Geriatric Vestibular Disease

[Kyna]

In May (it is now August) our girl Isla (she'll be 14 in October) had what our local vet called Geriatric Vestibular Disease. We force fed Isla with soft food and syringed water into her mouth. We carried her out to pee and held her up. The vet felt sure she would get better. We saw the vet every two days or so but after a week we thought perhaps we were being unfair. We had an appointment with a vet neurologist in 5 days. Our vet still felt strongly it wasn't cruel to keep Isla alive until the specialist appointment.

 

The neurologist diagnosed Isla with a stroke and said it was time to start her rehab. Ironically we had a two week holiday planned at our family cabin - 45 minutes from the neurologist (and a 10 hour drive from our home). The neurologist said it was time to start physio and loaned us a full body harness - he said that 10 to 11 days after onset was ideal to start physio. We were also in the ideal place for rehab. A cabin she has been going to for 12 of her almost 14 years. 5 or 6 short walks/day. By 3 days we only needed the chest harness.

 

Today Isla has a head tilt. She has trouble with the stairs in the house but can do the porch stairs. She lists a little to the side. And she can't hear where sounds are coming from. It was determined that the stroke was due to high blood pressure - there has to be a joke in there somewhere about a Border Collie with high blood pressure - she is on medication for that (about $80CND/mo). She has changed her eating pattern - she tends to leave her breakfast for 3PM and then have a bit of dinner at 6PM. But. She can catch the ball coming towards her like nothing, she loves her walks, loves lying on the deck and puts herself down for her nap in the house every afternoon. And she can still swivvle through our legs. She loves her walks around the block and loves being with us. She can't run the fields like she used to but we still take her - now we drive there instead of walk.

 

I post this because, during the first week of her illness I read up on GVD on-line. I came across several dogs who had been put down whose owns think, in retrospect, had GVD "if only I'd known". It was an exhausting 11 days until we got to the vet and the cabin, a toddler and a dog that needs a good run everyday and our Isla. That said we are so pleased for our diligence as our Isla is here today - a little different but still our girl. Every day with her is a gift.

 

Hope this helps someone

[nancy in AZ]

I just wanted to say that before joining this forum, I had never been aware of vestibular disease,and by extension, the similarity to stroke. In the past month there have been two instances of people close to me who feared their dogs had suffered strokes and prepared for the worst. Because of the info I've learned from this forum, I suggested checking with their vets about vestibular, and waiting just a bit to see if there was some recovery before making the dreaded decision. In both cases, one, a 15 year old sheltie, the other a 14 year old crested, the dogs showed marked improvement with pred within a matter of days, and are nearly recovered. The crested was certainly a stroke victim, the sheltie they aren't certain, but though still slightly unsteady at times, is making progress daily. So this is a heartfelt thank you to all of you who take the time to post to educate the rest of us!!

[diane allen]

I posted a similar experience in the "time to euthanize?" thread....my ol' girlie had this at 14 (curiously, developed while she was in the camper AT the vet's, 400 miles from home....lucky us!); for several weeks, we went through what Kyna described; at times, I thought, she can't be enjoying this and neither am I, so.....but stuck with it. A year later, she barely has any head tilt, eats just fine, and seemingly completely recoverd from this episode. BTW, an MRI showed no sign of stroke - so while symptoms may be similar, there are differences. She has other issues, at 15.5 yr of age, including deteriorating rear leg muscle - but still goes up and down a few steps, *thinks* she can jump into the camper (not!), and chases after the youngster if he has a toy. Life may be short, but it is good!

 

diane