Violet - possible seizure?

[NeylasMom]

So something really bizarre just happened with Violet. She came into the room where we were, looking like she was in pain, a little hunched over and her tail tucked. Okay, not that strange on its own as she could have aggravated her disc. Then I notice her eyes are rolling back into her head and blinking repeatedly. I ran to grab my phone and turn the light on so I could video and by then it was subsiding. She just looked really freaked out, almost like she couldn't see for a moment, and then when I called her toward me she quickly laid down on the floor.

It's hard to tell if she was just out of it or frozen from fear, but I gave her a minute and then called her over to lay on her bed. She did that willingly and then after a minute or so she looked more normal and put her head down and is now resting comfortably.

Does this sound like a seizure? I've never seen a dog have one where they could walk like that. She came from another room and down 2 steps before I saw her. 

Any other ideas? Could it have possibly been a tiny stroke? 

ETA: Anything I should do until I can call my vet in the AM? She's acting completely normal now, just tired. I gave her a snack of vanilla yogurt and she gobbled it down and then promptly fell asleep.

Edited May 11, 2020 by NeylasMom

[Time4ANap]

Maybe an episode of Vestibular Disease.  it happens in older dogs.  Petunia had one that sent us to the E-Vet at 3AM about a month ago.  Was her head-tilted?  Head tiliting and jerking eye movements are two of the signs, and the dog will be off balance, maybe unable to stand or sit.  It scared the crap out of us, but within a few hours she was fine and complaining at the E-Vet about the accommodations and the lack of breakfast being served. 

So far, fingers crossed, she only had the one episode. 

[KF_in_Georgia]

Maybe an "absence seizure" (petit mal rather than grand mal). Jacey had what we thought was a few of those. I'd call her to dinner, she'd come in the kitchen and stand there and stare at the bowl like she couldn't figure out the next step. I'd hold the bowl up so she could smell it and she didn't react. After a while, she finally started eating. It was as if she zoned out somewhere between hearing me call her and seeing and recognizing the food bowl.

Vet did blood work and it looked fine. She was too old to assume epilepsy, but the vet said maybe that, maybe a tumor. A few such incidents, and then they stopped.

Edited May 11, 2020 by KF_in_Georgia

[Roo]

Daisy the terrier had incidents - what the vet believed were either seizures or episodes of syncope. She'd stand up from her bed and then just kind of go stiff and lay back down. Sometimes shaking with stiff legs, sometimes just shaking, sometimes it just looked like she was struggling to stand up. Her eyes rolled back. She'd come out of it in a couple minutes and be a little confused for a few minutes, and then she'd recover with no post ictal phase. Sometimes she'd walk a little before this happened, and sometimes she'd stand up and go right back down on her bed. 

[macoduck]

How is Violet this morning?

[NeylasMom]

9 hours ago, Time4ANap said:

Maybe an episode of Vestibular Disease.  it happens in older dogs.  Petunia had one that sent us to the E-Vet at 3AM about a month ago.  Was her head-tilted?  Head tiliting and jerking eye movements are two of the signs, and the dog will be off balance, maybe unable to stand or sit.  It scared the crap out of us, but within a few hours she was fine and complaining at the E-Vet about the accommodations and the lack of breakfast being served. 

So far, fingers crossed, she only had the one episode. 

Hmm, no noticeable head tilt, maybe shaking her head once or twice. But would she recover so quickly if it was this? 

2 hours ago, macoduck said:

How is Violet this morning?

She's still good. Acting totally normal. Haven't called my vet yet. Will do that soon though not sure what she'll be able to tell me except watch and wait.

[Time4ANap]

6 minutes ago, NeylasMom said:

Hmm, no noticeable head tilt, maybe shaking her head once or twice. But would she recover so quickly if it was this? 

 

Petunia's primary episode was over pretty quickly. Afterward, what I will call the secondary phase was when she continued with the rapid blinking and the head tilt. She did let me pick her up and carry her to the car, she wagged her tail the whole time so I'm pretty sure that she was over the primary phase where she couldn't stand up or find her balance. She let the E-Vet take her inside on a cart and the vet pointed to both the head tilt and blinking as evidence of the vestibular incident along with what we described about her being unable to find her balance earlier. 

We left the E-Vet at about 5:30 AM and she stayed there for observation. They called us at 7:30 and told us to come and get her since she was back to normal and complaining about the accommodations (that really meant she was back to normal.) 

Good to hear that Violet is doing well this morning. 

[NeylasMom]

Hmm, okay, good to know, will keep it in mind. She had been laying in her crate in the kitchen before coming in so it's also possible there was more that happened before I became aware, but I got the sense she came straight in. She did seem a little wobbly on her back legs when I did one last leashed pee before bed, but I chalked that up to her disc issues. 

[greysmom]

I'll add in some sort of medication reaction to the mix as a possibility.

These episodes are extremely difficult to figure out.  It could be any of the things people have mentioned, none of them, or something else completely.  And, as you said, the vet isn't going to suggest doing anything but watch and wait.  A video of any off behavior will help, especially if it seems there are many tiny issues/episodes - the evidence adds up over time.

Glad she seems to be fine this morning.  {{{hugs}}}  for you and {{{kisses}}} for Violet!

[Time4ANap]

1 hour ago, NeylasMom said:

Hmm, okay, good to know, will keep it in mind. She had been laying in her crate in the kitchen before coming in so it's also possible there was more that happened before I became aware, but I got the sense she came straight in. She did seem a little wobbly on her back legs when I did one last leashed pee before bed, but I chalked that up to her disc issues. 

The way we were alerted to Petunia's incident was that she apparently got up from her slumber ball and immediately crashed into a step stool that was nearby.  The sound of a crashing metal step stool and a GSOD is not a good sound at 3:30 AM.  She scared herself enough that she somehow made it to the living room before her back legs collapsed again.  We found her in the living room with her butt on the ground and standing on her front legs only.  She stayed that way for quite a while and we gave her about 20 minutes to see if she could get back up before deciding to scoop her up and take her to the E-Vet.  She seemed to be pretty much with-it mentally as she responded to us, and took a treat, but remained in that position for quite a while. Her back legs were definitely not lifting her up at that point.   

When I picked her up and took her to the van, we had a little talk about it being nowhere near her time to leave yet.   The tail was wagging the whole time I was carrying her and sitting with her.  The vet said it may happen once, or it could happen again randomly.  There is no real rhyme or reason to the frequency of occurrences and it can be a one time thing as well. 

[NeylasMom]

I spoke with my vet and the vet opthalmologist we see because Violet does have an eye tumor we do regular check ups on. Both agreed this sounded like a seizure related to a neurological issue. So it's watch and wait and see the neurologist if they continue. 

I thought this immediately last night and feel now it's even more likely that the "disc issues" we have been dealing with for the last few years are likely a slow growing tumor. But we'll see.

[macoduck]

Thinking back, two of my old boys had vestibular episodes - separate as they weren't living with me together at the same time. The eyes shifted back and forth (nystagmus), no head tilt, but they both slowly staggered like a drunken sailor. Those episodes waere over in a few minutes, but the other boy had one other episode of lesser duration within a few days. Then they were both back to normal.