My Mums Border Collie, Cassie, seems to have lost her balance? we think she has arthritis but recently she has started to randomly fall over? The vet does not really know whats wrong with her, he did suggest that she may have had a minor stroke. She has had a course of anti-inflammatory drugs (Rimadyl) and now we are just keeping an eye on her, its been about a week or so and there are small signs of improvement, she seems ok in herself but she is still not moving around very well, she cannot put proper weight on her front leg, (she bends the paw over onto the floor?) and also her back legs keep buckling under her, we are quite worried, Please can anyone help....

Hi Austins Mummy,

I'm sorry to read about Cassie - it's always very difficult to see our much loved friends distressed :( 

She could have an inner ear infection which would affect her balance as it does in humans too although as your vet is inclined towards thinking it is the result of a stroke then TBH I would expect that to be the most likely cause.  She may well have had another or be working towards one.

Intentionally placing feet incorrectly on the floor - in the manner you describe the dog doing voluntarily - is often a way of testing for neurological / nerve damage.  Is your vet aware of this or is this a recent complication since seeing the vet?  If your vet is not yet aware of this then I'd take Cassie back for further checks.

HTH,
regards Teri

Sounds like it could have been a stroke. The leg not working is then probably related to that, and not the leg in itself, i.e. it's neurological. Hopefully she will continue to improve. My oldest dog has had several small strokes. Did the vet say the heart was okay? A poor heart can also cause the dog to fall over, basically it's fainting episodes.

Sorry, I forgot to say, We are not sure of her age as she was rescued but we think she must be around 12 years old

Hi,

There's also something called peripheral vestibular syndrom which can affect older dogs. Its all to do with inflammation of the nerves that link balance and coordination. The dog can feel dizzy and can't balance itself. Some dogs will vomit due to the dizziness, some can't coordinate to eat so need to be hand fed their food (and water). Some dogs can't balance at all to walk and some can but are quite wobbly and tend to fall to one side and their head can tilt to one side.  It's probably not that but may be worth asking your vet about, as it can be treated.

It has just been confirmed that Cassie has a slipped disc in her neck, at the moment she is unable to move, She is at the vets on a drip, and they have given her pain relief and anti-imflamatory drugs. We are now waiting to see what the options are for her, we have been told she can have an MRI scan to see the full extent of the problem and there could be the possibility of surgery, we do not know at this time if an operation will be able to help her, or what this would involve, even how long it could be to recover, or alternatively, if she doesn't have surgery what the chances of medication and rest could be? Its a very difficult time and any advice would be greatly appreciated on this. She is a very special dog and we are not ready to say Goodbye to her yet! Please help.........