Guest sja5032 Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 (edited) My parent's grey, Ike, had some sort of neuro issue/stroke yesterday. According to my dad he was fine when he woke up, went outside and had breakfast like usual and went to lay in his spot. Then when he got up he was shaky and walking funny, basically high-stepping with his front legs and kind of sprawling with the back. My dad took him to his reg vet and they did blood work (which we are expecting the results of shortly)and kept him for the day. My dad is not the most vet savvy person so I called the vet once i knew he was there to find out what they thought. Basically, they don't know. They would think stroke but hes 100% mentally "there" and never acted confused or anything its just his legs don't work right. They gave him antibiotics, cortisone, and benedryl which basically means they are just trying everything to me. I took him home last night because my parents can't carry him in and out and he slept well, he still was shaky & high-stepping before bed but I carried him out and he was able to walk around and do his business. This morning he seems a little better, he go up and went outside with minimal shakiness and he was up for maybe 10 minutes before he started to really shake and wobble so i brought him back to his bed. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Once we get the blood test back we are going to decide whether to go back to the reg. vet for a check or go to tufts for more diagnostic tests. The second vet (not our reg vet, the other one at the practice who was there when I picked him up) told me he had never seen this before and then proceeded to say it could take 72 hours to get better (he assumes its some sort of blood clot). I'm not sure what to do, my parents are kind of relying on me to tell them what they should do but I'm lost. He does seem somewhat better, but it could be the drugs masking a larger problem. Has anyone seen such a sudden onset with anything besides a stroke before? Any experience or thoughts would be greatly appreciated and I will update when the results come in from the blood work. ETA: Ike is going to be 12 in Sept. if that helps with the whole picture. Edited July 8, 2011 by sja5032 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbhounds Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 (edited) Just want to point out that according to Dr Couto a true cerebral stroke should not be treated with corticosteroids-- he uses aspirin. Edited July 8, 2011 by tbhounds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleptogrey Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 a freind of mine went thru the same thing w/ his older dog at age 10.5. first it looked like a seizure, but eyes were fixed and dialated and there were other non-seizure behavior. so, he went from the super greyhound savy vet to an excellent emergency hospital w/ a fantastic neuroligist. the reason i know about this is my husband who was out of work accompanied this friend and his thru all of this, the elderly older needed a hand and some emotional support. after everything except for a CAT scan(the neuroligist did not think it was necessary) and very similar meds(covered everything), bloodwork galore and $2k+ in bills the conclusion was stroke. the grey who is a fantastic hunter and tom-boy has lost some of the drive in her rear leg, stares a lot and it has been noticed that when she eats one side of her mouth is not holding the food- typical stoke side effects. other wise, she is still digging holes in the yard and hanging out w/o any major problems a 1.5 years later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sja5032 Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Add me to the list of people thinking of changing vets due to the receptionist, I'm so aggravated right now. Blood work is not in like they promised last night and she said she was going to call the lab (which I doubt) and I told her to please let me know and she gave me a super attitude the whole time. She was there yesterday, its a small clinic she has to remember the giant white dog that was there ALL DAY and realize that this is important. i know it gets hectic but no need to have the attitude especially with things like this. And in response to the above, he isn't showing any other "normal" stroke signs he can and has been able to focus, he hasn't eaten but that is normal for him with any stress so I don't know about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryJane Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 (edited) Could be an inner ear problem - think it's called vestibular syndrome - causes dizziness Edited July 8, 2011 by MaryJane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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