Our dog has had a stroke - anyone got any experience with this?

[mymama]

He is 13 years old and the vet thinks he has had a stroke. He is a bit unsteady and his head is tilting to the side a bit. He has been on medication for last week and has improved slightly. There is an ongoing medication you can put them on but is quite expensive. He is eating/drinking well and can still toilet himself and stand. Has anyone else had this experience and how did it turn out???

IME "strokes" in older dogs are not quite as bad as in people. They often get better from them, but are often left with a head tilt.
If your dog is improving, I would keep going with it for a while yet, especially if he is eating and drinking.
It may well be that the tablets are not crucial to him getting better, so have another chat with your vet if they are a bit pricey.
HTH, good luck

What medication is it? What breed is he? We had a German Shepherd who had a stroke at 2yrs and fully recovered. 13 yrs is old for a large breed but not necessarily for a small cross-breed. I guess if he is still eating and functioning well then he will probably be fine.

He was taking cortisone and antibiotics. He is a border collie cross. Next step is the ongoing medication to continually dilate the blood vessels in his brain. He is not in need of euthanasing, but was wondering if the head tilt causes any nausea etc???

My mums eldest dog has had 2 strokes and recovered fully from both. She is 13 and is not on permenant medication but looking at her you wouldn't think she had had 2 strokes. Very scary when it happpens in front of you. My mum was told by the vet that the permenent meds would,nt definately stop another which is why she chose not to put her on them.
Her head tilt lasted about a week or so

Thank you all for your replies. He seems much better today. It has been exactly one week and head tilt is still slightly there but not really wobbly anymore. He actually ran to meet me at the gate this afternoon - so good news.

Mymama

Has he been sick at all?

I only ask because we thought that our old dog (he was about 16) had had a stroke just over a year or so ago. He had the head tilt, was very unsteady and kept walking round in circles (!?). He was also very sick. I was convinced it was a stroke, but the vet diagnosed it as an inner-ear infection. He was put on medication (not sure what it was now... sorry) and within a week he was back to normal again, eating normally and everything. Sadly he had to be put down a few months later, but that was due to general old age and everything just packing up , not to do with the ear problem. Might be worth investigating with your vet if it sounds like a possibility.

my dog had a stroke aged 13 (this is years ago) and recovered fine from it - she died about a year later but from old age, and she lived on quite happily after the stroke.

Ellbell the vet checked his ears and said they looked fine. He didn't vomit or walk in circles but had the flickering eyes, head tilt and wobbly/off-balance. He seems to be improving a little each day. Doing very well considering we have 3 kids who poke and prod him constantly no matter how many times we tell them he is unwell. Not looking forward to the point where he would need to be put down. Hopefully a while off yet.

Hiya... sorry, not doubting the capability of your vet. It was just that I was sooooo convinced that Bobby had had a stroke, and was hugely relieved when the vet said that it was just this ear thing and could be fixed. Apparently the vomiting is key though... it upsets their balance so they feel sort of seasick all the time.

Hope your dog is up to strength again soon.