Vestibular Syndrome
This is Widget, and she has a problem. She has developed a balance problem called vestibular disease.
One morning she woke up and the world was spinning. This happens suddenly and is terribly common in dogs as they age. We can tell that the world is spinning because she has this interesting symptom where her eyes are flicking. The eyeballs often trace across as she tries to understand her new lack of balance.
Widgets head is tilted to the right and as she walks along she will often veer to the right ending up with walking in circles.
Any sudden movement and she will lose balance and slip over.
Dogs with vestibular syndrome commonly have nausea and sometimes drool and go off their food.
Poor Widget, she is very confused. There is no treatment for vestibular syndrome except supportive care for dogs that are not eating or drinking and medication to control any nausea.
Luckily most dogs that have vestibular syndrome will learn to cope with their acquired balance problem and continue on to lead an almost normal life. They never have fabulous balance but it will be much better within a week.
If your dog presents with vestibular disease we treat them in various ways.
It is often a good time to explore for underlying causes with a complete blood test.
Most dogs suffer from significant nausea so they are given medication to help decrease nausea. This is at first by injection then possible follow up tablets.
Some dogs are so debilitated that they do not know which way is up. These dogs need more intensive care and will often be kept in hospital on intravenous fluids until their condition hopefully improves.
Dogs that have had one episode of vestibular syndrome often have repeat episodes. These are often not as severe because the dog and their owners understand better what is happening.
