Just after a bit of help really and was wondering if anyone else had experienced this with there dog.

About six weeks ago our springer was having a run and play in the garden when all of a sudden he started acting as though he was really really drunk, dropping to the floor and then trying to get up and stumbling over again, the spinning around on the floor but he manages to get up and was spinning around as though his legs were acting as the they didn’t work. He then fell over again and untried to calm him down and you could see his eyes were as big as saucers and he was breathing really heavy?

It all passed within five minutes and he had a massive drink of water and seemed fine.

Yesterday it all happened again whilst the wife was out walking with him. She phoned me to come and pick him up but by the time I got there he was fine?

He is a 3 year old springer and is otherwise in very good health.

Anyone had this happen with their dog before

Cheers

Steve

Not happened here but at a guess maybe an [inner]ear thing – vet time without a doubt.

Why didn’t you go to a vet when it first happened?

Didn’t go to a vet as it seems to pass within 5 minutes and he is fine afterwards.

Could it be an allergic reaction to a bee sting or something?

Epilepsy?

Not uncommon in several breeds, my mums Vizsla used to do it when he got a bit overexcited or too hot, seen it a few times in beagles too, really scary first time you see it, but once it was over they were fine

if it is, then its a close call on whether to medicate, I’d say only if they were regular, if its very occasional then the side effects of the treatment possibly outweigh the welfare effect of the attacks.

I read some stupid shit on here sometimes and this is right up there. For gods sake man, take him to the vet.

Could it be an allergic reaction to a bee sting or something?

Maybe. A vet would be able to inspect the actual dog and tell you based on that inspection, their qualifications and their experience treating animals.

Not to panic you, but our old lab cross had similar behaviour, and it turned out it was a tumour on his brain, and eventually led to a haemoragic stroke that blinded and ultimately killed him.

Took about 1 year from first signs (which lasted about 5 mins as you describe), to when he was eventually put to sleep.

So, as with many of these things, go see a vet, maybe you can catch it earlier than we did (we ignored until Bruno was very unwell, and by then too late).

🙁

Agree with dashed……could be serious, needs blood test etc.

Our Springer was at the vets last week, due to feeling lethargic and being completely unable to swallow her food, turns out she had meningitis, no idea dogs could even get it.

Used to have a black lab with epilepsy. It wouldnt really writhe around much, more lie down and take a time out for a while. But it meant he couldnt be worked as when he was out of site you couldnt know if he was having a seizure or not.

Just adding my voice to the “Vet” crowd.

While vets are expensive, it’s often less hassle for both of you to go sooner rather than later. Also you peace of mind.

Finally, if the worst comes to the worst and he’s ill – the sooner the treatment is started the better the outcome is likely to be and there is also the possibility of a cost saving if an illness is not allowed to progress before treatment is started.

Best of luck to you both.

Renton,

Had exactly the same with our springer.
The best description is that she suddenly appeared to be drunk, uncoordinated, big eyes, panting, falling over.

This was about 11 o’clock at night.
Called the vet and took her to the surgery, diagnosis in that case was probable food poisoning / poisoning via something she had eaten.

Vet squirted liquid charcoal down her throat as an absorption effort, as you can imagine that’s a really messy process with a resistant springer.

A day resting and she was back to normal.

That’s my experience but I agree with the above, visit the vets.
(Top Tip: Far cheaper in the day than a late night call out )

My Dads dog did something similar after encountering a toad. It came on suddenly and went away reasonably quickly too no lasting effects.

If in doubt take it ot the vets

Had a very similar thing with my dog when she was younger, took her to the vets and he told me that the tipping point into a seizure for a dog is quite a fine balance. I now avoid getting her too hyped even though it can be difficult, I think the heat can add to this as well. However I would definitely take the dog to the vets as there can be many other factors to consider and illnesses that show similar symptoms so not good to diagnose on the internet.

Thanks for the replies. We are going to take him to the vets but wanted to ask on here before his appointment.

The problem is is that he is showing no symptoms at the moment. Hopefully the vet will be able to go off what we can tell them.

A wild guess but if its a Cavalier? Look up Syringomyelia.

The Symptoms can happen as the dog is older/has grown. Not as a puppy.

Vet squirted liquid charcoal down her throat as an absorption effort, as you can imagine that’s a really messy process with a resistant springer.

Just as messy when we’ve had to do that to one of our sheep but at least we were outside 😆

Hope your dog is OK.

Most likely to be an inner ear disorder or epilepsy.

Less likely to be a tumour or a mild hemorrhage, but it’s a possibility. Did one side of her go floppy, or both?

Take him to a vets as it could be anything, my old springer would have funny moments that were similar, they however were just funny turns if she got too hot or too thirsty when she was being bonkers outside.

Hora he is a springer.

I managed to get a video on my phone and was able to show the vet and that helped him, but your description sounds quite clear as well.

Springers do have recorded problems with hypoglycaemia particularly working dogs.
Male dogs at 3 yo are a common age to start idiopathic epilepsy .
Brain tumour would be less common at this age of dog
Heart/.respiratory condition can present similarly
Video footage of an episode would help. As the difficulty is determining the difference between seizures and collapse/ fainting
So the work up for these dogs can be quite tricky and may if neurological go right up to MRI scan.

go right up to MRI scan

And then a CAT scan, and a Lab report.

bdum tish 😀

It might be epilepsy, but your vet is the best place to start. If it does turn out to be epilepsy don’t despair. Our dog’s epileptic and takes Epiphen. He lives a great life, very active, runs with the bikes, etc. in fact unless you witnessed one his very rare fits you’d never know.

Similar symptoms to what happened to my parents dog, only happened once (so far). The vet put it down to something he’d eaten whilst out walk, and commented that sniffer dogs (theirs is a springer cross) have been known to sniff out drugs left in spots where people will hide them for ‘collection’.

Fingers crossed for you that it’s nothing serious.

Our dog has vestibular syndrome, or ‘old dogs syndrome’. The symptoms you describe are very similar. Get it checked out cos there are various reasons for these type of attacks, its also not just old dogs which get it as one of the names suggest.

OP,

Our dog died two days ago with the exact symptom you described above but ours was in the far east.

Our dog was not feeling well two weeks prior to his death but when it seem that he was recovering he died. On the last evening my parents let him out into garden to walk about at around 8pm and got him in by 9pm. He was stumbling a bit when he got back and he went to sleep as usual. Heavy breathing and all that by 10.30pm he was gone.

He was a very healthy dog but two weeks ago things degenerated so I guess he never recovered. We gave him some medications which seem to work but only temporarily and we were thinking of getting him to vet soon but he died before that.

Ours was just a stray mongrel we rescued from dog hunters/catchers (they sold them to restaurants btw) when he was a young dog of not more than 1 year old then led a good life with us for another 7 years. He basically ran into our house and my mum and sister defended him from the dog catchers.

Well, his place is now take over and replaced by two more rescue dogs we have. One mongrel and the other one a kind of toy lion dog.

He is buried in our garden in front of the house.

Yes, we miss him.

😐

I’m not a dog lover, by any measure. But I feel that Dashed sums it up. Get you pet, to a vet. Instead of chatting about the poor beggar on a forum.

Solo….As Ive said above he is booked into the vets already.

I cant magic an appointment any sooner can I ???

Hope your dogs is ok. Maybe this will cheer you up (always makes me chuckle)?

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOvQ1EvMy5k[/video]