# Our 5.5-year-old dog suddenly started having seizures



## Amyk (Oct 4, 2010)

This past Friday night our 5.5-year-old shepherd mix, Reggie, had a grand mal seizure out of nowhere. It scared us half to death and we are now SO worried what the cause might be. The first seizure on Friday was a big one with massive salivating and complete loss of control of bodily functions (peed and pooped on the floor). Today he had two more seizures, one at 2:30pm and another around 4:45 pm. The two seizures today were petit mal, with only his head shaking uncontrollably from side to side and massive salivating/drooling. 

From what I've read, he's a little old to suddenly have epilepsy (although it is possible), so we're now really worried what we'll find is causing these sudden seizures. Poor Reggie keeps following me around and seems quite scared about what's been going on.

Any experiences with sudden onset of seizures? I'd appreciated some feedback and insight. I'm planning to get him in to our vet as soon as possible this week. Nothing has changed with his diet and he hasn't left our yard (which is never sprayed for weeds).


----------



## spotted nikes (Feb 7, 2008)

Have you had a vet check him out thoroughly? Complete blood workup, check heart/temp. If not, do so. 

What was he doing when he had them? Was he excited about something? Just finished a walk/playing? Had any loud sirens going/music on?

Dogs can have idiopathic (no reason) seizures at any age. Heart problems/liver problems/compression in cervical discs can also cause seizures.


----------



## heidiann (Feb 3, 2008)

I have an epileptic dog. 

I would definitely get him in to the vet. Whereas it's true dogs can get idiopathic epilepsy at any age, it generally begins when the dog is less than two years old.

Bloodwork done after the fact probably won't show anything, unless there is something going on that's the cause of the seizure. The vet may suggest medication only because there has been more than one seizure within a 30 day period, although with not all of them being Grand Mal they may not. And medication may not be the way to go at this stage. If the dog has more seizures I'd probably go with meds, but that is up to you and the vet. 

There are a number of reasons a dog could have a seizure, unfortunately...it could be an underlying issue or could be for no reason. 

My suggestion would be to write down everything you can remember from all of the seizures...what happened before, after, how the dog acted, anything in the environment that you can think of...was there a change in routine, was there a change in weather (barametric pressure?), have you used flea medicine, used a different soap to wash clothes or cleaner in the house, have you changed air freshners or candle scents, different food/treats/bones...etc. Our dog's triggers that I know are Rosemary and fish. Other than that, it's a complete mystery. 

What are you feeding your dog? Did you just start a new bag of food? Maybe there was a formula change or something. 

Sometimes seizures just happen also...dogs will have one seizure in their life and never have another. It's actually pretty common for some reason. 

Here is a good e-list for canine epi owners...lots of helpful people and information here: http://www.canine-epilepsy.com/subscribe.html

Also http://www.canine-epilepsy.com if you haven't already seen that site. 

If you have any questions that e-list is excellent. Someone will answer you and there are many members who are really knowledgable.


----------



## Amyk (Oct 4, 2010)

heidiann - you are exactly the type of person I was hoping to run into. We did end up taking Reggie in to the 24-hour emergency vet this past Sunday night. He had the first grand mal Friday night (he was asleep when it started). He then had four petit mal seizures (that we saw) on Sunday at 2:15, 4:20, 8:15, and 10:15. He then had another grand mal at 10:40 which is what prompted the trip to the ER. They immediately did blood work (everything looked perfect there) to have a baseline, and then loaded him with phenobarbital. We were really concerned with his reaction to the phenobarb (paced around and whined constantly, with only one hour of sleep the first 24 hours), but he seems to be leveling off now. His usual personality is coming back, but his coordination is still quite off.

I wish we could pinpoint what caused this sudden rush of seizures. Nothing changed in our routine, cleaning products, etc. We had recently opened a new bag of food, but it's the same kind he's eaten his whole life. But, like you said, I supposed there is the chance they changed the formula or something. He has had no more seizures since being put on the phenobarb - we were told we had to medicate him at this point because his seizures were close together and increasing and could really harm him. Our regular vet (not the ER vet) said if he doesn't have any break-through seizures for six months we will try decreasing his phenobarb and see how he does.

Is your epi dog medicated?


----------



## heidiann (Feb 3, 2008)

Sorry that Reggie has had more seizures. Glad that the Phenobarbital seems to be working though. 

Topaz is medicated. We waited until he had more than one seizure within a 30 day period. His 1st and 2nd seizures (that we know of anyway) were a year apart in May of 2006 and 2007 and then he had 3 seizures in July, 07 and we started him on PB (Phenobarbitol). He had a cluster of 4 seizures in November (cluster is seizures one after another) and then had another 10 days after those so we upped his PB. We added another medication called Potassium Bromide in February when he had another cluster of 3 and then a GM later that same day. All of his seizures are Grand Mal. The medication has not stopped his seizures. He had 9 seizures last year, some of which were clusters but he's only had 2 this year. 

We have not reduced his medication in a while because I am pretty comfortable with him at doses we're giving, his blood levels have all come back in range when we do the blood tests for the medication.

The medication will make him a little loopy for a while. He may be a bit ataxic for a while and it may increase his appetite. But once it gets in his system, he should be ok. The increased appetite will probably stay, but the ataxia will subside.

Have you taken him to your regular vet? If you haven't yet, you may want to have them do a 6 panel thyroid test and see if any of those are off. The test is expensive and they may only say they can do a 4 panel, but ask about the 6 panel because low thyroid can sometimes cause a dog to have seizures. For more info: http://www.canine-epilepsy.com/Lowthyroid.html 

It's hard to pinpoint a trigger. I struggled with that part of it for a long time and we changed a lot of things. We switched from feeding kibble to feeding raw. We switched medication times around a bit, we've supplemented their food, and we switched to natural, minimal ingredient treats. I read all treat bags to ensure that there is no rosemary in anything we feed him because I KNOW that's one of his triggers. Fish too, we don't feed the cats any fish flavors in case he gets into their bowls. We even switched vets. I'm not saying that you need to make any changes, but just that I know how it feels to not know why and how hard it is to deal with that alone. 

Let me know if you have anymore questions. I am by no means an expert, but we've been dealing with canine epilepsy for 4 years. There are a few other people here who have epileptic dogs as well. 

I also have a blog where I record all of Topaz's seizures and any big changes in our life or routine in case he does have a seizure so I can go back and say, ok this could have been the trigger. Here's the link: http://topazseizures.blogspot.com/


----------



## Amyk (Oct 4, 2010)

Thanks so much for all the info! It's interesting that you mention fish in the cat food being a trigger. We recently started feeding one of our cats wet cat food and some of the flavors have fish, shrimp, etc. Once in a while one of the kids will open the bathroom door where the cat is eating, accidentally letting the cat out and Reggie in to clean the plate of food. Although, Reggie has always been an eat anything and everything kind of dog, so I just don't think cat food would have triggered this. Plus, the seizures were increasing, and if it was something he ingested it would have gone through his system already.

Sorry - just kind of thinking out loud here. Oh, one more question - did the pb ever give your dog diarrhea? Reggie has had the worst diarrhea the past few days. I'm talking violent, pure liquid runs. He even went all over my mother-in-laws white carpeting right before Thanksgiving dinner today! (not good!) Just curious if that might be part of his system adjusting, or if we may have another problem. None of the side-effects of pb that I read mentioned any intestinal issues.

Thanks!


----------



## heidiann (Feb 3, 2008)

How is Reggie doing? Any more seizures? I hope not!!

I don't remember Topaz getting diarrhea when he started the PB. Has it stopped now?


----------



## Amyk (Oct 4, 2010)

He's doing much better now. The first few days were awful, but he's getting back to his old self now. Today, for the first time since he started PB, he had a solid poop. Yay! So, we're now gradually working his regular food back into his diet (baby steps). He goes in next week to check the PB levels. He did have one very small (barely noticeable) seizure the other day. He was salivating more than usual, and the sides of his mouth were jerking uncontrollably upward. I suppose he could be having these fairly often since I don't have my eyes on him 100% of the time, but he's definitely much better!

Thanks for checking back 
Amy


----------



## heidiann (Feb 3, 2008)

Good to hear!! Glad he's doing better and yay for solid poop!! lol I hope the little seizures stop as well. 

Keep me posted.


----------

