Could Zeke Have Canine Vestibular Disorder?

On Monday morning Zeke was fine.  He took off for about a 30 minute run by himself and was fine.  I came home on Monday evening to find Zeke very disoriented, turning in circles to the right. and unable to see.  It took a couple of hours to get him to relax.   Zeke was only able to see out of his right eye and it seemed the sight in that eye was gone.  Zeke appeared to be trying to figure out where he was and I was unable to confort him at all.   We already had a vet appointment scheduled for the next day because Zeke was not eating well.  


Prior to going to the vet I did a google search on "older dog disoriented" and learned about canine vestibular disease which I was convinced that he had.  Our vet explained that canine vestibular disease shares symptoms with strokes and brain tumors.  She did a thorough exam and determined that there was no response to light in Zekes right eye.  His left eyesight had been lost a few years ago after his cataract surgery and resulting glaucoma in the left eye.


Our vet is leaning more to something going on in Zekes brain like a stroke or  brain tumor since the vestibular order being an inner ear issue would not cause Zeke to lose his vision.


While I am worried about Zeke I think he will be ok. The vet treated him with fluids, and a shot of Cerenia for nausea. She also gave us Cerenia pills to take home.  She suggested that if it was canine vestibular order most of it should resolve within 72 hours.   If it did not resolve then we could possibly consider an evaluation by a neurologiest.

Hypoglocemia in Diabetic Dogs

Zekes blood sugar continues to be low when the vet checks him.  I finally figured out the problem is that Zekes appetite is reduced lately, he is not tearing through his food like a shark like he has done in the past.  He has been finicky with food in the past but he is more finicky than usual and sometimes not finishing his food entirely like he previously.   So far the vet has not identified a reason for it.  She runs a blood panel about every 3 or 4 months and for the most part everything is normal however on the tests done in Feb. Zeke is showing slight signs of kidney damage.

With a dog with diabetes you have to be very careful to reduce their insulin if they eat less than usual.   Zekes' vet has been reduced to 10 units of NPH in the am and 10 in the evening.