Retriever Rescue

Hi

Can someone tell me why our 14yr old golden has started to walk on his back toes? He is fine when we start a walk not going very far now as he can't manage it but loves to go out still. On Saturday afternoon we had him on the beach and he started to wobble on his back end then walking on his toes. We had to rest him for half an hour as he was really struggling. He was fine after resting. Just since this episode he has been very quiet.
We know he's old but cant find out why this is happening.
We lost our Black Lab 3 weeks ago and now we're worried that we are going to lose Moss.

Look forward to your reply's.

Helen xx

Hi Helen,
Do you mean doubling his toes under so he appears to be standing on the top of his toes, knuckling under?

My guess would be Vestibular Syndrome which is an inner ear problem giving the appearance of a stroke. But I stress, it's not a stroke and normally a dog makes a full recovery, often with no reoccurrence. It can be quite worrying at the time and can affect the dog for several days after. When my Lucy had it she was very subdued for about 3 days after.

Regards, John

yes John thats what has happened please to say that he's much happier this morning and has been very quite for the last few days, like he's been resting. Thank you for the reasurrance. Just can't imagine life without him. We have been through so much together.

I know it's so worrying Helen, but I've seen it several times, including my own Lucy, and it's rarely a problem and often never reoccurs. It obviously makes them feel bad by the way they act for a while after, but as you say he appears better this morning it sounds like it's pretty much run it's course.

Regards, John

Thank you from me also John. Good job we have you on board to answer those tricky questions and to give some reassurance.

Jan