What Do These Symptoms Suggest?

[macoduck]

My friend has started noticing some odd behavior in her 8 year old female. Other than heartworm and flea prevention, she is not routinely on any other medicines.

Recently she had her teeth cleaned. The pre-dental bloodwork was normal. I think she lost a couple of teeth and was given Previcox for the 3 days post-dental. Her most recent episode happened a few days after the dental.

 

Frequency- one episode, once a month for the past 3 months lasting 10-15 minutes

 

Rhonda walks like she is blind, touching everything with her nose.

She gets stuck in a corner and just stands there until guided out.

She doesn't respond to her owner's voice or whistle.

She is panting when this happens.

While traveling to GIG she climbed over a cooler placed between the van seats until she could put her paws on the dashboard. She did not respond to her owner's request to move back and they had to physically shove her back. Again, within 15 minutes she was normal.

The three events have all happened while she was standing.

 

To me this sounds like a mild seizure or brain problem. She's too young for dementia. What should this owner ask her vet to check?

[greyhndz]

I would certainly include seizure disorder within the differential. Could also be a metabolic disorder - hypoglycemia, liver dysfunction, hypothyroidism, etc. I'd also consider TIAs.

 

At minimum, vet should be getting a full fasting profile (CBC, lytes, LFTs, renal function, complete Michigan State thyroid panel, urinalysis). Would be sure the vet gets a few blood pressure readings, and does a thorough neuro exam (or refers her to a neurologist). She should also have a careful fundiscopic exam (can be helpful in diagnosing high blood pressure, stroke). Either her own vet or a neurologist can do that.

 

That's where I'd start at least. If nothing metabolic is showing up, I'd explore the neuro possibilities, with a referral to neuro, and as per the neurologist, some type of brain imagine (CT or MRI).

 

I'd also recommend they keep a log of when these episodes occur, if they're related to eating (or not eating), activity when the episodes occur, and anything else they can think of that might be important.

 

PS - I'd ask the vet if the owners should begin giving the pup a small dose of aspirin daily.

Edited April 26, 2010 by greyhndz

[Guest scfilby]

The van thing could be nothing, Cy always tries to jump up front when we travel, but the rest could sound neurological. I've heard of other greys that sometimes zone out in a corner, like sleep walking.. I would talk to the vet about it..

[CaliforniaGreys]

My first thought would be a TIA as already mentioned.

[macoduck]

The van thing could be nothing, Cy always tries to jump up front when we travel, but the rest could sound neurological. I've heard of other greys that sometimes zone out in a corner, like sleep walking.. I would talk to the vet about it..

The van thing was unusual though. Not the typical "are we there yet" over excitement. She was definitely acting like a zombie.

[MP_the4pack]

This is EXACTLY what Onyx did. She started at about 8 yrs old. I finally decided to get an MRI done. I know I couldn't do anything if it was a brain cancer, but I still wanted to know. We saw a neurologist.

Well, for two years after that MRI (where she was put under anesthesia, she didn't have another episode.

They started up again. And I had something different done. (don't remember, but she was under anesthesia). Again the episodes stopped.

 

She's 14.5 now. we haven't had an episode in a long time. But the MRI showed nothing but "an old brain" as the doctor called it.

 

We do think the anesthesia did have something do to with it as valium is given to some seisure dogs.

[Burpdog]

Which hw and flea preventative is she on?

[macoduck]

Which hw and flea preventative is she on?

Vetafarm Heartgold ezybone for our heartworm prevention and Zodiac flea and tick each month.

 

I'm thinking the Zodiac maybe the culprit. I'll try to find out more about the timing of the application and the behavior changes.

Edited April 27, 2010 by macoduck