Seizure

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QuobAsti

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Our ESS bitch had a seizure last night

She was asleep on the sofa as normal and at about 10pm just started convulsing.
My OH cleared the other dogs out of the room and called the vet practice, we then had to wait for a call back from a vet.
It was bad enough seeing our little girl having a seizure and not being able to do a thing for her, but her two 17 week old pups were very clearly distraught making a lot of noise in the other room, my OH managed to calm them down.

The vet called back and asked a load of questions, for our dogs is was just a normal day, finished work and back home.
Off to the field to sort the horse and the OH exercising / training the dogs as normal. Back home for dinner and down time on the sofa with us.
No chance she had got hold of anything or been exposed to any toxins. So at the moment we are left with the mention of Idiopathic epilepsy. The vet said it could be a one off and may never happen again, however she is booked in on Friday as per the vets recommendation for blood tests. As far as we are aware this is the first time this has happened.

Once the seizure stopped apart from pacing and panting she was fine, we let the pups back in after a while so they could see all was ok, then a little while later let the other two adult dogs back in, and all was back to normal.

Normally our dogs are crated over night but she came to stay upstairs with us last night just in case she had another seizure.

I can honestly say what a dreadful experience as there really is nothing you can do expect keep them safe whilst the seizure occurs, then those moments just after the seizure the poor thing is completely confused and has no idea what just happened.

Has anyone had any experience of seizures in dogs whether it be a one off or a long term issue?
 
What age is she?

If it is confirmed as epilepsy I would check with/inform with the owners of her siblings and parents if you have any contacts, and would keep a very close eye on her pups and perhaps either place an endorsement on their future breeding or a clause that they are neutered or spayed when old enough.

My best friend's dog had epilepsy and was kept medicated for the rest of his life.
 
My Gsd has seizures. Shes 12 now and has maybe 1 or 2 a year. They started at about 3 years old. She was a rescue however so I didnt get her until she was 2 so may have had previously.
Shes not medicated as vet said as seizures are few and far between it wasnt needed.
It can be stress that causes hers as she hates fireworks and often will have a seizure around bonfire night and Christmas.
Shes quite deaf now though so doesnt hear them.
She had bloods which came back normal.
It can be frightening but best to just keep them quiet and be aware they can bite when out of it so be careful.
If it happens again its a good idea to time it and film it with your mobile if poss as it might be useful to vet.
If she doesnt come out of a seizure its a emergency and you need vet asap.
Hopefully she wont ever have another but there is medication to help if she has more.
She shouldn't be bred from again as it can be hereditary.
 
yes, I took on an epileptic rescue who had been on various treatment protocols before I got her. she would be very clingy after a seizure and I'd just talk to her until she came round fully.

the seizures are not nice, as Sandstone says, they can bite when seizing so best to keep people away and other dogs. some dogs live very long happy lives with epilepsy and some dogs sadly do not-if she has seizures very close together or doesnt come out of one (generally they only last a couple of minutes although they seem longer) you need vet straight away. if medicated the drugs tend not to be very expensive and she'll need regular bloods to check everything.
 
my cousins Labrador starting having seizures, I think at about aged 1-2. it was diagnosed as epilepsy. in time they noticed slight changes in his behaviour beforehand so could get him safe. I think at first they are rare, not even monthly, but as he has got older they have got more frequent- he is now 9 and has them nearly once a week. he often soils himself during them, and is a bit confused after, but has always come round on is own and within a few hours appears 'normal', although a bit tired for the next 24 hours. I think they are now looking at medication due to increased frequency. in general he is very happy though: came on long walks on a holiday in the Peak District.
 
She has just turned 3 years old this month

Whilst she was having her seizure the room was cleared, i moved her from the sofa to the floor and just had my hands on her shoulder and quarters, i kept myself away from her head. When she came out of it she gave me side eye, growled and her heckles came up so we just let her be and sat in the room with her until she settled again which happened very quickly. She wasn't walking quite right and was a bit wobbly but i guess that's to be expected after what her body had just gone through.

The vet i spoke with last night gave me plenty of advice on what to do and what not to do.
I've also had a little read up online about timing the length of the seizure and when to get them to the vets as an emergency, our vets said if it is still happening after 3 minutes then they want them brought into the vets straight away, luckily we don't live to far away from them.

We've had someone go in and check her mid morning, my partner has been home for lunch, another check mid afternoon before i return home from work. So far fingers crossed she is back to normal and doing just fine.

I'm hoping it was a one off only but i guess only time will tell

Thank you for your responses
 
fingers crossed it was a one off. another sign that she may have had one when you arent around is incontinence (of either kind) or dried drool etc on her bedding/crate.
 
my lurcher had seizures from about 11 years old, she only had a few and i just put my arms round her and held her until she stopped and for a while afterwards as she seemed very confused. my vet didnt advise medication unless she got them frequently , she always slept upstairs in a small bedroom so i put a child gate instead of closing the door in case she fell downstairs and as i slept next door i heard her if she was moving about so managed to get to her quickly. it is very frightening for us especially as i didnt know what to do but just tried to make her feel secure.... didnt occur to me that she might bite....
 
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My friend had her hand quite badly bitten when her dog had his first seizure in the middle of nowhere in a forest. She ran over to help him and he clamped down on her. Nobody's fault, but still painful.
 
It's very, very distressing isn't it...you feel so helpless, how is she now? FYI our JR has had one seizure a year for the last four years (she's 9). No apparent trigger and she's been thoroughly vet checked. They are very brief, she topples over and 'paddles' her legs..but is fine afterwards.
 
QuobAsti said:
Our ESS bitch had a seizure last night

She was asleep on the sofa as normal and at about 10pm just started convulsing.
My OH cleared the other dogs out of the room and called the vet practice, we then had to wait for a call back from a vet.
It was bad enough seeing our little girl having a seizure and not being able to do a thing for her, but her two 17 week old pups were very clearly distraught making a lot of noise in the other room, my OH managed to calm them down.

The vet called back and asked a load of questions, for our dogs is was just a normal day, finished work and back home.
Off to the field to sort the horse and the OH exercising / training the dogs as normal. Back home for dinner and down time on the sofa with us.
No chance she had got hold of anything or been exposed to any toxins. So at the moment we are left with the mention of Idiopathic epilepsy. The vet said it could be a one off and may never happen again, however she is booked in on Friday as per the vets recommendation for blood tests. As far as we are aware this is the first time this has happened.

Once the seizure stopped apart from pacing and panting she was fine, we let the pups back in after a while so they could see all was ok, then a little while later let the other two adult dogs back in, and all was back to normal.

Normally our dogs are crated over night but she came to stay upstairs with us last night just in case she had another seizure.

I can honestly say what a dreadful experience as there really is nothing you can do expect keep them safe whilst the seizure occurs, then those moments just after the seizure the poor thing is completely confused and has no idea what just happened.

Has anyone had any experience of seizures in dogs whether it be a one off or a long term issue?
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Yes, I had a brown Labrador bitch, who had her first seizure, aged not quite 2 yrs old. She was put on anti-seizure meds (phenobarbitone) but they made her very quiet and depressed, so I decided to see how she did without the meds. She was soon back to her normal self.

She had probably 3 or 4 seizures per year, occasionally more, for the rest of her life and she lived to be just 2 months short of her 15th birthday. She always knew when she was starting a seizure and would come to find me, if I was available. She sometimes had them when we were out and about but didn't like to think that other people could see her (just like the people I have known with epilepsy). She once had one on the beach, which was a problem because we had to try to stop sand getting into her eyes, to say nothing of the audience!

She needed to sleep after a seizure but otherwise they barely affected her. The vet did warn me to keep my hands away from her face, in case she bit me during a siezure or in the aftermath but she never showed any signs of doing so.
 
She had another seizure Monday night :-(

This time she had been put to bed, i was up in the bathroom and heard a noise
I listened for a few moments before going down as one of our other girls sometimes digs a little in her crate
Got down stairs, opened her crate and just put my hands on shoulders and quarters to keep her safe from hurting herself
I couldn't get her out of the crate at the time of the seizure due to end opening door and not side one, all i could do was keep her head and legs away from the bars
Once over she got up, stumbled and then fell over coming out of the crate, poor girl then proceeded to look extremely confused, again we had heckles up and growling. Me and my partner stood by the back door whilst she stopped growling then sat out in the garden with her for about 10-15 minutes until she was settled again
All the other dogs were in their crates in the same room, however this time around they all stayed calm and quiet, perhaps because we were more 'relaxed' about it, that's not really the right wording but it wasn't a shock like the first one
The only similarities between these two seizures were very hot days and at night time
I called our vets yesterday morning to ask them to add a note to their system that she's had another seizure just in case we have an emergency, the likely-hood of remembering those kind of details in an emergency are slim
I've now swapped her and another dog around crate wise so she has more room and we have better access to her through the large side opening door

It's horrible seeing her like that and being so helpless
How do those of you cope with dealing with this regularly, its not so much during the event that gets me as all i can do is try to keep her safe, its after i feel deflated for a good day or two
 
QuobAsti said:
It's horrible seeing her like that and being so helpless
How do those of you cope with dealing with this regularly, its not so much during the event that gets me as all i can do is try to keep her safe, its after i feel deflated for a good day or two
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it is tough at first. if it helps, I dont think they know much about it or remember any of it so (as you have done) make the environment as safe as you can for the future and make the best of the times in between.
 
QuobAsti said:
She had another seizure Monday night :-(

This time she had been put to bed, i was up in the bathroom and heard a noise
I listened for a few moments before going down as one of our other girls sometimes digs a little in her crate
Got down stairs, opened her crate and just put my hands on shoulders and quarters to keep her safe from hurting herself
I couldn't get her out of the crate at the time of the seizure due to end opening door and not side one, all i could do was keep her head and legs away from the bars
Once over she got up, stumbled and then fell over coming out of the crate, poor girl then proceeded to look extremely confused, again we had heckles up and growling. Me and my partner stood by the back door whilst she stopped growling then sat out in the garden with her for about 10-15 minutes until she was settled again
All the other dogs were in their crates in the same room, however this time around they all stayed calm and quiet, perhaps because we were more 'relaxed' about it, that's not really the right wording but it wasn't a shock like the first one
The only similarities between these two seizures were very hot days and at night time
I called our vets yesterday morning to ask them to add a note to their system that she's had another seizure just in case we have an emergency, the likely-hood of remembering those kind of details in an emergency are slim
I've now swapped her and another dog around crate wise so she has more room and we have better access to her through the large side opening door

It's horrible seeing her like that and being so helpless
How do those of you cope with dealing with this regularly, its not so much during the event that gets me as all i can do is try to keep her safe, its after i feel deflated for a good day or two
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I dont like crates. I think the most likely time for a dog to have a seizure is when they wake up from a deep sleep. my girls always happen late at night or early hours of the morning. She will always come to find me if she can.
If you can film the next seizure and time it. It may help the vet.
 
Crates are better than other dogs in the pack attacking their mate for behaving oddly, which can and does happen.

I am sorry to hear this has happened again, it is really important that you notify the owners of her progeny, parents and siblings to try and prevent this condition being passed on.
 
CorvusCorax said:
Crates are better than other dogs in the pack attacking their mate for behaving oddly, which can and does happen.

I am sorry to hear this has happened again, it is really important that you notify the owners of her progeny, parents and siblings to try and prevent this condition being passed on.
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Yes crates may be a advantage in that situation, I just personally dont like them.
As above. make sure you contact her breeder and owners of her offspring.
 
We had bloods done after her first seizure to ensure there were no 'nasty's' behind the cause of it
The bloods all came back fine

The next step would be to have an MRI which may or may not give us further information
However having an MRI will involve having her knocked out
At this stage she has only had two seizures approximately 3 weeks apart, so i'm keeping notes on what / when etc and see where we go from there
The vets had told us before to time the seizure, the thought of grabbing my phone to time her never even entered my head

What i am finding hard is my partner is down trodden by it all thinking he will have to stop doing things with her, he was talking about having a serious talk etc etc
I personally think we should carry on as normal with her training and competing (gundog stuff) unless we have reason to believe it is causing a problem, she would get rather depressed if all her usual stuff stopped. If she starts having seizures during the day then we'd have to knock the competing on the head but she could still continue with the training as we can manage how much she does and what she can cope with
This is all early days but you can't help but think about some of this stuff

The crate situation is necessary for us to keep the dogs safe and the house in one piece for when we can't be there, it also give the dogs some down time, however i appreciate this isn't for everyone, so each to their own
Having 5 dogs in total i would hate to think what could have happened last night if they were all in together, probably another repeat of the first one with the puppies crying and frightened
 
I cant see any reason for you to stop training etc with her.
Many dogs are epileptic and enjoy a fairly normal life. If you go for a MRI, there is a very good chance it wont show anything. My dogs 12 now and although she doesn't have that many seizures its not really effected her that much.
Hopefully your dog will be the same. There is medication if she continues to have regular seizures.
I know its scary and upsetting to see but you will get used to it.
Good Luck.
 
I have a little rescued JRT cross aged 9 who has epilepsy. He is on phenoleptil which mostly keeps the fits under under control. He's had 2 so far this year, the vet is happy with that amount, if they get more frequent we can up the dosage or add another drug.
When it happens he suddenly wakes up with a jump in the middle of the night and over he goes into a fit. When he comes round he is always thirsty and hungry, but once I've got him settled again he sleeps until the morning when you would never know anything had happened if you hadn't seen it. I have rectal diazepam that I have to give him if he does not come round after a certain time but fortunately I have never had to use it.
The rest of the time he is like normal. It hasn't stopped him doing anything so far. It's not nice to see but you do get used to it after a few times. It takes me a few days to get back into a proper sleeping pattern though. The next few nights after he's had a fit I wake up at the slightest sound in case he's having another one, I guess I'm a bit like a parent with a sick child.
 
Might not be a popular opinion but I would give serious regard to whether or not I would compete or train with this dog again, if heat or stress is a trigger.
I know people who have had to retire very promising performance dogs at a relatively young age due to health issues, it is gutting, but one of the downsides of dog ownership.
My friend retired a three year old dog who was competing at national level to mitigate future lameness, and he is having a great time just running around being a house pet.
Just because you are not competing does not mean that you and the dog cannot have a fulfilling relationship.
Despite the dog receiving a breeding ban because of his health, my friend has also had approaches from more unscrupulous people wanting to breed from him who say 'sure, it doesn't matter' :(
 
I had a large cross breed dog who had epilepsy. He had his first fit at 18 months and was put on phenobarbitone. He lived to 17 and was a wonderful dog, very intelligent and would watch the tv if any programmes featured dogs even cartoons like Scooby do! The fits were severe but he knew when he was going to have one, human epileptic call it an aura, he would come and get me and want to play ball! This would sometimes prevent the fit as focussing on something makes dog brains snap out of it ( this doesn't work in humans!) My neighbours must have thought I was mad playing with the dog at 2am! Fits are more common when they awake from a deep sleep. Do take care as I was bitten when I tried to prevent him hitting his head on a patio door one time and they can't help it as the jaw clenches when fitting. His fits did decrease with age.
 
I would still work her, if she were mine.
If she had a fit while tired/stressed and died as a result, could you cope? Not being judgemental - I could as my dogs love their work. If they were fitting a lot it would be different.
 
I’m lucky that Amy hasn’t had another seizure since her second one, but has your vet not given you rectal diazepam for your girl? It helps them come round from a fit much more quickly apparently, although Amy came round quickly from both of hers

I’ve already ruled out an MRI scan for Amy - she is about 12 years old now so it is likely to be a brain lesion for her rather than epilepsy, as far as I’m concerned having a scan wouldn’t change or improve anything so I don’t see the point :(

I do keep her separately from my other 3 when they are left alone - she is in the living room, the others are in the kitchen and hall. I did think about a crate but Cayla (who Amy came from many years ago!) said they could easily get their legs caught so better not to use a conventional crate. I do like MOC idea of a soft crate, if she was younger and epileptic I would definitely get one of those

That has just aged me on the forum a lot - brownie points for everyone who remembers Cayla :D
 
Thank you for the responses, everyone's opinions are welcome and its interesting to see the different points of view, it all adds to things to think about / take in to consideration.

Yes the vet has provided us with rectal diazepam for our dog.

For the time being i'm just keeping a close eye and keeping a log of the what / when / where's etc
 
One of our whippets has had fits from age of two, now 9
Multiple checks with specialist. Was talk of brain op but we decided against that.
Stress is certainly a trigger as is getting excited. We try to keep her life calm but still fun.
She's on 3 different types of medication currently which can get very expensive (approx £200 a month)
She can go for a week without a fit and then have 3 in a week or a night.
They don't seem to bother her apart from the initial couple of minutes as she comes out of one where she becomes very clingy but also seems to need to know where all the people and dogs are.
Her quality of life is not different to the other 3 dogs so we just carry on and except what we can't change.
 
blodwyn1 said:
I had a large cross breed dog who had epilepsy. He had his first fit at 18 months and was put on phenobarbitone. He lived to 17 and was a wonderful dog, very intelligent and would watch the tv if any programmes featured dogs even cartoons like Scooby do! The fits were severe but he knew when he was going to have one, human epileptic call it an aura, he would come and get me and want to play ball! This would sometimes prevent the fit as focussing on something makes dog brains snap out of it ( this doesn't work in humans!) My neighbours must have thought I was mad playing with the dog at 2am! Fits are more common when they awake from a deep sleep. Do take care as I was bitten when I tried to prevent him hitting his head on a patio door one time and they can't help it as the jaw clenches when fitting. His fits did decrease with age.
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Oddly enough I saw a TV documentary years ago about a Welsh (I think) junior weightlifter who had epilepsy. He was at a competition, I think about to attempt his next lift when he felt an aura begin (he had had epilepsy for a number of years and knew the routine), but the focus required to complete his lift 'defused' his brain and seemed to have prevented him fitting.
 
We’ve had more seizures ...
04/07/18
2.30am woken up to our girl having a seizure, this time she had soiled herself. Got all her bed cleaned up and changed.
06.00am down to let them all out before breakfast and there was evidence she’d had another seizure that hadn’t woken us up.
11.30am she had another seizure, this time she had urinated.
Called the vets and they asked to have her taken in straight away. They kept her in for the afternoon to monitor her, catheter in and a loading dose of medication. The vets called about 16.30 to say she had taken well to the loading dose of medication and was very alert given the fact the medication can have a sedating effect to start with.
So she is now on medication for life, we have to take her back in two weeks for bloods to been done to check the levels are ok for her, then blood tests every 6 months thereafter.
It’s rather tough as she is not her normal self at all right now but I guess there is a settling period with this new medication. She is wobbly through her back end and whiny which is not like her at all, her spatial awareness isn’t fantastic either.
Vets have said to really bring back exercise / training for the first month but still do a little something to keep a hand in, and then slowly build her back up. They don’t see any reason why in a little time she can’t carry on as normal, we’ll just have to monitor it. She may still have the occasional seizure but hopefully we won’t see any more clusters, we’ve got diazepam on standby just in case.

I’m just glad that I was home poorly so I knew, I dread to think what could have been if I was at work.
 
how horrible for you and your dog, hopefully the medication will sort her out. i know how upset i was when my lurcher had a few but i was lucky that they were quite a distance apart...good luck
 
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