Laurie's Blogs.
Aug 2015
What every dog owner should know about Idopathic Geriatric Vestibulitis
This blog should really read: Public Service Announcement to all Dog Owners! Every dog owner should read this dog – especially if they have an old dog or a dog that they plan on seeing it through to its old age (tongue in cheek… that should be all of you!!)
I recently had some clients bring their dogs in to me for their regular monthly check up and tune up. Two fabulous geriatric German Shorthaired Pointers, mom & daughter, who are kept active with regular therapy and who both enjoy going out ‘birding’ now and then. The owners had mentioned that the elder of the two had caused quite a scare a couple of weeks back. She had developed a vestibular episode one evening. Dizziness, balance issues, listing to one side, rapid side to side eye movement, head tilt, and wanting to lie down.
Now according to the wife, the old gal was quite affected until 3am because the husband didn’t do the right thing right away. (I want to do a study… it’s either husbands, boyfriends, brothers, fathers, or sons that do the wrong thing, or that wives, girlfriends, sisters, daughters, or mothers delight in tell on them! Forgive me! I digress.) Anyways, I remarked that being ‘mostly back to normal’ by 3am or even by the next day was really quite extraordinary and what did she mean by ‘doing the right thing?’
They began to tell me the story of their previous pointer that had several episodes of vestibulitis and how they had learned over the years, to let her go to the ground to whichever side she wanted to go and then flip her over to her other side (i.e. roll her onto her back and over to the other side). They said it worked like a charm every time!
Well, I was blown away! I started going on about how they had unknowingly done a Dix-Halpike or Eply Maneuvre and that they had likely repositioned an otolith from a semi-circular canal into the main ear canal… and blah, blah, blah, about cilia in the canals, and messaging to the brain, and how things get distorted, and more blah, blah, blah! And a little extra blah, blah, blah about how vet medicine doesn’t yet recognize this phenomenon, but in people it’s called Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo… blah, blah. But bottom line… they were fricking geniuses for figuring this out in the way they did! Right then and there I told them, I’ve got to tell everybody about this. Every dog owner should know this! It’s quite simply brilliant!
So, here are a couple of YouTube videos for those who don’t know what this phenomenon looks like (or to share with your clients):
And here is an article for more information about the ‘blah, blah, blah’!!!
http://www.caninefitness.com/docs/Vestibular_Dysfunction.pdf
Share this with dog owners. Share this with your vets. And thank you to Dale & Sandra for sharing your story!
