Hermione falling

A couple of hours ago when I put Hermie down afther I'd been holding her, she started falling on her hind legs. She tried to get up but her hind legs gave and wouldn't carry her, they just spread out. Finally (after about 15-20 seconds) she got up but even then her hind legs looked strange: they were straight and very wide apart. I picked her up and she soon fell asleep.
I read about episodic falling but it seems to be linked to excercise and excitement. There was none of that, she'd been sitting with me. She had a similar 'attack' when she was very young, now she's 13 months.
It was really upsetting to see my sweet little doglet falling like that and looking at me with those pleading eyes...
Any ideas?

hi Eeva, I'm so sorry to hear that your little girl is not herself. I'm not able to pass comment on what the problem might be, however there are so many people on this forum with a wealth of knowledge and experience that I'm sure you will be offered plenty of support. I just wanted to wish you well and hope that Hermione is back to her old self soon :flwr:
Phoebe's mum.

I once had a pup that I bought, he was ill (vomiting & diarrhea) and shortly later he'd fall (JUST LIKE you are describing). Look at me, loose control, fully alert-- I was at my wits end. We went through over 1000.00 in tests to find out he had a liver infection and that brought on the encephalopathy. The liver didn't function as well as it should, junk got into the blood and into the brain (brain would malfunction). We did bile acid tests every 2-4 weeks for 6 months and each got better and better. He is now and has been 100% for years. You might ask your vet what they would suggest.

Sandy was the liver problem discovered with a blood test? If so, is it like the blood tests we normally have done for our cavs prior to anesthesia?

Cathy Moon said:

Sandy was the liver problem discovered with a blood test? If so, is it like the blood tests we normally have done for our cavs prior to anesthesia?

Click to expand...

Actually, it is (bile acid test) two blood tests that they compare. The first is a fasting blood test. No food for so many hours, draw blood, feed the dog a richer meal than normal, wait -- draw blood and you compare the different liver numbers. They had first thought liver shunt. But the ultra sound was fine- normal size liver. They vets at Madison wouldn't give the shunt idea up, so we did a nuclear scintigraphy-- that was normal. They wanted to do a liver biopsy(which can cause hemorrhaging) and I said NOOOOO!! They had poked and prodded and even made my dog radioactive, enough was enough. But he got better and his test results got better. A human doctor said-- well it sounds like it was a liver infection. The liver regenerates and we have never looked back.

Hi Eeva,
Is it possible that your cavalier ate macadamia nuts when those episodes happened? That can have a weird effect on dogs.

If it happens again, I would try to get a video or several photos for the vet. If she is standing like a sawhorse, that is a neurological symptom, so maybe she should be seen by a neurologist if it happens again.

Is her gait normal compared to other dogs?

Sandy - thanks for that info about liver testing!

She didn't have any nuts of any kind at all. She seems fine today, we've been for a walk and she walks normally. I'll try to get photos next time, if I can, I just seemed to freeze when it happened.
We've also been thinking that these laminate floors aren't really ideal for ther joints as they are so slippery. We've put rugs everywhere, but no matter what antislip things we put under them, the dogs always seem to manage to move them all over the place.
Thanks for all your kind messages!

Oh dear, no woner you are worried, I have personnally never encountered anything like this with my own dogs but just wanted to say that I am thinking of your and your precious girl :hug: