Sadie Stumbles

Our dear Sadie has stumbled.  Literally.  At about noon on Sunday, she starting displaying unsteadiness on her feet, she would stagger & stumble and sometimes just plain fall over.  First, she fell into a kitchen cabinet, then Hurley knocked into her and she toppled over and then she had some muscle spasms.  We had never seen anything like this from her before and so off to the emergency vet we went.

The good news is that she appears not to have suffered a stroke or seizure.  Her symptoms are consistent with Ataxia, which is basically loss of motor function and is caused by a wide variety of issues.  This could be as simple as she got into something that was toxic or it could be as bad as a brain tumor or degenerative neurological disease.  Or it could be any number of things in between.  We just don't know at this point.  We hope that it was just something she got into but since she was not displaying any other signs of poisoning, we think it's unlikely a toxin is the culprit.  Her energy level is fine, she's eating & drinking fine and her poops are fine.

The emergency vet gave her subcutaneous fluids and sent her home with activated charcoal, which would help her body process any potential toxins and recover more quickly.  We had hoped against hope that it would do the trick and she would wake up this morning 100%.  This was not the case.

We're headed off to our regular vet this afternoon for a re-check of her symptoms and a discussion of next steps, which will most likely include a doggie neurologist.

Right now, we're just really scared.  While our trip to the emergency vet yesterday ruled out some serious potential causes, we don't have any answers.  And not knowing is the scariest.

Please keep her in your thoughts.  I'll keep you all posted once we know more.