I have a chocolate lab (female) who is 11.5 years old. About a year + ago, she had a case of Vestibular Collapse which was confirmed when we took her to the hospital. She was given a shot to help her settle her stomach since it's like vertigo and get nautilus and appear drunk. Their eyes move rapidly. When she got it, took a few days to get back to normal. Since then she has had about 4 similar episodes that the vet ruled out Vestibular because her eyes didn't move rapidly, she recovers quickly (regains balance within a minute or so). She has been tested for EIC (Exercise Induced Collapse) as well as a EKG on her heart. EIC was negative and her heart came back fine. Am not sure what else this could be. Curious if anyone has ever experience something similar. Appreciate your help
Hi there. I'm sorry to hear you and your girl are going through this - it sounds really stressful for you. It's not something I've come across myself - but if the vet has ruled out common causes, I'd start asking for a list of uncommon causes and how they plan to rule each of them out. It may be worth asking for a referral to a more specialist vet, too, if you have the budget for it. Hopefully they will be able to give you some more insight into how to support your pup.
Thank you. Next steps is probably neurologist. When we did her EKG, they said it could also be age related. In the end, as long as I knew if it's threatening or not, is all that matters. Appreciate the response.
The only way to find out what is causing these episodes is doing an MRI. Idiopathic (or old dog) vestibular disease is by far the best option. My previous Lab had vestibular episodes and he would regain his balance in a couple of hours to a day. But I've never heard anyone rule out vestibular disease by the moving speed of the eyes or the recovery time.
