My boy had a fit this morning.....

[aidybex]

I have a 8 yr old ESS who has had very mild fits, but not had one for about 18mths. Today I took him for a walk and he bounced out the car - I went to open the gate into the field and turned to look at him and he was almost falling over. He wobbled his way towards me then just rolled over. His fit must have gone on for about 5 minutes and it was absolutely awful to watch. All I did was talk to him, stroke him and blubbed my heart out. My other 2 GSP girlies had disappeared off so was thankful they weren't there. Fortunately I have a very good friend who is more knowledgable than most vets (the local vets ring her for advice), so I phoned her and she thinks he's had a full epileptic fit. Once he finished it he jumped up and headed for the nearest pond with water - luckily very shallow. Once he seemed better we headed for the lake and he swam his little heart out!! He also taught my 9 mth old GSP to swim as well today!! I have to say it was very scarey and I thought I'd lost him. He's now curled up asleep on the sofa - lapping up the sympathy from hubby and me!! What an awful experience

 

[V1NN]

Aww how awful my old dog used to have fits onced he reached about 12 he didnt have them often and in between he was completely fine but i remember me and my mum crying our eyes out once the 1st time it happened we thought he was going to die but then took him to the vet and she couldnt find any sign that anything had even happened. he lived until he was 15and a half a wee dachshund RIP Oscar.

 

[3BayGeldings]

My dog has them every few months. The vet says they are harmless, and if infrequent then they dont need medication. However, if they do get more common then they have medicine that can stop them (i think)

Never a nice thing to watch!

 

[QUICKFIRE]

My sympathy is with you,its an awfull thing to witness. I had a boxer only six yrs old the most wonderfull kindest funny dog you could ever wish to meet, out of the blue one evening she had a fit, eyes glazed over and kept trying to run when coming round seemed to last for ages, but real time was about five mintues. took her to the vets and put her on a course of tablets, which seem to sedate her a little, the fits were about once a day after that, after a month they worsend to about 4 aday, broke my heart decided the kindest thing was to pts. nealy four years later still bring a tear to my eyes stinging writing this, RIP my dear crystal
I do hope your dog recovers well.

 

[MarleyandDarcy]

How awful for you and your spaniel

My Springer went through a stage over 2 years of having fits, he tended to have them when he got over hot/excited so I always tried to cool him down, might be the same thing as yours if you say he headed straight for the water?
I threw my boy out in the snow once and that helped him, if you catch him at his wobbly/not really there stage you could stop the fit by cooling him down - hence throwing him out in the snow!!!
He has always disliked the heat - so I have always wondered whether he can sense he is starting to feel a bit funny and then quietens/cools himself down and that maybe he isn't very good at regulating his body temp.
Our vets weren't interested either - they had to have something like 5 fits in a week to warrant being investigated

 

[aidybex]

I think the hot and excited thing is critical. He'd been in the car for a good 10-15 mins and although all the windows were open I guess it can still get warm. Thanks for the tips on cooling down - will certainly keep my eye on him. He is fully clipped to keep the heat down. Thanks for all your well wishes - he seems fine and not at all traumatised from the experience!!!!

 

[millimoo]

We had a lab who had fits from the age of 18months, whilst he was consious they were pretty scary and lasted about 5 mins, with a recovery time of about 20mins.
He was initially put onto tablets, which my mum stopped because they made him so drowsy. The best thing we did was castrate him which cut the fits down to every couple of months, and the frequency reduced as he got older to the point they became a rare occurrence - only down side being they were worse when he did have them.
He lived happily till 14 1/2 yrs of age, and was put to sleep due to a tumour.