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Is it normal for dog Horner's Syndrome symptoms to persist for weeks?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Labrador Retriever | Male | neutered | 3 years and 3 months old | 61 lbs

My black lab has been diagnosed with Horner’s Syndrome with symptoms first appearing almost 10 weeks ago. First the vet thought it was a bug but bc his inner eyelid seemed to be more pronounced but it didn’t go away after a couple of days. On reexamination, unequal pupil size was noted and delay with nerves to eye lid. I’m wondering how normal it is for him to still have symptoms

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Dr Stafford, BVetMed, MRCVS

Veterinarian

Published on October 16th, 2017

Poor Ramsay, he is gorgeous though! I'm assuming from your post that his Horner's disease has been diagnosed as idiopathic, is it is for no known cause. In the case if idiopathic Horner's it can be a slow recovery, I would expect it to take weeks. If there is no improvement I would make sure that there couldn't be an underlying pathologival reason such as ear disease etc.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

Related Answers from Veterinarians

Answered By Anna M., DVM
Veterinarian
Published on June 29th, 2017
Unfortunately, it is impossible to predict to what degree Horners syndrome will resolve. Most dogs have some improvement within a few weeks to a few months of the initial onset, but it is quite common for the dog to maintain some degree of Horners symptoms indefinitely. If you want more information on what is going on, you could ask your vet about referral to a neurology specialist (most universities have this) - but even with referral you may not get a more specific answer unfortunately, since older dogs with Horners most commonly have an idiopathic onset - which means the ultimate cause is unknown. I know it's frustrating not to have a more specific answer than that, but it sounds like you are doing what you can for Ada with the brain and nerve support. Hope that helps!
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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