What does it mean? If your dog is staggering, stumbling, or falling over, it may be the result of a variety of medical issues, including injury, stroke, poisoning, or an infection. Here, our Matthews Emergency and Specialty Vets explain why you should get to a veterinary hospital right away.
Monitor the dog for several hours. Sometimes, dogs appear normal after a fall as they walk around and play. Later, they become lethargic and weak or develop difficulty breathing, so it’s important to monitor them closely for several days after a fall.
The vestibular system involves the middle and inner ear, several large cranial nerves, and the brain. Disequilibrium means an impaired sense of balance. Some of the most common causes of disequilibrium are trauma, middle ear infections, cancer and poisoning. Disequilibrium is more common in older dogs.
Potential causes include inner/middle ear infections, intoxication, strokes, tumors, infectious or inflammatory diseases (meningitis), idiopathic vestibular disease (also called old dog vestibular syndrome), or other less likely causes.
Dogs can show a variety of behavioral changes when they are dying. The exact changes will vary from dog to dog, but the key is that they are changes. Some dogs will become restless, wandering the house and seeming unable to settle or get comfortable. Others will be abnormally still and may even be unresponsive.
Common signs of internal bleeding include weakness, trouble breathing, pale gums, a distended abdomen, and collapse. Less common signs are vomiting, not eating, and general malaise.
By contrast, dogs rarely survive falls of more than six stories. Humans usually die when they fall from such heights.
If your dog is in pain they may:
- Show signs of agitation.
- Cry out, yelp or growl.
- Be sensitive to touch or resent normal handling.
- Become grumpy and snap at you.
- Be quiet, less active, or hide.
- Limp or be reluctant to walk.
- Become depressed and stop eating.
- Have rapid, shallow breathing and an increased heart rate.
Degenerative myelopathy (also called Canine Degenerative Radiculomyelopathy or CDRM), is a disease that causes the nerves in the lower spine to stop working properly. It causes weakness, paralysis in the back legs, and incontinence (both urinary and faecal), all of which get worse over time.
When to See a Vet Injury, stroke, poisoning, and infections can all cause your dog to lose its balance. Because these things can be dangerous or even life threatening, call your vet immediately if your dog is falling down.
A dog displaying submissive behavior may hold its head down and avert its eyes. Its tail is usually low or in a neutral position, but not tucked. … A dog in a submissive posture is not necessarily anxious or fearful. The dog may be showing submissive behavior as a part of play.
Common signs that your dog might be having a stroke include: Loss of balance. Head tilt. Pacing, circling, or turning the wrong way when called.
Staggering is often the result of vestibular disease, which impacts the balance systems of your dog’s body. The disease is the result of irritation to the nerves that connect the inner ear to the brain. When this occurs, it leads to a loss of balance along with other issues. There are two forms of vestibular disease.
Why Swaying Back and Forth Occurs in Dogs. Vestibular disease affects the nerves that send messages back and forth from the dog’s eyes, inner ears, and body. In doing so, it alters the dog’s ability to balance thus causing him to sway back and forth either while standing or walking.
Symptoms include balance loss, vomiting, depression and appetite loss. These symptoms are quite obvious. Chronic kidney failure usually occurs in older dogs, with more subtle signs. These include increased drinking and urination, a chemical smell to the breath, appetite and weight loss, and blood in the urine.
Making the Final Choice If there is time, spend a few moments just talking to your dog. It may sound strange to some people, but a pet can pick up a lot from the tone of your voice. Plus, saying things out loud might help you process things. Try to allow time for family members to say their goodbyes as well.
Dogs Can Sense What Is Going To Happen To Their Owners Dogs have a heightened sense of smell and energy, which enables them to get an entire story with just a scent and interpret human emotions before humans do. Aside from these, they can detect human illness and death as well.
Every pet who is hit by a car should be examined by a veterinarian immediately. Some injuries, such as internal bleeding, may not be immediately apparent and can become life-threatening if not addressed quickly. If your pet is conscious and stable, take her to your primary veterinarian for evaluation.
You can keep your dog as comfortable as possible by providing a soft bed or couch with fluffy blankets for it to lie on. Give your dog a luxurious massage, his favorite toys, and favorite food. However, don’t forget to provide your dog with a balanced diet to keep it as healthy as possible during its sickness.
In general, a pet with hemangiosarcoma having surgery alone has a median survival time of 3-6 months. This median survival time means 50% of pets survive longer then 3-6 months and 50% survive for less time.
Go Beyond the Obvious Signs Even if there are no obvious signs of injury, a hard fall can cause a skull fracture and even brain damage — especially if your puppy fell on his head. … A puppy who seems to stumble or wants to fall asleep as a response to the fall could have a brain injury and needs to be checked by a vet.
Symptoms of Head Trauma
- Lethargy.
- Loss of consciousness.
- Confusion or disorientation.
- Coordination problems or difficulty walking.
- Bleeding from the ears or nose.
- Abnormal eye movements.
- Rigid or flaccid limbs.
- Differences in pupil size.
He’s no Underdog. Kai, a 2-year-old Shiba Inu puppy, thought he could fly, but it turns out he can only fetch. Yet he miraculously survived a four-story fall from the roof garden of an Upper West Side townhouse after hurling himself over an unguarded ledge.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, help reduce swelling, stiffness, and joint pain in humans, and they can do the same for your dog. … There are some of the available NSAIDs just for dogs:
- carprofen (Novox or Rimadyl)
- deracoxib (Deramaxx)
- firocoxib (Previcox)
- meloxicam (Metacam )
They suppress many of the more obvious signals of pain and injury to protect themselves and their social standing in their pack. They hide their pain to appear to be more in control of the situation, but unfortunately, because of this, it is often difficult for humans to recognize when our dogs are hurting.
When your dog’s hind legs suddenly go weak, there could be any number of causes, says veterinarian Dr. … Another possible cause of sudden back leg weakness in a dog is intervertebral disc disease, says Dr. Benson. He explains that this occurs when bulging discs put pressure on the dog’s spinal column.
