What you are looking at here isn’t just Rose being coy and inquisitive, cocking her head and wondering why I’m taking her picture. No. It is the after-effect of her bout with what’s known as “vestibular syndrome” about six weeks ago.
I was out of town and my daughter and son-in-law were taking care of our place and all the critters. When they got home that Sunday evening they found Rose on her bed, unable to get up in her hind end, and with her head screwed on all cockeyed. It had happened very suddenly, so we all thought she had had a stroke.
Rose is 12, and what I know now, after our visit to the vet, is that she was struck by vestibular syndrome with no warning, as older dogs often are, and that it can definitely mimic a stroke. In layman’s terms, what happens is that the little hairs in the inner ear become disturbed and out of whack, which then causes the dog’s sense of equilibrium to go haywire. The world tilts, and the dog has extreme vertigo. And, as in Rose’s case (as if the vertigo weren’t enough), often the axis of the spine, right up under the skull, can become jammed, which interferes with all the signals being sent along the spinal cord to the hind end. Thus the lack of control of the caboose.
Enter chiropractic care. My friend April was visiting a couple of weeks after this happened, took one look at Rose, and said, “Oh, Leta! You’ve GOT to take Rose to my chiropractor,” and went on to describe to me the amazing results she has seen with several of her animals after chiropractic adjustments. One of Rose’s eyes was bulging slightly, which April said in her knowing way is always a sign that the axis is out, and once it’s adjusted the eye won’t bulge any more.
So of course off we went, as soon as we could get in. And lo and behold, Rose’s eye isn’t bulging any more. And she can plant those hind feet and hold a square stance as well as any of my dogs. The head tilt is still there — in some dogs it never goes away — but she is happy and hungry and playful, and only occasionally gets off balance now.
I often work over my animals’ bodies myself, using many different touch and energy techniques I’ve learned over the years. And I think it’s important that we all do that with our animals — not just “pet” them. But sometimes a true expert is required, and if you can find one who is as sensitive and caring in her work as you are, it will pay off big time. We are so lucky to have found such a person in one of our local animal chiropractors — a woman who used to be a “people chiropractor” but changed because she loves animals so much. And Rose is holding her adjustments, and we will now go monthly to make sure she doesn’t backslide.
I can’t urge you strongly enough! Don’t hesitate to seek out this kind of help — if your animal has a cocked head or not. If something tells you things just aren’t quite right, follow your gut and get your animal to a good chiropractor.
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