Walking problems

QuestionEdit

About 5-6 months ago my dog started walking with her head sideways. It started to get worse and worse. We finally took her to a vet who put her on prednisone and said it was probably an inner ear infection. Literally, the day her head got better she started wobbling. Almost as if she were drunk. She is getting worse and worse. She is starting to run into walls. She can't keep her balance. It's like all of her weight is on one side. One of her ears doesn't go up anymore. She is starting to walk in circles as well. Sometimes it looks like her back legs are going to go out on her. She looks really weak all of the sudden. She doesn't play as much anymore and she just kind of lays in the same spot now. Also, when we hold out a treat in our hand to give her she can never go straight for the treat. She'll go about 3-4 inches either to the left or the right. She's just completely off balance. The vet said it's probably an infectious disease or brain disease, but was not very helpful. She is getting really bad though. It's very difficult for our family to watch her every night leaning on walls to be able to stand up and falling over all the time. Could you please give us some advice? Thank you so much for your time! -Chelsea

AnswerEdit

As you probably have guessed by now, this is a very serious problem. She needs to be seen by a neuro-specialist veterinarian.

I cannot even guess what this might be but inner ear or vestibular problems are pretty rare, yet when they show up they can be very hard to treat. She could even have a form of distemper,which attacks the central nervous system and can cause the symptoms you are seeing. She probably is seeing double which is why she can't grab a treat.

She needs to be tested for distemper and/or seen by a specialist. This is possibly something a regular vet might not see. Most of them have a clue, however, and to get a blatant rote answer from your vet is not very nice. I hope you can get her the help she needs. She is suffering and if she can't be helped, or you cannot afford the tests she might need, I hope you will consider a humane euthanization for her. I know you don't want to hear that, but do you think her quality of life is good when she can't even stand up? That might be the only answer left to you. I hope you don't have to, but when the times comes,I know you will do the right thing. Please let me know what you find out.