Does Your Dog or Cat have Seizures?
Author: M Shane
Seizures in Pets
In 2/3 of the cases of an adult pet that has seizures, there is not an identifiable cause. This leads to a diagnosis of idiopathic epilepsy. Idiopathic epilepsy is currently being investigated as a genetic disease. Researchers are working together to identify the gene that is responsible for the condition.
Some seizures are caused by brain disease, liver disease or even nutritional deficiencies. A veterinarian can distinguish between epilepsy and seizures caused by other things by performing a physical examination and various tests.
Seizures are very scary to witness, but it is important to remember NOT to panic.
What to do if your pet has a seizure:
- Watch the clock and time the seizure and write it down. Most seizures are short, but seem like they are lasting forever.
- Make sure your pet is not near anything that can fall and injure him during the seizure
- Do NOT put anything in your pet's mouth, especially your hand. They will not swallow their tongue and they are still breathing
- Keep children away from the seizuring pet
- If the seizure lasts longer than 5 minutes, this is an emergency. Get to your veterinarian right away.
- Stay with your pet after the seizure ends. If your pet returns to normal within 30-60 minutes after the seizure, there is no need to rush to the vet. It is important to call and make an appointment though.
Before a seizure occurs, there is a change in mental state. This change is called an aura. Service dogs are able to recognize this aura period in humans that suffer from seizure disorders, but most people don't recognize the subtle changes in their pet. Following the aura is the seizure, which usually lasts less than 2 minutes, but often seems much longer. Once the seizure activity has ceased, a post-ictal period ensues. The pet may be lethargic and less interactive than normal. This can last from minutes to hours. Grand mal seizures involve complete loss of awareness, laying or falling down, paddling, vocalization, and often loss of bladder and bowel control. This is not painful, but is very scary to watch. Petit mal seizures are not as severe, and may not even be recognized as a seizure.
Keep a good record of the seizures to share with your veterinarian. This is an important part of diagnosing and treating the seizures.
Treatment is not necessary following one or even two seizures. A seizure may be a one-time event. If we rule out the causes of a seizure and believe that idiopathic epilepsy is the appropriate diagnosis, we should wait until another seizure occurs. This may happen in a day, week, month, or even a year.
The medications that are used to treat epilepsy have side effects. The most common side effect is lethargy. This usually will lessen over time, but many pets are much sleepier than they were prior to taking the medication.
Common medications used to treat seizures:
- Phenobarbital – will cause lethargy and can be hard on the liver. Frequent blood tests are necessary for pets taking this medication.
- Potassium bromide – is often given if Phenobarbital is not controlling the seizures or if blood tests show liver problems and the Phenobarbital must be discontinued.
- Valium – often used as an emergency treatment to stop the seizures.
Alternative therapies are being used in many chronic conditions for humans and for our pets. In the case of epilepsy; acupuncture, massage, supplements and natural diet are 3 things that may help, but certainly do no harm. Food allergy is something that typically causes skin reactions or gastrointestinal upset, but may play a role in seizures. Sometimes an elimination or homemade diet is prescribed to see if it just might help. Taurine has been shown in studies to diminish or even stop seizures altogether in cats with epilepsy. Herbal therapies should probably only be used following a prescription by a veterinary homeopath. Without proper knowledge, many herbs can have potential side effects that may worsen the existing condition.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/does-your-dog-or-cat-have-seizures-2704289.html
About the Author
Drs4Pets is a collective of veterinary professionals with diverse backgrounds--clinical vets, corporate vets, consultants and authors-- and a shared interest in animal health and pet nutrition.
For more information on pet care and nutrition, please visit www.Drs4Pets.com.
[TEMPLATE]cannibis[/TEMPLATE]
anyone know the % of seizures in dogs being a brain tumor?
my dog is 9.5 yrs old and being treated with Phenobarbital and Valium when having a seizure. The siezures have been 4-8 a day for 5 days straight. The dog was hospitilized one night for a temp of 105.
Possibility of a brain tumor is small. High temperature is usually from an infection – fever can cause seizures. Could be an aneurysm (a brain bleed). If the phenobarb isn’t working, you’ve probably got a very serious and expensive problem on your hands that may not be curable.
Check out the website at the Cornell Vet school & good luck with the poor old dog…
http://diaglab.vet.cornell.edu/
Do cluster seizures in DOGS cause permanent brain damage?
My dog’s had seizures for 5 years now. He has cluster grand mal seizures(pee, poop, throw up, severe convulsions, biting tongue, etc.). He’s on Phenobarb and had been seizure free for over a year. Moved to a new vet and they lowered his meds (dumb) and within 4 weeks he had seizures again. His protocol is valium after, to stop him from having them over and over. This past week, he began having seizures on Fri morn. Took his last dose of valium. Called the vet who said she would call in his valium prescript (weird, my other vet just refilled his bottle once a year).Anyway went to pick up his valium and it was never called in. he had 14 seizures Fri night/Sat morn. until the vet called in the valium again on Sat morn.His seizures stopped, but he’s not coming back around like he usually does after a day or so. He doesn’t remember commands. He’s the smartest dog I know (and I have a doggie daycare), he never has to stay on a leash, but now he just seems “gone”. Is this permanent?
That is way too many seizures for anyone or anything. I use to date someone who had grand mal seizures and it was very scary. Thankfully they did not last for very long. I would be changing vets. This is not good for the dog and there could be irreversible damage done (such as brain damage).
Update on my dog having seizures looking for more input?
Last night I posted how my dog started having seizures when I came home from work at 3pm. He’s never had one in his life, he is 5 year old male boxer. We took him to our vet he had one way there and one there (so were at four seizures none lasting more than 1-2 minutes) The vet injected him with Valium and did blood work. Blood work showed nothing wrong. Our vet recommended we take him to emergency hospital for night to receive fluids and monitoring thru out the night. We did. Our vet told us that at his age 5 years old epilepsy is probably not the issue that it usually shows up much younger and that he wanted to wait and kinda give the weekend to see what happens before we start giving him an anti seizure med (especially since he has never had one that we know about until yesterday) We get to the emergency vets (only one in our town) the vet was very mean. Told me epilepsy can occur at any age and whoever told me its usually discovered early in a dogs life doesn’t know what he is talking about. Told me the drugs for seizures (ie phenobarbital and potassium bromide are perfectly safe) Jack had his last seizure at 1am this morning he had 6 total. We picked him up at around 10 am its now almost 1pm. He’s home no seizures as of now. I feel the emergency vet is jumping gun by wanting to put him on those meds. To me its like a bandaid its not figuring out what causes them. He wanted to brain scans to check for a brain tumor which our vet also said it may be. But that is 1k we already spent almost $700 for yesterday. We can’t afford a brain scan. I got home and called my vet. My vet was shocked that he (the emergency vet) put him on potassium bromide after just 1 day of seizures that didn’t last more than 1-2 minutes each. I agree with my vet on this so I talked to my vet when I got home and he said why don’t we give it tonight and tomorrow and see what happens. Stop the meds for now. If he has any seizure write down time, how long, what the dog did during and if I want to give him the meds if he starts having them to go ahead but for now try and keep him off them. I’m just wanting to know if anyone out there in this field agrees that prescribing these meds were something that should of been thought over more and held off until we know more as to what is causing the seizures.
Thanks
4pm He just had one about 10 minutes ago. I ran for the ice pack. It didn’t last long, timed it maybe 40 seconds. He had muscle spasms and chopped at air. No bodily fluid losses. I’m a wreck, I don’t know what to do. I’m not sure if this is something I can go thru on a daily basis and what happens when I’m not home and he has one? I’m just very upset and have no clue what to do at this point.
I have a greyhound who had her first seizure when she was 6. She had all the tests and no cause was found for her seizures, although my belief is that it’s the result of trauma from her racing days, but that’s another story. My vet put her on meds only as a temporary measure, I have valium at home in case I need it, but what I also have is a bag of ice to put on her spine the second she has another seizure.
That’s based on something I read and my vet thought it had a lot of merit. You can look up this site for yourself, there’s a ton of info here:
http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com
I really hope your dog’s going to be ok!
Help on dog with seizures?
I have a 10 year old English Bulldog, who at about 2:30 this morning had some kind of seizure. He had a stroke a little over a year ago, but fully recovered and was doing fine up until today. We took him to the emergency vet this morning where they gave him a few doses of valium until we could get him in to see a regular doctor. At about 8:00 he had another seizure while in the vet office so they gave him more valium along with some steroids and phenobarbital. We took him home at around 6:30, and he is still on the phenobarbital, but is still acting strange. He has been drinking a lot of water which is expected and urinating quite frequently. His face also twitches from time to time, and he pants heavily. (He is kind of a heavy breather anyways, but this is more so than usual.) Also, I’m noticing his left hind leg is a little week, and he isn’t using it very much. He is scheduled to see the vet again tomorrow but for the time being, does anybody happen to know what could have caused this? And what are his chances of recovering?? Is there anything i can do to make him more comfortable?
Well, they look a lot like seizures as far as foaming at the mouth and the tensing up he does. And when he had it at the office, they treated it as a seizure. But i too, think there is a possibility he isn’t seizuring, but having a series of mini-strokes. We’ll see what happens today, but at this point it doesn’t look very well.
Thank-You.
Did the vet do any tests to show this was definitely a seizure? Are you sure it wasn’t another stroke, because of his leg? Could it be he injured it during the seizure? You may want a second opinion.
14 year old dog, seizures, phenobarbital?
My 14 year old Border Collie/Chow mix (up until now in VERY good health) had three seizures. One at midnight (unsure of duration of this one, as i was so scared I did not think to time it, one at 3:30 am (this lasted less than two minutes). After the second, I took him to the emergency hospital. He had the third seizure at 8:30 am (all the same day). The third seizure was stopped quickly with valium. The vet started him on phenobarbital. I was warned of the initial side effects, but wanted to hear from others who have been in this situation. He is eating and drinking and for the most part is very happy. My issue is the lack of balance and coordination. Everything i read tells me that i can expect issues with his hind end, but his front legs also seem weak, especially soon after giving him his pill. He falls over quite often. Is this ok? Vet says yes, but this is breaking my heart. I just gave him his second dose since he came home. Help?
His heart and lungs are great, and his bloodwork was within normal limits.