Vestibular disease in dogs? Anyone have experience?

Thanks so much for your help, Dr. Doug! No other medical issues. I'm very suspiious of the shots. And yes it was a new vial!

Thanks so much for your help, Dr. Doug! No other medical issues. I'm very suspiious of the shots. And yes it was a new vial!

I too am not a fan of coincidence. Is this a new maintenance vial? (Could it have been manufactured incorrectly?) Are there other medical issues that could be a factor?

If things are improving on the meclizine, don't change. Often times medication choices are opinions based on experiences, mine may be different - not necessarily better.

Merrykalia, oh my goodness! I didn't realize people can have it too! That's awful ... and scary!

Dr. Doug, so nice to "see" you still here too. I am the golden retriever mom who used to be here all the time. I've never had a golden with vestibular disease and to tell you the truth, I had never even heard of it until the night I rushed Bianca to the ER. The ER doc knew immediately what it was. And yes, I am curious too about the onset the day after her allergy shots. She has been on the shots for 3-1/2 years now on a "maintenance" dose. She was tested and they are the desensitzation shots just like I used to take. I plan to not give her any more shots after this. Once could have been a coincidence, but twice? Hmmmm.... I'm giving her meclizine but not sure if I should ask my vet for something else too?

I've had dozens of patients and two personal dogs with vestibular disease. As Mark said, it's very common and distinguished by the eye movement (nystagmus). I find it interesting that these episodes happened after an allergy shot. Were these cortisone injections or true allergy hyposensitization?

I'm not sure of the association if they were cortisone shots, as Mark said we sometimes use cortisone to treat. Meclazine is sometimes used but I prefer cerenia as an anti-nausea because it's once a day.

We found with Megan and Charmin (both around 13-14 when they had episodes) that having something to press against (like a wall) when walking or laying tended to eliminate some of the spinning. They both recovered within a couple of weeks with minimal head tilt.

BTW, Sandy has pretty consistent vertigo. She also doesn't bend down head first, we sleep with lights on and she has a pretty constant slow routine rising in the morning or else the day can be spent spinning.

Doug, DVM

I know absolutely NOTHING about dogs with vestibular disease, but I can tell you about HUMANS and vestibular disease (BPPV) Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

I have it and when I get an episode, everything inside of my head spins. I can't focus my eyes on anything, the whole world spins (think a really bad drunk), in order to walk, I have to hold onto a wall or use a cane. I puke a LOT! I also have diarrhea.

The valium that the doc prescribed for the dog is also prescribed for me. It relaxes to vestibular nerve within the ear. I also take meclizine, much stronger, but the same as dramamine.

I also go to physical therapy, Brandt-Daroff exercises and the Epley maneuver. (Look these up on youtube). My episodes last anywhere from one week to eight weeks (the longest).

I have never had anything put me down for such a long time, but I am learning to not aggravate the condition by slowly getting up, turning around and NEVER leaning over, face first. If I do, I usually face PLANT!!!

I don't know if any of these will help an animal, but it might be worth a try.

Both of the above posts are right on. Our Percy had her first bout in Feb. of 2013 at 13 years. She recovered to about 85% of her previous functioning after six weeks of medication and care. We went to Alaska last summer and she had a wonderful time. Some of her head tilt remained and she would sometimes fall over if she tried to make a tight circle but she was interactive and energetic. She had a second bout three weeks ago. She is now going on 15 years. Progress has been slow but promising. The head tilt is pretty obvious and she is still unstable when walking on uneven surfaces. She can go up steps but not down. She sleeps more but she remembers her routine and keeps us in line. She is very interactive and will even play with her toys a little. We know that we are "in the bottom of the ninth" with her so just take it day by day. Our vet said he is seeing more of the condition, probably because he is seeing more very old dogs. He feels that little is known about it because it self-corrects with time and because in the past dogs usually didn't live long enough to get it more than once. Good luck to you and Bianca. lizzie

My Gyp is on either her 3 round of vestibular disease within a month or a relapse of her second round.

We've been through it before with a previous dog so we knew what it was when we saw it (the eye movements are key). This last time she got a really bad head tilt, nausea, and diarrhea; and because of the multiple rounds she had lost close to 10lbs (she's typically 35lbs). We took her to the vet after this last round. He said she was in good physical condition for her age (13years). He said all they can do is treat symptoms of vestibular disease and gave her several meds: prednisone for possible inflammation, a liquid to coat the digestive tract to ease the possible GI upset due to prednisone, an anti-diarrheal, an antibiotic, and valium to be used as needed to calm her if she was upset by the symptoms.

She needed to be hand fed and given very tasty foods to entice her to eat (she can't stand to lose much more weight). She preferred to eat many small meals than large ones. She likes raw and hard boiled eggs. The raw eggs are good for giving the liquid med which she does not like. After about 2 weeks she is eating better. Her head tilt has not changed much but she is adapting to it. She's moving around better on flat ground and now can take a couple of steps on her own.