I would think maybe it is her ears, sounds alot like it, even if they show no pain, it still could be associated w/losing balance. the other things it could be is not good, and you should just wait and see what the vet has to say.

I have a senior gal that's about the same age (or older) and she sometimes has spells like that.
We've spent many hours the past two years at the vet/specialists with other problems and they can't find a real reason as to why this happens. I find she improves when I increase the pred she's on, and I've learned it gets worse on certain medications.

We think she's probably having small stokes...........she has all the symptoms.

Here is a link that might be useful: strokes

Hi Weed,
I don't know if dogs get this, but DH had the very same thing happen. Occasionally, without warning, he would lose his balance and just have to grab something. Sometimes it happened when he was performing (plays trombone in a few big bands) and he just fell down into his chair playing solos! They checked for a brain tumor first, found nothing. They tried all kinds of things without having a clue. Finally, DH went to the ENT (of course that was where I suggested he START) and after all kinds of wierd tests, they determined that it was too much fluid in the ears - plus having twice as much fluid in one ear than the other. They put him on a mild diuretic and he lowered his already low salt intake and it got better and then disappeared.

His episodes were just like your dog's - very time limited and no residual effects. So maybe it is not a TIA or stroke. Mom had TIAs and had residual effects for several hours.

Best of luck tomorrow at the vet.

Thanks for the replies. I'll let you know what the vet says.

Check out this link below for reasons a dog may be losing it's equilibrium.

Here is a link that might be useful: reasons for dog losing eqilibrium/balance

That sounds like it might be idiopathic vestibular syndrome, though vestibular generally resolves on its own within a matter of a few weeks. The fact that your dog has had this ongoing and intermittent problem for the last six months is inconsistent with the way vestibular typically works. It's worth discussing with your vet, however.

If it is vestibular or another condition that effects your dog similarly, it's important that you NOT pick her up off the ground. Vestibular leaves the dog unable to orient her body spatially, so unless her feet are on the ground, she loses all sense of whether she is upright, on her side, or upside down. If she loses her balance and needs assistance walking, just slide a towel under her belly and use it as a sling to help her walk while keeping her feet on the ground.

I hope this is just an inner ear problem that can be successfully treated by your vet.

Laurie

I agree, get an ear cleaning done...hope all is okay.

One of my dogs had a tumor growing inside his nasal cavity and sometimes he couldn't get enough oxygen and he would thus lose his balance (ie fainting but not passing out or falling to the ground). Dogs, apparently, don't necessarily understand the concept of breathing through the mouth!!

It was a treatable form of cancer ("transmissible venereal tumor") - on a neutered dog, no less!! LOL He had a very obvious symptom though other than loss of balance - he had very heavy nasal discharge.

vicky

weed, how is she?

Update:

Taco had another episode Thanksgiving night, and it was worse than the first :( It lasted several minutes, (hours to me!), and at one point her front legs actually splayed out like she had no control. Whatever is wrong, I do think that her lack of sleep might have contributed. Typically my dogs sleep most of the day, but on Thanksgiving I was all over the house, plus had company, so they didn't get their usual 10 hours :)

Anyway, the vet took blood to rule out any weird thing there. She also said it might possibly be seizures, which can be controlled with phenobarbital in low dose. But, it is more likely strokes or a brain tumor. One of her pupils is more dialated than the other, which is not so good.

She was absolutely fine after that episode, until today, where she seems a little unsteady. Sigh. Whatever it is, I am not going to put her through a CT or MRI and surgery. As much as I'm pulled towards that, it's really the wrong thing to do for her. Darn. It's so hard with our little babies, isn't it?

I'm so sorry Taco isn't doing that well. It doesn't sound like she's in pain, but she's probably worried and confused about not being balanced. If there's a way to keep her in a quiet but familiar area of the house, far from the maddening crowd, she'll probably do a little better.

It IS hard with our babies. My thoughts are with you and your family.

If there's a way to keep her in a quiet but familiar area of the house,

meghane, I really, really appreciate your kind thoughts. The little quote above gave me a good laugh though...just what I needed. Her 'quiet but familiar area' is my bed, where she spends probably 20 hours a day, sick or not :) Figure 7 hours when I sleep, 9 hours when I'm at work, and 4 hours off and on when I'm home. The girl does love her sleep :)

(And I don't know why I bother making the bed in the morning, because apparently, as soon as I leave she noses everything around and creates quite the little nest for herself. hehe.)

What better a place to be when she fees bad, but in Mommy's bed! You and Taco and Maggie are in our thoughts. Even DH knew what I meant when I asked him "remember when Weed's dog had that spell where she lost her balance all of a sudden?" We send thoughts of healing and comfort to the three of you.

If she's having seizures, has your vet run a thyroid test on her? Uncontrolled hypothyroidism can sometimes cause seizures in dogs. Check with your vet. Thyroid testing isn't usually performed as part of a routine blood panel unless you request it specifically.

I hope your vet can come up with a solid diagnosis and treatment plan for Taco.

Laurie

My old lab has problems from time to time. I think it's that equilibrium problem the previous posters discussed, during her worst episode the only thing I remember the vet saying was that it was "vertigo like" and her brain goes "scrambled eggs."

We thought she had had a massive stroke so took her to the vet thinking that we were going to lose her. She couldn't walk for 4 hours and then acted drunk for a few hours, then was about 15 degrees off (would walk sideways into chairs and plants) for a couple of days. More recently she has funny little episodes of losing her balance or twitching like she's having a small seizure or something, but it is all part of that equilibrium thing and that there isn't much to do about it but let the episodes pass. It can be upsetting to see though.

One thing that always bothered me was that shortly before the bad episode (almost 2 years ago), our dog had two instances when she ran into a glass door hard. I've always wondered if that caused some problems with her inner ear bones that later led to this. I have a relative who works with humans with inner ear/vertigo problems and they do exercises to realign the bones or something. I wish the dog could try something like that.

Good luck to you and Taco, I hope the episodes stop or are at least few and far between. (((HUGS)))

Thank you Nancy. Taco seems fine today. Haven't gotten the blood test results back yet, I need to call them in the morning.

Laurie, I will bring that up. But if she were hypothyroid, wouldn't she be kinda fat? That's what happens to humans, anyway.

Quasifish, I'm sorry to hear about your lab, but actually your post is a glimmer of hope. Better equilibrium than tumor or stroke.

Weed30- how are you and Taco doing? Did you get any information?

When our dog had this happen the first time, the vet said the telltale symptom of the equilibrium problem is that their eyes twitch afterwards- it's kind of a rapid tracking/twitching of the eyeball; it's scary to see, but it's just her trying to get her bearings- much like a drunk.

GL, been thinking about you.

quasifish, thanks for asking. Taco is fine, overall. She had another unsteady event Friday night, but not as bad as the others. I have nothing conclusive from the vet yet. I would have answered sooner, but have been without power since Thursday from the lovely ice storm that hit the midwest. (I'm in St. Louis.)

Weed30- I haven't made it onto the forums much lately (have very demanding 10 month old human child). I'm glad to hear that Taco is well enough and hope that it's just one of those non-events that you learn to live with- like we have.

One thing that has really bothered me since we learned our dog had the equilibrium problem is how many people I've met who have had dogs with similar episodes- but their dogs were put down shortly after the episode started with a vet sighting a stroke. Most of the people I've met or known had labs or lab mixes and I've often heard their prone to strokes, but my vet says that isn't so. I often wonder how many may have been put to sleep needlessly.

So glad you got power back, that doesn't sound like a fun way to end the week. Continuing luck to you.

hey everyone, i couldnt help but join this group...i have a pekingese dog and he's only one year old. his name is milo, one night he had an episode where white foam flew out his mouth and his head was twitching,...and lastnight he was losing his balance as if he was drunk, :( he was trying to stand up but he kept falling :(,...the doctor said he probably have eppalepsie (i dont know the word exactly) but he said its seizures :(...does anyone know if this will go away?? i dont want to lose my baby,..this is the first time it happened and i cried so much because i didnt know what to do,..i took him to the vet and they did a blood test on him but he is healthy which is good. but im still worried :(

Weed 30:

I came across your post this evening while I was doing some research to try and help my stepdad out. His dog is 14, in good health, but having balance issues over the past few weeks. He's taken his dog to the vet and they have done x-rays and lab work, but nothing conclusive.

I am curious if your vet was ever able to come up with a diagnosis?

If I were you, I would do a search on "Taco" here in the Pets Forum. Weed has not been around for a very long time (unless she changed her name when Houzz bought GardenWeb and That Home Site from iVillage). I believe that she did talk more about dear Taco, who had the biggest prick ears I ever saw on a dog!

Addendum: I did that search and found this thread. Taco had kidney disease. She lived four and a half months after the date of this thread. But others in this thread reported much better survival in their dogs with kidney disease, so don't let that frighten you! [Thread from December 2007, Weed and others discuss kidney disease.[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/kidney-problems-help-needed-with-diet-anyone-meghane-dsvw-vd~2527993?n=17)