Mild seizure symptoms in dogs
Common Questions and Answers about Mild seizure symptoms in dogs
seizure
It does sound like a seizure, and contrary to how awful it looks, seizures are not painful. It's also not uncommon for older dogs to develop seizure activity. Call your vet and have him make a note of the episode in your dogs's chart. Make sure you tell him the time of day the seizure happened as well. It may be a one-time occurrence - or not. If the seizures become more commonplace, phenobarbitol is one medication that most vets start with to control them.
Then in the early evening, he had a major seizure. This time, he had three of them in a row, and afterward, was back to lethargic. As money is tight because of Christmas, we had no money to take him to the vet until today. He has been lethargic ever since Saturday morning, will only eat beef and rice that I make him and not much of it, he's drinking some water and using the bathroom outside like normal, but all he wants to do all day is sleep. It's very sad. Sooo not himself!
Last night I was 45 minutes late to giving my dog the phenbarbatol ( sp), and his thyroid medication. This morning he had a mild seizure, first one that I am awear of since 3 months. Could being late have caused it this morning?
I added a quarter more medication today to each of his dose ( twice a day). I called the vet and they want to recheck his blood levels, which I will do next week.
I have read several posts about phenobarbital in relation to seizures in dogs. My old fella, Oliver is a mixed breed collie who is 16 1/2 years old who to this date has been healthy. On Sunday night he had a full blown seizure (which I have never seen before) that lasted at least 2 minutes. We took him into the emergency vets and they confirmed he was still seizing when we got there. He stayed overnight, did not have another seizure and is now on pheno (60mg) and prednisone (short term).
The past 2 nights around the same time, like 1 am or so he has had what I believe is a seizure... He gets stiff and shakes furiously and has a look of Panic in his eyes. He also looses control of all boul movements and slobes profusily. Like I said this has only happened the past 2 nights and Ive had him over a couple years now and never seen him do anything like this.
From the symptoms I think your vet is probably right on the money with the diagnosis of a mass in the brain, but I doubt that the tremors signify pain because you said they are of short duration. Pain wouldn't be that transient, so it sounds like she may be having a neurological reaction to the mass.
As long as she is eating her food, eager to go outside and is alert and happy to see you when you talk to her, just let her be. You will know when it's time.
A vet visit is definitely in order. Behavior such as this is not unusual in much older dogs because this type of behavior usually coincides with sight and/or hearing deficits that are common to elderly dogs. But a three year old dog should not have these problems and in a young dog this can be indicative of seizure activity. People tend to think that a seizure means the dog is convulsing or thrashing on the floor but there are different types of seizures.
Are you sure she's not dreaming? Dogs DO dream, and some of them actually RUN in their sleep! They can also be sound asleep with their eyes open. It's pretty unlikely that she's only having seizures when she's asleep, if she was prone to a seizure disorder she certainly would have had at least ONE while she was awake. The odds against her never having a seizure while awake but always having them while sleeping are staggering.
You did a great job with your dog in that he lived for 14 years and was in good health. The same things that cause sudden death in humans happen to dogs as well. So the answer to you question is yes, dogs can die suddenly with no symptoms that anything is wrong. As traumatic as it is to those of us left behind, it was a kindness that he never had to suffer and likely didn't even know anything was wrong. Sometimes there just aren't any good answers.
The initial symptoms of the disorder are mild, so mild, in fact, that you may not even have realized that they were symptoms at all. Clinical signs of CDS are found in 50% of all dogs by the age of 11, and by the time they are 15, some 70% of them are showing at least one sign.
Many of the symptoms are things that the average person would simply chalk up to the fact that the dog is getting older.
Cerebellar abiotrophy (ataxia) is a prominent genetically-transmitted problem in Kelpies. One of the main symptoms is slow head bobbing while the animal is at rest. As Ginger and Margot have both said, the only way to determine this for sure is to consult a vet. Talking with the breeder may or may not be productive.
It does still fit the description of a seizure. Not all seizures involve paddling, slobbering and loss of bladder control. Those are basically what are considered to be grand mal seizures. Petite mal seizures can be anything from a twitching of the head to a state of catatonia for a brief time, which sounds more or less like what your girl had.
Please let us know what the vet says when you do get to take her in.
Good luck to you!
Chicken Jerky Treats (Made in China) has been killing/or making dogs violently ill since 2007, (3024 days so far) yet still sold on many store shelves.....There are thousands of reports & warnings on 100's of web sights about chicken jerky made in China!!!
I see about 6 (Or more) toxins in your other treats that have the potential to cause cancer, liver/kidney failure, & Seizures.....
Your Caesar if also full of by-products of unknown source....
I have never heard of a vet requesting video of any dog behavior, as normally when people bring in seizure dogs, the vet will keep the dog for observation himself, and so any seizures can be treated immediately. I'm NOT a vet, and you description alone has told ME plenty to give you good advice on this. Back to possibilities: I have seen seizure dogs have their first seizure, pop out of it before the vet could run down the hall, and appear to be fine.
Since your dog was a rescue dog, you have no idea if she had seizures before you brought her into your life. In fact, seizures are big reason for people to give up their dogs. They don't understand the process and/ or can't afford the regular medication (although phenobarb is inexpensive). It's a shame because seizures are usually well controlled with phenobarb.
Please try not to worry about the medication.
The third type, status epilepticus, has the same symptoms as the grand mal seizure, however the symptoms last a much longer time, well in excess of five minutes, and when the symptoms go on for this long a period of time, they do pose a threat to the life of the dog. ANY AND ALL seizure activity should be reported to the vet, but when a dog is status epilepticus an emergency trip to the clinic is what you do.
Your girl might also be sensitive to the drug. Dogs are all different in the way they cope with medications, just as people are.
And of course, the vet will say "there is no way Rimadyl could cause such effects"!!
They said the same to me when my dog reacted violently to her booster jabs one year. In our case there was an option and from then on I insisted on it. But the vets denied any link between her symptoms and the vaccines.
Make a note of when the seizure happened, what time of day and any other circumstances like music playing or even visitors in the home. Seizures in older dogs tend to be one-time episodes and nothing to worry about. In young dogs such as yours, it may mean the beginning of a lifetime of epilepsy. Keeping meticulous records can help you and your vet find triggers that can be avoided. Our vet had one patient who seized every time the doorbell rang.
Hi a Pitbull pup 9 months old we saved last weekend, who was covered in ticks, possibly with tick fever, was put on Doxydog, yesterday he started getting seizures, no matter what medication, no matter what the vet did, it got worse and worse, this morning 4 times in half an hour, we just put him out of his misery.
My one-year old Redbone coonhound, Merle, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly two months ago. I had just taken him for his yearly check-up and vaccinations two months prior to him passing.
On Sunday September 29 at approximately 9:30 pm, he began having seizure after seizure after seizure. Being that I live alone and am not incredibly strong, I didn't attempt to load Merle in my car to rush him to an emergency vet.
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