Seizures - Some Questions

[Guest greycrew]

I walked my dogs yesterday and one of my oldest greys (my heart dog!) got really slow near the end of the route. When we got home he was panting, but calm, but he wouldn't drink water which is usually the first thing he does after a walk. Then he eats a treat. Well I gave them treat which he ate, then went upstairs to the restroom when I heard strange banging coming from downstairs. I ran down and he was in the kitchen with all of his legs splayed out trying to get up and knocking things over. I couldn't get him up and ran to get my neighbor who helped me put him in a lying down position. He was panting and drooling and jerking his body. I thought he was having a stroke or heart attack. After a few minutes I helped him up to get him to a dog bed, but he just paced around, sort of bumping into things - he did not want to lay down. He finally did and his body conitinued to spasm every so often. It was Sunday and I did not want to take him to e-vet fearing it would make things worse. He is 10 - will be 11 in June. I didn't leave his side all day and he didn't move from the dog bed for about 6 hours. He slept off and on. After 6 hours he got up - got a drink - went outside - came in and ate an entire bowl of food then went to his spot on the couch like nothing ever happened to him. He is fine today. Never had an incident like this, however his littermate which I also have had what the vet called a vestibular incident about a month ago. I woke up to 9 piles of vomit (I have no idea why I didn't hear her - I hear everything!) and she couldn't walk straight or stay upright and walked sideways when I put leash on her to take her to the vet. He gave her meds for stroke and vestibular syndrome saying that he wouldn't put her through all of the testing at her age. So when I called today they said to bring him in, but I could not because of work and they said he should be fine - just to watch him and bring him in if anything else happens. I'm afraid the stress of the vet will trigger him again. Anyone ever had this happen? Do you think it was from exhaustion from walking? He loves to go for walks. Does it happen again once this starts or could it just be a one time event? I just had a dental done for him about 2 months ago. All of his bloodwork was fine, but he had lost about 9 lbs since last year and he was a mess after the dental. I swore I wouldn't put him under again. I don't think he can handle much more. However he is playful and eats like crazy. He's just slowing down a bit.

[Guest zombrie]

Since it has only happened once (and hopefully it stays that way!) it is hard to say what could have triggered it - if something triggered it at all. With Manny, it was all random with no cause.

 

As for the pacing, that is normal for after a seizure. After Manny had seizures, I would leash him up (because he was unbalanced) and walked around with him on the carpet or outside on the grass (in case he lost balance and fall or come into another seizure) until he settled, after he settled he would be exhausted for a day or two. Should this happen again, you may want to give him a little snack. We gave Manny yogurt and marshmallows. Also, be careful around his face area when moving him while he is in a seizure, he isn't "there" and can't control himself, so he may bite.

 

I don't know how many dogs you have, but they may attack him while he is in a seizure. There is a pack mentality and when a dog is having a seizure, they are a weak link. Mira, my most gentle little sweetheart, was the scariest with Manny while he was having seizures (she would charge the x-pen). I would separate him when unadvised.

 

I would definitely go to the vet to make sure nothing is going on and see what he says.

[Guest greycrew]

Thanks for your response! I have four dogs, but he's the alpha and surprisingly the other dogs stayed away until he was laying down, then my italian greyhound kept going over by him, but he didn't mind. It all happened so fast, but at least now I know what to look for in the future. Hopefully it will never happen again. He was totally back to normal yesterday - whipping toys around and happy as could be. I did give him some pizza crust and cinnamon pop tart and water after it happened. He didn't get up for about 6 hours, but ate and drank right there on the bed whatever I gave him.

[RaineysMom]

my heart goes out to you, believe me. Sounds for sure like a seizure. Hopefully he won't have any more. Rainey was 2 months shy of 10 when she had her first one. We had to start medicating after the 3rd one.

 

hugs and prayers to your boy and you.

[Guest greycrew]

To Rainey's mom: Oh, Rainey kept having them? That's so sad! Do you know if it's something that brings them on, like stress or exhaustion? I'm afraid to take him for a walk and he LOVES his walks. It's heartbreaking.

[RaineysMom]

In our case, 31 out of the 32 seizures she had were either while eating (kibble, treat, ice cube) or within 30 seconds of eating such -- only 1 was 90 seconds after eating. We thought for sure there had to be some correlation but the neurologist never did

 

it's really hard to pinpoint what is causing them usually (it was easy for us, but she HAD to eat ) and at his age you're going to hear "it's a brain tumor". Well, we had an MRI done back on 10/4 and she was fine...other reasons can be low thyroid, liver issues, ingested toxin...there's a good Canine Epilepsy site http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/ that was helpful.

 

if you want the whole low-down on Rainey, here's the last thread I had posted: http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/269274-update-on-rainey-final-update-post-1/

 

I'll pray that this was a one-time seizure (and that does happen!). :hope or if it isn't, I'm sure you won't have all the problems we experienced with Rainey, it was pretty unusual.

[Guest greycrew]

Thanks for the info Kim. I'm so sorry to hear about Rainey. I was scared last night - Tone seemed extra tired and he keep twitching in his sleep (he sleeps in my bed) and I was afraid to go to sleep. But, so far all is well. Once again - thank you for your posts. I really appreciate it.

[Guest greycrew]

I just read this quote from the link Kim sent: "Commercial dog food is not the best food to give dogs with seizures, and grocery store brands are sometimes are even worse in quality. Many commercial kibbles containing the herb rosemary may, in a few cases, lead to seizures. One of the things we learned, despite what pet food companies tell us, is that we can do so much better for our dogs nutritionally by home cooking for them."

 

I recently (past few months) switched from feeding Nutro Natural Choice to Nature's Recipe. It was less expensive (feeding 4 dogs!) and seemed just as healthy. I just read the ingredients "ROSEMARY EXTRACT". Nutro does not have rosemary. I wonder if that could be an issue? Both 10 year old littermates having seizure issues within a month. I'm switching back - just in case. And home cooking (which I do often anyway).

[greypuppyluv]

The rosemary issue has been talked about, but it really is an individual dog thing. It can be a trigger for some dogs and not for others. Heck, there are so many things that can be triggers. I wouldn't put too much emphasis on just one thing. Vaccinations can cause seizures in some dogs, flea treatments, cleaning products, etc. It's best to use the website as a guide, but don't let everything on it scare you since every dog is different.

 

If my dog was 10 years old and had what I thought was a seizure, I would take him to the vet for a checkup. Generally, 6 years old is the cutoff age when vets think the problem is idiopathic epilepsy. Older than that, and it can be other problems like a brain tumor. Or, it could be something else that he went through in which case, you'd want the vet to check him over in case he needs treatment for something entirely different.

 

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed hoping this was a one time thing.