Urgent/desperate Help Me Diagnose My Dog!

[GrumpyGoose]

Hi please help me, I'm devastated and need to know I've exhausted all avenues before I reluctantly throw in the towel.

I left my dog on Friday with my family to go away for the weekend and she was perfectly healthy. On Saturday it sounds like she wandered out the garden while someone was popping to the car (not unusual for her) and she came back inside and stumbled a bit. Since then it seems she can't coordinate her feet and tilts her head to the right a lot. She falls often, especially if she shakes her head. At first family thought she had injured a paw after someone stepped on it but it's definitely all 4 legs affected. Vet says all reflexes and systems are normal, blood work returned normal, she's had 2 steroid injections (Tuesday and Wednesday) to treat any potential inflammation in case it's ear related etc. She has until tomorrow to improve on these until we rule it out. I don't see much improvement I don't think. Vet suspects if everything else is ruled out it's a mass on the brain. Is there anything that we could have missed?? Does it sound familiar?! She's so so normal in every other way she just can't walk properly (still takes herself out to the garden to toilet but is otherwise on strict bedrest)

She's 13.5 (no spring chicken I know but she wasn't slowing down much or showing her age!) she's a boxer x springer. She has cataracts, a heart murmur that hasn't changed and hasn't caused problems, and on Urilin (and now recently Propalin for incontinence. Please help me, I can't bear the thought of losing her. PFA.

[Floralnomad]

Sounds like vestibular disease , but that’s fairly common in geriatric dogs so I would imagine your vet has ruled it out . Hope you get to the bottom of it .

[ScreamingValenta]

Poor thing! You mention incontinence - could it be bladder-related?

[Sundayspilot]

Hi OP. Sorry your dog is ill. For legal and ethical reasons I can't diagnose your dog over the internet, however, has your vet mentioned something called geriatric vestibular disease? This condition can cause very dramatic symptoms but usually improves with support at home.

Failing that, would referral to a specialist be an option for you? Your vet could potentially set something up. Don't worry about causing offence. It never hurts my feeling if a client wants another opinion.

[KarmaStar]

Do you mean she got into the road op?could a car have hit her?
Or could it be a stroke?brain tumour?
I really don't know,I've been around dogs all my life and based on what you have said,I've not seen it.
I'm so so sorry @grumpygoose,I really hope she responds to the treatment.
Sending healing and prayers for your lovely dog and you.

[Sundayspilot]

oops, looks like I'm a bit slow on the uptake

[GrumpyGoose]

@KarmaStar sorry, no not near a road - quiet residential area she was just around the side of the house and then back in the garden from what I hear. Very sudden 😔

PPs - Sounds very much like Vestibular Disease. It hasn't been mentioned but I'm just trying to find out how it's diagnosed.

[GrumpyGoose]

Thank you everyone for your responses. I'm just so heartbroken. She's been my best friend for 10 years

[PotteryGirl]

My friends dog died recently of meningitis..I’m so sorry but he was well one minute and very poorly the next..I’m so sorry, as a dog owner I know how worried you must be. Don’t lose hope..🐾

[ScreamingValenta]

She is beautiful. I do hope it's something that can be treated .

[CrunchieFriday]

[BrownOwlknowsbest]

Don't give up on her just yet. I had an elderly (13) Labrador cross who collapsed and lost all her coordination. Like your lovely girl, all her tests came back negative, we even had a full body scan done (thank goodness for insurance) However, over about 3 months she did recover and lived another 3 years. I think it was eventually considered an idiopathic seizure, since no actual cause could be found. Hope your girl goes on OK

[Floralnomad]

My mums dog had some pills for his vestibular disease , and had to go in a few times to have his BP taken , as it was he didn’t get on with the pills but he seemed to recover quite quickly anyway . He’s got multiple issues though so it didn’t seem a major issue in the scheme of things .

[GrumpyGoose]

Thank you everyone I really appreciate your responses. I'm interested to hear that vestibular disease can be treated with pills @Floralnomad I had a read of it on Fitzpatrick Referrals and it made it sound like a lengthy recovery with all sorts of physio and such.

It does seem ear related to me which can relate to vestibular disease. She shakes her head more often and she suddenly seems a bit deaf.. otherwise she's her usual self in all ways except her walking.

[GivenAndDenied]

A common symptom of vestibular disorder is that the eyes kind of flicker side to side slightly, constantly & quickly - are hers doing that? It seems odd that a vet couldn't identify it, if it were that, as it's a very common thing - I've had it in an old dog years ago, and the dog was treated with a liquid medication, and went on to live another four years with fairly good health.

[GrumpyGoose]

Without trying to jinx us, my lovely dog seems to be (dare I say it) recovering?! I haven't spoken to the vet since things took a turn for the better but she's almost walking normally all of a sudden?!