Floppy - ness

Hi Vets, something really strange just happened. My dog was sat on my lap with his back against the backrest of the chair and his front legs on my lap, his front paws didn’t move or slide so he didn’t lose balance. Suddenly his head flopped sideways and within about 2-3 seconds he corrected his body position and laid down on my lap. He has got stage B2 mitral valve disease and Stage 2 kidney disease so not sure if that would be of any help. Could his floppiness have been due to Syncope or does that last longer than a couple of seconds? Thank you

Hello!  When I was at vet-school (insert olde-worlde background music here), we had a whole lecture about how to tell the difference between Syncope (fainting) and fitting (neurological overexcitement) by simply glancing at the dog.   However, it has now - after research - become apparent that the two are actually quite difficult to tell apart. The syncope waters can further be muddied by muscular weakness, low blood glucose and so on.   To my understanding, syncope can indeed be very rapid and there can be many different explanations for the signs you are describing.   Furthermore,dogs with heart disease can still have fits! - although syncope might also be considered in this instance.

So - what to do with that confusing mis-mosh of information?  I would strongly reccommend speaking to your vet, of course - who will evaluate the information in context and usually look at the various possibities in order of likelihood.  I hope that this helps to some extent.

Hi, Thank you. I will ring his vet, he seemed okay after it. He got off my lap after about a minute and laid in his dog bed just staring at me and whining - He was whining a lot yesterday as well - More of an attention whine than a painful one. But I will get on to his vet today and see what she suggests.