Guest meakah Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 A friend of mine is going through a tough time right now and I thought about posting her dog's info on here since you all are such a wealth of knowledge. Hopefully some of you can come up with some ideas that her vet has not considered. This is her post: My dog is a 7 yr old Malamute. Tuesday night he started acting disoriented and off-balance (he was slipping and falling) and after about 40min he began seizuring (the first time in his life). Anywho that first one lasted about 3min (the longest of the bunch) and by the time we got to the emerg vet about 1 1/2hrs later he hit his 5th seizure as we carried him through the door. They gave him valium with no repeat incidents for the next two days he was hospitalized. They ran extensive tests including CT scan and a CFS? tap (taking some brain juice) to find absolutely nothing wrong with him. They considered that he got into something but we're pretty careful and nothing in our home was disturbed (he isn't outside of the house or his run without being on a leash & supervised) plus he gave us a good amount of advance warning which apparently doesn't happen often with cases of toxicity. Anywho he was anxious and unable to sleep or really lie down while at the vet, something we chalked up to nerves. I was able to bring him home Thursday afternoon where we noticed he had "twitches"...sometimes just a single jerking motion with his head, sometimes multiple nose or facial twitches. When he walks and remains focused then he's perfectly coordinated. If he stops walking or loses focus at all, his muscles don't seem to want to get started again and he falls forward or his legs splay out from under him. He's eating and drinking well, is now well rested and it's been since tuesday that he's had any grand mal seizures. The twitching could be partial seizures apparently, but they can't explain the balance thing. They tell me epilepsy doesn't happen very frequently in dogs as old as Stryder, and were he suffering from that then he should be ok in between episodes? Anywho as you can tell I've never dealt with a dog suffering from this but my hunch says stroke for some reason, and when I researched it there's a type that's common in older dogs that leaves little sign of it's cause and has his exact symptoms. I mentioned the possibility of FCE but I am not sure that is what it is since with my experience (Koda at age 5) seizures are not normal with this. I also mentioned the possibility of a TBD but with all honesty, I only mentioned that because of the cases I have read on here. I have never actually had any experience with that here in my province since they are really uncommon (too cold). But maybe it is still possible? I am not sure if she has had a regular blood panel done but I did recommend one. Anyone have any other ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burpdog Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Any vaccines or medications (Frontline, Heartguard, etc.)? Quote Diane & The Senior Gang Burpdog Biscuits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest meakah Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 Burpdog, I asked about the vaccines and de-worming and this is what she said today: It seems like whenever he starts to relax is when he gets twitchy, or when he zones out is when his muscles look up. He went for a walk today and you wouldn't have been able to tell that anything bad had happened but if he's just wandering around the house without a purpose then he gets shaky. They did extensive blood tests ruling out possible causes such as diabetes and i believe he had mentioned ticks as well (I'm going to double check with the vet as it all went by in such a rush I don't want to be mistaken). Stryder is up to date on all his vaccines and his last vaccination was July '08. He's not on anything like heartguard, the only thing he doesn't usually get that we had to do this summer was a treatment period with Revolution as the vet ruled out possible causes of a skin irritation he was experiencing (turns out it was something in the water out here but that's been cleared up for months). They also discussed thyroid as a possibility but then ruled that one out and the CT scan showed no anomalies, the CFS? tap coming back negative as well to rule out things like GME (sp?)... Any thoughts? I am just at a loss... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burpdog Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 They also discussed thyroid as a possibility but then ruled that one out and the CT scan showed no anomalies It takes a long time to get back a full thyroid panel. How did they rule it out? Any change in food? Any others in the family of the dog have seizure history? Does she know the breeder? Is he on any meds or supplements? Quote Diane & The Senior Gang Burpdog Biscuits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EmilyAnne Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 Definately need to know if Stryder is on any meds. Henry gets head twitchies when on Pheno. The twitchies dissapeared when I had him off Pheno, so I know it's the Pheno for Henry. Sounds like it was a pretty bad cluster. It can take up to a month for recovery from a cluster, and sometimes they never do quite get back to where they were before the cluster. When Stryder was anxious and unable to sleep or lie down at the vet, it may have been that he was still in the post-ictal stage, which happens after a bad seizure, and can last upwards of days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest meakah Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 Interesting info re: the seizures...good point. I have very little experience with seizures so I will pass on this info. As far as meds...and the possibility of Pheno...I will definitely ask her. As far as I know he is not on anything at all. And no, she does not know the breeder. He was a rescue from a sled dog team and had been shot and left to die (he was one of about 12 dogs if I recall). They did find the pellet lodged in his back still when they did an x-ray last week but they don't think it has anything to do with his current issues. She did update today saying his twitches are the same but everything else is slowly returning to normal. She has some valium on hand in case he seizures again...hoping it would buy them some time while on route to the vet (she lives out in the country far from a vet). I will ask her about the Pheno and see if he is on any meds. I will also ask her about possible seizures with the other dog but as far as I know, her Shiba Inu is doing great. Seems to be a real mystery at the moment. The vet is discussing doing an MRI as a next step if they don't get anymore answers. And Burpdog, I will ask her about the Thyroid test... Thanks for the info and my apologies for the delay of my reply...I rarely have time for GT these days but I will be sure to hop on each night for a bit.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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