# Seizures



## Mr. N (Feb 20, 2007)

I’m new to the boards (obviously, seeing as how this is my first post)  I didn’t find any threads on this topic so I decided to start a new one. Here’s the deal:

Every now and again Dübeee (my 4 year old dog) has these weird seizures. It starts with her standing up, then she wobbles around while she tries to remain standing. That causes her to stumble all over the place. If you look in her eyes while she's having the episode you can tell she's not really focused on anything and I'm not even sure that she is able to comprehend anything. While she's having the seizure she drools a lot. Near the end of the seizure she starts panting as if she's out of breath then she pukes. Twice. If she hasn’t eaten recently the vomit looks like egg yolk. If she has eaten recently it looks like nasty dog food. Often times she'll lose bladder control near the end of the seizure or immediately after she's finished shaking. Then for the next 20 - 30 minutes she'll walk around extremely sluggishly. After that, she's back to normal and acts as if nothing happened.

If anyone can give me a bit of insight as to what this might be, I'd be very appreciative. I talked to her vet about this and he doesn't seem to think it's anything to worry about. But still, I'd like to know what causes this and if there's anything I can do to prevent it from happening again. It's quite sad watching her and knowing that there's nothing I can do.

Thanks.


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## Tamara (Dec 6, 2006)

I am very surprised at your vet's response. A dog can have seizures for a lot of different reasons - low blood sugar, allergies, thyroid problems, vitamin defficiencies to name just a few. Usually if a dog has more than one seizure they should have tests. I would take him back to the vet or change vets if need be.


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## Lorina (Jul 1, 2006)

If it's something that concerns you and doesn't seem to concern your vet, I'd get a second opinion.

How often to the seizures occur? How many has she had? Has your vet done any bloodwork on her?

One thing my vet recommends often is limiting their sodium. So no soft chewy treats like Beggin' Strips or Snausages or Pupperoni. Obviously no pretzels or potato chips or popcorn. Sometimes altering the diet can help. Sometimes they need to go on a medication to help prevent seizures.


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

I would find a different vet. Depending on the frequency of the seizures they can eventually lead to brain damage, not to metion that your dog could hurt itself if it fell and hit something on the way down. In the meanwhile, when your dog is having a seizure encourage it to lay down by you and pet it until the seizure is over. 
We currently have a foster dog that has seizures. She takes phenobarbital to control them (generic med and very inexpensive <$10/month) and she hasn't had a seizure in 2 years now. 
A dog usually gets a complete blood workup to check for things as mentioned in a previous post. Depending on the breed, some are more prone than others, maybe you could check with the breeder to see if it is in the pedigree. A lot of the cases end up having no known cause and are labeled "idiopathic." However, this dog in any case needs a good check up. Seizures are nothing to mess with.


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## luv4gsds (Jul 27, 2006)

Now I'm no vet but it sounds like she is have a petit mal seizures another name for it is absence seizures. My oldest son has seizures he started out having the petit mal seizures now he has grand mal seizures he is also a diabetic and every time he has a seizure it bring his sugar level way down low. He takes Tegretol 500MG a day. That is another thing you have to watch out for is your dogs sugar level dropping low after having a seizure. When the blood sugar level drops down to low this will cause another seizure. How many does she normally have? If your dogs seizures are infrequent that is probably the reason your vet isn't to worried about it, but it still surpises me that your vet hasn't done a blood work up on her. Sometimes vets will prescribe valium to help with seizures. They are many things that can cause a dog to have seizures. I would take her to another vet. In the mean time you can look into Bach's Rescue Remedy http://www.valleynaturals.com/ct_detail.html?PGGUID=b39c72ee-6bf6-4f90-8d6e-323913f00d87 about three drops in her mouth after her seizure this will help.


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## Mr. N (Feb 20, 2007)

First, let me say thank you for all the quick replies.



Tamara said:


> I am very surprised at your vet's response. A dog can have seizures for a lot of different reasons - low blood sugar, allergies, thyroid problems, vitamin defficiencies to name just a few. Usually if a dog has more than one seizure they should have tests. I would take him back to the vet or change vets if need be.


I will definitely be taking her back and getting her checked out. As far as I know, her vet only ran one test, and I can't remember which test it was.


Lorina said:


> How often to the seizures occur? How many has she had? Has your vet done any bloodwork on her?


She's had enough that I can't remember all of them. Plus I don't know how many she's had while I'm at work/school. She has one every couple of months. But it's weird. She'll have one one month, then go a few months without having one, then she'll have two in a month, then go a while before she has another one.
I'm not sure what test her vet ran, but she has had one test done. From what it sounds like, I should get more tests done on her.


Lorina said:


> One thing my vet recommends often is limiting their sodium. So no soft chewy treats like Beggin' Strips or Snausages or Pupperoni. Obviously no pretzels or potato chips or popcorn. Sometimes altering the diet can help. Sometimes they need to go on a medication to help prevent seizures.


Well, the only treats she gets are dehydrated chicken strips or Greenies... and then she only gets those every once in a while. As for people food, I don't give her any of that. However, to my irritation, my family doesn't always respect my wishes on that and sneek her people food at family get togethers.


briteday said:


> Depending on the frequency of the seizures they can eventually lead to brain damage, not to metion that your dog could hurt itself if it fell and hit something on the way down.


Well, her seizures are a bit mild. Rather than having enormous shakes, she looks more like she's shivering from being cold. (If that makes sense) She is able to stay in a somewhat upright position while she's going through it.


briteday said:


> In the meanwhile, when your dog is having a seizure encourage it to lay down by you and pet it until the seizure is over.


That's what I do. I feel bad for her when she has one. I want to be able to do something to make it stop, but I know there's nothing I can do once it's started.


briteday said:


> We currently have a foster dog that has seizures. She takes phenobarbital to control them (generic med and very inexpensive <$10/month) and she hasn't had a seizure in 2 years now.
> A dog usually gets a complete blood workup to check for things as mentioned in a previous post. Depending on the breed, some are more prone than others, maybe you could check with the breeder to see if it is in the pedigree. A lot of the cases end up having no known cause and are labeled "idiopathic." However, this dog in any case needs a good check up. Seizures are nothing to mess with.


I'll definitely be taking her back and getting some tests done. As for checking with the breeder... I can't really do that. My dog's a mix between a Corgy and we're assuming a long-haird weenie dog. We know the mom's a Corgy, but no one's sure who/what the dad was/is.


luv4gsds said:


> That is another thing you have to watch out for is your dogs sugar level dropping low after having a seizure.


How could I check that?


luv4gsds said:


> How many does she normally have?


She'll only have one at a time. Then she won't have one for two weeks to several months.


Thanks again, everyone. I'll keep you all updated once she gets back from the vet.


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## Elijah (Dec 30, 2006)

I'd be getting here to another vet with some sense and knowledge ASAP. My Katie was about 75% (if that's possible) Corgi and this is one of the problems they have...partly genetic. She would lie down and thrash around so bad hitting her head against the wall/door it sounded like someone knocking loudly at the door. Hers only lasted a few minutes. How long did your dog's seizures last? There is another med for seizures but the name of it slips me. I know phenobarbital is usually what's given but there is another drug as well. 

Oddly enough it's sodium phenobarbital that they're given to euthanize them!!


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## Mr. N (Feb 20, 2007)

Elijah said:


> My Katie was about 75% (if that's possible) Corgi and this is one of the problems they have...partly genetic. She would lie down and thrash around so bad hitting her head against the wall/door it sounded like someone knocking loudly at the door. Hers only lasted a few minutes. How long did your dog's seizures last?


I'm sorry to hear about Katie. 
Dubeee's seizures aren't _that_ bad. She doesn't thrash around or anything. She just shakes... it looks like she's shivering when she's cold. They only last a few minutes. I don't think they've ever lasted more than 5 minutes... if even that long.


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## ladyredbone (Feb 27, 2007)

*Info on seizures*

Hi~
I have a 3 1/2 yr old female Catahoula Leopard Hound that experienced similiar symptoms during a seizure last week. I did take her to our vet-I have had this vet for over 15 yrs and trust her with my dogs completely. Anyway blood work came back OK and it was determined that my dog has juevinile epilepsy (sp?). Since this was her first episode I will watch her and note any furthr activity:date/length of any additional seizures, frequency, etc. There is medicine that can be prescribed but most of the time the meds hurt their liver more than it helps the episodes. My vet doesn't want to give meds unless my dog is having cluster-many-seizures, they start lasting longer, etc. Right now we are monitoring her. I am putting her on a quality dog food, getting good multi-vitamins, and loving her and appreciating every moment I have. Also according to my vet she can still have a good, perhaps normal life. We will just have these bumps called seiizures along the way. I can on hope and pray for the best.
You really should take your dog to a vet to make sure what is wrong since it could be something different. I wish you success and blessings~


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## sobreeze (Oct 31, 2006)

*seizures*

My dog Sherman has had seizuers for years . We had run blood work on him before. All that came up was low boold surgar , his sounds alot like your dogs standing wobbly fall over or stumbling eyes fixed not seeing whats going on shaking and panting as he is comeing out of it last just a little while very tired after wards . Later will eat alot he is a Westie Poodle mix small dog 10 years now has been having these for many years about every 3 to 4 months .
Before Xmass he had 2 in the same day took him in to vet for blood work every thing came back good vet said he is epileptic .We are not putting him on meds because they are only every few months we will if he has them a few weeks apart we will just take a day at a time and see what is best for him . Work with your vet if your vet wont work with you on this look for a realy careing and good vet my vets are great they listen to me as i know my dogs better than any one .
Good luck with your baby but have a good bloodworkup done soon


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## Jlarockstar (Sep 22, 2021)

Mr. N said:


> I’m new to the boards (obviously, seeing as how this is my first post)  I didn’t find any threads on this topic so I decided to start a new one. Here’s the deal:
> 
> Every now and again Dübeee (my 4 year old dog) has these weird seizures. It starts with her standing up, then she wobbles around while she tries to remain standing. That causes her to stumble all over the place. If you look in her eyes while she's having the episode you can tell she's not really focused on anything and I'm not even sure that she is able to comprehend anything. While she's having the seizure she drools a lot. Near the end of the seizure she starts panting as if she's out of breath then she pukes. Twice. If she hasn’t eaten recently the vomit looks like egg yolk. If she has eaten recently it looks like nasty dog food. Often times she'll lose bladder control near the end of the seizure or immediately after she's finished shaking. Then for the next 20 - 30 minutes she'll walk around extremely sluggishly. After that, she's back to normal and acts as if nothing happened.
> 
> ...


My dog is currently going thru the same thing, what did ur second opinion state?


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## Lillith (Feb 16, 2016)

This thread is from 2007 and none of the participants are active on the forum anymore. You're not likely to get a response. Please feel free to start your own thread about your dog's diagnosis or participate in current discussions, but I am closing this thread to further replies.


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