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Congenital Vestibular disease


Little Bo Boop
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If you go back to the MDR1 thread, you will see that I posted about my pup that was suffering from nystagmus and what I thought to be some loss of vision.  While I couldn't say nor did I know, if it could have something to do with the MDR1 issue, it concerned me, and I came here, hoping to get some answers.  Well fast forward to today.  after doing blood work, thyroid panels, and checking inner ears,(which all came back normal)  I decided to take my 14 month old dog, Hogan, to an ophthalmologist.  He did all the standard tests, ocular pressure, tear production etc...all tests were within normal perimeters.  He didn't think Hogan had any vision loss, but rather, what I was seeing was his nystagmus,  he thinks it probably makes it hard for him to focus, the nystagmus seems to be more pronounced when he's excited or nervous.  The diagnoses is Congenital vestibular disease .  Per vet:  "There is no recommended course of action beyond examination of the ears and consideration of a neurology consultation. An underlying cause is unlikely to be determined in this case since the
patient is otherwise normal in every other way."   We both agreed that a neurological consult would not really be warranted, as he suffers no other symptoms, neurological symptoms that you would normally associate with vestibular disease (thank god) no head tilt, ataxia, uncoordinated, nausea...  So basically it is what it is...nothing we can do about this, no meds etc. to resolve this, hopefully he will adapt to this and maybe at some point I'll even be able to work him on stock (vet said it wasn't out of the question)  regardless, he's got a home for life, and I'm just happy that he's not suffering or hurting from this condition.  

Now :-( this is something that is very concerning,  "congenital vestibular disease has been determined to be an inherited autosomal  recessive trait. "   Now I have to ask, where did this come from?  Have any of you come across such a thing in Border Collies? I've never heard of it...is there a DNA test for this?   Sorry, but this is all kind of mind blowing for me...

 

 

 

This is a vid. of Hogan, it was taken pre op for his neuter, no drugs had been admin. yet.  This is the nystagmus,  Nystagmus is defined as rapid, uncontrolled eye movement. 

 

 

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A friend of mine, years ago, had nystagmus. It was a life-long condition and didn't bother him at all. He acted, sang & danced at the theatre I worked for with no problems, drove a car, and generally did everything normal folk do. I know it's not a dog related anecdote, but thought it might help.

Ruth & Gibbs

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There is a genetic test for DINGS (congenital deafness combined with vestibular dysfunction) in the Doberman Pinscher. Whether or not that mutation (on the PTPRQ gene) has any parallels to vestibular disease in a Border Collie would be a Mark question.

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5 hours ago, terrecar said:

There is a genetic test for DINGS (congenital deafness combined with vestibular dysfunction) in the Doberman Pinscher. Whether or not that mutation (on the PTPRQ gene) has any parallels to vestibular disease in a Border Collie would be a Mark question.

Yes, thanks, I saw that, the PTPRQ.  It looks like the dobermans are born with the vestibular issues, and then they go deaf, that's why my vet suggested I get his hearing tested (I initially thought Hogan had a hearing problem, but I now attribute that to the vision issue)  Pretty sure his hearing is ok.  After thinking about this all night, I don't think congenital vestibular disease is the right diagnoses,  at least I don't believe it to be the inheritable form (I'm assuming there is an idiopathic form?)  If he had/has the inheritable form, then that would mean that both his sire and dam would be carriers for that gene as well, and I find that very hard to believe, I would imagine the odds of that happening would be slim to  none.  At this point I am at a loss...While I'm very happy that Hogan isn't in pain or suffering, very grateful for that!!  It's very frustrating not knowing what or where this came from.  I really would have liked to use him as a stock dog, but I don't think that's going to happen...the nystagmus really skews his vision (I believe)  I'll still try him, maybe at some point his brain will adjust or adapt to the problem... 

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11 hours ago, urge to herd said:

A friend of mine, years ago, had nystagmus. It was a life-long condition and didn't bother him at all. He acted, sang & danced at the theatre I worked for with no problems, drove a car, and generally did everything normal folk do. I know it's not a dog related anecdote, but thought it might help.

Ruth & Gibbs

My husband was an AF pilot, one day he was flying formation, when he got super disoriented, luckily he was in a 2 seat aircraft, and the other pilot landed the jet...he was taken off flying status for a year, while they tried to figure out what was going on with him.  He suffered from nystagmus as well...he spent a lot of time at the aerospace hospital, where they did all sorts of tests on him, to include inducing nystagmus...they pour warm then cold water in your ear :-O.  They never did find out what was going on, but it resolved itself, and he was able to fly again. 

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