Senior sheltie had a stroke :-( Any recovery advice?

Thanks for the outpouring of support and advice! That's very appreciated :-)

You're all right, this is incredibly frustrating and heart breaking. I mean, Sunday night she was on the couch with me, being a good girl and waiting for a bite of steak! We played with her squeaky toy like usual, she was barking and jumping and having a great time. To go from being an athlete in perfect health to not being able to walk in a straight line? Or even be able to see me? I have to not think about it or I'll cry like a baby.

@Calliesmom , your post was particularly inspirational! As long as my girl is eating and wants to live then I'll support her forever, so a few months doesn't sound too bad. I'd be just tickled to have her for another 2 years!

@Ron Atkinson , I'm ordering some baby bumpers right now!

My back yard has about 1/8th of an acre of grass and is enclosed, so I take her there to potty but walk with her to help her stay balanced. She's walking WAY faster than you would think! I have to stay bent over to keep a hand next to her, and it's hard to keep up! I'm taking that as a good sign, even if she does stumble a few times.

Right now I'm at a point where I don't know whether symptoms I'm seeing are stroke / seizure related or Keppra related. The pacing and blindness are obviously both from the stroke, and so is the lame / weak front paw. But the stumbling and falling while going potty? I'm just not sure. When we got up this morning she seemed more alert, but that was 12 hours after her last dose. Then I gave her the Keppra, and 5 hours later she was noticeably weaker and more imbalanced. It could be that she was well rested in the morning, but it could also be the drug. She should acclimate to Keppra by next Thursday (I've read 7-10 days), so I guess I really won't know until then.

Otherwise, I haven't noticed any significant changes today. She ate just fine (although it's a bit of work) and went potty like normal (although I have to hold her up a little). Still pacing and running into things, but mostly sleeping. Which, again, could be the Keppra! She's asleep next to me right now, in fact. But I'm gonna have to wake her up to take her outside one last time in a few minutes, and I hope she goes back to sleep without pacing for the next hour!
 
I'll keep that in mind, @Cindy ! She's always hated wearing a harness, but if she's still stumbling by the end of next week (when the Keppra effects should have worn off) then I'll buy one of those.

I have some positive updates! Minor, but a win's a win!

Quick backstory: literally every night of her life, she's given me kisses before bed. She's always lay in the floor next to the bed on my side, and when I go to bed I'll give her a hug and kiss and tell her good night. After I do that, she has always licked my chin several times, then we go back and forth with me kissing her and her kissing me.

(I know that she's really smelling my mouthwash and licking my chin because she thinks she's tasting mint, but let a guy pretend! LOL)

She hadn't kissed me since Sunday night, of course. Which was heartbreaking, but understandable.

Well, last night I gave her a kiss like always, and she turned her head, made eye contact, and kissed me! We went back and forth a few times, too!

This is huge because, (1) making eye contact means that she saw me, and (2) she licked my chin in the right place without hunting around! That implies an improvement of both vision and stability.

In addition, I can see that she's trying to do her other usual routines. For example, while I was asleep she needed to go out. She would usually go downstairs and ring a bell on the door to wake me up, but I have a gate up now to keep her from the stairs. What woke me up was hearing her rubbing up against the gate! Meaning that she intentionally went from the bedroom to the hallway and was trying to go downstairs!

After she ate breakfast I let her walk around on her own (the main floor is protected, so she can't really get hurt unless she stumbles) while I made breakfast. After a few minutes of pacing, she found her regular spot in the living room, where she has always watched me make breakfast! So not mindlessly pacing; no, she had a destination and got to it.

While breakfast is cooking I've always entertained her with a little dance, just being silly. She's always watched and seems to enjoy it. Well, she appeared to be watching me so I did a dance, and I know that her eyes were my direction and she wagged her tail! I was a good 20 feet away, so she had to have at least seen the movement and knew what was going on.

And finally, when I carried her upstairs after breakfast I could physically tell that she was holding herself up more firmly.

I know that those might seem minor to y'all, but to me that's a HUGE sign of improvement! Since I don't know for sure that the stroke wasn't caused by a tumor I'm trying to temper my expectations, but I can't help but get my hopes up when I see these things.
 
Jason, nothing is minor in these situations! These are all such positive indicators, what good news for you and your girl. The goodnight kisses made me smile. I know how much those special things that bond us with our dogs mean. I'm so glad to read that things are improving! :)
 
A few more positives...

1. While outside, when she's ready to go in I can tell that she's making a clear beeline for the steps! And twice I let her come up the steps on her own, with me just guiding her sides to keep her steady. That's huge! I can tell that she's desperate trying to get back to her normal self.

2. At one point I was letting her walk around the main floor while I was in the kitchen, and I heard her drinking water on her own!! Not once, but twice!! Also a huge deal... she decided that she was thirsty, knew where to go, and went there all on her own! Since Monday we've been periodically offering her water from a small bowl, so we practically cheered when we heard her drinking.


And a few negatives...

1. About an hour before her evening dose of Keppra, she was laying in the floor and sort of grumbling / whining, and then she would pace in a big circle, come back, and grumble / whine some more. I never could figure out why, and unknowns scare me :-/ I took her outside and she wanted to come back in immediately, I gave her a treat, I offered her water, but nothing worked. After about 15 minutes, though, she went to sleep.

2. About 30 minutes after her Keppra, she was asleep and I saw her wake up and look towards her butt. Perfectly normal, except that I would swear the side of her mouth was in a weird shape! That's very scary, and reminiscent of a minor seizure. My girlfriend reached down to pet her, though, and then she lay down and went back to sleep. We didn't see and chattering or drooling, so maybe it was just in my head? Either way, now I have a huge knot in my stomach and probably won't sleep tonight.


Am I letting her get too much activity, and could that possibly cause another seizure or stroke? I want to help her to be as active as she wants, but I don't want her to hurt herself doing it!
 
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