I have a one year old yellow lab. When I took him for his walk this morning something strange happened. He started walking strangely (like he had less control of his legs), then kind of walked around in a circle 3-4 times, and then fell to the ground. He was laying on his side, and I felt like he looked a little out of it. I talked to him and petted him for about 5 minutes, and then tried to get him to stand up. The first time he tried, he fell back down. The second time he got up rather clumsily, but then he started walking. He walked slowly for the next 10 minutes and at first seemed to be leaning, but then he seemed to get back to normal.

We walk or run every day, about 4 miles a day. This happened less than a mile into our walk, and afterwards I just took him home. It was early in the morning, so the temp was in the mid-60's. I called my vet and haven't heard back from him yet. I feel a little worried though and wondered if anyone has any idea what happened. My fear is that it might have been a stroke or something. He's been sleeping since we got home, over 2 hours now.

I am just running out the dor, but you can ask your vet about liver and kidney disease. It's a simple blood test. I will be more specific when I get home on Monday! Good luck! :)

On the other thread you mentioned he showed more symptoms. More of the dizziness or the leg trouble?

Second, does he look to be straining when he tries to stand?

Third, is he hiking his leg okay or squatting?

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Originally Posted by Catsmine

On the other thread you mentioned he showed more symptoms. More of the dizziness or the leg trouble?

Second, does he look to be straining when he tries to stand?

Third, is he hiking his leg okay or squatting?

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He spent the day at the vets for observation. They saw him acting the same as I explained. Mostly he just laid down, but when he got up he was wobbly, leaning, circling, and fell over.

I'm not sure about the straining. When he tried to get up the first time, his legs were shaking and he fell back down. The second time when he got up he was just very slow - which is unusual for him. He's usually so full of energy. I really noticed him leaning to his right side for up to 10 minutes and walking very slowly, and then he seemed okay. He even got some pettings from a couple we always see and seemed pretty normal. Normally he will kind of prance when he walks, but the rest of the way home he just walked slowly. He also normally runs to the car and jumps in, but he walked hesitantly and didn't even try to get in on his own. He's not responding to commands, which is also very unusual for him.

The vet is testing his blood. He has him set to get at MRI on Tuesday. He had me look around the garage, yard and house to see if he might have gotten into something toxic - I didn't see anything. He said his heart appeared healthy, no murmurs or obvious problems. He also checked his ears - they seemed fine and his temperature was good.

As far as going potty, he hiked his leg a few times before the incident. I haven't seen him go potty since then, but he's only been home for about an hour. I'll watch and see what he does.

ETA - It's now 6:20 here. He just ate dinner and asked to go out. He did lift his leg.

That's a good sign. If his kidneys are working OK then he can probably pull through it. Tonight it's supportive care and wait on the vet. This is the hard part.

Look into seizures, my dog had them and you pretty much explained him At the beginning! Not all seizures look like a seizure... But how he was "out of it" makes me wonder. Dogs that have a seizure are usually very weak after having one.

Update on Pete – All his tests (blood work, labs, MRI) came back normal. They don’t know why he had that problem. My vet says to go back to our normal routine and watch for signs of any more problems.

I am going to start slowly with the walks and see how he does. I still feel like I should do something more, so I made an appointment with a holistic vet to discuss his diet, etc. I want to be sure he’s getting the best possible care so he’s as healthy as possible.

Well it's good to hear that nothing came back in the blood work, but very frustrating to not know what's going on.

Have they considered anything neurological?

That's both good news and bad. The worst things should have shown up (good). You still don't know (bad). My guess would be a seizure disorder, too. Good Luck, Petey!

They ruled out many things - no tumors, no aneurisms, no vitamin or mineral deficiencies. They did a urinalysis and checked his feces. I'm not even sure I can list everything they did. So, it is a little frustrating that we don't know what caused it. I think the vet feels we should see if it happens again. He did suggest I carry either honey or syrup packets with me in case it's hypoglycemia. His blood results were fine, with the sugar in acceptable levels but on the low end. He did an additional test for hypoglycemia but it came back good as well.

The lack of findings is why I want to go to the holistic vet.

If he does it again, I'd treat it as a seizure. If he stands hunches his back and then falls, hold him while he is falling and "lay" him down. Sit there and talk to him, sometimes they can hear other times they can't but hearing your voice when he comes out of it will sooth him. Some dogs are blind for a few minutes after a seizure, let him lay down for awhile.. If he tries to get up right away try to keep him laying down for at least 10 minutes and when he gets home give him lots of water... Don't feed him for a few hours though. Also he may or may not loose control of his bladder and bowls... That's okay.

-- alty suggested feeding my dog green beans and it seemed to help his seizures.

Good luck!

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Originally Posted by Emily94

If he does it again, I'd treat it as a seizure. If he stands hunches his back and then falls, hold him while he is falling and "lay" him down. Sit there and talk to him, sometimes they can hear other times they can't but hearing your voice when he comes out of it will sooth him. Some dogs are blind for a few minutes after a seizure, let him lay down for awhile.. If he tries to get up right away try to keep him laying down for at least 10 minutes and when he gets home give him lots of water... Don't feed him for a few hours though. Also he may or may not loose control of his bladder and bowls... That's okay.

-- alty suggested feeding my dog green beans and it seemed to help his seizures.

Good luck!

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Thanks, Emily. I'll do that if it happens again. He won't eat green beans. I may have to run his food through the processor so he can't pick the beans out.

It was really easy for me, my dogs favorite food was carrots, he also loved the green beans! What I you musher it up and just put it as a "gravy" over his other food? If you blend up all his food he won't be able to really use his teeth... And what's the fun in that? I gave him
About a cup a day, and they do get expensive so we grew our own :).

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Originally Posted by Emily94

It was really easy for me, my dogs favorite food was carrots, he also loved the green beans! What I you musher it up and just put it as a "gravy" over his other food? If you blend up all his food he won't be able to really use his teeth... And what's the fun in that? I gave him
about a cup a day, and they do get expensive so we grew our own :).

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Haha, true. Pete loves carrots, squash, and other veggies. I don't know why he won't eat beans, but I'll try your suggestion.

Maybe try mixing it with the other veggies and see if it covers up the taste.. and slowly remove the other veggies.

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Originally Posted by Just Looking

Haha, true. Pete loves carrots, squash, and other veggies. I don't know why he won't eat beans, but I'll try your suggestion.

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Try a little "Southern Style." Boil some smoked bacon and blanche the beans in that water. As Geoffrey Steingarten(Iron Chef America) says "Everything is better with bacon in it."