I don't normally share birthdays on here, but I wasn't sure River would reach this one and as my longest serving gang member she deserves all the shout outs I can give her!

River is 16 today!  The past month and a bit has been rather shakey as she developed some sort of brain infection, which manifested as what appeared to be a UTI and then central vestibular disease, so quite serious.  And just to make it even better for me, the vestibular kicked in on the first day of my self isolation ahead of foot surgery on April 1st!  So I couldn't take her to the vet unless it was an absolute emergency.  Thankfully it wasn't, and the vets weren't keen to get her in at her age unless essential because treatment options were limited anyway; she'd need an MRI for definitive diagnosis of cause, and that's not an option for her.  But as it happened, she'd already been on ABs for the apparent UTI, so that gave us a clue and we were able to piece it all together.  She's now back to normal on long term antibiotics, and doing well as you can see from her scrounging face

Happy birthday Roo Bear

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Hpfj8ctrsPZQ1t7V8

Happy Birthday River, sorry to hear you've been unwell but good news you're on the mend. Have a wonderful day, Best wishes to you both.

Oh bless her, happy birthday River xx

Wow, that’s fantastic! Happy Birthday River!!

Happy birthday from my River!

Happy birthday from brooke . Not quite a river

Wow what an amazing age for any dog let alone a large breed..

Happy Birthday River!! I had an old dog with Vestibular disease. My vet treated him with steroids (Prenisidlone - spelling probably wrong). Seemed to help. Attacks recur but he always recovered. It's a bit like a stroke I was explained to and he did lose bladder control so waterproof bed needed and no appetite so I cooked him poached chicken which was the only thing he would eat. Hope River is with you for as long as possible.

Hers hasn't recurred thankfully, just the odd twitch here and there.  With being central vestibular it's a bit nastier - the peripheral and more common type is mainly about the inner ear, but central is caused by other things, such as the brain infection she's got or a tumour, that sort of thing.  So I'm very grateful she's responding well to the ABs.

I wish they weren't so expensive mind you!  Online shopping for the next refill