Am asking on behalf of a friend. The dog is a 13 year old Malinois bitch, litter sister to my oldie Ripley, and a very special dog. This bitch has today presented with weak hindlegs, a head tilt and circling. Was seen by the vet and told it was most likely vestibular problems, one of two possible, the simplest kind normally caused by an inner ear infection so she has been put onto strong antibiotics. But does anyone know how you tell vestibular syndrome apart from a stroke? This all reminds me of what used to happen to my cavalier Rufus when he was old. It was a fairly regular occurrence and the vet used to give him Valium to stop the circling. If anyone has any experience of anything similar I'd be very grateful to hear as the owner is needless to say very worried indeed.

Flickering eyes are a give-away that it's vestibular syndrome. It'sas if they're trying to focus on the room spinning round, and their eyes flick (usually) from side to side. This is almost always recoverable.

Just been talking about this with my vet due to my oldie suffering something similar. He said he has never seen a case of vestibular without nystagmus (eye flicking). One of our old bitches did this and it's very obvious to spot. I would say that's the tell tale difference.

Agree with JG.  We had an elderly bitch with a Vestib attack and the flickering eyes was the determining factor as at first it was thought she had had a stroke.  Vivitonin was the prescribed drug for the vestib. and she made a full recovery

Thanks all.  Sadly it turned out this was a stroke, the bitch got a lot worse today and lost the use of all her legs and had to be given peace. Incredibly, incredibly sad -she was such a special girl and as late as Southern Counties this year she was still in the show ring (occasionally shown only), that's how good condition she was in. At least she didn't have to be ill, but I know how devastated her owners are and what a shock it must have been. :(

How sad, so sorry to hear that :(

So sorry to hear that Marianne. Up until recently I groomed a FCR who had a few minor strokes but kept going albeit a bit vague in herself. One of my oldies had a couple of vestibular incidents and as JG says had flickering eyes and she would fall over sideways, although it was horrible to watch she recovered without further episodes.

I was so interested to read this thread.  Ten days ago my 13yr 8 mth old Giant Schnauzer had, what I thought initially, was a stroke.  Friday evening, waited until the Monday before I took her to the Vet, and in that time she had improved a lot. At first she wouldn't/couldn't walk, head on one side veering to the rightside and very wobbly.  However tail wagging every time she saw me and giving me her paw (very Giant that!!).  My Vet said Vestibular - her eyes still had that slight flickering, but hugely improved.  She now can walk outside to pee, albeit in a rather wobbly and drunken way.  She is on the Vivitonin, - a friend recommended this as she had experience of the same thing.  I do not know how much improvement there can be - I realize, of course, that she is a good age for a Giant.  I would not keep her going just for me, but she is not in distress or pain and the wagging tail is great to see.  Is there anybody out there who could give me some idea what I might expect going forward please?  And, WolfieStruppi, when you say she recovered, - was it really back to how she was before???  My girl seems to keep her head to one side (right) all the time, - and that has become more pronounced in the last few days.

Interesting for me too. My Kezzie (12 +) had a 'vestibular incident' a couple of months ago. Apart from occasional back leg 'wobble' she is back to normal. The head tilt persisted for a couple of weeks and she found it difficult to catch balls -especially if aimed high and initially had difficulty feeding from her food bowl - now no problem.

Yes, Bushybeards, she didnt take long to get totally back to normal, and had another 2+ years with nothing further. Her daughter keeled over in the kitchen a couple of months ago, same symptoms and recovered quickly. Sadly had to have her pts 3 weeks ago as her back end was going, she would've been 12 the same week.
Hope your Giant improves.