Vertigo in Dogs

lellymine · January 2014

Since we have some dog lovers on here I thought I'd ask if anyone has had a dog that experienced vertigo? I share a beagle with my parents and we spent 3 hours at the animal hospital this morning because they were worried he was having a seizure. He just kept flopping around and straining to breath, it was so awful! The vet believes it's vertigo/an ear infection and it's making his world spin so it scares him and he keeps trying to flip over in hopes that the world will be right again. The vet says all we can do is wait and see if it gets better (we did get some ear drops). If your dog had it how many days did this last? It's heartbreaking to see him so stressed out and scared.

babybean82 · January 2014

Oh that is weird I have never heard of a dog getting vertigo, I can imagine he would be super stressed out about it though... I had it once and it was bad I couldn't walk down a hallway without feeling sea sick. Maybe if your vet hasn't already suggested it try limiting movement? like keeping him confined to a crate? I stayed on the couch the whole time I had it because walking made it worse.

lscal20 · January 2014

I'm a vet tech..they can get it from ear infections, I haven't seen them struggling to breathe though. hopefully they cleaned out his ears really well and the drops should be medicated. Also, to help differentiate, for a seizure they will typically be unresponsive to you and often urinate while it's happening.

jshrop · January 2014

How old is the dog? I came home after dinner one night and thought my dog was having a stroke. We rushed him to the animal hospital. Turns out it was "old dog syndrome." It's basically a dizzy spell. My dog is 9. I have a friend who's dog had same problem, he's 7. It lasted maybe two days. He just walked like he was drunk and that was it. It can come back, or they can have a permanent head tilt. Either way, it was nothing serious. I think the technical name is a Vestibular Syndrome (?). Good luck tho!

dragonfly711 · January 2014

Dogs get Vestibular disease. It can be due to a bad infected ear or it can be an older dog, there are a few different reasons.

The dogs seem to be very dizzy and if you look at their eyes they have a nystagmus ( eyes moving from side to side). This makes it very hard for them to stand or to want to eat or anything. They can vomit as well do to feeling nauseous.

They might have a head tilt that may or may not go away. Usually Vestibular disease lasts a few days or more.

Most times you treat symptomatically and it is a wait and see kind of thing. Treating the ears is a good first step.

You want to keep an eye on him, do not let him outside by himself since he is not able to see what is going and due to being dizzy feeling. He might walk in circles as well.

Some dogs are really bad when they get this and others it can be mild.

It can also be called "Old Dog" Vestibular Disease since a lot of older dogs seem to get it. I have seem so many of them come in. Most do well after a few days.

My MIL golden had it when she was about 13 and did fine after wards.

This is different than seizures are and would be treated differently.

This is a wait and see kind of issue. Just make sure he is somewhere that he cant fall down the stairs, ( that is what happened with my MIL dog.) He might not want to eat for a while due to the dizziness feeling, you might want to hand feed him water and food.

Keep us posted but you should see signs of him getting better sooner than later.

https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/06/04/canine-vestibular-disease.aspx

( I am a vet tech

)

ElTrain5 · January 2014

Aw! Poor baby!! Sorry no advice from me but I hope your baby feels better quick!

MrsLabRat · January 2014

It's not a reverse sneeze, is it? I have a beagle and he gets these ALL the time. It would explain the straining to breathe part, but not the flopping over

hope he gets better, beagles are just the best!

mrs_drc_rn · January 2014

Aww that's such a shame, I hope everything is ok!

lellymine · January 2014

lmesko20 said:
I'm a vet tech..they can get it from ear infections, I haven't seen them struggling to breathe though. hopefully they cleaned out his ears really well and the drops should be medicated. Also, to help differentiate, for a seizure they will typically be unresponsive to you and often urinate while it's happening.

I think he's struggling to breath because he's scared and starts trying to roll and it causes him to lose his breath. Maybe. So glad it wasn't a seizure!

lellymine · January 2014

jshrop said:
How old is the dog? I came home after dinner one night and thought my dog was having a stroke. We rushed him to the animal hospital. Turns out it was "old dog syndrome." It's basically a dizzy spell. My dog is 9. I have a friend who's dog had same problem, he's 7. It lasted maybe two days. He just walked like he was drunk and that was it. It can come back, or they can have a permanent head tilt. Either way, it was nothing serious. I think the technical name is a Vestibular Syndrome (?). Good luck tho!

He's 14 so he's old. How long until he was able to start walking? He hasn't been able to stand yet.

lellymine · January 2014

dragonfly711 said:
Dogs get Vestibular disease. It can be due to a bad infected ear or it can be an older dog, there are a few different reasons.

The dogs seem to be very dizzy and if you look at their eyes they have a nystagmus ( eyes moving from side to side). This makes it very hard for them to stand or to want to eat or anything. They can vomit as well do to feeling nauseous.

They might have a head tilt that may or may not go away. Usually Vestibular disease lasts a few days or more.

Most times you treat symptomatically and it is a wait and see kind of thing. Treating the ears is a good first step.

You want to keep an eye on him, do not let him outside by himself since he is not able to see what is going and due to being dizzy feeling. He might walk in circles as well.

Some dogs are really bad when they get this and others it can be mild.

It can also be called "Old Dog" Vestibular Disease since a lot of older dogs seem to get it. I have seem so many of them come in. Most do well after a few days.

My MIL golden had it when she was about 13 and did fine after wards.
This is different than seizures are and would be treated differently.

This is a wait and see kind of issue. Just make sure he is somewhere that he cant fall down the stairs, ( that is what happened with my MIL dog.) He might not want to eat for a while due to the dizziness feeling, you might want to hand feed him water and food.

Keep us posted but you should see signs of him getting better sooner than later.

https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/06/04/canine-vestibular-disease.aspx

( I am a vet tech )

Thanks for all the info!

lellymine · January 2014

MrsLabRat said:
It's not a reverse sneeze, is it? I have a beagle and he gets these ALL the time. It would explain the straining to breathe part, but not the flopping over hope he gets better, beagles are just the best!

He gets those too, first few times he did it I was scared to death! This is more a pant not that throaty cough/gasp he does when it's the reverse sneeze. I think it may be because he's scared.

jdias428 · January 2014

I'm a vet. Sounds like old dog vestibular disease is most likely. Clears up in a week or two. May still have a head tilt after, but that's no big deal.

Ear infection causing it can still be, but more likely with repeat ear infections historically.

Trouble breathing is due to stress, they just freak out a bit when their world is spinning. I would too!

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