Did My Dog Just Have A Seizure?

[Guest threedognight]

We had all been in bed for 30 minutes when one of our dogs started making a noise like he was choking. His was laying on his side and his body was jumping and his legs were moving like he was running. He was not chocking we checked his mouth. His body was jerking really hard and some foam came out of his mouth. This lasted for about 3 minutes and then he just laid there panting. After another few minutes he got up and started barking at us. He barked for 10 minutes and would not come out of the closet. When he stopped barking and came out of the closet he did not know us or the house. He has been panting, crying and walking around the house like he has never seem it or us before. He did not seem to know his name.

 

I do not want to take him to the e-vet. I do not feel they understand greyhounds. I also worry the stress of putting him in the car and going to a strange place would not be good for him.

 

After walking around the house and leash walking him around our yard for another hour ‘exploring’ he has finally settled down and is sleeping.

 

He is only 4 years old and in good health.

 

I could use some insight from someone with this kind of experience.

Thanks.

 

 

[iluvgreys]

Sorry... no experience with seizures. Hopefully some of the folks with seizure dogs will chime in. Sending prayers for your boy. You might want to write down the details of this episode, including anything that might have happened today to trigger such a reaction, e.g. use of Frontline, use of a particular cleaning solution, etc.

[Trudy]

sounds like it

 

 

If he's fine now, just keep an eye on him. Call your vet on Monday and see if they want to see him.

Keep an eye out of other seizure like activity.

 

He could have gotten into something

epilepsy can show around this age

or it could be other things

[Guest meakah]

It does sound like a seizure to me...a pretty good one at that. Definitely record and pertinent details relating to the seizure....date/time, perhaps any treats he was given today....different activities....just info that may be used later to see if there is a pattern. There is also a small window....i do believe it is 24 hours but don't quote me on that....to get blood work done after a seizure in order to see if it is related to something else. I do realize this is a Saturday night and the vet will be closed on Sunday...so in this case I would just keep an eye on him and call your vet Monday morning to see if they suggest doing a blood panel. If his condition worsens or he has another seizure before Monday....definitely take him to the E-vet. But chances are it won't be a common occurrence and hopefully you will never see another one ever again. Sending positive thoughts that he rests well until Monday.

[LBass]

It does indeed sound like a seizure to me. That period of confusion and restlessness after a seizure is fairly common. IMO, a trip to your vet for a thorough check and base labs would be a good idea. It would also be a good idea to start a log--date, time, description of the episode, duration of the episode, any unusual situations in the last day or so (meds, new food, visitors, travel, etc.).

 

There are many treatable health issues that can cause seizures so a thorough vet visit is really needed. The diagnosis of epilepsy is essentially arrived at by ruling out other possibilities. The seizure log will help you and the vet to determine if/when your dog may need to start medications to help control the seizures.

 

Again, this is just my opinion, FWIW...I don't necessarily think that you need to rush to the emergency vet at this point. A single seizure is generally not an immediate crisis. What you do need to watch for and treat as an emergency is repeated seizures close together in time. This is indeed a medical emergency and would warrant a trip to the e-vet.

 

Best wishes to you and your hound.

 

--Lucy and Piper (6 weeks seizure free at the moment)

[Guest greyt2love]

It certainly sounds like a seizure to me. I agree with the other posters - start a log. It will help if he starts to have more. I have been able to pin down the most common time of day for him to have them, and to identify a treat he was getting that seemed to bring them on.

My Caesar had isolated seizures during the first three months I had him, then he had a cluster and I almost lost him. It came on a day after I treated him with Advantage. The vet swore that did not cause it, but I use Frontline on him now, and have no reactions to that. He has been tested and is on meds now which help control the seizure frequency, severity, and duration, but has not totally ended them. As a matter of fact, he had two this morning. That is his pattern. One, then within a half hour, a second one. Neither is severe or long, but they break my heart anyhow ! Good luck !!

[Guest EmilyAnne]

Yes, I'm 99% sure that was a Grand-Mal seizure. You've already gotten lots of good advise that already covers anything I would have said.

 

Except I see noone has mentioned the ice pack trick yet, so I'll post a link to my blog on that: http://healthyhoundz.blogspot.com/search/label/Ice-Pack

 

Please know that Ice-Pack does NOT replace medicating. My success rate with Ice-Pack was 17 times very successful, 2 times only partly successful, and once not at all successful.

 

Wether or not to medicate I think depends on both the frequency of Grand-Mals, AND the severity.

 

Henry was put on Phenobarbital Oct.4th and is adapting very well. Oct. 4th was his last Grand-Mal. He is currently at 150 mg Phenobarbital, twice daily.

 

I don't blame you for not taking your grey to the e-vet. I would have waited for my own vet to open up too. I am fortunate in that my vet has two greys of her own, and she will open her office after hours for emergencies.

[Guest threedognight]

Thank you all for your interest and replies. We are keeping a log on this and have sought out support from members of or rescue group.

 

He had a second seizure five hours after the first, not as severe and we were on top of it sooner. He did not have a recognition or disorientation problem like the first time, and I did not have to walk him around much afterward. We were all settled down again a half hour later. Today he seems almost pretty normal, and Monday he will see our greyhound vet.

 

The first seizure was very strong and in the aftermath he was very animated, confused and barking non-stop. If not for the subtle tail wagging I would have thought he was being very aggressive.

The second seizure was not nearly as strong but he still ran his legs non stop for a couple minutes. I held his neck and head and called him by name reassuring him, that seemed to help when he came out of it.

Thanks again....

[Guest EmilyAnne]

Oh no, so now we are talking clusters. Henry's last cluster, the first was the worst, but he was not as able to sustain the rest of the seizures in the cluster without siginificant recognizable cognitive damage, even though none of the rest were as severe as the first.

 

I would aways medicate a cluster dog, because clusters don't give enough time for the brain to heal between seizures, and this is dangerous. Henry's cluster was 5 seizures, ended on Oct. 5th, and he is still not quite 100% where he was before the cluster.

 

Side effects of meds are not as bad as that of clusters can be.

 

I dont mean to scare you. I just wanted to give you the benefit of my experience in your decision on wether or not to medicate.

 

[LBass]

I too think that having a second seizure that soon is something to pay close attention to in deciding about treatment. Cluster seizures are usually defined as having more than one seizure in a 24 hour period. That is significant in part because clusters increase the risk of having your dog go into status epilepticus--that is a sort of non-stop seizure or one seizure after another with little recovery between them. Status is a true emergency and does warrant a rush to the e-vet.

 

Here are links to some excellent resources about seizures in dog and some great support:

 

www.canine-epilepsy.com

 

the guardian angels site

 

www.canine-epilepsy.net

 

Piper's first known seizure occurred when he had been with me for 9 weeks. It happened late on a Friday night. He had 12 seizures that weekend, spread over Saturday and Sunday. He and I were both just exhausted and I was absolutely terrified. Five year later he still has seizures but they are several weeks apart. He still clusters but I'm usually able to keep it to 2 or 3. He is active, happy, and doing well.

 

--Lucy

Edited November 3, 2008 by LBass