Poor Puppy

Our poor puppy has not been feeling great lately.  One month ago today, Cyrus started having trouble walking and sitting up from a lying position.  He couldn't walk straight and seemed dizzy.  I frantically called the vet's office only to find they were closed early that day and immediately rushed him to another vet. Of course, when the vet examined him, his episodes of dizziness disappeared and the results from his blood work came back normal.  Later that night, he had another few episodes of almost tipping over while trying to walk and I really freaked out when he had a couple episodes of nystagmus (where the eyes roll continuously back and forth...like they can't focus).  It was horrible.  I immediately thought he had a brain tumor and freaked out again while Matt calmly looked up his symptoms online.  He thought Cyrus either had an inner ear infection or could have a geriatric condition (Cyrus is 13 years old now).  I still thought he could have a brain tumor.  So, we did what any crazy dog people would do and moved our mattress onto the living room floor so he could sleep between us. Needless to say, I didn't sleep all night because I was terrified of bad news...and Cyrus kept squirming all night.  We took him to our vet first thing the next morning and she confirmed what Matt had found online:  he could have an inner ear infection, he could have Geriatric Vestibular Disease, or he could have a brain tumor (although she thought it was very unlikely...whew).  So, we decided to start him on a course of antibiotics and Dramamine to see if his symptoms would improve...and thankfully they have.  We weaned him off the Dramamine and he continues to improve...whew again.  He still has little bouts of unsteadiness when he shakes his head/body, but he's not definitely not almost tipping over like he was.  And we finally were able to move our mattress back into the bedroom. We're hoping that a couple more weeks on antibiotics will get him back to normal...well, normal for him because he doesn't think he's a dog.