Many thanks Archie98. All good so far and in truth you wouldn't know anything had happened. He is still getting me up at 5:30am for his morning walk when the birds start singing. He's not happy with the length of walks though or me keeping him away from his mates!! This was taken this morning-he hates being inside....

Pleased to hear that he's doing so well

Our chocolate lab (13 years old) had a very similar episode about 6 weeks ago. His back legs went and he collapsed on his walk. Had to "deadlift" him into the car and rush him to the vet.

We were offered the option of putting him to sleep there and then, but since he wasnt distressed and wasn't (seemingly) in pain, we thought we owed it to him to give him a chance.

He was admitted and, like yours, was up and about 5 hours later.

The vet couldn't explain it. It might have been a stroke, or it might just have been a trapped nerve, or a whole host of other things.

He's home now on increase medication for his arthritis, and as a precautionary measure on medication that boosts blood flow to the brain. He's nicely settled now and still enjoys playing with his toys, getting us up at 6am for his breakfast, and barking at pigeons!!

Hi Choccymonster-great to hear yours pulled through too. The vet came out with the intention of putting him to sleep. Scary that we both could of euthanised our dogs prematurely. Our vet can offer no explanation for his recovery. He's getting the full monty-antibiotics, something to increase the blood flow to his brain and his normal arthritis medication. He's a little at taking tablets so my heart sank when I saw they were all twice daily. Strange how he thinks that dog, fox rabbit and cow s**t tastes great but medication to save his life is something he feels needs to be ejected as quickly and discretely (so I don't notice) as possible!

I expect you've "been there, done that", but we use a blob of cheap Lidl pate moulded round the tablet.

Let him sniff it, and when he goes to grab it, chuck it down the back of his mouth so it hits the back of his throat. He can't help but swallow it.

Wesley went through a phase of being a bit of a prat with his meds too about two weeks ago. However he seems to have snapped out of it and is back to taking them fine with the above method....

Good luck!!

Strokes in dogs are generally vestibular disease. In recent years it has emerged that a high proportion of these dogs have an under active thyroid gland.

Get the thyroid levels tested.

Cheers for that. I'm taking him for a follow up visit at the weekend so I'll ask the vet.

ooooooooooooooooo, my specialist subject....
Firstly, hope your pooch is ok!
"Strokes" in dogs- we used to say that they were really rare... That its a "cat thing", not a "dog thing". However, now that we are better educated and have more specialised diagnostic tools (MRI) etc we know a whole lot more... Dogs probably have more "strokes" than we originally first thought.
The "event" you described could be caused by a zillion and one things... From a mild ischaemic event in the brain, to a mild complex epileptiform type seizure, a fibrocartilaginous embolism in the spinal cord (FCE), thyroid disease, a space occupying lesion in the brain, toxicity, inflammation in the brain, old dog vestibular disease.... the list is extensive!
When we have a dog in like yours, we offer anti-sickness medication and medication to improve circulation. We then take into account any health problems that could be contributing to the event and go from there.
Sometimes a repeat event will be noticed. Please can I ask you to film any event- focusing on the head and eye movements. Your own vet will find this very very helpful.
Hope all is well.
MM MRCVS.