Guest RowdySoup Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 Hi all. I'm Xan's husband. Haven't written before, but I do look around regularly. Xan is out of town and incomunicato for a few days, and I have a concern for dear Happy, our senior girl. When we got her, she had teeth problems and had several rmoved, which seemed to help out with her appetite. She had also some old injuries that caused a slightly detectable limp. Lately, the last few days, it has been a real challenge to get her to eat lot. She sort of picks through her food. Usually if we try to feed her several times, she gets most of it. She had a really hard time when we first got her with our bamboo floors. She had some pretty panicky first few days falling and slipping, but seemed to be getting the idea down of how to walk on them ok. Which leads to my concern. This morning after I fed her, or rather tried to get her to eat all her food, she went into a brief panicky slipping on the floor and when she settled for amoment, it looked to me like she was very uncertain of her balance, swaying a bit to and fro. I gently held her till she calmed down and then led her out to the living room and the safety of rugs and dog beds. She snoozed all morning and seems ok this afternoon, but that losing her balnce thing worries me. No other real obviouss behaviors or symptoms. Is she just experiencing senior moments? inner ear problems? Any ideas? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KennelMom Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 (edited) Could be a bit of 'old dog vestibular syndrome.' Our vet described it as feeling *really really* sea sick. The nausea can make some dogs refuse food. One of our old guys had an episode that seemed to resolve w/in 48 hours. He was extremely off balance and running into things. A bit of nystagmus, but not much. Edited July 18, 2008 by KennelMom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RowdySoup Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 Could be a bit of 'old dog vestibular syndrome.' Our vet described it as feeling *really really* sea sick. The nausea can make some dogs refuse food. One of our old guys had an episode that seemed to resolve w/in 48 hours. He was extremely off balance and running into things. A bit of nystagmus, but not much. Thanks!! That really sounds like the issue. Maybe the scare of slipping on the floor brought it on. I'll keep a close eye our sweet senior girl. Don't want to say that too loud, Wabi may get mad. She's the princess around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remolacha Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 Can you put down some small non-slip rugs along her usual "paths" so she feels more secure in her footing? Doesn't address the cause, I know, but might help her to not panic. Are you giving her something like pepcid? If her tummy is upset, that might help for you and Happy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RowdySoup Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 That's a good idea, the rugs, especially in certain critical turn places. Like I said she seemed to have gotten the hang of the floors- until the incident this morning. I don't think we suspected she had an upset tummy, but that certainly would explain her lack of enthusiasm about eating. Sometimes, she seems a little sensitive about ear rubs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest paulamariez Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 We too, had really slippery oak floors in our old house. What we ended up doing was get some matching runners that were basically put down in the pattern where the hounds walked, like from the back door to the living room and then to their dog bowls. Especially make sure there's a rug so they can stand on it while they're eating. I'm guessing that's why Happy got dizzy. She also may just not be eating much because "mom" is not home and that's something out of the ordinary and a disruption to Happy's routine. I know when I've went and stayed at my parent's house and DH stayed home, my boys didn't care to eat much either. They just missed their mom and I'm guessing that may be a big part as to why Happy's not eating! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RowdySoup Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 yeah, she ate all her dinner tonight. I'm going to rethink the floors with our little senior in mind and keep a close eye on her. Thanks for the comments, really helped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SoulsMom Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 If you don't want to spend the $$ on runners, you can always use yoga mats that can be moved from room to room where/when needed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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