Geriatric Vestibular Syndrome...

[westiemum]

Well my beautiful 15 year old westie, Sarah, has vestibular disease. She fell off the bed about 7 am last Saturday morning, woke me up and when I went to pick her up I discovered she could barely stand - scared the cr*p out of me. I raced her outside to the pavers and she was able to stand but madly circling right , wobbly and unsteady on her feet - yep, vestibular I thought. Had a wee on the pavers - very unusual for her.

Rang the vet, phone diverted and got him out of bed (I thought they opened at 7 am not realising its later on Saturdays ). He was lovely and rang me back with an 8 am appointment then and there with the his vet with a neuro bent.

Anyway, Sarah is getting better. I'm hoping it will all completely resolve by the end of the week.

My question is apart from acupuncture, how do I give her the best chance possible to avoid a recurrence? Or can't I? Any suggestions??

TIA

[ness]

My understanding is some do some don't and not sure you can really avoid a recurrence. Ness had an episode at around 13.5 and recovered fine and didn't have any further episodes in her remaining 10 or so months of life.

[Diva]

My Tervueren had it an advanced age, recovered fine and no recurrence. I am not sure you can do anything except good quality care, which I am sure she is getting.

[persephone]

Ohh..poor wonky girl Hope she recovers well

[kayla1]

I've been told the same thing, that there's not much you can do to avoid recurrences. My old girl Kayla had several episodes - one episode had a long recovery time but she recovered to about 90% eventually. She always had a head tilt after that. She also had physio and regular acupuncture, which helped her move more freely.

Maxie also has transient (not geriatric) vestibular episodes with unknown cause. The specialists have said as long as he continues to recover quickly after each episode then there is nothing to do, and no way of avoiding future episodes.

So, apart from keeping her as healthy as possible, I think it's mainly a matter of managing episodes as they occur. Hopefully it's a one-off and she won't have any further episodes.

[Dogsfevr]

All our dogs get bowen therapy & even more so in old age,never had it but maintaining the comfort of an old body is just like us

[westiemum]

Thanks all. Good to know we're all of similar thinking and I'm not overlooking something obvious that might help her. Off to acupuncture ASAP. ????

[griff]

My Si'rena siamese had two vestibular turns the first was bad the 2nd only mild since then she has been ok just walks with a bit of a wobble .

Hope Sarah mends soon and has no more 'turns'

[rubiton]

This is the eye flicking and also often called a 'dog stroke'? If so our old dog had this in 2012 at 13 - sat down was fine got up and was just staggering everywhere and had the eye flicking. She eventually recovered completely from that one. 18 months later she had it again and possible had been stuck all day but again eventually recovered though I wondered for a time there. 18 months after that or so (last November) I think she had another one on a walk but a lot smaller (she had been having issues with a back leg lameness but was going on walks but coming back after one she really started to have issues) - this left her with a lot more weakness in her hind end but she was 16 1/2 by then so it was hard to tell.

As for reoccurance - you cant tell. They either will have it again and you'll know the signs moreso or they wont. My parents Golden retriever had this once and recovered but for a slight head tilt and slight hind end weakness - it took time but it never happened to him again. Someone on the work email forum had a dog that had 2 that it recovered fine from, not so good after the third and didnt recover from the 4th one - again another old dog but they didnt go into details.

[westiemum]

Thanks griff and rubicon. Yes I'm really hoping this is a once off. She didn't seem as good last night. Circling seemed a bit worse. We're back to the vet on Friday night so will see how she is by then.

[westiemum]

She's better tonight, her nystagmus and head tilt are still there but much less severe and while she's still circling its usually when she gets up from lying down. She's often able to walk fairly straight and hasn't had any vomitting since last Saturday that I know of. She's been back to the vet tonight, got more ABs and valium, wolfed her dinner down and is snoozing on the lounge.

Thanks everyone for your help.

Edited July 22, 2016 by westiemum

[westiemum]

Thought an update might be good. Sarah is doing very well but has some residual head tilt, is still circling a bit right and is a bit wobbly - but she can walk straight, the nystagmus has gone and generally she's pretty happy. It seems that she will have some residual vestibular effects until the end of her days.

This last week she has had a spinal complaint - the chiro vet thinks it is an exacerbation of an old injury. And I suppose what we might call a 'slipped disc'.

After 3 am emergency treatment with opiates last Friday morning she has since had two sessions of acupuncture. And the improvement is miraculous. As part of her second session this morning she's had some acupuncture for her vestibular disease as well as a follow-up session on her back. And again she's now a so much happier dog - moving much much better and less head tilt and circling. The acupuncture vet is so pleased with her he doesn't want to see her again unless she has a flare up with either her vestibular disease or her back.

Becoming a real fan of acupuncture!

[Mjosa]

So pleased to hear that she is doing better.

I am a great believer in acupuncture for both our fur babies and humans. :)

[griff]

Good to hear Sarah is doing well,

[westiemum]

Thank you both. Its hard as they get older - so its terrific to find something that really seems to help. I don't know how it works but it certainly does.