When Becky got home from work today she found Cinnamon unable to walk without falling down and looking dazed and disoriented. She called me at the office, then took her to the vet where I met up with them. It was a very pitiful looking condition, you’re thinking it’s a stroke, and wondering if you’re about to have make the BIG decision. We have a competent vet, though, and he diagnosed Canine Geriatric Vestibular Disorder. He said she should start showing improvement tomorrow, and may be able to walk by Sunday. So, after getting her back home, we laid out a sleeping bag next to her regular pillow, for extra padding, and she’s been mostly lying there quietly all evening. Sometimes she stands up and just gazes, her head tipped to one side. I go down and talk to her and pet her a lot. You can tell just from looking at her that the world inside her head is spinning around. I hope she can regain some stability before she gets too starved or dehydrated, although she does seem to drink pretty well. She emptied her stomach on the vet’s floor, and doesn’t seem much interested in eating. I don’t blame her. We feel bad restricting her to downstairs, but we can’t take chances with the steps, and I assume we’ll still need to try to get her outside to do some “business”. Anyhow, a heartbreaking time for us, and certainly a confusing time for poor Cinnamon. It may be a long weekend, especially for puppy. She really is getting on up in years. She’s thirteen, but even the vet says she doesn’t look that old.
