Dog Seizures

[kilee]

Tonight after I had already gone to bed- my dh came home from work. He took the dog out of his crate and out to the potty. When they came inside- dh said he went to empty out his pockets onto the counter and when he turned around our dog was just laying limp on the floor in a "pile". Dh called his name and he didn't respond- so he went over and petted him and shook him lightly and thats when he noticed Kobi wasn't breathing. He said the dog had just gone out not 45 seconds earlier w/ him on a leash and was fine.

I guess he put his mouth over Kobi's snout and mouth and breathed- which got Kobi sputtering. Then he brough him running upstairs to our room. He laid him on our floor and the dog was just real limp and struggling to breathe. He wasn't shaking or moving at all for that fact. I went out to start the car and call the vet hospital, as well as get ds up. In that 3 or so minutes the dog began breathing better but still was acting out of it. We wrapped him up in a blanket and took off to the Animal Hospital. About 1/2 way there he perked up slightly- and by the time we got there he was sleepy, but his personality was showing through. They examined him- and said it could of been a seizure--BUT he didn't "paddle" or go real stiff. He was more like a limp mass. So, the vet said that kind of throws it off track a bit.

Anyhow, everything checked out and they sent him home w/ us. She wrote probable seizure activity on his paperwork- and told us to follow w/ our vet in the morning for bloodwork. She did say he could of been choking-but dh says he was definetly not choking. She said it was defintely not a stroke- because he's himself now- and she said after a stroke dogs don't normally bounce back within 45 minutes. Also he's been eating just fine, running around the house all evening just fine. Even when dh got home and took him out just a minute before it happened-he seemed fine.

He's just a bit over 1 yrs old and other than some tear duct blockage (which he has drops for) he's been healthy.

Anyone have any knowledge about dog seizures??? This was very scary and now I want to stay awake the rest of the night and watch him breathe.

 

[horseshowmom]

Bless your heart (and the dog's!)! I've got a lot of experience with animals, but I've never had happen what you've been through tonight. That would really be scary. I tend to think that your DH would have noticed something before the dog passed out if he had really been choking.

I've known of children who had seizures, but none of them ever stopped breathing. Hopefully, you'll find out more at the vet in the morning. We'll say an extra prayer for you. Good luck!

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

I hope everything works out for your family and your beautiful dog. I've never had experience with dog seizures. My cat had a seizure and it was more like the vet described.
However, and I hate to compare dogs to people and have no idea if they correlate, but I have a family friend that has seizures just as you described. She would just go limp, stare, and then be out of it - not sure of the breathing thing. Poor thing could never just look out a window without a family member shaking her. I can't remember the name exactly but it was something like petite grand mal . Don't quote me on that.
I think my point was that there are seizures that don't look like the thrashing ones. Good Luck with everything.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Oh man, that must have been so scary! I'm glad that your little one has perked back up. Hopefully it was just a one-time incident.

 

[motherhen17404]

I am sorry to hear your dog is having problems. I had an English Springer Spaniel named Mike who had seizures. Mike was 3 when he had his first seizure. It was scary, 1 minute he was fine and the next he was on the floor shaking and growling. The seizure lasted over 5 minutes. We rushed him to the vet and the diagnosis was epilepsy. Mike was put on several meds to help control the seizures. Some days he would have over 10 seizures a day. But he never had a seizure where he stopped breathing altogether. His breathing would get very shallow where you had to keep an eye on him. After his seizures it would take him 45 min to an hour to recover where he seemed like himself. We got Mike seizure free for about 6 months, but then he developed other problems. The hardest thing we had to do was to let him go. We tried for over 2 years to get his seizures under control, but seizures take a toll on the brain, and after 2 years of seizures, our sweet boy was just not the same dog. He was in pain and did not enjoy life like he used to. We had to make the hard decision to put him down. I still miss him everyday.

Mike had uncontrolable epilepsy, but I know other dogs who have seizures who have done very well on medication and are living long lives. Please don't let Mike's story scare you. If your dog does have seizures, there are meds that can help them live long lives. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

 

[minkydog]

My brother had a lab that had seizures like that. It was very scary. Unfortunately, he didn't believe in giving drugs. I felt like that dog really suffered.

My poodle started having seizures when he was 3yo. His are very obvious--staggering, drooling, snarling. He looks like he has rabies! His go on for 10-15 min and the post-ictal fatigue is easily an hour or more. We have him on phenobarb and that has cut his seizures dramatically. Of course, any medication has risks so we keep an eye on his blood levels and liver function.

Talk to your vet today and find out what can be done. See if there are any tests that need to be done to rule out other things. Hopefully, this will be treatable and you can have a long, happy life with your doggie.

 

[Ranatra]

My toy poodle had seizures that started when she was a year old. They were always the same. She would become stiff as a board and shake tremendously while crying the whole time. If she was anywhere in the house, you would hear her. After it was over, she would lay like a limp noodle, unable to get up for a bit and a little wobbly on her feet, but she never stopped breathing.
She was on meds for this her whole life. She would have maybe 3-4 a month and she lived to be 13 years old. She died last year.
What you described doesn't sound like any seizure I ever heard of, but it sounds as if your DH might have saved her life.

 

[NMAmy]

I am sorry to hear your dog is having problems. I had an English Springer Spaniel named Mike who had seizures.

I had a springer spaniel, too, and her experiences were very similar to Mike's. The vet told me they are prone to having epilepsy. She also developed them at about 3 years old and died from a heart attack caused by the seizures. It was so difficult--I've had a lot of dogs over the years but she was the one I loved best of all of them.

kilee--as motherhen said, don't let these stories scare you. Max's seizures were very different from your Kobi's. As another poster said, she looked like she had rabies. It does sound as though your husband saved Kobi's life. I hope this was an isolated incident.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Kilee - what type of dog is Kobi? I can't tell from the picture if he is pure Shihtzu or Lhasa or another breed or does he have some poodle in him? Seizures run in the Poodle breed. We've had 5 poodles and of them, 2 had seizures. Both were from the same litter (Toby and Lacy) and each of them acted completely different during the seizure. Lacy would space out for a second and then start screaming and flailing and Toby would just collapse, be unresponsive for about 15 minutes while we held him (sometimes he would defecate.. usually he would drool) and right before he came out he would struggle to "become normal".. trying to stand, move, etc. After he came out of it, he would be very tired.

The good thing is, if Kobi does have epilepsy, you can give him medicine to control the seizures. Lacy took medicine because her seizures were violent and frequent - the vet never put Toby on medicine because his weren't violent and he maybe had one a year. Both Toby and Lacy lived nice long lives - Toby to 13 and Lacy to 14, and it wasn't the epilepsy that killed them. (Toby developed an autoimmune disease and Lacy had severe glaucoma and old age)

Just keep a close eye on Kobi and maybe log any odd behavior like spaciness, stiffness. Chances are, if he is like Toby, you won't see this happen again for a long time. If it does happen again, take him to your vet and discuss epilepsy treatments.

Give Kobi a hug for us

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Our lab mix has seizures, but they are nothing like you are describing. She goes stiff, slobbers, shakes, her eyes roll back, trembles, etc, and they last for a good 20 minutes, sometimes longer, and then it takes her a while before she is really herself. She takes twice daily medication which control them.

However, it doesn't mean that there aren't different types of seizures and that your dog isn't having one. I hope you find some answers quickly!

 

[IwasatWDWforamonth]

I had the most wonderful samoyed when I was 14, I loved that dog so much when he developed epeilpsy it broke my heart. So much that I missed a month of school(I know that must sound nuts) to take care of him,(the vet refused to do anymore, sent him home with a bad fever and said he wouldnt make it) , we spent the first night covering him with ice
After his first seizure my fantasia was never the same, after a month of not being able to get him to eat, it was a small miracle that he came around at all.
I dont mean to scare you, and I hope you dog stays healthy.
I never got to hug my tasia again, he was brain damaged and was afraid to be hugged, but we gave him the best life we could and he lived 3 years after he was diagnosed. My parents had to complety redo our house due to his seizures.
I remember that phenobarbitol did not work very well, we found a net vet that put him on dilanton sp? and that even seemed to help his personality and let him enjoy himself.
Its funny after all these years it still makes me cry.

 

[Disney Doll]

What a cute doggie!!!!!!!!!

My friend had a Lab who ahd occasional seizures. I am a nurse and have watched countless people have seizures and it doesn't faze me...the worst thing I ever had to do was watch that dog. He only had a few in his life...maybe 5 or 6, so they never medicated him, and he ultimately died of cancer.

I know oyu are going to follow-up with your vet, which is a great idea. Emergency vet clinics are great, but your own vet, like your own doctor, "knows" your pet best. My guess is that he/she may want to do a CT scan of the head to make sure there's no tumor or other abnormality that could be causing a seizure, and if not, may want to treat the dog with medication for epilepsy. The 2 most common ones are Phenobarbitol and Dilantin. There is also another med called Tegretol, but I don't know how often that is used in pets. The vet may also tell you to just watch and see if it becomes a "regular" occurrence, or if it is just a very rare event before he/she makes a med decision.

Smooch that little poochie for me!!!!!!!

 

[chesirechik]

I'm so sorry you had to go through that!

I have a 5 year old beagle that has seizures every 2-3 months, but nothing like that - she never stops breathing! She just stumbles around, shakes and has to go the bathroom a lot. It usually lasts about 15 minutes.

 

[kilee]

Thank you everyone- in Kobi's cased he was just a limp mass and was not breathing. He is his normal self this morning- going to the vet's nonetheless. Even if they tell me I should just watch for it to maybe ever happen again- I couldn't live w/ myself for not taking him. (Actually, as I was typing this the vet just called me and gave me an appt. for later this morning).

He's a purebred shih tzu. He's just a bit over a year old.

Thank you for the stories. They don't scare me- because I really want the truth and not to have things sugar coated. What a week- at the beginning of the week I was all upset over the rescue groups homestudy for the new furbaby we'd like to adopt. Now, this is major to me. It has defintely been a week for furbabies to age me. Also, thank you for the good thoughts. We're off to the vets- so keep the good thoughts coming-thank you.

 

[Chicago526]

My Missy has a seizure about 2 times a year. As far as I can tell, stress seems to trigger them, although not always. She'll run up to me (or DH, if I'm not around) as she feels one comming on, then she'll lay down and shake for a couple minutes. The vet says as long as it doesn't last too long (over 5 minutes) then not to worry, but if it does last too long, then bring her in. After the seizure, she almost always has to pee and/or poop right away, and sometimes can't wait untill I can get her outside (I try to get the leash as fast as I can) Since it's only twice a year or so, we don't have her medicated.

The first time it happened, it was VERY scary. Now we are used to them. I just hope that the frequency doesn't increase, I'd hate to have to medicate her.

 

[kilee]

Well, neither the emergency vet or our vet think's it's a seizure. They did some bloodwork and an ECG today. I guess all the bloodwork was normal. The ECG showed a real minor abnormality, but the vet said he didn't think it was anything significant and he wouldn't say what he thought it could be. We have to have the ECG repeated in 1 week- and then we'll go from there.

Of course now I'm terrified to leave his sight. He's almost himself today. He's seems alittle more tired out than usual. He only wanted to play a little bit- he wanted to be held more than anything.

 

[simba928]

I am so sorry to hear about your furbaby. I know how scary that was for you.

My grandma's dog, Smokey, was maybe about 12 years old. One day, she just urinated in the house, and then did a #2. That was extremely out of character for her. I was home by myself, my grandma would be back in about 20 minutes. I had no clue what to do. Smokey was just laying there. She couldn't stand let alone walk. My grandma finally got home and her and my grandfather took Smokey to the vets. I stayed home because I knew that I just couldn't do it without bursting into tears. The vet said it was inflamation of the brain. They also said that dogs have something in their brains/bodies that prevent strokes, so dogs don't have strokes. Anyways, she was never herself after that. She didn't run around any more and somebody had to help her outside.

Then it happened a second time. I was by myself again, but I handled it slightly better than before. I had somewhat of a clue of whats going on and I just sat with her and petted her. That time, the vet said it was a seizure. She never did go back to what she was before. She just steadily declined over a couple years. She got to the point where she was nothing but bones and fur. She wouldn't eat or drink water. For a week, she just layed there and did nothing. Everyday she got very noticably worse and worse. She got to the point where she couldn't even move her paw or hold her head up. She passed away a little over a month ago.

I really don't want to scare you. Smokey was an old dog with some health problems before her seizures. Your baby will be fine, I'm sure, because he is so young. I used to know a dog that had epilepsy. This dog was the sweetest thing you would ever meet. His "mom" ran a consignment shop and me and my grandma would go visit occasionally. The lady always brought the dog into the shop. The doggy lived a very normal, happy life. When he would have a seizure, the lady would just stroke his nose and he would snap out of it eventually and be perfectly fine. I hope your baby is better and doesn't have another one.