11 Year Old Dog Suddenly Lost Balance And Can No Longer Walk

[Guest donatella]

One of our family dogs who has been always fit as a fiddle has suddenly today been rushed to the vet as mum came home and found him unable to walk, falling down and crying. The vet is thinking possible neurological problem and therefore not good prognosis. Nelson is on a drip at the vets over night, on ab's and has had blood taken for hopefully some more indication what is going on tomorrow morning.

Can anyone can some more possible insight? I am feeling. helpless, Nelson will not be doing well in cage in the vets, he's a shy guy, mum is thinking she will bring him home tomorrow, spend 48 hours with him and give him lots of love and them take him back Monday morning for his wings What can make a healthy dog one day so sick the next? We don't want him going from sick in a vets cage to euth'd as he will be literally shaking and quivering where he is as he's very timid and a home body.

I am holding some candle of flame that perhaps it is curable but know at his age and if it is neurological then its. not looking good

Edited January 12, 2012 by donatella

[megan_]

So sorry to hear this. Could beca pinched nerve?

[sausy.dog]

Could be a nasty ear infection. Sounds like he is in pain if he is crying. I wouldn't lose hope yet.

[Jed]

Could be a stroke or vestibular disease. Get your relation to speak to the vet about vestibular - the symptoms are similar to stroke, and it is easy to mis-diagnose as a stroke. Vestibular usually resolves with time and care.

Could be anything - good luck with him, will be thinking of him

[Jed]

Could be a stroke or vestibular disease. Get your relation to speak to the vet about vestibular - the symptoms are similar to stroke, and it is easy to mis-diagnose as a stroke. Vestibular usually resolves with time and care.

Could be anything - good luck with him, will be thinking of him

[Dogsfevr]

A spinal stroke,never heard of it before until i do im offay with did ,very fit ,all fine now

[Guest lavendergirl]

Don't give up hope yet - it could be something curable. Poor boy very scary for him and your Mum

[Malamum]

Do a search on vestibular disease.

One of our dogs has had two bouts of this and I absolutely freaked out the first time not knowing what was wrong with her. Every time she tried to stand up and walk she would fall over and then panic and get all distressed. It was like she was drunk and it was horrible to watch. It cleared up after a about a week. This was probably about 2 years ago.

It reoccured about 6 months ago and we knew exactly what it was this time. However I don't think she's fully recovered this time as I think she still gets dizzy but she's just learnt to adapt to it.

[Jumabaar]

A friend had an old dog with vestibular disease. She couldn't walk much and was clearly off balance. Hers was a variety that cleared up after 2 months. If your vet isn't confident about diagnosing these things it might be worth a second opinion with a specialist.

[german_shep_fan]

Could be a stroke or vestibular disease. Get your relation to speak to the vet about vestibular - the symptoms are similar to stroke, and it is easy to mis-diagnose as a stroke. Vestibular usually resolves with time and care.

Could be anything - good luck with him, will be thinking of him

I agree with this, my old girl had this and i rushed her to the emergency as i had never heard of it before. She held her head of one side and couldn't move it and kept falling over so i thought she had had a stroke. There are a few tell tale signs of Vestibular so if she has them the vet will know.

Thinking of you and i hope there is a positive outcome.

[PuddleDuck]

Sounds like vestibular to me too. I've seen a few dogs with it and had it myself. It's awful-I had to hug the walls everywhere I went or I'd fall over, constant sea sickness and hard to lie in bed. It really made me appreciate how hard it would be for a dog

[Guest donatella]

thanks for the advice! i'm going to do some research on vestibular disease and PRAY its something like this. Its so hard not to think the very worst, he was honestly the fittest little guy, still went on long walks, swims, he was more like a 4 year old dog then an 11 year old dog.

I've forwarded all this to my mum.

[LizT]

My 12 year old Border Collie X had a stroke a few years ago and her symptoms were very similar, although she didn't appear to be in any pain. She appeared to loose conciousness and we thought she had passed away. On regaining conciousness(a matter of minutes)we took her to the vets and she was fine except for being a bit wobbly on her legs at the end of a trot or run she would go sideways at the rear end only, she walked fine. She was much like her old self and our vet did tell us that dogs recover much more sucessfully from strokes than people do.

Sadly a few months later she was laying on the lawn watching my OH mowing the grasss on the other side of their yard and when I looked out the window she was laying flat out and appeared to be deeper into the grass than was normal. When I went to her she had already passed away, quietly watching her "Dad" do stuff as she always liked to hang with him. We assume it was another stroke.

My mothers Dashund had his back broken in an altercation with his best mate a GSD who shared a kennel and he was unable to move his back legs and cried. THey never fought but we feel that maybe the GSD had rolled on him or something. Both dogs were around 10 years old. Poor littel fellow was PTS. Mum will never have a large and small dog share quarters again because of this.

Edited January 12, 2012 by LizT

[minimiss]

No idea what it could be, but sending positive vibes to the little guy to stay strong. He's got an adorable little face. Fingers crossed for some good news!

[Malamum]

One of the signs associated with vesicular disease is for them to have a bit of a head wobble (we now call Kira Little Miss Bobble Bead :D ) with the tendency to nod it towards the left hand side. When she looses her balance and stumbles it's always to the left as well.

[4Kelpies]

Vestibular disease is the most common cause of loss of balance in older dogs. Don't panic yet. Hopefully this is all it is and although unpleasant for the dog at the time (like being constantly seasick) it will resolve itself soon. Good luck.

[Dame Aussie]

One of my childhood dogs (Chi x) started falling over and not being able to use his legs, turned out it was a brain tumour. We gave him his wings a fortnight ago

After diagnosis he was on medication and lasted about another 4 months or so, he was 17 when he passed.

Fingers crossed it's nothing serious donatella

[persephone]

How are things today?

[Guest donatella]

They're still unsure exactly what it is but the blood results are good and theyre now thinking a possible lesion on his spinal cord as he is responding to very high doses of cortisone. Yesterday he couldnt stand and today he was standing in the vets cage, still can't walk but standing is a progress. Hes a funny little guy and won't eat for other people but ate some ham and cheese (his fave foods from my brother) sp hoping that its a step forward in the right direction and no harsh decisions have to be made. Fingers crossed.

[persephone]

Better news :) Hope he continues to improve!