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Post by smalltowngirlie on Jun 8, 2016 1:36:52 GMT
Our poor puppy, ok she is our 13 year old puppy, has idiopathic canine vestibular disease. It was so scary when it hit her. Such a sudden and drastic change. We are treating her now, but it is still tough to see her stumble once in a while. It is really hard because we have 3 steps to get in and out of our house and she struggles with them. I have found if I make her go slow she does much better than when she tries to run down them. We are not letting her downstairs because I am afraid she would fall down and really hurt herself, so we are keeping her on the main floor for now. She has shown much improvement, but she is not eating hardly anything. We are not sure if eating makes her stomach upset, but she is not throwing up, or if she does not like her food at this time. She has not even eaten her treats as much as she used to. She will ask for one, take it and go set it down. I think tomorrow I am going to try a new food to see if that entices her to eat more. If you have had experience with this, what did you do to help your dog be comfortable while they recover? Here is a link if you are not sure what it is.. ICVD |
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The Great Carpezio
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by The Great Carpezio on Jun 8, 2016 1:45:52 GMT
Good luck. Hopefully she will recover fully and have many more years with you.
Our Jasmine had it. It hit her the first time hard. She was about 12/13 or so. She recovered about 99%. She got it again about six months later---not has bad, and recovered about 95%.
After that, she'd have little mini episodes maybe twice a year until 17 (yes, 17) and she would always recover almost fully within a couple days but would sometimes seem a little cockeyed.
Right after Christmas this year she got it badly again. This time is didn't go away after a few days. It got worse and she couldn't do much of anything. She was miserable. After about two weeks, I went in and talked to the vet. By this time, I figured she had a lesion on her brain and wouldn't get better and vet agreed. We put her down at age 17.5.
So, sad, but she had it for about five years and it wasn't much of an issue until the last two weeks of her life.
I hope this is a "good" story. I think it is overall.
Good thoughts for your girl.
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MsKnit
Pearl Clutcher
RefuPea #1406
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Jun 26, 2014 19:06:42 GMT
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Post by MsKnit on Jun 8, 2016 1:48:02 GMT
My Keeshond had this. Poor thing!
She lost a fair amount of weight afterward. I think it was because it was hard for her to eat more than anything. Her head would move side to side when she would try to eat or drink anything. We would hand feed her sometimes.
When it wasn't so new, we allowed her to use the stairs with supervision. Best thing we did was shut the stairs off to her after it happened. I think it worked because she was able to adjust to her new normal with a minimum of stairs outside. So, when she began using a full staircase again, she wasn't afraid.
If I remember correctly, she was 13 when she had her episode. That was scary and bizarre. Dh seen the episode happen. When I got there, her eyes were going back and forth rapidly. Never seen anything like it.
She left us a little over a month past her 15th b-day.
She's been gone over 13 years and I miss her every day.
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The Great Carpezio
Pearl Clutcher
Something profound goes here.
Posts: 2,986
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Post by The Great Carpezio on Jun 8, 2016 1:48:47 GMT
Oh and I didn't do much. She only threw up a lot that first time and a couple times at the end (with incontinence).
Just hold her and keep her safe. Jasmine was always back on track within a couple of days after the first bout.
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Post by smalltowngirlie on Jun 8, 2016 1:59:48 GMT
DS and I were home when it happened. It was very scary. He actually lifted her up and down the 3 steps the first day. She could not do it. She showed some improvement over the weekend, then yesterday she would just collapse a couple times. We are hoping she fully recovers, by fa most dogs do, so that is what we are thinking. As I said, we don't leave the door to the steps open, I don't want her trying them.
She is drinking well so we like that. We know she has arthritis in her back legs so I think that is making it a bit tougher for her. It is kind of funny watching her walk, she looks a little drunk. She stills wags her tail constantly so we know she is not in too much pain, if any.
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scrapngranny
Pearl Clutcher
Only slightly senile
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Post by scrapngranny on Jun 8, 2016 2:05:28 GMT
My border collie had a severe episode a few years ago. They had to put her under anesthesia to get her to stop rolling over and over. She scratched one of the techs so bad she had to have stitches on her face.
It took her a while to get back to normal, but she did make a complete recovery. It was very scary, I thought she had a brain tumor or something that was going to be fatal. Luckily my DH was home at the time, I never could have gotten her in the car by myself.
We had to make a sling out of a towel for a couple of days to help her to go potty.
Your baby should start to feel a little better by tomorrow. I know it makes them very dizzy. I hope she feels better soon.
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Post by coffeetalk on Jun 8, 2016 3:02:37 GMT
Our 13-yr-old golden had it and would tumble down stairs, vomit and had incontinence. Our vet treated her with Benadryl which resolved the symptoms pretty quickly. She had head-tilt for about 6 wks. Our sweet girl lived to 17. Give your buddy a scratch behind the ear from me.
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lindas
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,277
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Post by lindas on Jun 8, 2016 3:18:36 GMT
Poor little thing. I hopes she makes a complete and fast recovery.
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Post by Lexica on Jun 8, 2016 6:44:14 GMT
Will she eat roasted chicken? That seems to be the one thing that my pets will eat when they are refusing everything else. Well, except one cat, she ended up only eating tilapia, and that was only if I sat with her and hand fed her, which I did. I usually just take a frozen chicken breast and put it into a pot with water and cook it on the stovetop. It doesn't take long, and the chicken remains really moist and easy to tear up. Boiling it is also really bland, which is something I would think you want the she is so sick.
Do you have a good quality pet store near you? If you do, I would check with them to see if they have a liquid or gel supplement they can recommend to help keep some nutrients in your dog. If you cannot get a recommendation from a good pet store, PetSmart and PetCo both carry something called Nutri-Cal that should work in a pinch. It is a brownish mixture that smells like meat (well, kind of) has lots of nutrients and calories in it to help keep the dog stable until they return to eating on their own.
We had to give it to my sister's dog all the time because she would not eat very well on her own, and that was when she wasn't sick. I put it in a big syringe to feed her from. We had to practically force it down her throat in the beginning, but she eventually accepted it and would lick the end of the syringe as we slowly squirt it out. It is a gel, so it isn't too messy. I'm not big on most of the food products sold in chain stores, but it sounds like your dog will be dealing with this for a while, and needs to keep her nutrition up as best as she can.
Please keep us updated on how she is doing.
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Post by christine58 on Jun 8, 2016 10:21:34 GMT
My yellow lab had this happen once...she was around 14. It went away after a day or two--had to elevate her food and water. She lived one more year and it didn't ever happen again.
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Post by moonglowe21 on Jun 8, 2016 11:17:25 GMT
I don't know anything about this disease, but just wanted to say how sorry I am that your dear puppy is going through it. Sending love and big hugs to you and her, and hoping for many healthy years ahead!
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