Can a dog have a stroke?

My 7 year old akbash looks different. One side of his face is being held higher than the other now and I have no idea what happened to do that. Can dogs have strokes??

Some animals can get many of the same things as people (dwarfism, Down syndrome, strokes, diabetes, etc.). But if I were you I would have a good look at his face- and inside his mouth, ears, and eyes on that side. If there is swelling from, say, a bite or a porcupine quill it can make everything look lopsided and that will sort itself out (or can be easily sorted out).
The dog could also have a pinched nerve. Especially look at how he`s able to eat and how he's moving around. Then you can decide what the next step is.
(I know when we had whippets it felt like this sort of random thing happened constantly, and then the next day the dog would be fine, we just had drama queens....)

I'll observe him closely tonight. Thanks.

Dogs can have strokes, but it's pretty rare. Is he tilting his head, or is it the facial muscles/structure itself?

He's at the vet. Something is deeply wrong with him. He was not the dog that was supposed to die. Why do we always lose them in 2s? We had to put a dog down 2 weeks ago and now, now another one. I can't. I just can't.

He's dead. His stomach had twisted. They said they didn't even think it was bloat because he just didn't have the look of bloat. I knew something was wrong with him. IF I had taken him in earlier maybe he could have been saved.  I waited an entire day.

Elle, I'm so sorry.  Losing pets is just a terrible, terrible thing.  I hope you have a place for him so you can visit and remember.  I still cry almost every time I visit my dog's grave, but it is nice to go and visit nonetheless.

Elle, I'm sorry to hear about your dog. We've owned Great Danes for decades and bloat is always a scary possibility with larger dogs. Don't be too hard on yourself. The symptoms you describe don't sound like bloat at all. And yes, dogs and cats can get strokes although it's not that common in a younger animal. Our 17 year old cat had a stroke, and another one that was 20 had a stroke that left him blind and deaf. It was heart breaking.

Even if you got him in earlier there is no guarantee that he could have been saved. It's always so hard to know when to take an animal in for treatment since they can't describe what's wrong. And most dogs try really hard to pretend that everything is ok even when they don't feel good. That's part of why we love them so much but it does make it more difficult to know when something is really wrong.

Oh no, Elle!! That's terrible. I'm sorry you're having such a terrible run with the dogs.

Robin Katz wrote:Elle, I'm sorry to hear about your dog. We've owned Great Danes for decades and bloat is always a scary possibility with larger dogs. Don't be too hard on yourself. The symptoms you describe don't sound like bloat at all. And yes, dogs and cats can get strokes although it's not that common in a younger animal. Our 17 year old cat had a stroke, and another one that was 20 had a stroke that left him blind and deaf. It was heart breaking.

Even if you got him in earlier there is no guarantee that he could have been saved. It's always so hard to know when to take an animal in for treatment since they can't describe what's wrong. And most dogs try really hard to pretend that everything is ok even when they don't feel good. That's part of why we love them so much but it does make it more difficult to know when something is really wrong.

Yesterday morning he was off. I knew he was off. I asked my husband throughout the day how he was. When I got home he was still off but he was drinking. We discussed whether he could be depressed from the other dogs death or if the change in the pack dynamics was causing his behavior change. Then this morning he's drooling and dry heaving and that is when I thought there was something really wrong and he should go. To think he went 24 hours like that. It is the first time any of our dogs have had bloat. I'm aware it's a possibility and my sister in laws great dane had it, I  was with her at the vet so I knew what to look for. Just so unexpected. The vet thought he might have had a tumor that caused the twisting. Just awful.

One of our Danes became really depressed when her brother died at 8 years old. We'd had them since they were pups. We couldn't pull her out of her mood and we thought we'd lose her because she had little interest in food or any activity. We got two Dane pups earlier than we'd planned to try to give her something to nurture. It still took about 2 months before she started to pull out of her funk. Before that I wouldn't have believed that a dog could get that depressed for so long. They usually live in the moment.

I'm sorry to say that I've had that "something's not right" feeling about pets and ignored it for a day or so too. That feeling is usually right and I've learned to listen now but at the time it's a nebulous feeling vs. what you see in front of you, which may not look too serious. We're all just doing the best we can and sometimes it's not the perfect decision.

Oh damn. I am sorry!!! Bloat is something i am always worried about.

i wouldnt have suspected bloat with those symptoms either, and my experience with vets is that they arent much use even when you bring a dog in with 'somethings not right" until what that something is becomes obvious.

I am so sorry, Elle. Losing a dog is really hard, losing two dogs in a few weeks is pretty unbearable.

when i read the title i thought i might have something useful to contribute

my sisters each had a dog
a burmese mountain dog and a jack russel
i used to take the dogs on adventures and after one of these adventures
the burmese developed stroke like symptoms with one side of the face going limp and even some seizure like episodes

speculation abounded but it was an infection which was cleared up eventually by antibiotics

sadly both of these great dogs have passed recently enough so i feel youre pain