Ben is 15 years old next month. Has arthritis (on meds for that, responds pretty well), restricted vision due to cataracts, a bit deaf (selectively sometimes! ).

He has been slowing down a bit these past few days with his walking, not sure if this is due to his arthritis or the following:

Last night he was out walking in the garden and he collapsed - back legs went first, then he rolled over onto his side and was unresponsive for a few seconds. He also had a very small bowel movement behind him, perhaps this was there already (it seemed fresh) or was as a result of the collapse, some involuntary action maybe. Note: I wasn't with him at the time, my wife was, so this is what she told me, ie I didn't see the initial collapse with my own eyes.

My wife dashed back into the house to get me, I went to him and by then his head was up and he was looking around. He seemed non-plussed yet relaxed, no apparent distress. After ten minutes or so we thought we would see if he could get up and he did so we slowly walked him back into the house. Still seemed fine but a little tired yet still relaxed.

Called the vet out, his heart was checked (was fine), temperature (fine), etc. No apparent problem found. When the vet arrived he was of course full of energy, wanting a fuss, etc as usual.

He slept well overnight and seems okay at the moment, although he is still walking a bit slower than usual as he has been for the past few days, he also doesn't want to walk quite as far when on his walk but is still keen to say hello to other dogs and is interested in his surroundings.

He's been put on Vivitonin which apparently increases the blood flow.

His appetite is fine.

Could he have had a mild stroke?

It's all rather puzzling. All ideas welcome.

Thanks

Good morning,

I am glad to hear Ben seems to have slept well, but sorry he collapsed. I have no medical insights for you, but have had older dogs collapse and be fine by the time the vet sees them. It is scary and I always start blessing every moment I have with them when it happens and they recover.

Keeping Ben in my thoughts today.

Thanks for your words of reassurance. Sorry to hear that you've also been through this with your older dogs.

Ben does seem rather lethargic right now, did you find that when your older dogs had similar problems it made them more lethargic for perhaps a few days (or hours) after the event?

This happened to Holly about 5 times - she was 13 when it first happened, and scared the £$%^ out of us. We rushed her to the vet, carried her in because she was completely unable to walk, and we feared the worst. After about 20 minutes she sat up looked round as if to say"what's going on" and she seemed fine. After checking heart etc, our vet said she had had a minor stroke, and it would likely happen again. She was quieter for about a day and then back to normal. This happened as I say about 5 times - no warning whatsover - she would just drop.

Our vet did say that usually they show signs of recovery after about 20 - 25 minutes, so if it did happen again we would be prepared, and each time she took about 15 minutes to come round.

Hugs to Ben

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Kelly, Ginny, Ralph & Holly - Forever in my heart

"I miss the wagging little tail,
I miss the plaintive pleading wail,
I miss the wistful loving glance,
I miss the circling welcome dance"

This happened to us on January 14 2010 with our 12 year 8 mo old golden Barkley. His diagnosis: hemangiosarcoma.

Please, if your vet didn't do x-rays of your dog's spleen, get xrays taken as soon as possible. Also, get a red blood cell count.

I hope you find the cause of the collapse. Having been in your shoes, I sympathize with what you are going through right now.

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So sorry to hear that you went through this with Holly. Thankfully Ben was looking around after just a few second and up and about approximately 10 minutes later (we may have been able to get him up sooner but we thought it best to let him rest for a bit and he would have been very difficult to pick up where he was).

You say that it happened to Holly about 5 times - was this spread over a few weeks or months, were the intervals between the collapses regular or variable? I only ask just to help understand Ben's condition a bit more.

Did the vet put Holly on any medication, change of diet, etc?

Thanks.

Thanks very much for the advice, I'll look into that. Is Barkley responding well to treatment?

Barkley's first treatment went well. His second one is set for 2/15. If we didn't know he has a terminal illness we wouldn't suspect it. The only tell-tale sign now is he is a little slower walking up the inclines and he rests a little more.

As you know hemangiosarcoma is called the silent killer. When Barkley collapsed on his morning walk we first thought he suffered a stroke, but the lab work and x-rays proved otherwise. The bleeds in hemangiosarcoma apparently mimic stroke symptoms in some dogs.

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Good to hear that Barkley is doing well so far.

In one of my goldens cases (King), it was probably hemangiosarcoma, since he died of liver cancer at 14 1/2 but I am unsure of what type exactly. He was operated on for an obstruction and not allowed to wake up when his cancer was discovered since he had no healthy liver left.

In another goldens case (Rowdy), it was most likely caused by temporary oxygen deprivation due to larangeal paralysis. He died of aspiration pneumonia following the surgery to correct this.

In my 17 year old German Shepard Earl, I think it was just plain old age. His body and mind were giving out slowly and we ended up needing to put him down although there was no obvious disease going on.

So, each dog was different although each recovered quickly (within seconds not minutes or days) and lasting harm was never noticed. But in each case, it was indicative of the need to start truly enjoying their company and watching for the need for medical intervention.