Possible Seizure This Morning

[Guest SonjaAndStella]

Hi everyone,

 

I brought Remy (almost 5 years old) on a short ten minute walk this morning. Yesterday I gave him his flea and tick medicine (Advantix), which he has never had a problem with. 15 minutes after the walk, he stuck his front legs way in front of him and was grasping on the floor tightly, like he was trying not to fall. He wasn't responding to me calling him and wasn't moving for at least a minute. He was panting. Afterwards, he was really calm for about 15 minutes. Right now we are at the emergency service at the hospital and they're doing blood work but say they can't do much else.

 

Does anyone have advice as to what's possibly going on??

[Time4ANap]

Your description does sound like some type of seizure or other neuro event. It's pretty hard to say for sure though. Taking him to the ER was the right move.

 

Good luck, and hope Remy is feeling better soon.

[Guest SonjaAndStella]

The blood work all came back clean. I guess all I can do now is wait and see if it happens again :/

[macoduck]

Very scary.

 

If it happens again try to film it for your vet.

[3greytjoys]

To be on the safe side, I'd stop using Advantix. Many Greyhounds are sensitive to toxins in flea and tick products. Your region may have a higher flea/tick problem than our region (west coast) but many people here have discovered they can extend time beyond monthly flea/tick treatments if being careful to avoid tick infested tall grasses, and busy dog parks. If you don't already have a flea comb, they work great to remove fleas from a Greyhound's short fur. (Fleas can be crushed on a paper towel.) I run a flea comb over hounds after hikes while also checking for ticks.

 

If interested, here's EPA's data on Advantix. There were 284 specific neurological incidents reported in this report data year (PDF document).

https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=EPA-HQ-OPP-2010-0229-0013

 

 

[MaryJane]

To be on the safe side, I'd stop using Advantix. Many Greyhounds are sensitive to toxins in flea and tick products. Your region may have a higher flea/tick problem than our region (west coast) but many people here have discovered they can extend time beyond monthly flea/tick treatments if being careful to avoid tick infested tall grasses, and busy dog parks. If you don't already have a flea comb, they work great to remove fleas from a Greyhound's short fur. (Fleas can be crushed on a paper towel.) I run a flea comb over hounds after hikes while also checking for ticks.

 

If interested, here's EPA's data on Advantix. There were 284 specific neurological incidents reported in this report data year (PDF document).

https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=EPA-HQ-OPP-2010-0229-0013

 

 

 

 

As noted, stop using flea and tick products and use more natural methods. I have a seizure dog and the only product I use is the monthly heartworm meds - not flea or tick. I check my dog every day for ticks and she gets a yearly Lyme vaccine.

[LBass]

That could certainly have been a seizure. Most seizures don't cause much of a change in blood results. I would agree that, if it was a seizure, the first suspect and the likeliest culprit would be the flea meds you'd recently applied. This is not necessarily the beginning of something horrible for your hound so try not to fret too much. This could be a one-off reaction that you'll never see again. I would probably assume that he's sensitive now to the topical flea/tick treatments and look at other methods of control as suggested above.

 

I actually stopped using topical flea treatments when my Piper began to have seizures--though his seizures were not a reaction to those treatments. To my surprise, I've really not had any flea or tick issues with hounds or cats and continue to use topicals sparingly, mostly when going to dog events.

[racindog]

I had to stop using Advantix on my working dog. I would definitely stop that. Maybe thats all it was and he will never have to go through that again. I don't use ANY topical spot ons. Too dangerous for me.

Edited September 4, 2016 by racindog

[palmettobug]

Johnny gets Trifexis and wears a Seresto collar for the ticks at my parents house. The collar works surprisingly well.