Canine Craziness

I must say, it has been CRAZY here since I last posted on Thursday. Thursday night, sweet Jodi girl awoke in the middle of the night, stood up and crashed into the wall. She staggered across the room towards me, her body bouncing off furniture like a pinball game in play. I jumped out of bed, helped her to lay back down and stayed up with her until SHE dozed back asleep.

Friday she started tumbling down the stairs, losing balance and appearing extremely weak. She would just collapse when she tried to stand or tumble on over once she did stand. I'm freaking out thinking she has had a stroke. As if that were not bad enough, her eyes started darting back and forth in her head like she's speed reading , yet she can't focus.

I must say I was concerned the end was near. I thought the moment we were dreading was upon us. Luckily, it turns out she didn't have a stroke. Strokes are very rare in dogs it seems. What she has is something that mimics a stroke in symptoms. It's called peripheral vestibular disease. Some type of nerve swelling in the ear canals that starts for no apparant reason, esculates quickly and then disapppears in 48 hours to 3 weeks time. Sometimes it can leave them permanently off balance, etc. Most often the main difference is that owners notice that their dog has aged dramatically.

I am happy to report today that Jodi girl is already showing signs of improvement. Her balance has improved. She is able to walk again without collapsing. She still is staggering a little, but so much better. Her eyes are almost back to normal. She is eating and drinking again. May I say we are mighty relieved and thankful! And as for the aging-well we haven't noticed any difference in HER yet. But, it did shave a few years off her owners. :)

As if that were not enough, this weekend Harlow's bladder problem returned. She has been on several meds at different times to stop "leakage." Now we have full on loss in bladder control. It's not pretty. It's no small thing either in a 140 lb dog as you can imagine. So we will be going back to the vet with her to see what they recommend doing NOW.

Thinking at this point, we should just have our direct deposit sent to the vet's office instead of our bank. Ugh! It's always something isn't it?