Shaggy Dog Stories

On Monday, I was still mid-commute when Greg called my cell phone. “There’s something wrong with Charlie,” he said. “I need to take him to the vet.”

I quickly checked the clock on the dashboard. 5:30 PM. Our regular vet would be closed before he could get there. “What’s wrong with Charlie?” I asked.

“He’s at the bottom of the back stairs. He’s kind of walking in a circle and drooling, and his head’s tilted toward one side.”

“He might have ODVD or a stroke. Get him to the emergency vet. I’ll be right behind you.” I gave Greg a couple of contacts for two emergency vets within driving distance of our house. When he called back to tell me where he was headed, I set my GPS to get me there from scenic Middle-of-Nowhere, NH and gave him my ETA.

When I arrived at the emergency vet, one of the techs greeted me and accompanied me to the exam room where Greg and Charlie waited to see the vet. Charlie’s head definitely tilted to the right and he was drooling. His eyes twitched left and right. He kept trying to get comfortable on the thick quilt on the exam room floor, but he just couldn’t seem to find the right position or the right spot. He did seem alert despite the symptoms, and Greg was more distressed than Charlie himself was.

After a wait, the ER vet joined us. He agreed that Charlie more than likely had idiopathic Vestibular Syndrome (a.k.a Old Dog Vestibular Disease). He prescribed meclizine (also known as Bonine) for the “spins” and the resulting nausea, and mentioned that the imaging department would be able to fit Charlie in for a CT scan or MRI if he didn’t improve.

The first couple of days were mighty worrisome. Charlie spat out everything, from peanut-butter-coated pills to chicken. I ended up having to force-feed the pills. At least he could always drink water. He lurched crazily when trying to walk and sometimes fell. He needed to be held up when trying to poop, or he’d fall over.

Symptoms of ODVD

The symptoms of ODVD can appear suddenly in an affected dog, and include:

• Weakness and dizziness
• Loss of balance
• Nausea
• Head tilt
• Rhythmic eye twitching (nystagmus)
• Unable to get up or stand, or lurching in circles in the direction of the head tilt
• Inability to eat or drink unless hand-fed

I find this video hard to watch because Charlie has just gone through the same thing, but here is what the characteristic head tilt looks like.

Other conditions can have the same or similar symptoms as ODVD, including inner ear problems, cancer affecting the cerebellum or the inner ear or some lymphomas, brain trauma, or blood clots/stroke.

Causes of ODVD

ODVD is largely idiopathic, which is a fancy term for “we have no idea.” It is thought to be an irritation or inflammation of the nerves that connect the inner ear to the cerebellum (here’s a good diagram).

The nausea and dizziness can prevent a dog from wanting to eat or drink — and affected dogs might lack the fine motor control to eat unless they’re hand-fed.

At least the prognosis is good. Fortunately, almost all dogs recover from ODVD after a few days or a few weeks — so if a dog diagnosed with ODVD doesn’t appear to get better, an X-ray or CT scan might be the next step toward finding out the real problem.

Charlie Today

Charlie continues to improve. He has always been able to drink water, so keeping him hydrated has not been a problem. He will eat some soft foods, but will turn his nose up at others. (On the Paws Up list: canned Vienna sausages, cereal with milk, leftover pizza. On the Paws Down list: canned dog food, potted meat. Still to be tried: baby food, chicken soup.)

He still has a slight list to starboard, but his head tilt appears to be less drastic, and his eye-twitch appears to be lessening. He can hold himself upright to answer Nature’s call, and he can walk up stairs mostly unaided. He wanted to try going down stairs this morning, but Greg helped him down. It’s still a long way to fall.

Best of all, Charlie seems brighter, more interested in the household goings-on. He’ll go to his crate during mealtime, even if he won’t eat in there. He eats more every time he is offered food from the Paws-Up list. This morning, he demanded a dog biscuit (though I’m not sure whether he actually ate it; hard food still seems to be difficult for him).

We know a number of old dogs who have suffered bouts of ODVD and managed to recover completely. It might take him a few weeks to get there, but we’re pretty sure that the old brown guy will do the same.

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