Wednesday, May 2, 2012

971. The circling dog

"Though glucocorticoid works in enabling the circling dog to straighten its neck and look left and right, it is not easy for any vet just to prescribe such medication," I explain to Dr Daniel Sing when I asked him to handle any query from the owner of the circling Schnauzer while I was away in Phnom Penh.

"In this case, there was marked improvement as the dog had been circling anti-clockwise in tighter and tighter circles for 2 weeks," I said. "I gave dexamethasone IV twice. If given orally, it may not work effectively. Therefore, the dosage must be not too little nor too much. To the owner, the clinical outcome is whether the dog still circles and in this aspect, performance counts.

Two vets may prescribe the same medication but the dog may not respond to the medication or respond to one vet's medication. Therefore, follow up to know and adjust the dose-response effect is so important. Many owners don't provide feedback as the dog is old. 

The increase in eosinophil count is mentioned in the following relevant article:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Vestibular-Disease-in-Dogs-and-Cats&id=494854
In the above-mentioned article, circling in tighter circle (vestibular disease?) v. wider circles (brain disease?). This dog circled in wider circles initially. So, was the brain area involved originally?

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