When my now-healthy [yay!], 14 year old border collie came down with vestibular disease back in January, my first thought was that she'd had a stroke and was at death's door. It's a common misconception when a dog has vestibular; here's the story of homeless veteran Bob Mikolasko and his dog Kaiser. Click on the video to play:
Although the closest any of the news reports come to describing the dog's illness is "vertigo," it looks to me [and I am so not a vet!] like vestibular. Full story here, in the Los Angeles Times.
[Hat tip to John over at For Your Entertainment.]
2 comments:
Been there. Both my old lady GSDs had one or more attacks of vestibular, which always self-resolved fairly quickly.
The first time it happened, I rushed to the vet in a panic -- even though I knew about vestibular disorder. Thereafter, I knew to look for the nystagmus.
I know of at least one dog who was reflexively "euthanised" by an owner who was certain he'd had a stroke. The description of his symptoms perfectly fit vestibular disorder. I think the vet (whomever that was) was asleep at the wheel on that one -- and the owner was already finding the old dog inconvenient, so, perfect excuse. Maybe he was better off after all. He deserved better.
Heather -- you wrote, "The first time it happened, I rushed to the vet in a panic -- even though I knew about vestibular disorder."
Gah, same here. I'd seen dogs with vestibular, but never in the initial, flailing-helplessly stage. I thought my girl was done for. [stands, applauds ER vets]
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