5 Essential Home Treatment Tips for Old Dog Vestibular Disease – Dog Health Vet Advice
if your senior dog is suffering from
idiopathic vestibular disease they’re
learning how to treat old dog vestibular
disease a home can be a vital step to
ensuring that their path to recovery is
as smooth as possible keeping them calm
comfortable and is free from
complications as you can stay tuned to
find out how hi if we brought over for
I’m dr. Alex the veterinarian behind our
pets health calm where my aim is to help
you and your pets live a healthier
happier life make sure you check out my
essential guide to vestibular disease
video to find out more about the scary
disease but for now let’s jump into my 5
home care tips for treating old dog
vestibular disease so tip number 1 is to
help your old dog avoid injuries so when
they’re disorientated when they’re
stumbling around it’s very easy for them
to become injured and so to do to
prevent that from happening we can do a
number of things we can stop your dog
lying down on slippery floors or having
their bed on slippery floors you can try
and put a rug or a runner down it’s
important to make sure that it’s got a
non-slip grip so it’s not sliding around
when your dog walks on it or just
keeping them on carpeted areas to make
sure that they’re not gonna slip and
fall over it will also help them just
get purchased when they’re trying to
stand up while they’re a little bit
unsteady on their legs if your dog is
really unsteady then actually supporting
them can make a big difference as well
so what you can do is you can actually
put harness on your dog some are
appropriate for keeping on all the time
others it’s better just to slip on when
you’re going to take your dog out to go
to the toilet for example and I really
like the ones by julius canine they’re
very robust they’ve got a great handle
what you could do is you can just help
your dog get to their feet in the first
place
you can then hold this handle to help
support them while they’re getting
outside while they’re outside going to
the toilet as well for those dogs that
are really struggling as well as having
that handle on their harness you can pop
a towel or a sheet under their tummy
just in front of their back legs to
again provide just a little bit of extra
support and stability to help them help
them get around and to help stop them
becoming injured through falling
tip number two is to prevent pressure
sores or urine or fecal scolding so
often dogs who has suffering from
vestibular disease they’re just lying
around they’re sleeping a lot they’re
really not wanting to move and that can
be a recipe for disaster for developing
pressure sores which can but then then
be quite challenging to treat in some
cases or getting really sore skin around
their back hand their back legs if
they’re having accidents they’re wetting
themselves or going to the toilet and
that’s then sitting next to the skin so
the in the first case what we should do
is try and encourage our dogs to gets
around within reason we don’t want to
force them to do more than they they’re
able to do or if they get too upset by
being moved but if they’re not being if
they’re not moving at all actually just
rotating them from side to side every
few hours and making sure that they’ve
got really nice soft comfortable bedding
as well that will just reduce any
pressure especially around kind of any
bony bits often our older dogs they
might be a little bit skinny they might
have lost muscle around their hips that
kind of thing and so those areas those
bony prominences are going to be more
likely to develop pressure sores so just
keeping that bedding really soft also
keeping it clean though so if your dog
does have an accident then changing it
straight away
also bathing them and drying them where
they’ve urinated on on themselves for
example because that will stop the skin
getting red and sore if though you do
find that your dog is developing urine
scolding you know that might be because
they’ve been sleeping overnight you
understandably been sleeping as well you
know and you definitely need to look
after yourself while your dog’s going
through this you could actually use a
barrier cream so that could be something
like pseudo creme or Vaseline I’m just
that you pick up from the from the
pharmacy just to help prevent that urine
scolding as well tip number three to
look after an old dog with vestibule ER
disease is to encourage them to drink
and encourage them to eat so it’s
important obviously that they stay
hydrated it’s also important if we can
to try and ensure that they’re getting
enough calories in just they’re in a
recovery mode they’re going to need
their calories and we don’t want them
losing more body condition losing more
muscle than they need to while they’re
sick so we could do this in a number of
ways certainly when it comes to
encourage them to drink we can put ice
cubes in their water bowl we just
to offer it to them regularly remember
your dog might not be wanting to get up
there might be really reluctant even to
to reach not very far to try and get to
that water so just taking it to them you
can also put unflavored ice cubes in or
just flavoring so that could be low salt
stock cubes you really want to evolve
anything you really want to avoid
anything with a high salt content but
you could also boil up some chicken boil
up some vegetables and use that broth
I’m just to add flavor to the water and
then to encourage them to eat you can
just choose something that you know your
dog likes some strong tasting some
strong smelling food you can warm that
up a little bit back and really help and
you can also hand feed it so have your
dog either lick it off your finger or
take it out of your hand and again
offering it to your dog taking it to
your dog because they might be hungry
but they might be really reluctant to
get up and actually go to their food
bowl tip number four is to try and
prevent anxiety so it can be very
anxious for your dog you know when
they’re not understanding why they’re
struggling while they’re stumbling
around while they can’t get some while
why the world seems to be spinning with
their head it’s a funny angle so to do
this simply spend time with your dog be
there to reassure them you don’t have to
spend all your time stroking or petting
them obviously but just your presence
being them being there you know talking
to them in the gentle voice your
reassurance can make a big difference if
your dog is able you know consider using
some kind of food treat food toy so that
could be a Kong it could be a licky pad
it could be a food puzzle something like
that now obviously if a dog is badly
affected that they’re not going to be
able to to cope and deal with those
those kind of more challenging
situations when their balance is very
off but it could definitely be a good
mental stimulation for those dogs that
are too badly affected or are well on
their way to recovery you just still
need to rest and then finally if your
dog is getting anxious then consider
anti-anxiety medication that could be
I’m something like the supplement zeal
keen it could be adaptil which is dog
appeasing pheromone that comes in a
collar form or a plug-in diffuser you
could also and something a lot of people
are saying at the moment consider
something like CBD oil now CBD oil isn’t
the be-all and end-all there’s a lot
that we don’t know about it so you know
definitely
be careful with that I’ve got a video
linking to my discussion on CBD or I’m
in the description down below so make
sure you check out that if you are
considering that as an option but you
know the other thing to do is obviously
talk to your vet and that brings me on
to my fifth tip and that really is to
work closely with your vet so you need
to be sure that your dog does have
idiopathic vestibular disease or old dog
vestibular disease there are a number of
other conditions that can cause very
similar symptoms you know as an extreme
it could be a brain tumor so you
definitely want to make sure that you’re
treating your dog but the right thing
that you’ve been through the appropriate
Diagnostics that need to happen or that
you’re willing for your dog to undergo
to make sure that you are treating them
appropriately and as effectively as
possible your dog may also need other
medications for example if they’re
feeling really nausea sore if they’re
vomiting they might need treatment to
stop that so that they then feel like
eating they feel like drinking and they
you know remain hydrated it may also be
that your dog has other conditions that
need to be addressed or they’re already
under treatment and it’s important that
you work with your vet to make sure that
you’re able to give the appropriate
treatment that your dog needs so it
could be that they’ve got kidney disease
they’ve got liver problems it could be
any number of different things that your
dogs having it could be their arthritic
and they need some anti-inflammatory
painkillers or something like that so
you need to have a chat about what’s
important to your dog both from a
vestibular disease point of view but
also what’s going on with their general
health and you know being older dogs
frequently there are other things going
on and then finally if your dog really
is severely affected if you’re
struggling and the hospital might
definitely be the best place for them
you know they’ll be looked after by a
team of nurses who are fantastic at
caring for caring for patients in
situations like old dogs with vestibular
disease they may need intravenous fluids
to stop them being dehydrated they may
need other care and attention so you
know that’s definitely something to
consider if you’re struggling so we
don’t want to just assume that because
old dog vestibular disease is a
condition that generally improves very
well that that can always be managed at
home sometimes the veterinary hospital
is the best place for them so I hope
these tips
oh geez help you to help your old dog
get through their bouts of vestibular
disease let me know in the comments
below anything you found that really
helps your dog vestibular disease it can
be a very scary experience it looks
exactly like the dog who’s had a stroke
so it can be really upsetting and
challenging to watch your old dog go
through this but as I discuss in my
essential guide to vestibular disease
and dogs it really is one that the vast
majority recover from very well so
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until next time i’m dr. alex from our
pets health because they’re family
