doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Bad scare..

I know this is off topic.

Friday afternoon about 5pm my 13 year old gsp, hopped off the couch. Suddenly she could no longer walk. Everytime she attempted to stand, her rear legs collapsed under her. She went into a panic, trying to pull herself along with just her front legs.

I tried to help her to stand, but she would take 2 steps and fall flat. I was pretty convinced at that point, she had suffered a stroke.



I picked up the phone and called my vet. He had closed for the day. So I left a message. About and hour later, he returned my call. He asked a series of questions. Then told me to bring her in at 9am on Saturday.

My wife and I loaded Tick into the car next morning. I was pretty convinced this was our last trip together and told my wife as much.

Well, I am glad to say that I was wrong. This is apparently a rather common syndrome in old dogs, that is known as Geriatric Vestibular Disease. It looks and acts like a stroke. Most dogs recover on their own with just some attention and care. It has been almost 48 hours now and she is doing better. She can walk, though still shaky.

Some links that help with understanding...

http://www.dvgrr.org/pdf/Vestibular_Syndrome.pdf

http://vestibular.org/sites/default/file...0and%20cats.pdf

Pete

Our daughters Pug, who is a hunter wanna-be, as the Quail in the neighborhood have discovered had a similar problem a couple of years ago.
By the time we got her to the Vet she was already recovering. He put her on Prednesone for a week as a precautionary measure.
Thankfully you had a happy ending as well.
Jim

Pete, so glad it was a scare, not a stroke. Thanks for posting the info and links.

Pete, thanks . So glad things are better than feared. Daryl

Glad your dog is doing better. Hope everything continues to work out well.

I have had two Labradors have this, the first on a 10 year old who got over it in hours, the second on a 12 year old, who took a few days. Both made a full recovery and I think you can be fairly certain your GSP will as well.

Glad for you and her Pete.

Yep. My last Lab lived to 14, and he got it once, and this one is coming up on 14 in a month and he is getting a little weak. So far, he's only about like me; sleep in the wrong position and then suffer the consequences.
Glad you had a decent outcome.

Our springer started behaving very oddly about a year before she died and we guessed it was a stroke. She would track obliquely across the lawn or room on her way to you and her balance seemed all wrong.
I contacted a close friend who is highly qualified vet attatched to Cambridge University and he explained that dogs very rarely suffer from strokes as we understand them.
Nearly all the problems that we see in old dogs, and assume to be the effects of a stroke, are infact mainly specific canine ailments, many of which will get better given time.
Sadly our little springer didn't have enough time to recover before general old age got her.
However, knowing that the dreaded human spector of a stroke was not the problem, made living with her strange behavior a lot easier and it didn't seem to bother her! She always got there in the end even if she took in a couple of flower beds on the way!

Happy to hear Tick is on the road to recovery. Good Vet to make
the right call.