Is She Having A Seizure?

[greysmom]

This is really puzzling me right now.

 

Cash, my spooky girl, has been having these "episodes," for want of a better word. I had been thinking they were anxiety attacks, which she can have, but she's been so much better lately - she's been off her anti anxiety meds since July and only taking xanax as needed for storms. And she doesn't realy seem "anxious" while she's having these episodes.

 

Background: Cash will be 10 years old in July. She's been on both xanax and paxil long-term, but as I mentioned, she's been mostly drug-free since July with hardly any problems. She's been happy, and interactive, playful, affectionate - as much like a "normal" dog as I've ever seen her in the 6 years she's been with us. She has been very healthy overall. Three years ago, she had a horrible vaccine reaction with seizures and cardiac arrest. Her heart had stopped by the time we got to the e-vet. Miraculously, she recovered fully from this incident with only some *very* minor ataxia left over.

 

The episodes happen at random times during the day, and she can have multiple episodes a day, then go several days without any. She appears to be aware of her surroundings during them, and even maybe "hyper" aware of small sounds or visual cues. Or it might be she's having visual hallucinations during them. There's usually no obvious beginning to them, I will glance over at her and see she's shaking all over with muscle tremors. The muscle tremors can be continuous or wash over her in waves. She will look around and respond to sounds during this, but does not want to be touched or fussed over. An episode can last 10-15 minutes. Afterwards, she will pant as if she's suddenly had a temperature spike (which can happen after seizures). The panting will last another 15 or 20 minutes.

 

In previous years, I would have thought, and probably did think, these were anxiety attacks. But lately, they have been happening with nothing going on - they just start out of no where. She'll be sleeping, or laying quietly in the living room, and all of a sudden trembling and shaking all over. It's only been in the last week or two that I've had the thought they could be seizure activity, except I haven't heard of this type of seizure before. I haven't researched this yet, and thought I would start here. I will also be talking to out vet about it this week.

 

I've had two seizure greyhounds - our first greyhound Libby, and our current foster, Hopper - so I do have some familiarity with them. Any thoughts???

[MaryJane]

It's a possibility. IMO, I would start recording all the events, how long they last, and the symptoms.

 

With dogs we usually recognize the Grand Mal and some of the other types of seizures like the fly-biting and so on. With people, they have a much larger range of symptoms and types. Lucy has GM so I'm of little use here. Maybe Thunder will come on as her dog has what is called "focal seizures" lately and it might be one of those.

[Time4ANap]

Might be best to grab a video for your vet if you can, when it happens.

[Wonder]

Lucky has pretty bad anxiety. If he hears something that scares him (fireworks, car back firing, gun shots), he will do that your girl does. He won't stop shaking, pants, kinda drools. There's nothing I can do but try to comfort him and not make it a big deal.

 

Thunder has seizures- what you described isn't what happens to him.

 

Hope you can figure it out.

[Guest carriej]

Kowalla eventually had full blown seizures, but when it first started it was almost like his body was shaking. His head would also sometimes be the only thing affected, like it was vibrating. I would be able to call him over to me, and he would come and he would move about.

 

Kowalla never panted at this stage though, but really I don't ever remember Kowalla being much of a panter for any reason his entire life; so that could be an individual thing.

 

We worked with our vet and we could not replicate it in any way - until one week my husband went on a business trip and he had a big one, we almost lost him. We got him on phenobarbital and he did great for 4 more years until we lost him to something else. Maybe 1-2 times a year he would have a "break out" vibration but it was completely under control... However Kowalla also had a few other symptoms such as fly biting and a bit of a head tilt.

Edited January 5, 2014 by carriej

[greysmom]

Yeah. They're NOT grand mal or any type of seizure activity I recognize, except for possibly a focal seizure. I would video tape it, except it wouldn't really show anything except a mildly anxious greyhound. The vibrations are so small and fast they're not really visible to the naked eye. Unless you catch the right angle to see her ears vibrating, or hear her tags jingling, I have to actually touch her to tell, most times.

 

When she *does* have an anxiety attack - such as when starting out in the car at the beginning of a ride somewhere - she shakes. All over. Like she's going to shake out of her skin, or fall down, the tremors are so violent and extreme. This isn't that.

[scullysmum]

Frontal lobe epilepsy can display the kind of symptoms you have described. From what I understand it tends to effect feelings and emotional states rather than physical symptoms.

[greyhead]

Chris, I hope you see this, because my whole-post-quoting function on GT hasn't been working.

 

Did you figure out a cause for Cash's behavior? Shane has been doing the same thing lately, and everyone is clueless except for thinking that he has pain. He also has kidney issues but they're not anywhere near dire yet. Tonight I started wondering about seizures and came to GT to research. Didn't have to look far to find a case just like Shane's! Anything you can relate will be greatly appreciated!

 

Mary

[greysmom]

I haven't taken Cash to the vet for this - yet. Soon after I began this thread, I needed to put her back on her long-term anti-anxiety medication - Paxil/paroxetene - because our winter storms were getting so bad. She had been completely off any medication since last July and doing so awesome I was hoping she wouldn't need them anymore. We had a super long, 5 day windstorm and she was miserable. Trazadone was our miracle helper since her xanax didn't even touch her anxiety at the time. Though with the problems Truman recently had with trazadone, I have my doubts about using it again in combination with Paxil.

 

Anyway. She has not had one of these episodes since re-starting her meds. I guess that answers my original question. Probably. Though Paxil is ocassionally used for seizure activity.

[greyhead]

Thanks very much, Chris.

 

We know Shane has anxiety (since Spencer has been gone) and we know he has pain from LSS and whatever else. He's on gabapentin and methocarbamol for the latter, and we're supposed to give him Benedryl for the former. Xanax just seemed to make him worse, so we didn't stay with that more than one day. DH and I are taking turns sleeping on the couch, to administer Benedryl if needed. Doesn't sound like a good long-term plan to me.