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[RC] Paralysed Dalmation - Carolyn BurgessMaryanne:
Is the dog drooling, the head tilt to one side and have really bad balance issues? Your dog may have canine vestibular sydrome (see link below).
My old dog, who is no longer with us, had this. If this is what the dog has, it can be caused by two things: an inner ear problem (which will resolve on it's own) or a brain stem issue (usually a tumor). If it is the tumor, it usually cannot be operated on. But the good news is that prednisone does a great job suppressing the tumor and it is not an expensive drug (at least in the US - it cost me about $20/month for a 70lb dog).
My dog first had symptoms at around 13. We went to the vet, she got a shot of prednisone and was back up and around in about 24 hours. She was about 90% of normal after that in terms of mobility. About 15 months later, she had another episode, very bad this time. It took two shots of prednisone to see any improvement (very minor) and she was on daily prednisone pills for about a month afterwards. She came back about 70% of normal for mobility.
But the vet told me that this definitely meant that she had a tumor. And when the prednisone stopped working on the tumor, she would be paralysed permanently. That happened about 6 months after the second episode the drugs stopped working and we lost the dog. But I got almost 2 additional really high quality years with this dog. She was 15 when she finally went.
Good luck,
Carolyn Burgess Ranch & Breeding Manager DoubleHeart Ranch
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