The Prognosis for Canine Vestibular Disease
With its stroke-like symptoms, canine vestibular disease (CVD) can look scary. Despite the frightening physical manifestation, the prognosis is usually good and most patients fully recover with minimal treatment. A veterinarian consultation is necessary, though, to determine the root cause of the symptoms and verify the overall health of the dog.
-
About the Disease
-
Canine vestibular disease is a disorder affecting the vestibular apparatus in the brain. This is the part of the brain responsible for balance, by detecting the body's orientation in space and telling the muscles how to respond to stay upright. Both the "up-down" and "tumbling" sensors are located in the middle ear, and use a system of fluids and weights that relay the body's position relative to the ground to the brain. When these systems are not operating properly, symptoms of CVD become apparent.
Symptoms
-
The tell-tale signs of CVD are a head-tilt and nystagmus, which is a condition is which the eyes move either back and forth or up and down very rapidly and repetitively without control. Nausea and vomiting may result from motion sickness, and the dog may refuse to eat because his loss of motor control makes it difficult to navigate a food bowl. He may also appear disoriented and may stumble or fall to one side as he walks. These symptoms may frighten the pet owner, but almost all cases recover. Treatment depends on the particular cause.
-
Brain Lesion
-
If the CVD is caused by a brain lesion, the origin could be a stroke, a tumor or an infection. These are the most difficult cases to treat and often have a poor prognosis. Strokes are very rare in dogs, but they can happen and the prognosis depends upon how much of the brain was affected. If a tumor is the original cause, diagnostic imaging can help determine the exact location and size. Some tumors may be operable, and other can be shrunk with radiation or chemotherapy. Rocky Mountain spotted fever is a common infection transmitted by tick bites that causes brain lesions. In this case, once the infection is cleared by antibiotics, the CVD symptoms resolve themselves.
Middle Ear Infection
-
Some breeds of dogs are more susceptible to ear infections, and sometimes chronic problems can grow out of control. If the infection spreads from the outer ear to the middle ear, symptoms of CVD can appear along with partial facial paralysis and discharge from the eye. In these cases, a several courses of antibiotics combined with daily ear cleaning and periodic ear flushing will resolve the infection, and the CVD symptoms will gradually fade away.
Idiopathic
-
When CVD is idiopathic, which means of unknown origin, it begins suddenly and ends suddenly a couple of weeks later. A veterinarian will run routine diagnostic blood and urine tests to be sure that there is no underlying problem, but in most cases, no treatment is needed. Sometimes hand-feeding the dog and encouraging rest will keep it more comfortable until the motion sickness subsides. Idiopathic CVD usually strikes geriatric dogs, and even some cats.
-
References
- Photo Credit dog image by Michal Tudek from Fotolia.com
