07/06/2022
FOR ANYONE WHO may have missed it, our breed expert looks at an important condition to know about in older collies:
BORDER COLLIE HEALTH: VESTIBULAR SYNDROME IN THE OLDER DOG
Today our special subject is Vestibular Syndrome (VS) in Border collies; a condition which can often have a rapid onset, and be very frightening for owners to experience in their dogs.
Most commonly seen in older dogs (and not just collies), typical symptoms will be the dog suddenly losing his/her balance, then staggering or circling around, like they are struggling to keep upright, or they may keep collapsing. (Though note this is quite different to BCC - Border Collie Collapse syndrome - covered previously on this page, and more commonly first seen in younger dogs).
With VS, dogs may also vomit, or look nauseous, and their eyes may flicker rapidly from side to side (a phenomenon known as nystagmus). Additionally they may have a more noticeable head tilt on one side.
IS IT A ‘STROKE’?
Owners may immediately think their dog is having a 'stroke', when in fact the symptoms are stemming from some malfunction in the dog's vestibular system; a highly complex neurological system governing balance, and the correct positioning of any animal's head, body and eyes, in relation to its surrounding space and immediate horizon.
The vestibular system involves sensors in the inner ear acting much like spirit levels, continually sending messages to the balance control centre in the brain. The brain then instantly makes any corrections required in muscle movement, or body and eye position, to keep an animal upright and moving straight and aligned with its environment. Thus when anything goes wrong in this sensitive relay and response system, an animal's balance and co-ordination can suddenly go haywire.
HOW SERIOUS IS IT?
How serious a VS episode proves to be in your dog depends not just on the severity and perseverance of symptoms, but also whether the problem is more external - e.g. to do with an ear inflammation or infection - or something more serious happening internally, like a brain or nerve tumour. Head trauma of some kind is also thought to cause VS, as well as vitamin deficiencies (notably thiamine) or some medications that a dog is more sensitive to.
Vets can certainly help to establish what, more specifically, might be causing VS symptoms in your dog, in order to better treat them, but a very high number of these episodes in older dogs, especially, will be classed as idiopathic; i.e. as having no identifiable cause. And should the cause of them be less serious, the good news also is that many dogs get over them pretty well. Some may recover in days, or weeks, others may take a bit longer. During this time they will need more drastically reduced exercise and lots of TLC until they are better.
WILL VS KEEP RECURRING IN YOUR DOG?
Sometimes an older collie may have one or two VS episodes within a period of a few months, then never have one again. Others may have more, or another episode that is far more severe. It remains a highly unpredictable condition, in terms of both severity and incidence of occurrence, However, it is also worth reassuring owners to not always 'fear the worst' when a VS episode occurs in their older dog, given how many dogs we know who have made excellent recoveries from them over time.
Meanwhile this subject and anything else owners might want to know about collie health or looking after older dogs appears in my book COLLIE PSYCHOLO-GY: https://performancedog.co.uk/.../collie-psychology.../
And in the USA via: https://www.dogwise.com/ #
All text © Carol Price 2022
