News

BTN 500

 

 

We are stronger together than we are alone!

  • Register

BANDIT 0125 Many of our family dogs, like humans, have similar medical emergencies. Sometimes these medical conditions are hard to know what they are. We decided to introduce our readers to what the symptoms of one rare occurrence, what the symptoms to be at least aware of, the two different types, possible diagnosis and treatments of this medical condition. Because the term is common in humans conditions, many times this may be the first thing we think of when something happens. 

Dog stroke is a rare occurrence and does happen when the blood flow in the artery to the brain is blocked, or your pet is having hemorrhage, causing temporary or permanent brain damage. The symptoms of stroke almost always come on suddenly.

 

Dogs don't show signs such being coming paralyzed like humans do, when a dog has a stroke. You will have to give them help, attention,  the right care and treatments to stroksympton1get your dog back to normal condition within a short period of time.

 The difficulty is other types of diseases also show similar signs and symptoms which are often mistaken by as dog's owner as stroke. You need to also be aware there is no age, sex or breed predisposition associated with strokes in domestic dogs.

 

There are two recognized types of canine stroke, one which is ischemic and the other is hemorrhagic.

 Ischemic stroke is caused by sudden stop of blood flow feed to the brain. There are several conditions that can cause this sudden stop blood flow. These are the most common but not only conditions:  Cushing's disease,  Diabetes,Tumors, High blood pressure (hypertension), Over or under active of thyroid glands.

 The second type of stroke is known as  Hemorrhagic stroke and is caused by blood vessel bursting which lead to bleeding in the brain. The main causes of this second type of stroke in our dogs can be caused by these: All types of diseases that can lead to high blood pressure such as kidney, heart, cushing's, blood clotting diseases etc.  Also trauma to the head along with:  Brain tumor, Accidental consumption of rat poison, Inflammation of the arteries (vasculitis). This list is not complete, there are other less common causes not listed.

 

We need to know what symptoms might lead us to suspect a stroke.  Here is a educationdogsheartlist that might help.

Dog stroke symptoms to look for: These symptoms could indicate your dog has had or is having a stroke. Head tilt, Loss of balance, moving in circles and falling over, Eating out of one side of food bowl, Turning the wrong way when called , Confusion, Depression, Loss of sight or blindness, Abrupt or drastic change in behavior, Loss of bowel or bladder control and a Seizure.

 

 bloodtest1If you suspect that your dog is having a stroke, then you should take your dog to your veterinarian for physical examine and diagnosis by analyzing from the symptoms present. Veterinarian will do most of diagnostic, blood and urine tests before moving onto the next step check (MRI and CT), in order to rule out all other possibilities for the same cause of the symptoms. Dog must be anesthetize first in order to do magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography scan (CT). When performing advance check your dog must be absolutely still so veterinarian can see what is going on inside your pet brain and this is the main reasons why your pet have to be anesthetize.

 

Treatments for canine stroke are limited. There is no way to reverse or repair the brain damage that has already occurred. Stroke for dog is not as debilitating when compare to humans case. Most dogs usually recover their motor functions and movement control within several weeks which depend mainly on the severity and damage being done to the brain.

 

Their behavior may change so all dog owners must accept the truth about this fact. The good news is canine usually survive a stroke. The best treatments for dog stroke is to maintain a healthy lifestyle, prevent and control the disease from causing more damage to the brain in the future.

 

Sources: dog symptoms cure.com and petwave.com