Sammy’s Big Milestone

This weekend was a big milestone for Sammy. It has been 1 year since the weekend we thought she wouldn’t make it.

Last year, on Thanksgiving weekend, Sammy had a terrible episode of Idiopathic Vestibular Syndrome.

It looked like she had had a stroke. She jumped up, panicked and ran around the room, then stumbled over and would not get up again.

Of course, it was a Sunday evening so we had to decide; take her to the emergency vet or try to get through the night. She didn’t seem to be in pain but rather just confused.

So, we waited and took her in to her regular vet first thing Monday. They said she either had a stroke  or brain tumor OR Idiopathic Vestibular Syndrome. We could either assume it was a stroke/brain tumor and there was really not much we could do. Or we could wait to see if it was Idiopathic Vestibular Syndrome. If it was, she would recover on her own.

She had all of the symptoms of Idiopathic Vestibular Syndrome –

• Couldn’t stand up
• Had her head tilted at almost 180 degrees to the side
• Her eyes racing back and forth (this is called nystagmus)
• Was vomiting and had diarrhea
• Then she wouldn’t eat

That was the big one – that she wouldn’t eat. She is a lean dog and I was very worried she would quickly lose the strength to heal.

But she was drinking lots of water, if you held it for her. And she didn’t seem to be in pain.

So we decided to wait and see how she would do. We took her home. We put her on a slew of medications, including probiotics, antibiotics, anti-nausea, two different pain medicines, herbal supplements to boost her digestive system, and later added an anti-acid because she still wasn’t eating.

She didn’t eat anything for a week. Not even a tiny taste of peanut butter. We tried everything. But she did continue to drink water. We had to carry her from her bed to the grass and back for potty breaks and I had to use a harness to help her stand up long enough to go potty.

We were starting to wonder if we had made the right decision or if she was going through something terrible that she didn’t need to. We had to go out of town for the weekend and contemplated skipping the trip. But then she ate a spoonful of peanut butter. Our dear friends took care of her for the weekend and she ate an entire jar of peanut butter. They hand fed her one bite of peanut butter at a time, probably constantly, all weekend!

By the time we got back she could sort of get up on her own and even walk a little bit. She fell over a lot though. She still had an extreme head tilt and her eyes were still racing a little bit. But she could sort of track toys and they would stop racing sometimes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She gradually got stronger and we changed her diet from peanut butter to ground beef and rice or baby food. She did 3 rounds of acupuncture, 1 week a part (The results of this were amazing to me – she could move so much better afterwards, was so relaxed during it, and seemed to just smile after). By Christmas, she could get outside all by herself and would get up to come over for some attention sometimes even if she didn’t need a potty break. She was wagging her tail again.

She spent Christmas with my amazing in-laws. They cooked ground beef and rice for her three times a day and she started gaining back a little weight. By the end of her week-long stay with them, she would eat a little dog food mixed in.

But she still had quite the head tilt. We didn’t care. It didn’t bother her and we were just glad she was recovering so well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did a final round of acupuncture and I began taking her for walks again every day. We started with flat routes and slowly worked in hills. We practiced her sits, downs, shake, and back up – trying to help her regain her strength and balance as much as possible.

By late spring, her head tilt was almost gone, but then her anxiety began. That is a whole other blog post but I truly believe it began because of her experience with vestibular syndrome.

Over the last 6 or 8 months she has continued to improve. We have her anxiety under control (mostly). She can play fetch and pretty much keep up with Dan. She can go on long walks again. She is a happy and pretty much healthy dog (for almost 15!).

We are so thankful and feel so lucky that our vet encouraged us to give Sammy a chance to recover. When we began to read about this syndrome online, we read a heartbreaking number or posts from people who thought their dog had a stroke and later realized it was probably just vestibular syndrome. But it was too late. They had already put their dog down, thinking they were in pain with no chance of recovery.

This post is long overdue, but I feel that every dog owner should be aware of vestibular syndrome. Know that is looks so scary, and it is a lot of work, but even a 14 year old dog can recover and return to a normal, happy life.

If you would like more information about Idiopathic Vestibular Syndrome, we found the article from “The Bark” to be most helpful:

http://www.thebark.com/content/idiopathic-or-old-dog-vestibular-disease