such as vomitting. It is something the dog can recover from. I'd love to hear about anyone else with experience of this & how their pooch is coping & any recurrences. I can find lots of articles online about it but I'm really interested to hear real life cases.