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Geriatric Vestible Disease


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My old Misty woke me this morning stumbling about the bed at 4.30am, I thought she was having a fit which she does rarely.

She was very disorientated & seemed stressed & proceeded to pee on the bed.

She had a very badly tilted head, I laid with her & she went back to sleep, however her eyes were very twitchy, so I bundled her off to the vets.

Lucky I work there, & the vet came in and examined her & said it was GVD & there was no treatment & gave her a good prognosis. Seems MOST dogs recover very well.

We kept an eye on her all morning while I was at work, but she HATES being at the vets & was getting very stressed, so when Mum came to pick her up you could see her relax striaght away.

She came home & had some chicken and a drink which is a great sign as the only way MOST dogs can die from this is dehydration as they can't control themselves enough to drink.

She is walking alot better, still doing circles, but not falling over as much, it truely is a horrid thing to see, & I was sure she wasn't coming home today, but she is a tough old biddy & at 15 we are hopeful she will make a full recovery.

I am adding the link if anyone is interested in it, seems it only occurs in old dogs, and prevalent to dogs that have had ear problems, and quite amazingly we had another old dog in today with the exact same problem.

https://www.vetconnect.com.au/5min/data/00740075.htm

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My old girl Kell had it, I originally thought she had a stroke. She recovered to live another 2 years but always had a head tilt. It took her a long time to recover and we had to adapt things for her such as stairs as her sense of balance was never quite the same but she lived a great life. She only ever had the one episode although my vet did warn me that once affected they can reoccur.

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There is no medical need for steroids for them, just time and sometimes anti-nausea medication can help if required.

Best wishes for your girl, sounds like she is doing great already if she is up so quickly.

Give her lots of cuddles, and plenty of support, she will continue to improve.

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Hello there

My dog, who's 13 this year has had two bouts of geriatric vestibular disease. Both times he has recovered back to normal within only a few hours, no ill effects whatsoever. I understand that this is not always the case and the affected dog will have some lasting reminder of the disease or a recovery period, as others have pointed out.

It's a massive scare though when it happens!! I had never heard of it before and I actually thought he was dying the first time it happened because his eyes were rolling back in his head and he couldn't stand up. He hasn't had it happen to him for quite a while now, so hopefully he won't get it anymore.... the bouts were 6-12 months apart.

Sorry I can't be of more help with your particular circumstance.

Edited by Akay
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Are they suppose to get worse before they get better, she is still eating, but is having alot of trouble walking.

Yes Kells got worse before it got better. The first week was horrific and it was a number of mths before I trusted her to safely do simple things such as go down the one step into the section. Hope your girl is on the improve soon

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