Seizures in Dogs

[Meadows]

Our 9 year old Golden Retriever has been having seizures here lately. She's been an otherwise healthy dog all of her life.

The first one was about 5 weeks ago, and lasted for 3-4 minutes. We called the vet and they told us since it was her first one to monitor her and see how she was over the next week. Since then, she's been fine up until last night - she had another one and this one lasted a little longer, then another one earlier today.

My wife is taking her to the vet now, but how many of yall have dealt with this? Anything in particular we can do for her?

[CatFan]

Medication might help. Also, make sure you aren’t giving her any treats made in China.

[bdog7198]

There is meds they can be given, just keep in mind they can cause liver toxicity. So keep that monitored

If possible try to determine if there was anything similar going on around the time, food, environment, weather...something that may cause them

[bradjames12]

Had a Siberian Husky that adopted my parents and I many moons ago.. would have epileptic seizures and they would pass just as you mentioned..

Took him to the vet and at the time we were told not much that can be done, just comfort them while it happens.

Now, as mentioned, this was a long time ago (20+ years), there may now be meds to control/lesson the seizures.

[TomM]

One of the dogs we had when I was growing up had epilepsy. Had seizures pretty often. There was nothing we could do for her other than hold her so she didn't hurt herself. She eventually died of a heart attack chasing a squirrel.

Our current dog has mini-seizures. He just sorta shakes/shivers for a few seconds and if we call his name he pops right out of it like nothing happened. Vet has no idea why....

Tom

[AirForceAngler]

A friend of ours had a dog that was having seizures. Turned out to be a brain tumor. I hope you have better luck.

[rivertrail]

Back around 1999 - 2000 area our Golden did the same thing. Basically always been perfectly healthy then just one day started having the seizures. We were told at the time that it is a heredity thing in Goldens. We were told nothing they could really do about it. Tough thing to watch for sure. I feel for you. Hope they can tell you something to try.

[n2ratfishin]

Our rescue pooch has seizures. It is a helpless feeling when they happen. He may go months without one then all the sudden he’s layed out. The Vets (we’ve had him at two) don’t seem to be worried. We have a Vet now that makes house calls. She had us video a seizure, still not too worried. Both Vets say some dogs are just prone and to call back if they happen frequently.

[Meadows]

There is meds they can be given, just keep in mind they can cause liver toxicity. So keep that monitored

If possible try to determine if there was anything similar going on around the time, food, environment, weather...something that may cause them

That's what we've been trying to determine but nothing has really changed. We recently built a house and just moved in a couple weeks ago, but she had her first one before we ever moved. Other than that everything's been the same.

[Tarheel14]

https://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedaily...disorder-33881

This is what our dog does. Its like hes biting at a fly that isnt there. He also does this head bobbing thing. He just sits there and his head bobs up and down. My wife sent videos to our regular vet and he insisted he be brought in right away. He said it was typical seizure behavior. We took him to our regular vet and hes on seizure meds. Its a liquid that we give him 3 times a day. Its helped but he has an appt with a specialist vet in July. Our vet recommended he go get further testing. Its not like a full blown seizure that a person would have but it is more common than we thought. Hes a Llasa Apso . Good luck with your dog.

[ECobb91]

Our golden retriever is 4yo and has them sometimes. First one was last October and lasted about 1min but was right up and playing afterwards like nothing happened. He’s had 2 others since then and each time they get longer but never more than 2 min total. When I brought him to the vet after the first one, he said Golden’s are known to have seizures from Ages 1-4yo. Anything after that Age group is a cause for concern and more than 3-4 seizures a year is a cause for concern (3-4 months between episodes is the borderline).

while medication will help lessen the frequency, it will not prevent them and they are often times worse on meds than off. The medication also causes liver disease/failure. The vet put it this way “medication is more for the owner than the dog. It makes the owners feel better And feel like they are doing something to help the dog because they don’t have to watch heir dog have frequent seizures. It’s more of a pat yourself on the back type prescription, however in return The medication slowly damages the liver leading to a shorter lifespan”. Go with what the vet says though, he didn’t recommend any medication because he’s so young. If he was having them regularly beyond 8yo then the vet said he’d recommend it just because the life span of Golden’s is typically 12-14yo which would be about the same time that the meds really would be impacting health.

[Dogfish_Jones]

We have a Rat Terrier which is 3 years old that has them and we know that it will last between 20 to 25 minutes. She will come to us wide eyed and shaking. We hold her while this goes on for about 15 minutes and then she calms down for a few minutes and then throws up and start shaking again for 8 or so minutes.
Our vet has put her on some liquid meds that we give her two times a day and it has really cut down on her seizures. In the past 5 months she has had only 1.
The vet says this will not kill her but it sure makes her scared. It well could have come from the flea/tick meds you gave her when they were pups. Some brands will cause this to dogs. Some are just from her genes and the breed she is.
My suggestions is what our vet told us. Make sure you give her the meds everyday and when she has one just pet her softly and let them know you are there.

[Bassman Ia.]

March 2018, 10:30 on a Sat. Night my GSP had one. Came right out of it, wife let him out and he took off through the woods. Cops picked him up a few miles from our place ( sounds like he went down on the street or sidewalk @ 1:30 AM) took him to the Humane Society, closed until Mon. Picked him up Mon. he couldn’t walk, got him right in at the vets. Test, prescribed phenobarbital. 3 weeks he was back to his old self.
June 10, 2018, 10:15 PM he had another one, much worse, stayed with him until his heart stopped at 5 AM.
He was 13 years old. Best GSP I have Ever owned.

[JR19]

We had a poodle that was on seizure medicine the last 4-5 years of her life. If my memory is correct the name of the medicine we gave her was Phenobarbital. The medicine was not very expensive. I recall one day I went to the vet to get some seizure medicine and they were out. The vet wrote me a prescription and told me to take it to my pharmacist to get it filled. Funny thing about the prescription was the name at the top. It was listed as "dog" then my last name This is when I discovered its the same medicine people take. I was telling a co-worker about it and he said that was the same medicine my his son takes for seizures. It's pretty cheap and done a good job on our poodle. The only time she would have a seizure was if a thunder storm rolled in. She was terrified of storms. If we knew bad weather was definitely going to hit we would give here some extra medicine. If we done it in enough time before the storm hit it would keep her from having them. Other than that she might have 1 every six months but without medicine it was 1-2 a week.

[Chainslinger1959]

Our 9 year old Golden Retriever has been having seizures here lately. She's been an otherwise healthy dog all of her life.

The first one was about 5 weeks ago, and lasted for 3-4 minutes. We called the vet and they told us since it was her first one to monitor her and see how she was over the next week. Since then, she's been fine up until last night - she had another one and this one lasted a little longer, then another one earlier today.

My wife is taking her to the vet now, but how many of yall have dealt with this? Anything in particular we can do for her?

Got a olde English bulldog that has them . Vet calls them tremors he shakes like crazy then he’s over it in a few minutes.
Nothing to worry about.

[Meadows]

My wife took her to the vet today. They ran some bloodwork and everything came back normal. Vet said with normal bloodwork and the fact that she’s 9 years old and she’s just now starting to have them then there’s probably something else going on. We can have an MRI done for $2000, which will basically tell us whether or not she has a brain tumor and then there’s nothing we can do. At this point we’re going to give her some medication and pray for the best.

[jdwo2212]

Try cbd oil. I know...ill get slayed for it. But...its natural, and thats how they are treating children for seizures. Wont come with debilitating side effects on the other organs either. Look it up. Its been working wonders for people and animals alike.

[Lanierspook]

Look back at old threads on BBC, lot of good info.

[Orion922]

It was in 90s in 2000s but I spent 6 K on trying to fix my dog. My sound wrong but put her to sleep. In a dog there are so many "why it happens." Vets will bleed your dry and I like vets.

[Chisco]

Did you change flea/tick medications. Some of them can cause seizures for a few days after taking the med.