My old dog has vestibular disease. What's the prognosis for recovery?

The signs you described for Deacon do fit with vestibular disease but can also be seen with an inner ear infection, inflammation in the brain and a tumor in the brain. Typically vestibular disease will clear up within 5-7 days although I have seen some pets deal with it for 10-14 days until it is completely resolved. During that time, they are expected to show improvement daily. Of course you always have the option to have him seen at any point. But if he is not back to normal within 5 days or if he is getting worse, then it would be safer to have him examined. I hope he starts feeling better quickly and thank you for using Boop by Petco.

Hello and thank you for contacting Boop by Petco. Yes, the vestibular disease symptoms can vary from very mild (confusion, wobbly legs, head tilt) to severe ( lack of balance, vomiting, panting, nystagmus). If Bella is improving that is great news, hopefully she will be back to normal soon. Typically, it takes around 10-14 days for older dogs to get it over with.

Hi, thanks for using Boop by Petco! Poor Dottie! Yes, if she has idiopathic old dog vestibular it tends to resolve on it's own with in 2 weeks. The head tilt can be permanent. But they tend to be very dizzy and nauseous. I recommend a vet exam so we can be sure it is peripheral and not central vestibular disease and so medications can be prescribed to relieve her nausea. I hope this helps and I wish Dottie the very best!

Hello, and thanks for your question. Unfortunately, the most common cause of vestibular disease is idiopathic - which means it doesn't have an obvious cause, and so there is nothing specific to treat the cause of the vestibular symptoms. In those cases, the best care we can provide is to help minimize nausea, provide supplemental fluids if they're feeling too dizzy to eat & drink, and wait. There are other (less common) causes of vestibular symptoms, such as an inner ear infection or disturbance in the brain - so if Peanut isn't making steady progress in the right direction you could request referral to a neurologist for further workup. However, since the vast majority of these cases are idiopathic, I usually encourage owners to give it time if I don't see evidence of infection or more serious neurologic problems on exam. Here's some more information on vestibular disease if you're interested. https://www.petcoach.co/article/dog-neurological-disorders-vestibular-disease/ Hope thi

It is not likely that he will get flare-ups, as this is a one-time episode of some idiopathic happening in the brain, not caused by a virus or bacterium. It happens in old dogs and we do not know what causes it. Most of the time the signs of vestibular disease will subside significantly or completely. Sometimes, there are residual effects such as torticollis (holding the head in an unnatural position) or some affect to the equilibrium, but this is not life-threatening and the dog gets used to it, I have actually never seen a dog with a second episode of vestibular disease, however since we are dealing with live animals I cannot rule it out At this time I am happy that she is doing much better now.

Thanks for using Boop by Petco! It sounds like Bruno could have "old dog idiopathic vestibular syndrome". There is more information below but we don't know why it happens and in general it usually gets better within a few days. Of course, we can never rule out a middle ear infection, brain tumor, or other problem so I always recommend seeing a vet. Even if it is the just the old dog vestibular syndrome, your vet can give Bruno some anti nausea medication for his vertigo. https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/vestibular-disease-in-dogs Best of luck to you and Bruno!

Yes they can get it again although not usually. Yes it could be something else. With vestibular disease they have symptoms for several days then they stabilize or improve without treatment. If it’s something else I would expect the symptoms to worsen with time, and additional problems to develop. Have your veterinarian monitor Puddles with blood work and periodic exams. Thanks for using Boop by Petco to help you care for Puddles.

If the disease is truly idiopathic then just supportive care is all that can be done. There are some medication to your veterinarian could prescribe to help Maggie feel better such as for nausea and dizziness. However if you feel Maggie is doing better sometimes just letting the disease take it's course is all that can be done. I would recommend your veterinarian at least be updated on Maggie's condition is they may want to see her for other reasons.

It is possible to have both the trigeminal neuralgia and vestibular disease but it is more likely that it is just the vestibular disease. What was originally thought of as trigeminal neuralgia was probably just early signs of the vestibular disease. Typically dogs with this diagnosis recover in 3-5 days and only need supportive care to get through the worst of it. I have however had a patient that took almost 2 weeks to become normal. If Stanley’s symptoms aren’t improving after a few days then further work up is indicated. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Boop by Petco. Best of luck.

Although old dog vestibular disease can recur it is less common then with other diseases that cause vestibular symptoms. It would also be unusual for a dog to have symptoms of this syndrome, be normal that quick (depends on severity but most dogs get better over 7 to 14 days) and then have symptoms again. The yelping is also odd as this could signal pain. If you are saying that your dog moving his head initiates the pain then he could have neck pain. I would recommend having your veterinarian examine Egor again with these new symptoms. With some disease processes it can be helpful to see the progression in order to know what is going on. If neck pain is detected your vet may recommend some x-rays of the spine and pain management. If neurologic dysfunction is detected on a neurologic exam he or she may recommand referral to a veterinary neurologist. I hope this helps and thank you for using Boop by Petco!