Elderly dog with vestibular disease

[theresnoonequitelikegrandma]

Does anyone have any experience of this? Our (probably) nearly 15 year old rescue Border Collie X was suddenly wobbly this morning and the emergency vet diagnosed as soon as she saw her head tilting to the right.

I was a bit shocked when the vet started asking about quality of life and euthanasia especially when she said the condition usually resolves itself in 2-3 days but now I'm really wondering how kind it is to let her wobble about even for a couple of days? She was given Metacam and doggy paracetamol and seems a bit better - can move around indoors on her own and toilet outdoors with her harness and lead for a little bit of extra support.

I really wish she'd stop shaking her head as that makes her fall over but I'm sure she just thinks it'll help clear her dizzy head! My poor Meg😢🐾

I know people, who have a 13-year old dog with exactly the same conditions as yours. Sometimes she has some bad days, but vast majority of time, she is a happy old dog.
They(her owners) say, it's like having an old person with some health issues in the house. Sometimes hard, but impossible to live without! I wish your Meg all the best!

my Border collie had his first vestibular turn when he was 13 although most dogs just have the one episode he did have a few more over the next two years but they were much much milder and used to only last a couple hours.
please don’t have your dog put down it is a horrible shock for you and your dog mine had to have anti sickness medication he was quite bad but he made a quick back to normal recovery. My vet explained it as losing their horizon a bit like being drunk the world tips up and down even when they stand still which is why they stagger and brace themselves and the awful eye flickering. It does resolve it’s self fairly quickly some dogs end up having a slight head tilt but dogs are pretty pragmatic they adapt much easier than us humans.
I hope by tomorrow Meg will be steadier on her legs and on her way back to her former self. It will get better I’m sure you will but try not to worry too much.

Our old dog had it at 13 and 14. She didn’t recover so as much the second time and was left with a head tilt. If that is her only issue, can you watch and wait for a bit to see how she recovers, to see if she recovers a meaningful quality of life?

Our old dog had this and with the medication(Vivitonin, I think) it resolved itself well.

Our dog who is 12 had her first episode with this about 3 weeks ago. I'd say she's made a very good recovery now, just a bit stiff and wobbly first thing, but aren't we all!!

Our old boy had this when he was about 15 and it resolved within a couple of days and never happened again. I hope Meg is feeling better now. (We had a Meg too 💜 )

Hope your dog is doing ok. There's a great Facebook group to support people dealing with Vestibular disease in their dogs.