Seizures?????

[raggedyjan]

I am posting this for my sis..
She took in a stray a few years ago...appears to be part lab and pit.
She has had him about 4 years... vet estimate his age 6-8 years....he has started to have what we call seizures.
Here is her description:

He flops on the floor and starts to shake all the while foaming at the mouth,he has a glassed look on his face. urinating and panting. He also is flopping around. Once over he is disoriented then the thirst sets in and is extreamly needy meaning he does not want me out of his site.

We are all clueless..he is otherwise very healthy..Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
jan

[jude09]

Hello I suggest that you visit your vet and ask him about this just to be on the safe side.

[MargeeTx]

My cocker, Poochka, had seizures his entire life, until he died at age 16. I had another cocker, Scotch, who lived until 18...also had seizures. ( different breeder ) Now with the first cocker, I absolutely freaked out. Scotch ended up at the vet school at Auburn University, and was tested for everything. Neither had seizures frequently enough to ever warrant medication. They were not that often, and did not last very long. What both vets recommended....have them completely checked thoroughly for serious neuro probblems. Other than the seizures, the dogs had no other health problems, and apparently the breed has seizures listed as a potential health issue. I was always mindful to time the seizure....If the seizure ever lasted longer than 5 minutes, I was prepared to head for the Vet emergency clinic...There was the chance that the seizure may require IV medication to stop it if it lasted longer. My boys never urinated, but immediately following the seizure, they ALWAYS had a huge bowel movement. They were always very tired afterward, and I always felt so sorry for them. Just hold him if you can, and calmly be there, so you are right there the whole time. I don't think they had seizures when they were home alone ( I don't think ) because I never had the huge poops in the house.

See what your vet recommends...mine did not suggest phenobarbital on a routine basis because the frequency and degree of seizures was not enough for daily medication. Good luck, and I hope he is okay.

MargeeTx

[DRG0933]

My 10 1/2 year old Cocker had a grand mal and 5 other seizures in aug, 2005 and as it was on a sunday you can imagaine the 24 nhours I had until we could get to the vet. They tested her in every way and came to the diagnosis of epilepsy, gave her phenobarbical and she did fairly well. By that i mean she has had more seizures but I give her a Diazapan (valium) after each and it usually stops more seizures immediately. Now she is nearly 11 and has had many, many seizures and is up to 3 1/2 64.5 mg pheno a day, and 2 diazapan after any seizure and she is doing well. At one time she went 3 months without a seizure and many other times at least 2 weeks between seizuures.

We had a scare 3 weeks ago when she had 6 seizures in 12 hours and needed to go to the emergency room where they kept her overnight, and then 2 days in the hospital until she stabilized, she has only had 1 seizure since.

The seizures usually last 1 1/4 minutes to 2 1/2 and she falls over, flops her legs like she is swimming, foams at the mouth and in most cases loses urinary and bowl control and when she awakens I give her the medicine and she has to sniff around and become use to her surrondings again. She is very dependent on me and requires a lot of petting and symphathy. She also drinks tons of water after but these seizures are worse on the owners than the dogs. The owner suffers but the dog really doesn't.

It is best to take your dog to the vet and if it is epilepsy don't be afraid of giving the medication. The dog will eat and drink more, and have indoor accidents unless had acess to outside easuily. It is worth all the work as lilu is the best thing that ever happened to me, and i hope to have her around until she is 16 or better. Good luck, it can be fairly controled and your dog can and will lead a good, exciting and happy life

[MaryAnn]

That definitely sounds like a seizure and needs immediate VET attention.