Signs of sleeping seizures?

[greymishmama]

Hi all,

Our Rhonda is six years old and recently started wetting herself at night, which is very unusual for her. Her vet took a urine culture and it came back positive with an incredibly rare fungus - cryptococcosis - which our vet has never seen appear in urine, and is far more prevalent in cats than dogs. We're baffled as to how she contracted this given we're always with her when out and about and don't have a backyard for her to mull around in and eat bird poop. It's a mystery!  

Anyway, if it’s made it into her bloodstream (which we'll find out in a few days), then it's possible it's already attacking her central nervous system, which can of course cause neurological symptoms. She is otherwise acting completely normal and has shown no other clinical signs that usually present with this fungal infection, but the worried mommy in me is nervous these bed wetting incidents could be caused by seizures.

We’ve been taking her potty before bed which has dissipated the accidents, but she is still randomly waking up and pacing at night. Our vet doesn’t think she’s having seizures, but I do want to keep an eye out just in case, especially since she usually sleeps through the night no problem.

That’s all to say, what do sleeping seizures look like in greyhounds? She told us they’re really intense and we would know if she had one, but I’m not confident I’d wake up quickly enough to witness it. Would really appreciate any advice and experience others have had with this so we know what to look for as we navigate this emotional time!

[MP_the4pack]

I would think the accidents are from the uti. 

Other than the accidents are there any other signs of seizure activity? 

[LBass]

Part of the problem is that seizures vary so widely in how they present based on what type of seizure/s occur.  My hound with seizures usually had "grand mal" type episodes and, yes indeed, those would leave you in no doubt that a seizure occurred.  But there are other types of seizures that are much milder in presentation.  Poor Piper had a single seizure of another type--his eyes glassed over, his lips drew back in what looked like a fearsome snarl, and he shook/vibrated for a few seconds.  That kind of seizure might well not have awakened me had it occurred at night.  Restlessness before and/or after seizures is common.  Urination and defecation during or after seizures are common, as is lots of drool.  Piper was always just "off" and not quite himself for a while after a seizure.  Look for those things as further info for the vet. 

I know this info doesn't help directly with your question.  I think your best bet right now is not to spend much emotional energy fretting about the possibility of seizures.  In part that's because there is not much you can do to stop seizures as they occur.  Even with Piper's spectacular cluster seizures, my job was to make sure he was physically safe during the episodes and to get him to the emergency vet if the seizure didn't stop in 2-3 minutes or if he had another seizure soon after the  first.  For your hound, if there are seizures, then the concern is that they'd be caused by this fungal infection. Yes?  She's being tested to see if that's the case--if the fungal infection could be in her blood and therefore possibly in her brain.  Even if so, there is a good chance that treatment for the fungus will resolve all of her symptoms.  Correct?   Sit tight, do all you can to keep her comfortable and wait for news from the vet.    Keep us posted, if you don't mind.

[greysmom]

As the Mom of a dog who also has a weird parasite not usually found in dogs (capillaria), I feel your pain!!

BUT - a quick tour through Mr Google doesn't indicate either seizures OR incontinence as possible symptoms of this fungal infection.  There *can* be neurologic changes, but not to the extent of causing seizures.  And it's much more likely her wetting the bed during the night is caused by a UTI, or even spay incontinence (which is very common).  You didn't say if the urinalysis discovered a UTI or what your vet found on any physical exam.

Plus, as said so well by Lucy above, it's better not to go looking for issues to make you crazy - there are enough weird greyhound things out there to go around.  Get the results of this round of testing, do the treatment recommended, buy some doggie diapers for the short term.

Good luck and please do keep us posted.

[SanTanSnuggles]

We had our Surprise, who only had one serious grandma seizure when he was about three years old. It lasted a very long time. The ride to the vet was 15 minutes and as we got the vet to come out, he was still seizing. They kept him for the night, stopped his seizures and gave us suppositories' to give him, should they start again, Praise God, Surprise never had another one and the vet has no explanation as to what caused it.. But one good thing the vet told me to do when they has a seizure was to wrap ice in a towel and put it along his spine. The vet said that they often have a fever when they has a seizure and that the ice along the spine would help the high temperature to go away and also possibly reduce and take the seizure away. Hope all go well with your greyhound stays safe and is okay.  

[greymishmama]

Update:

Thank you all for your responses! I realized I hadn’t mentioned the results of Rhonda’s urinalysis, which only showed the fungus and no UTI, which was of course very shocking! Anyway, her bloodwork came back showing elevated creatinine levels, indicating the fungus may be in her kidneys, while her titre test came back low positive, indicating it has in fact made its way into her bloodstream. She’s been on her antifungal treatment for about five days now, and she’s much more chipper and less clingy than she was previously. She’s had one accident so far.

Her vet seems hopeful that she’ll come back from this since we caught it before she’s had any discernible central nervous system impact, so fingers crossed for our Rhonda. We haven’t noticed any clear signs of seizures aside from the bed wetting and occasional restlessness, so we think it could just be bladder irritation. We’ll have a bloodwork check up after a month to see where we are, but my guess is she’ll be on her meds for a while. Thanks for all the support! I’ll keep you posted on her progress.

[macoduck]

Good to hear that Rhonda is improving.

When my girl starting leaking pee in her sleep my vet and I discussed that various meds to control. Some were too dangerous to consider, like Proin. My vet has a strong pharmacology back and she suggested a low dose of Enalapril.

[greymishmama]

On 12/30/2022 at 1:08 AM, macoduck said:

Good to hear that Rhonda is improving.

When my girl starting leaking pee in her sleep my vet and I discussed that various meds to control. Some were too dangerous to consider, like Proin. My vet has a strong pharmacology back and she suggested a low dose of Enalapril.

Good to know! I’m hoping her accidents stop once this infection subsides, but that’s definitely something to consider if they continue. Did your grey have any clear causes or just incontinence?