Seizure Or Stroke What Should I Do

[Guest kar]

I have a call in to my vet. Snow was just sitting on the couch. she started to shake, tried to get up all of her legs were wobbly and I thought she was going to go down. I held her and told her it was ok. this lasted for about three minutes. she seemed to recoup and is now just lying on the couch. What could it have been. this happened once before on a walk but I thought it was because it was hot.

[greysmom]

Probably a seizure. If she's panting, you can lay a cold pack on the back of her neck. Give her a small portion of something to eat - like you would for a diabetic - since any sort of seizure tends to burn through glucose fast, you need to give her body some quick energy - some vanilla ice cream (make sure there's no fake sugars) works well for this. She might also be thirsty so I also offer some cool water in a bowl.

 

Start keeping a log of these incidents - time, date, everything you can remember about the activity before during and after. Usually there isn't much a vet will do until the episodes come more frequently than once a month, or if they begin to cluster (several episodes within a day). If she does cluster, get her to an e-vet right away as she may need medication to come out of it.

 

If you can video an episode that would be a good thing to show to a vet.

[Guest kar]

my vet called me back said there is really nothing to do since now she has come out of it he said to keep an eye on her. it said its a wait and see situation. did not think it was a stroke.

[Hubcitypam]

Poodle had two strokes. In both cases he literally just fell over in his tracks. Even though he came out of it by the time I got him to the vet they said that they were able to tell it was a stroke because of his eyes.

[Guest kar]

she didn't fall over her legs were really weak like she was about to fall over. I think if it happens again I will take her to the evet.

I don't understand either why he said if she is acting fine now there is nothing that could be done. what did they do for him?

[Hubcitypam]

Addressed that in another H&M thread. After I was berated for "spending as little as possible" because I couldn't afford an MRI he went on aspirin therapy. That unfortunately did not prevent him from having a second stroke - which he also lived through and was seemingly normal for several years. Spondylosis finally took him at almost 15.

Edited September 11, 2016 by Hubcitypam

[Guest kar]

I don't know why my vet would not recommend that, how much aspirin was he on and what did he weigh. snow weighs 68 lbs. do you think I should suggest it? I'm beginning to wonder about my vet.

[Hubcitypam]

It's been years but he weighed ~25 # and I think it was one baby aspirin twice a day but I can't be quoted on that. Google dosage.

[tbhounds]

This could have been a syncope episode. I would see an internist and let him/her evaluate her history. At that point you may be referred to another specialist (perhaps cardiology)

[greysmom]

There is no "cure" for seizures, and medicating them unnecessarily would net be helpful, no matter the cause. It *could* have been a stroke, though it sounds more like a seizure. Aspirin will do nothing to help a neurological issue, and will only help a stroke if there's a clotting issue.

 

If it was a stroke it's highly unlikely you would not still be seeing significant effects like being unable to stand or walk, one side be paralyzed, or other stroke signs.

 

Seeing an internist for evaluation as suggested would be the way to escalate her treatment, if you can pursue it ($$).

[NeylasMom]

I wouldn't give aspirin without medical advice. If it turns out she needs different medications you could have a problem and potentially need to delay treatment as aspirin shouldn't be given with some common meds like NSAIDs.

 

If you a rent feeling confident about your vet, try someone new. Ask your adoption group or friends for recs.

[Fruitycake]

I agree that your description sounds more like a seizure, and that it is a lot more upsetting for us to watch than for our pets to experience. Vets really don't like medicating for occasional seizures, but you should definitely be recording their frequency, duration, and symptoms when episodes occur. And a seizure looks like it lasts a lot longer than it usually does if you time it with a second hand (in my experience).

 

How old is she? Your vet is looking at frequency, but may also be looking at age factors. Monty 'retired' before making it onto a racetrack to race because of 'a seizure' and then he had five or six in 24 hours four months later (might have had one in his kennel when we were at work) and was then put on phenobarb. Had it just been one or two, the vet probably wouldn't have prescribed anything unless it happened again. Considering that by the time he had finished his 5th seizure he was completely rebooted back to 'factory settings' (he'd lost everything: from walking on a leash, to potty training, stair navigation, understanding of windows being solid, all comands, what cats were...) and it required home training him all over again. Diagnosed - after blood tests - as idiopathic epilepsy, no known cause, and luckily phenobarbitol has prevented any more seizures. That said, my cat had a seizure at 18 years old, and his vet didn't prescribe anything because it was probably something age related in the brain and medicine was unlikely to help and recurrance was unlikely...and even if it had recurred it was a sign of something that had been working fine suddenly not working so fine. Our neighbor had a ten year old grey who started having seizures, and it turned out to be a brain tumor - not something that throwing anti-seizure medicine at could fix or help.

 

Do not put your dog on aspirin without your vet's specific ok, because it takes weeks to cease affecting their system if they need to go on something that cannot be taken with it. And throwing a medicine that some people have been told to use with their dogs for a specific diagnosed problem (stroke) could be very bad if you need to put her on something else and it wasn't a stroke afterall. Aspirin does nothing for seizures!

Edited September 12, 2016 by Fruitycake

[Hubcitypam]

I don't know why my vet would not recommend that, how much aspirin was he on and what did he weigh. snow weighs 68 lbs. do you think I should suggest it? I'm beginning to wonder about my vet.

To be clear I NEVER suggested OP should just start her dog on aspirin therapy without vet advice - just said it was an option we had used on vet's advice. Now the villagers with torches are suggesting that I told her to just load her dog up with aspirin on her own. Good grief.

 

FWIW poodle recovered from both his strokes which were definitely not seizures. He was never paralyzed on one side.

[NeylasMom]

Why the defensiveness Pam? No one accused you of suggesting that. But when the OP asked about dosage it seemed like a reasonable thing to mention the potential concerns with starting it without consulting the vet. No one's suggesting the OP was going to do that either. I noted that she asked whether she should suggest it to her vet. I still felt it was worth mentioning. So maybe just chill out?

[Fruitycake]

Pam, I wasn't suggesting that you had said to use aspirin on her dog! The OP seemed to be desperate to do something, since the vet wasn't, and latched onto your stating that *for a stroke* your vet had told you to use aspirin...though what was described by the OP sounded more like a seizure to me and you had stated that your vet had diagnosed a stroke. I wasn't berating either you or the OP, just trying to clarify that aspirin isn't a cure-all, won't work if the two instances were indeed seizures, and the washout period is so long that dosing with it 'just in case' without the vet's knowledge and concurrence that it is a good choice is a bad idea.

 

I know how sometimes we want to just fix things, and *doing anything* seems so much better than doing nothing...but it can be so much worse if what we do could impair a proper treatment later prescribed or change test results or create other problems.

[queenwinniesmom]

Is she an older dog? I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but it might be something to consider. Sometimes dogs middle aged and up are more likely to have ideopathic vestibular episodes. Ideopathic because they are not sure of the origen, and vestibular because it's a balance thing. The first time we saw our dog Lacey have one---she was about 9 or 10---we freaked out. Our vet said bring her in because we were a few miles away, and we'd just had to put our little Pit Bull mix to sleep, and were really upset. But when she saw Lacey, she said it was probably that. She'd been on the couch too, and when she got up, she almost fell over. Her head shook a bit, and her eyes looked wonky. It lasted a few minutes as well. There's really not much to do for these episodes if they are brief. I know there are sometimes cases where it goes on for a long time, and the dog won't eat because of the imbalance. That is something we never had to deal with, though Lacey had several more brief episodes before we lost her at 13 to osteo.

[Burpdog]

Could have been lots of anythings: seizure, cardiac, etc. If it's been awhile since she went in for a check up, I'd take her in and have him/her do an examine.

[Guest kar]

she just had her well visit and her blood work and an abdominal ultrasound. all was well. she had the abd ultrasound because she had eaten part of a plastic bag and her appetite was off. it was normal. and her appetite is getting better. vet said at her visit heart and lungs sounded fine. he told me to watch her and try to get it on video if it happened again. she is nine going on ten. I would not put her on aspirin without asking the vet, was just wondering if it was worth mentioning to him. from what I explained to him he did not think it was a stroke. of course and told me not to take her to the e vet because the episode was over. it must have lasted about 3 minutes but felt like a lifetime. I just love her so much, I am worried about her.

[Guest FordRacingRon]

For what it's worth,,my girl is almost 13 1/2. She has had 3 or 4 of those in her life. Just terrifying. But, there was nothing to be done because they were months and months apart. And years ago. So in our case, there really was nothing to be done. I think if it happened two days in a row or more then that,,I would find a neurologist. We have gone to a neurologist for Leia when we thought she had CCD,,,,she was fine from all his tests (which were not cheap).

 

I can understand, since i have been retired, why sometimes spending tons of money just can't happen. When we thought Leia had CCD we spent close to 5K to find out she was just getting older. The older she gets, the less and less we can do for ourselves as we spend it on her (no vacations in 5 years now). So HubCItyPam,,I get where you're coming from. My dog costs just around 600-700 a month for meds and food if she doesn't have to go to the vet. That is a lot when you're not working anymore.

[Guest kar]

I am still working but certainly don't have a lot. but I do love her so much.

[Walliered]

You are so right about the money. I have already told my vet there will be no more Greyhounds when DaVid dies. I absolutely cannot afford it even with insurance on all three dogs.

[Hubcitypam]

You are so right about the money. I have already told my vet there will be no more Greyhounds when DaVid dies. I absolutely cannot afford it even with insurance on all three dogs.

Absolutely agree. They almost bankrupted me. In contrast Poodle1 never needed anything but yearly checkups until my sister fed him a pan of bacon. Barkley has been here almost 7 years and other than annuals he's been to the vet twice - once for an ear infection and once when he sprained his back. I love greys with all my heart - I just can't afford their health issues. My unscientific theory is it leads back to to few foundation studs that sired thousands of dogs that often ended up being double bred on the sire and dam lines. The good and bad both come out. Remember when they bred HBs Creole Baby to her litter mate HBs Commander and got Cee Jay. The people in Abilene said that apple didn't fall far from the tree. Her next heat they bred her with another litter brother HBs Prince Red. Crazy.

Edited September 14, 2016 by Hubcitypam

[Guest kar]

true, she is so think but with her pln kidney disease does anyone have any ideas on how to fatten her up? she cant have a lot of protein.

[tbhounds]

true, she is so think but with her pln kidney disease does anyone have any ideas on how to fatten her up? she cant have a lot of protein.

Unless her values have changed if I remember correctly her UPC wasn't that elevated--I would not consider her at risk for any dietary changes.

[Guest kar]

what can I feed her that is low phosphorus and a lower protein to fatten her up. I am still giving her chicken with her regular food.