Weed, whats a TIA? I've given my old Parker one regular strength aspirin occasionally when his rheumatiz was really bad, he's about 60 pounds. Since it eventually got worse he's now on a prescription Deramaxx for his arthritis and it's been a miracle, he's like a pup again, not a worn out 13 y.o. BC.

Transient Ischemic Attack, precursor to a stroke. I've linked a pretty good site below. She has many of the symptoms. This has been going on for probably a year. Small things at first. She had her first bad one in October. Afterwards, she is perfectly normal.

Here is a link that might be useful: TIA

Oh! Where are my manners? Hi Peter! How's the house? :)

Weed,
You may want to have the dog checked by the vet since some form of medication may help her and you should rule out ear and thyroid problems. I would also hesitate to start her on aspirin, if it's not absolutely necessary, since it could lead to stomach problems.

Is she on any kind of medication now? I ask because certain meds would cause the same symptoms in my dog.

Here's info from vetinfo.com:
***Strokes are very rare in dogs. They do occur but they are much more
infrequent than humans.

The condition most commonly confused with a stroke in dogs is peripheral
vestibular syndrome. This condition causes a sudden loss of balance. The
dog's eyes often have a rhythmic side to side or up and down motion known
as nystagmus. The dog's head may tilt to one side. There are a number of
other conditions that can also cause symptoms that might be confused with
stroke, so it is important to keep communicating with your vet to ensure
that he or she is aware of the progress of the problem.

Due to the fact that strokes are a fairly infrequent condition in dogs
there is not much information about how to treat them available in the
veterinary literature. I don't know if aspirin is helpful after a stroke in
dogs.

Many veterinarians use prednisone early in the treatment of peripheral
vestibular syndrome. I just tell people to wait the condition out. In
almost all cases the dog will show improvement in 24 to 48 hours and the
symptoms will resolve in a few days to three weeks. A few dogs have some
residual signs with a minor head tilt probably being the most common
permanent effect.

There is a definite possibility that your vet is treating for another
condition, so please do not discontinue the medication until you have a
chance to talk to your vet.***

Here is a link that might be useful: vestibular disease

Thank you, annz. I will talk to my vet about that. She doesn't get the head tilt, but it's definitely worth investigating.

She is not on any meds now. Her blood tests show elevated Bun and Creatinine, so kidney disease could be a problem, but she shows no other signs of that. Drinks and pees normally. I know I need to get a urinalysis, she just won't pee in the damn*d cup ;)

My little gal also had kidney problems. BTW, your vet should be able to draw urine with a syringe.

Do not medicate your dog because you suspect, the diagnose comes first medication later and with a non COX selective NSAID like aspirin the risk is too high.

Thanks so much for that link Annz, my pug ( 7 yrs old ) was acting strange, almost all the symptoms. I took her to the vet and he said arthritis, gave her pain pills and said if she continues he`d run tests . By the way, reg vet on vacation and this one pretty much sucked, never see him again !But she started acting better after a few days, then she is back to herself now, it`s been a couple of weeks. The thing that I first noticed is she just stared at the ceiling for hours, and walked like she was drunk. very scary!!

We give our friend Chihuahua (with a bad knee) Saint Josephs Asprin for Children, but I agree with the poster who urged you to take your pet to the vet, your dog could be having some other problems, if money is an issue, ask your vet if you can put down a deposit and make payments - call around if they say no and if that does not work look on the internet for assistance, I know there are a number of organizations which will help with vet bills.

Weed, your link to TIA is for humans. Don't diagnose from what you see you online.

My dog is 14, blind unless the light is just right and according to DOG web sites she should either be dead or die any day now because of her tumors. You can't tell her that, when she isn't sleeping she is full of pup energy. Her vet says there is no reason she can't live to be 16. I want a magic wand so I can keep her forever but if a year or two is all I get, I will take it as long as she isn't hurting.

I sure wouldn't diagnose her from a website, let alone a website about a human problem. My husbands cancer, according to online he should be bald and dead if you believed it all.

Don't diagnose according to what you read online. Take your dog to the vet if you think there is a health problem and go from there.

Thanks, mazer. Money is not a problem, fortunately. The vet saw her again, this time right during one of her 'episodes'. She says everything points to brain lesion or tumor, and what I am seeing are seizures. I had no idea they could be so mild or last so long. By mild I mean that Taco doesn't have classic seizures, she just suddenly stops and stares like she has no idea where she is. Then she's very stumbly for 30 - 45 minutes afterwards. The vet said the seizure itself is usually short, but the after effects can last hours.

She prescribed a low dose of phenobarbital, which is supposed to help control the seizures. I hope so. It's so hard watching her. I'm sure she is so scared and confused. At least she is not in pain.

She had mentioned brain tumor or lesion before, but I don't remember a particular discussion about those things causing seizures. She took blood again to do a full panel, including thyroid.

Here's another ODD thing: I got home and Taco was still quite unsteady, probably still the seizure's after effects, plus the pheno. Someone came to the door, and she was up and off like a shot, like nothing was wrong with her. After she determined the person did not represent immediate danger, nor did they have any treats, she gradually went back to being unsteady. Maybe she got a little shot of adrenaline?

gammyt, I just posted that to illustrate what TIA is for pkguy, since her behavior was the same, and my ex-vet had mentioned the stroke possibility. I'm glad your husband isn't bald and dead ;) My dad's the same way!

And I guess I misled everyone about the aspirin...I wouldn't have given it without my vet's approval. It was 9pm when I was thinking about it, and being the impatient one that I am, wanted info *rightnownotlater* and just wondering what others knew.

I do think the internet is really helpful though, so one can ask their doctor or vet questions - i.e. "could it be this?" Although when I ask these questions of my doc or my vet, I say "a friend had this" or "a friend's dog had this", so I don't offend the doc/vet. I suspect a lot of professionals get irritated with people who say "I read on the internet..." Like you're telling this person who went to school for many years how to do their job. Does that make sense? And yes, I know I'm kinda doing that very thing, but they don't always know everything, do they?

THIS JUST IN: My vet just called, and Taco's blood work showed she had very low blood sugar and very low phosphorus. Low blood sugar causes unsteadiness and can cause seizures. The blood sugar thing could mean she has a tumor on her pancreas, still not good at all.

The low phosphorous is probably because I've been restricting it due to her kidney issues. The good news is that her BUN and Creatinine are now within normal levels! So the diet I changed her to looks like it helped. (Although the low phosphorous could indicate some other problem.....)

Anyway, the vet wants me to email her what I am feeding Taco, so she can really look at all the details. She also wants to do insulin testing, which means Taco going to the hospital and getting blood taken every hour.

So even though her prognosis is definitely bad, I for some reason just feel better that it might not be a brain tumor. Pretty irrational.