Second seizure

TwyfordM

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I've taken on my nans jr x chihuahua as she's no longer able to care for him. He's now living with us in a busier house with kids and my dog (greyhound) they're used to each other and get on fine but obviously a totally different set up to living with my nan.
I vaguely remember him having a few episodes in the past although nan wouldn't remember, he's a very badly put together little lad (cute but obviously puppy farm.. We bought him for nan at a year old) bad hips, Tiny little legs that aren't really big enough to support him typical chi big forehead/bulgey eyes and has had problems with bladder stones but is now on the struvite food.

He had a small seizure a couple of months back, we took him to the vet but they said to keep an eye. Probably a one off and we've had no problems since until today.
He was on the sofa sleeping with my other dog, got up tried to walk a few steps forward stopped, stared into space, back legs went and he just tumbled off the sofa onto his side. Stiffened up and didn't move. No tremors, no noises but his muscles were absolutely rigid and tight, jaw tight shut. He was still breathing fine but tried rubbing his back and legs until after about a minute he loosened up and started licking his lips. Had him on my lap for a bit as he seemed a bit dazed but within 20 minutes totally back to normal and running around. Keeping a close eye but nothing since and it's like it never happened. Will be making an appointment with vet tomorrow as they've said just keep an eye and keep him quiet tonight, but just wondering if anyone has seen anything similar? The first seizure he had was more along the lines to shaking and a bit shorter than this one. But they seem to be coming on when he's relaxed rather than hyped up, months apart. Nothing i can think of has been different or likely to cause it. He's not been out other than in the garden on the lead as I'm out of action at the mo and my other dog is fine.
He's not blessed genetically so am guessing it's more along the lines of a type of epilepsy?
 
Epilepsy is basically a diagnosis of exclusion, if nothing else can be found/appears to be causing the seizures then the diagnosis is idiopathic epilepsy. The most recent guidelines are that if you see two or more seizures within six moths it warrants treatment
 
An old dog of mine was diagnosed with epilepsy. He started having seizures when he was around four or so. They came totally out the blue, he'd never had any medical problems before and nothing had changed around the time they started. He ended up on some kind of tablet-based medication and it controlled them very well, he only had the odd one when he got really over excited and otherwise led a perfectly normal life. Hopefully the vet will be able to give you some answers :)
 
How old is he?
I would have a blood test done to rule out the possible nasty causes, if the bloods come back clear they are likely to diagnose idiopathic epilepsy.
You can have an MRI done to see if anything shows up, but then again it may not show anything so that's your call whether you want to do that.
I would expect them to start the dog on a low dose of Epiphen and you will have to go back for blood tests to check the levels of medication are correct for the dog

Did you get to see the vet, and how is the dog doing now? xx
 
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