We have two dogs, Pepper and Bunny. They are almost 14 and 13 years old, respectively. All in all, they have been very healthy and happy pups their whole lives. Along the way, Pepper has had a few bizarre medical issues, however. There was the time, as a puppy, when she (we assume) was stung by a scorpion and her foot swelled up and caused her a lot pain. Ever since then she has had oddly positioned toe on that foot (I can't explain it either). Then there was the time she obsessively and savagely tried to get a lizard that had run into an agave plant to hide. Pepper all but shredded that plant and in the process covered her face with the caustic sap. Her faced swelled as though she had tangled with a rattlesnake, the fur came out in tufts and patches, and she had a raw and scabby face for a few weeks. Then, several months ago she suddenly dropped six or seven pounds (that's a lot for a forty-five pound animal!), started losing her hair, and had red and raw spots on her skin. No one was ever able to assign a cause to that one. She took some antibiotics, ate some special canned food for a while, and had a few baths using expensive medicated shampoo and it all suddenly cleared up and she was the same old Pepper, maybe even healthier than she had been in a while. But the other night she really scared me.
I had dozed on the couch (nothing new) and awoke to the mad scrambling sound of a dog's toenails crazily scattering along the laminate floor of Joan's office. Pepper looked just like Bambi when he first stepped onto that frozen pond. I went down the hall to see what was going on and it was immediately obvious that something was very wrong. Pepper was twitching and her head was swinging back and forth, clearly disoriented. But then I got really scared because I saw her eyes--they were rolling around in her head like marbles in a roulette wheel and just about as fast. I got her onto a small piece of carpet and she simply stood unsteadily staring at the small dresser that was about six inches from her face with her head slowly swinging side to side. She was so scared that her entire body was tense and shaking, her belly like a drum.
I tried to guide her into the bedroom so I could wake Joan up to help me figure it out. She was bouncing off the wall like a drunk, tracking to the right and stumbling, her eyes swiveling the whole time with nystagmus.
While Joan tried to calm Pepper down, I got on the internet and searched for her symptoms. I know, you should never self-diagnose. I'm sure the internet is the bane of doctors and vets the world over. But I found several websites that clearly described her symptoms to the letter: vestibular syndrome. Every site said there's really nothing to be done for it and that almost all dogs simply recover with few after effects. Some are worse than others. Pepper seemed to be getting better even as she rested in her bed once Joan got her to lie down there. I decided it was okay to wait till morning to call the vet. That may or may not be the right call, but it's the call we made this time.
When I took Pepper to the vet in the morning they agreed that it was indeed idiopathic peripheral vestibular syndrome. A big, fancy, complicated name for "we have no idea." By yesterday afternoon it looked like Pepper was about 80%. She seemed fine, energetic, and only very slightly tracking to the right with the occasional sign of unsteadiness. The vet had told me that if her symptoms persisted I could give her some Dramamine to help with the vertigo but other than that there was really nothing to be done. Fortunately, she seemed like she was going to be fine.
But then this morning she had a relapse. There was no nystagmis, but she was very unsteady, nauseous, etc. She obviously didn't feel well. I went to the store and bought the Dramamine and gave her one pill along with a Rimadyl to help with any inflammation (a potential cause is inflammation of the nerves in the inner ear). So far, four hours later, she still feels poorly. All I can do is keep an eye on her and hope for the best. It can take a few weeks for a dog to recover from this health issue and it's frustrating because there's not really anything you can do in the meantime. So we'll cross our fingers and baby her for the time being.
