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Seizure ??? and your thoughts or experiences

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vstoddard

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
My five month old pup was laying down sleeping last night I got up so he followed me. I stopped to talk to someone and and sat down and his head started shaking like a fly was buzzing around his head. I thought it was strang so called him to me, he walked to me like he was drunk staggering from side to side. He sat down on my lap and then seemed to be fine got up walked over to the couch and collasped (his feet fell out from under him). He tried to get up and I ran over to him and he just layed down, this all lasted about a minute. I've never seen anything like it before it was like his legges wouldn't work.

I called the emergency vet and they said he probably just had an ear infection to just wait and bring him to the vet office in the morning. This happened at elven last night. I took him to the vet this morning and she said his ears had a little wax but seems to be fine that it seems like he had a seizure. She said most of the time though they lose control and will go to the bathroom on themselves, vomit, or are very stiff. My vet I normally see is out of the office this week. They did blood work and said everything was normal, but that if it was epilesy that it probably wouldn't have another one until he was two or three and then they would no for sure.

Has anyone experienced that, what happened in your case, it scared me and I'm not sure the vet I saw was so sure if it was really a seizure or if it was something else going on.
 
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#2 ·
My dog had his first seizure about 2 years ago. He took off like a bullet in our kitchen and ran in circles until he fell down seizing. I took him to the vet and everything seemed normal. A day or so after that he started to shake his head uncontrolably. We took him to the vet again and they dignosed him with eplipsy. He was put on pheno-barb and later potasium bromide also. I was told not to use an e-collar on him. (Anyone else given this advice?) Other than that he has been able to do everything I have wanted him to do. He has had one seizure since the first one, because we went to low while adjusting his medicine.
 
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#3 ·
I've experienced 3 Grand Mall seizures with Calli, a female golden, between the age of 3 & 4. All of a sudden, no warning - shaking, convulsing, quivering, wild eyes, mouth foaming. Scared the daylights out of me - felt so very helpless!

I struggled with spaying her, but finally did at age 5, never did breed her. She led an active life and was a great dog - SHR, CD, JH, ready for Seasoned/Senior work, but died the end of April 2007. She had several different health problems unrelated to the seizures later in life - most likely from tick borne diseases. At the end of her life she suffered from kidney, liver, torn cruciate ligament. Hemanigosarcoma was the final blow. All these except the kidney disease surfaced in the last 7 months of her life. She died at 9 years, 2 months. Still miss her.

Seizures are a very hard thing to see, you never forget! Be careful you don't get bitten trying to comfort your pup if it happens again. My experience says they don't happen with any regularity. In my case we elected not to medicate, but seizures can definitely be controlled with meds.

Wishing you and your pup no more siezures and good health from here on!
 
#4 ·
My old golden retriever had her first seizure around 2 1/2 years of age. Her's were mild in comparison to others that I have read about. Vet put her on phenobarbital when the seizures started occurring on a monthly basis. She never required a stronger dose and lived a normal life.
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
Thanks for your replies when your dogs were seizing did they stiffen up or go limp. She said he probably wouldn't have another one until he was two or three if it was epilepsy. She just seemed unsure and said it could have been that he got into something or was allergic to a bush or tree in my yard and to research what plants and trees i had in my yard and see if any of them where poisonious. I looked all over my yard and didn't see anything that he would have gotten into, but will have to see what plants I have and research those.

I think there is something more to this as he only ate 1/2 cup of food in the morning and evening and is drinking less. Since all his blood work came back good not sure where to go from here but to watch him closely for a while. He isn't running a temp either. I'll probably take off Monday and take him back in if he doesn't start eatting or drinking tomorrow.
 
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#7 ·
Calli stiffened as she convulsed. Her muscles relaxed towards the end of the seizure. As I remember all three events seemed to go on forever but in reality probably lasted 5 minutes or less each. She was exhausted physically for the rest of that day and off on her feeding. She then seemed to recover completely in 36 hours or less. My breeder thought the same about dog getting into something, chemicals, cleaners, plants, etc., but I found no evidence of that. In my case I purchased the dog to breed and start a kennel, the seizures were very upsetting, so I think I understand some of your feelings.

I feel certain your pup will recover to his former self and not show any ill effects. The seizures are scary and frightening but sometimes they are part of your dog world. Give lots of hugs, kisses and loving and he will return the same. Sending good thoughts and best wishes. Happy Easter.
 
#8 ·
Has your dog been recently vaccinated or have you applied any monthly flea/tick topical or given any of the combination oral productions for flea/tick/heartworm prevention in the last 48-72 hours before the dog had this seizure incident?
 
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#9 ·
Just lost ours 2 weeks ago. 2 Months short of 5 years old. This was the first time he had a seizure, I rushed him to the vet when he had another in the parking lot. I carried him to the door and the vet assistants and vet came out and helped me carry him in. After he came out of that one he started walking into the walls and door and had another. He never came out of that one. Yes he went stiff on all 3, foamed at the mouth and urinated the first seizure. Never want to experience that again.
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
No, nothing has changed since the time I've gotten him. I read a lot on the internet last night and am going to try changing foods, he has been teething and eatting less so my husband said maybe it was a lack of nutrients so we are going to change dog food and see if that helps. I'm so nervous about going back to work tomorrow and leaving him. I can't wait until my regular vet is in the office as he explains things really well and we can run through everything and he explain things really well. I read that it could be Vestibular Disease so I would like to run that by him as well. He is really irritated by his ears but she said his ears looked fine.

frontier said:
Has your dog been recently vaccinated or have you applied any monthly flea/tick topical or given any of the combination oral productions for flea/tick/heartworm prevention in the last 48-72 hours before the dog had this seizure incident?
Click to expand...
 
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#11 · (Edited)
I'm not a vet but this is what I understand:

There is no definitive diagnosis for epilepsy. Seizures can result from several things ... low blood sugar, toxin of some kind, trauma. Blood work soon after the seizure can rule out the first two. Then, if there has been no trauma, the default diagnosis is probably epilepsy.

Treatment with meds can manage epilepsy effectively and the dog can usually live a long normal life. Without treatment, it will NOT go away, and seizures will probably become more frequent.

5 months is pretty young ... I believe they usually begin to appear in an epileptic dog around 3 or 4 years of age.

Again ... I am not a vet. Good luck.

JS
 
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#12 ·
Is there any chance he could have hit his head and the trauma caused the seizure? My golden had only one seizure in her life and it was after really crashing a jump in agility. She came out of the ring and had a seizure after hitting the jump. She was probably 4 or 5 years old when that happened and she is over 12 now and has never had another seizure. The vets determined that is was from the trauma of hitting the jump.
 
#14 ·
vstoddard said:
My five month old pup was laying down sleeping last night I got up so he followed me. I stopped to talk to someone and and sat down and his head started shaking like a fly was buzzing around his head. I thought it was strang so called him to me, he walked to me like he was drunk staggering from side to side. He sat down on my lap and then seemed to be fine got up walked over to the couch and collasped (his feet fell out from under him). He tried to get up and I ran over to him and he just layed down, this all lasted about a minute. I've never seen anything like it before it was like his legges wouldn't work.

I called the emergency vet and they said he probably just had an ear infection to just wait and bring him to the vet office in the morning. This happened at elven last night. I took him to the vet this morning and she said his ears had a little wax but seems to be fine that it seems like he had a seizure. She said most of the time though they lose control and will go to the bathroom on themselves, vomit, or are very stiff. My vet I normally see is out of the office this week. They did blood work and said everything was normal, but that if it was epilesy that it probably wouldn't have another one until he was two or three and then they would no for sure.

Has anyone experienced that, what happened in your case, it scared me and I'm not sure the vet I saw was so sure if it was really a seizure or if it was something else going on.
Click to expand...
One of my dogs, a female english bulldog, has had epileptic seizures since she was just under 1 year old. She is now 4 1/2 years. I have become numb to them anymore. What you described does not sound like a seizure to me, at least from my experience with them. But I am no vet, so please listen to yours. From my experience: My dogs seizures are proceeded by extreme disorientation, doesn't know its name, walks in to walls like a wind up toy and walks right back in to them. She is on pheno, potassium bromide, and zemostiside (spelling?) every 12 hrs. She has a seizure at least monthly and it takes a day or two for her to recover afterward. I keep some lemon juice around to wash the flem from her mouth when she relaxes from the seizure enough to pry open her mouth. I also wedge a wooden spoon in her mouth before she locks up to keep her from chewing her tongue off. She almost did that once and I nearly put her down becuase of it, poor thing couldn't drink or eat for a week. Like I said I have become numb anymore to them, but they can be frightning to someone who has not experienced seeing one. I also keep a syringe of demoral as a last resort to break the cluster of seizures. Usually a extra pheno dose beyond what she normally gets twice a day stops the clusters, but not always.

I would be looking at other things besides epilepsy from the symptoms you described. Such as what is your dogs sire and the dams CNM status?
 
#15 ·
A young dog I bred and got back at 10 mos. had one a few days after she arrived. Her seizure lasted probably 60 seconds but seemed like much longer. She was very disoriented for about an hour afterward, and very subdued the rest of that day. Vets found nothing abnormal in her bloodwork and various tests. She'd knocked over a weber grill on the deck 5 minutes before it happened, but the hit didn't seem that hard, because the grill was empty and kind of rickety. But, it was apparently hard enough to cause her to have the seizure. She's never had another one, so hers had to have been caused by the bump on her head. It was the first time I've seen a full blown seizure with the dog thrashing on the ground, frothing at the mouth and eyes rolled back up in the sockets and going rigid at the end. If you've never seen one, a seizure is a terrible, scary thing. If I hadn't seen her hit that grill, I would never have known why she had it.
 
#16 ·
I have a BLM who had his 1st Grand mall around 3 years old. It was a horrible thing and even when he came out of it he would lash out and bite anything that touched him including me. The Vet said and I have read that in some cases the seizure is so severe that it causes temporary blindness and severe pain. He is now over 10 years old. He is on Pheno and a few years ago we had to up his dose. He has lived a normal life and trained and hunted until he retired. I know a lot of folks won't hunt or let a seizure dog swim but he likes it. He never has any seizures since on meds he likes it and if he had one while hunting and died if he had a soul I am sure thats how he and most of us would like to go.
 
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#17 ·
I have witnessed a dog (not mine) having a seizure in the middle of a retrieve while duck hunting. Scary stuff. The dog's owner had to wade out and carry him back in.
 
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#18 ·
My only experience is like Julie's. When Buggs was about 3 or 4 he had a siezure which at the time seemed severe. 1st he started to pant then walked circles, then wobbled and eventually backed him self to a corner and collapsed into what appeared a semi conscious state. We loaded him into the car and headed to the Pet ER. By the time we got there he was pretty much normal.

He never had another one after that and lived to be 14 years old.

Bert
 
#19 ·
Have had a few personal experiences with dogs seizing, and I'm sure I'll have a few more once I get out into the real world here in a month. My sisters yellow male would have problems that she could only describe as "his leg seemed to be asleep" and "he just wasn't there." She said she'd try to talk to him and his pupils were dilated (enlarged) with no response to her at all. It was a unique situation though because it always started with him acting like he couldn't feel his leg which led to him being incoherent. We did a work up on him and found no indications that it was attributable to disease. There were several other problems on my mind but the veterinarian I was working with tried him on phenobarb and he never had a problem... until my sister quit giving him the meds because she thought "he was cured." We had a nice long talk on that one and he's been doing well ever since.

Hope your pup is ok. As others have said if seizures are the problem they usually a manageable condition.
 
#20 ·
PLEASE BE CAREFULL - don't want to really write this - but if you have a dog that can siezure you need to know what can happen. My older dog has had siezures off and on for 3 or 4 years. Vet says for some reason it just happens. In beggining 1 or 2 a year. then once every 3or4 months. Usually i can tell when they are prone to come as my dog will get very anxious and worked up and I'll try to calm him down. The other dogs will alert me he is having a seizure as they will bark constantly. when i go check why all the noise i'll find him rigid and foaming at the mouth. Its tough to take. Just hold their head and in a few minutes they stop. It will take 2hours to 2or 3days for them to recover. To Know who you are. ALERT - mine had an unexpected siezure last week and his best buddy that they have ran together sense birth attacked him during the seizure. Heard the others dogs in next potty yard barking and went to see what was happening and one of the dogs had him by the neck and was dragging him around the yard.......
It didnt kill him but tore him up pretty bad- the dog that attacked him is the gentlelist dog you will ever find. Why this happened I don'tknow. ???? maybe never will - it just broke my heart - for both dogs. - my guess is it's just one of those dog things that we may never understand - right now i dont really care to try ----- Beware - if you have a dog prone to seizures and they run with other dogs ...... watch them carefully - you dont want to go thru what we have gone thru.
 
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