Stroke

Hi

I have never posted here but admit to being a long time lurker!

We are in trouble and I am just wondering has anyone else's Cav had a doggy stroke?

Cara is an 8 year old Ruby Cav who we adopted 4 years ago. She has always been overweight and over the past 6 months or so developed a kidney problem.

This morning at 7am she had what appears to be a stroke. She was flaying around on the floor... her eyes rolling/twitching..... her paws rigid... her body lying over to one side and she was and is still unable to stand. We rang the vet and got her down to him straight away.

He has kept her in and has sedated her for the morning to help ease her pain/discomfort. He is waiting to see how she will be in a few hours before any decisions have to be made. We are devasted as you can imagine.

I am just wondering have any of your Cavs ever had strokes and if so have they made a good/partial recovery or is this the end of the road for our beloved pet?

Thanks a million...

Hi Cara's mom

I am so sorry to hear you and your dog have had to go through such a distressing episode. Has the vet positively diagnosed stroke, or are you still awaiting a diagnosis?

What you described sounds exactly like my Scarlett's grand-mal seizures. It is kind of like when humans have epileptic fits. This is different to a stroke, though both do affect the brain.

Let us know ok?

The vet said he was pretty sure it was a stroke. We thought it might have been a seizure also but in his experience he said he didnt think so.

My head is all over the place at the moment... we are supposed to be going away on holidays this Saturday (with Cara). If she survives this we cant bring her with us now as the journey is too long.... and if we cancel the holiday we lose our money. It's all a mess.

I am trying to figure out how to post a picture of her here... but the brain cells arent working too well right now.

I'm so sorry to hear that Cara is not well

It sounds similar to what happened our Cassie. Our vet said that dogs do not have strokes (not in the same way that humans do anyway). Cassie had a few of these episodes where she could not stand and was disorientated. She recovered well enough for a while but unfortunately her heart failed (we think her heart was weakened as a result of the episodes) and she passed away last summer. Cassie was 14 yrs old so maybe the fact that Cara as age on her side may help.

I know it's a very troubling time when your dog is so sick and it is scary when they have these episodes so I really hope that everything turns out OK for you :flwr:

Cara's Mum said:

The vet said he was pretty sure it was a stroke. We thought it might have been a seizure also but in his experience he said he didnt think so.

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I just did a Google and it seems strokes are quite rare in dogs, but they do occur. It also seemed that they are usually not as debilitating as they can be in humans. I don't know any of this first hand, just some stuff I read ok.

My head is all over the place at the moment... we are supposed to be going away on holidays this Saturday (with Cara). If she survives this we cant bring her with us now as the journey is too long.... and if we cancel the holiday we lose our money. It's all a mess.

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Oh boy! You poor things. It is bad enough when our babies get really sick but when it collides with another major even it is a nightmare. My heart really goes out to you.

Have you had an update on Cara yet? Have the vets been able to get her up & standing or is she still very heavily sedated.

Keep us posted with progress. :hug:

Thanks Caraline and Casshon

No word yet from the vets... I am jumping every time the phone rings. Hubby had to go to work and I here with the baby trying to keep busy.

Yes.. our vet did mention that "stroke" was a general word he was using as dogs dont really get strokes in the same way as humans do. The symptoms and end results are pretty similar though. I presume Cara is still sedated as he said he would keep her asleep for the morning.

I miss her so much around the house this morning. Waiting to see what happens before we decide about the holiday. We have no one to mind her for us and I dont know of any doggy convalescent homes! This is all presuming she makes it of course.

Thanks a million for the support.

My neighbours dog, Honey, a golden cocker had a couple of strokes, late in life. She seemed to recover quite well, though she never was the lively type. Merv's present cocker is the same. I think it's the way he is with the; laid back.

She will need some tlc when she comes home. For a few days afterwards Cassie was very weak and was very unsteady on her feet. She needed help to get outside as she would occasionally fall over or not be able to get her legs under her. She did recover well and was back to herself quite soon considering her age and what she had been through.


:xfngr: Fingers crossed everything will be OK.

Oh my gosh!! That must have been so scary for you both! I don't have any advice to give, but I will offer my prayers and good thoughts...I really hope Cara pulls through Please keep us posted if you get any word.

Well after a morning of pacing the floor and googling for more information the vet just phoned.

Cara has woken up and seems an awful lot better. She managed to stand up and take a few wobbly steps... and she managed to eat a handful of food - (having said that if she was on her last legs and someone offered her food she would snaffle it up!!!)

The vet is going to run some tests on her so we should know more tonight or tomorrow. He said if she keeps on improving at the rate she is we should have her home tomorrow and might be able to take her away with us (we are going in the car and we have taken a house) - she would be much happier with us obviously.

He cant guarantee it wont happen again though.... and what the outcome of another episode might be.

We are just so glad that so far she is on the right road.... and are keeping everything crossed that she makes a full and speedy recovery and is back to herself in no time.

I was dying to go and see her but the vet said to leave her rest for today. She is settled with him for now and seeing me might only leave her unsettled again.

Thanks a million for all your good wishes and advise..... now I have to figure how to get her picture up as my avator!!!

I;m really glad Cara has recovered and is doing so much better.

If you'd like you can PM me your vet's name... some of them I know of and some know cavaliers and their health issues better than others.

I do not know if kidney problems could cause seizures but this is one thing you will want to investigate.

Also you will really, really want to get that weight down -- it is a serious health risk for the breed overall as it puts a massive extra strain on their hearts. I can give you some advice on this as well as I've taken weight off rescue cavaliers before. Vets simply do not stress this enough in this country IMHO especilly when it comes to cavaliers who are almost all going to have heart problems eventually, so a svelte cavalier is top of the healthy agenda.


Then: Ihope your vet will be checking for epilepsy and diabetes (the latter especially if the dog has gotten fat) as both would cause seizures. In addition there are two breed specific health issues which could cause seizures: episodic falling syndrome and syringomyelia. Your vet needs to be aware of both of these possibilities as they may influence how the dog is treated.

Info on SM at www.sm.cavaliertalk.com; info on EFS: www.episodicfalling.com

I really hope you'll all be off on a happy holiday by next week! I'm so glad things are looking so much better.

This is her!

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j282/2005nov/November Babies/Ronan/Ronan2007-03-25_14.jpg

Cara is a cutie! I hope she is feeling better real soon.

I'm so glad she's doing better, I have been thinking of her all day. :flwr:

Thanks Karlin

We are very happy with our vet - he has a Cav himself! He is running bloodtests today to check out further any underlying issues that may be there.

We had Cara's weight under control until recently (when we got her 4 years ago she was 16Kgs!!!!! :shock: ) and was in very bad health. We got her weight down to 11Kgs and had her on vet recommended food for obesity. She developed protein in her urine a few months ago and as the obesity food was high in protein we had to change it. We are on a fine balancing line at the moment between managing her protein levels and keeping her weight down.

Thanks a million for those websites also.... I am going to have a look at them now. :flwr:

Thanks Lenee and Casshon :thnx:

I am so glad she is doing better!! You have been in my thoughts all morning!

She is a lovely baby and looks so happy in that picture, but tubby doesn't even begin to describe her!! I agree with Karlin, getting her weight down should be a top priority in order to bring her back to full health. If you don't mind my asking, what and how much are you feeding her?
Sweet baby, I just want to snuggle her!!:luv:

Sorry to hear about Cara - I'm glad she's on the mend. She looks lovely.

A similar thing happened to my Charlie a couple of years ago, I think. Like your vet, the vet said it was similar to a stroke, but it's a bit different from the strokes we get. I think she called it 'old dog vestibular syndrome'. It sounds quite similar to what Cara experienced - Charlie went all wobbly for a bit and couldn't stand up, and his eyes were flickering.

The good news is that Charlie recovered pretty quickly, and there hasn't been another incident since. I really hope Cara will be lucky too.

Pepsi x

Hmmm.

I'd try to just feed less rather than feed obesity foods. Obesity diets are lots of filler -- and filler is often stuff a dog doesn't need. I have never heard though of obesity diets being higher in protein -- usually they are lower! Was she still gaining wieght on the lite food? Given her size from your pic, I'd agree that getting her weight down is no casual matter -- this is really urgent and her weight alone is going to be putting serious pressure on her kidneys much less her heart at her age. I'd start feeding HALF what you are giving now. How much do you give now?

Vets here also don't get a lot of background in proper nutrition -- they tend to push the diet foods they sell through their surgeries. :-|

A good quality normal food in smaller quantities tends to do the job, is a lot healthier for the dog (especially if the food you are using is Hill's -- this is generally very poorly rated in evlautations because it is so high in filler, ingredients like corn and wheat gluten which many dogs are allergic to, and full of presercvatives and additives. Plus it is very expensive for a mediocre quality food -- a really top notch food like Burns, James Wellbeloved, or Royal Canin 27, is generally less per bag. If the diet food is one of Royal Canin's or Burns' brands, that's a better option than Hill's, but still, just feeding less and adding if necessary, your own low cal filler like few raw carrots pieces or frozen green beans or a bit of fruit (banana, apple, pear slices) gives roughage. As does a bit of wheetabix crumbled into the regular food -- very filling, good roughage, no additives. And cut out treats or switch to bits of fruit or veg.

I highly recommend this breeder's guide to feeding and getting cavaliers thin:

http://roycroftcavaliers.com/manualfeeding.htm

Well the vet just phoned and said that Cara has made a "miraculous recovery"!!! She is up and about, walking and eating well. He is astonished at her resiliance and at how fast she is back on her feet. We can have her back home tomorrow morning!

He ran several tests - she doesnt have diabetes, nor does she have epilepsy thank God. Her kidneys are back functioning well (which is amazing). The main issues are high cholestoral and high liver enzymes... which can both be linked to obesity. He is running a thyroid test also but we wont have the results of these til next week.

Karlin the food she has been on since we got her is Royal Canin Walthams Obesity. Our vet changed her to Royal Canin Sensitivity when she started to have kidney toubles. She used to get 2 handfuls of food each evening... but she needed Propalin drops for slight incontinence twice a day so we split her main meal into 1 handful at lunchtime and 1 in the evening. I have always given her carrots/apple/banana for a treat and she would get one doggy biscuit a day (Biscrok or something).

The one indulgence we allowed her was an occasional pigs ear or rawhide strip.

Having said that since our baby has become a toddler there is a lot more food finding its way to the floor from the highchair which Cara instantly snaffles up. She has always had the run of the house and she barks and howls and cries if I lock her out of the kitchen. I have a portable stairgate which I am now thinking I should try instead of closing the door on her... at least that way she can still see us and feel she is included.

Anyhow.... thank you all so much for your thoughts and your support today. You made a newbie feel very welcome. :thnku: I will let you know tomorrow how things go.