Would appreciate any advice please. The vet has told us that our 13 year old lab has a condition called IVD and is like the effects of a stroke. We are nursing her at home and wondered if anyone knew of what kind of electrolyte and how much we should give her. At present we are administering water with a syringe and she is not interested in food.
Oh bless her, she really sounds poorly. I would not really give anything without advice or prescription from your vet. With older animals there is usually too much going on clinically to risk adding anything without good knowledge about what you are adding and why. Give your vet a call , I am sure they will advise. Best wishes she feels better soon. Emma.
Hi there @Moss, sorry to hear this. I didn't know what this meant but I assume it stands for Idiopathic Vestibular Disease? I had to google it http://www.petwave.com/Dogs/Health/Idiopathic-Vestibular-Disease.aspx Your vet will be the best person to advise you on what you should be giving a dog for fluid replacement to be honest. What have they advised, if anything? If you are worried, you should really give them a call, phone advice from an emergency vet would probably be enough if you already have a diagnosis. It sounds like a condition we humans get too - an acute bout of vertigo really - sometimes it is viral, but other times just a disturbance in the way the organ of balance in the ear is working - sending faulty messages to the brain, causing a clash of information compared to that from eyes and pressure sensors on the body. Pretty much making you feel like you are extremely drunk or seasick. Not nice. Has your vet been able to give anything to help it? An anti-sickness injection maybe? It can help to damp down some of the faulty balance organ messages a little. Poor soul. Must be so distressing for you guys too. I do hope it is a brief episode. jac
So very sorry to read your post , as advised the Vet is the best one to ask , I wish you all the best x
My sister's dog had that and was on only antibiotics, as a precaution. Sis's Vet told her it typically lasts a month or more and BOOM, bang on a month Laddie just stood up and walked again. Fast onset, a month of not walking and then quick recovery is typical too, Sis was told. Laddie, from my readings, seems to have been one of the worse cases, he could NOT stand up or walk. About two weeks in he could stand outside on grass and take a few steps. Sis had to carry him outside, nearly a Lab sized dog. She put her back out. The Vet advised to hold his feet and keep them from dangling when she carried him as many dogs don't like to be lifted and carried anyway and the dangling feet seemed to make it worse. Of course that meant it took two people. The poor dog seemed frightened the whole time he had this. He retained a bit of head tilt but it decreased as he aged till only we who knew him well could tell. Laddie got this at age 12 and lived till 16.5. An English Shepherd with poor appetite at the best of times he lost weight while he was immobile, probably the meds did not help his appetite. It's scary for all involved. Dogs used to be PTS from this but by the time Laddie got it, over 10 years ago, Vets knew it was survivable. It looks like so many other things and last time I read we still don't know exactly why it happens.
The virus usually gets into The nerve of one ear the nerve swells up and compresses and stops working, but because you've still got signals coming from the good side without the corresponding signals from the now bad side, the brain assumes you are rotaing towards your good ear. So you get nystagmus and vertigo.thats what happens. It's not nice but is ok with care
