Fitting dog, please help............

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vivandstar

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Not horse related but wondered if anyone could help.... have a small dog (large chihuahua bitch 5yrs) that has been experiencing some funny turns for 2 years. To start with we thought she had epilespy, however she shows none of the usual signs. We have taken her to the vets on three different occasions, they don't seem to think anything is wrong! She has had blood tests but nothing shows up. The funy turn starts with her shaking, she then goes uncoherent and unaware of things around her. He eyes water and she starts to put her front feet up and curled. He head goes on the side and seems in pain. This lasts for 3 -5 minutes. At the end her back end goes all funny and she does hand stands - put all her weight in her front legs. Sounds silly but she does a hand stand. She will then be absolutely fine. These episodes occur on average every month. It is really worrying me that she may have a tumour. Has anyone else had/heard of similar problems with a dog? please help. She has just had an episode and not sure what to do. Thank you in advance!
 
We have a Bichon who does something kind of similar. She's 18, and every now and then her whole body tenses, she collapses, and bends her neck reeaaalllly far back, which almost looks like she's broken her back, she screams and then flops and looks all kinds of dead.
We pick her up and hold her with her head down, then put her on the sofa with her bottom propped up under cushions (and a towel as she loses control a bit when she has her episodes) and she's usually fine after about an hour.
We've been told that this is because her heartbeat is erratic - if you listen to it you can hear it going frantic one minute and then slow as a snail the next, and so she has a sort of "stroke" when her heart goes from super frantic to super slow - the brain is starved of oxygen and she collapses. There isn't anything we can do for her apart from prop her up head down to get the oxygen and blood back to her brain, and then give her lots of cuddles.

I really don't want to tell you to do anything in case I'm wrong, but thought you might like to hear about something similar! She's been doing this for four years, and every time we think it's the last time, she then leaps up and says "I NEED A TREAT, I STAYED ALIVE!!!!!"
Good luck, hope your pooch is ok!
 
In true fits the dog is usually incontinent. If it is a fit but is only happening about once a month I doubt your vet will recommend any treatment as the side effects of the medication might well be worse than the fits themselves. If they become more frequent the dog may be put on anti epileptic drugs. Epilepsy is symptom of several conditions the commonest of which is idiopathic epilepsy - epilepsy without known cause. Other fits can be caused by a whole host of things including metablic inbalance and brain tumours.
 
One of our jacks had a stroke about a year ago and now suffers a couple of fits a month. He is on vivitonin to try to ensure he doesn't have another stroke. He does a similar thing to the OP's dog, we just wrap him in a blanket and keep him quiet and the fit passes after about 5 minutes. It usually happens if he wakes up suddenly so we try to wake him up gradually but there are times when he hears a noise and shoots out of the house, we usually find him in the garden keeled over. The vet has just said to monitor it and if we feel they are getting more frequent he can go in for tests.
 
I have a lurcher who fitted quite regularly, dramatic, upsetting to us and incontinent, increasing to nearly monthly. Our vet said to leave off the medication until the fits were regularly monthly as the medication would then have to be for life, could cause nasty side effects and and if withdrawn would cause even worse side effects. The lurcher must have heard this as from that day 3 years ago the fitting frequency has decreased until it is about once a year. He is 12 now and I feel that if the next one takes him away, he has has a far better quality of life than if he was on the medication. Have faith!
 
Thanks for your help. Can I ask how you found out about the stroke and what tests were done to find this out? As I said she was taken to the vets previously and blood tests were done. I was considering asking the vet to carry out further tests including xrays and scans. Somebody told me dogs can get Spondylosis, as in the same as horses and this can cause problems? Not sure if anyone has come across this in dogs. I took a video of her today when she was having a turn so I can show it to the vet.
 
I have a labxcollie 20 months old who has adult epilepsy and on average he has fits every 5 weeks, he's on 9 tablets a day and so far with everything crossed he's doing well, but 2 sisters and a brother have been put down. It does sound like an epilaltic fit to me and blood test straight after don't show anything really as their body is out of synch.
 
I had a brown lab bitch who started to have epileptic fits aged 18 months. The vet, as far as I remember, diagnosed the condition from my description, rather than any tests. I know that in people the only accurate tests are brain scans, unless a medic actually sees a seizure.
My lab was put on Phenobarbitone, which she took for about a month at the most. It seemed to depress her, so I stopped it again. She lived to be almost 15, her fits were most frequent when she was in season. She was able to recognise when she was going to have a fit and if we were out she would come to me, so that she was safe. She was left at home while I went to work and never came to any harm. I was advised to keep my hands away from her mouth, in case she bit me accidentally and to make sure that she wasn't left alone with access to steps, in case she fell down them and injured herself. She was incontinent sometimes but not always and in fact, she would begin to come round and want to go out before she was completely recovered.
 
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