vestibular disease

We had quite the scare tonight. Rick came home from work and let the dogs out, and Beaux wasn't his usual self. As he went outside, he was stumbling around, barely able to stand up. Rick said he started searching around the house for me, even trying to make it upstairs. He then collapsed in the living room and urinated on the carpet. And when Rick fed him, he looked at the bowl of food, looked up and Rick and then went inside the crate. When my BoBo doesn't eat food, something is up. He's a Lab after all.

Of course as soon as Rick called me at work, I was concerned and called the vet. Our vet didn't have enough staff on hand to see Beaux, so I tracked down the emergency vet in Kirkland to let them know we'd be coming over, and then promptly called Ashley and Gerry to cancel our dinner plans we'd made for the evening.

Rick seemed to think it was a stroke. The symptoms of the head tilting to one side. Unable to stand up straight, falling into the walls. No hunger. Peeing on the floor. I couldn't even imagine what this would mean.

As soon as we got the vet, I started to feel better about the situation. She told us that they believe that based on his symptoms that this was an ear-based infection that affected his balance, and not a stroke. If so, he would get used to the dizziness and that it should clear up completely in the next three weeks. If he gets worse, then it could be a tumor and we should bring him in for an MRI. But even as we spoke with the vet, it seemed Beaux was getting a handle on his dizziness and able to walk around a little bit better -- albeit like a drunken dog who'd consumed a fifth of vodka.

He got a shot to help with the nausea and as soon as we got home, he managed to eat his kibble. He's now resting on the living room floor next to the dog bed.

Zoe is laying next to him with her cone head. Her stitches come out tomorrow morning just in time for Rick's grandma, great uncle, his wife and great cousin to come into town this weekend for a visit.