Dog with seizures

[Leeana]

My 5yr old 7lb shih tzu, Sassy, has been acting very depressed all day today...she is normally a very energetic dog and playful and excited. Mostly today, besides when she went outside, she has laid on the bed under the covers with her toys. Nothing has changed in her diet, same food, same treats.

Just a bit ago, she was laying on the bed and I heard a "moaning", turned and she was laying with her back arched and neck in an unusual angle and legs strained..having a seizure. I picked her up, laid her on the floor...it lasted about 3 more seconds and then she took a couple steps very scared. About a minute later she had another one, it lasted about 6 seconds and she tossed on the ground and moaned. After that was totaly normally, besides being depressed.....

Its late, both of my vets who are on call 24/7 I cannot reach on their personal line and will continue to try to reach them for a bit longer until in the morning I will call their office.

Can anyone give me any insight as to what could be happening here???? She has had all of her shots, rabies ext, wormed, in great health and weight.

I cannot tell you how much I love this dog...she is my other half.....I feel like my world is shattering watching her go through this

 

[Jill]

Oh my gosh, Leeana! I don't know any advice to give you but when I read the topic title I was praying it wasn't about Sassy! I hope everything will be okay!!!

Only thing that jumps to might d is could she have gotten into anything toxic?

Praying. I know what she means to you.

 

[bevann]

From your description sounds like seizures.I've had 2 Corgis who had seizures.They can be very frightening to observe especially when we love our animals so much.Definitely contact your vet.There are various medicines that can be given to control the seizures.Sometimes they work well, sometimes not depending on the severity.Sounds like your dog's were not extreme.My 1st Corgi in 1972 had them so bad I often sat up with her all night so she wouldn't hurt herself.In many cases the vets can not determine what causes them. They often refer to it as "idiopathic epilepsy" It can be hereditary.Some breeds of dogs are more prone than others.My Corgi lived several years after being diagnosed and on meds.

 

[Flying minis]

My chihuahua has seizures ocassionally, usually from eating too much protein because she has a liver shunt and is on an ultra-low protein diet. Can't advise you as to why she's having them, however, I do know there are some good meds for them. We give Snickers something that we get from a compounding pharmacy, and also have liquid valium on hand to give to her when she has a seizure (hers last 5 minutes or more). It's just in a small syringe (no needle) and given rectally when she starts to seize. Works great, although she is a little "high" for a while after the seizure, so have to watch her or she will fall off the couch, beds, fall down when walking, etc.

 

[Sonya]

Poor Sassy....my lab had petit mal seizures for many years (from your description of Sassy's, they also sound like petit mals)...he was put on phenabarbitol....he would still have them but they became less and less over the years and we eventually weaned him off the pheno. Brutus would also act alittle depressed, confused after a seizure for alittle while.

 

[Danielle_E.]

You will have to take her in and let them do a panel on her. My schnauzer Pepper started having seizuresand it was a pancreatic/liver problem. Is she walking around with her back somewhat arched? This doesn't happen all the time but it was part and parcel with the seizures. It mostly happened within an hour of being fed.

 

[Danielle_E.]

Sorry Flying Minis, I just read your post. That is exactly what Pepper had. Liver shunt problem. Unfortunately we lost Pepper and she wasn't even a year old. :-(

 

[Flying minis]

Sorry Flying Minis, I just read your post. That is exactly what Pepper had. Liver shunt problem. Unfortunately we lost Pepper and she wasn't even a year old. :-(

Sorry to hear that. . . Snickers has a partial shunt, so as long as we really watch what she eats (we cook for her) we can usually keep the seizures to a minimum, although we've noticed that they've gotten worse as time goes on, but not any more frequent. Thus the valium. Snickers is 6 years old now, and we know she's unlikely to have a normal lifespan, but we will love her like crazy while we have her : )

 

[Leeana]

I was able to get ahold of my vet and since they are lasting under 10-15 seconds....her's are more around 6-8 seconds he said we should be okay to make it through the night but did give me a emergency number for a clinic in Toledo incase they started lasting longer and we needed to take her, but that is 45 minutes away. Have to call in the AM when they open at 8am and make an apt to get her in first thing with my vet. I am going to stay up with her all night, she has had 6 since 8:10 tonight..it is 9:45 right now. He is going to run some tests and do some meds and go from that point.....he said with her age and her being so tiny (she is 6-7lb's, rather small for a shih tzu) and them only lasting for under 10 seconds that epilepsy is most likely the cause and we can easily treat that but will be something she will need the rest of her life...but I will do ANYTHING....

My mom said about two months ago that she thought she saw her having one, but I blew it off as I figured it was just her stretching and my mom overreacting.....at the time anyway, now I believe her.

She is laying in her bed in my room, have her snugged up and tucked in under her favorite blanket from my bed with her favorite toys, have the lights off and even turned the foaling camera off from the TV for the night to keep it nice and calm as possible.

I've never felt so helpless..................thank you all so much....I am so sorry for anyone else who has to deal with this, my heart stops when she goes into one...............

 

[chandab]

My Aussie had seizures, they were infrequent and short duration, so we didn't put her on medication; she had them for 3-4 years; then several months after I got married and moved to the country, she quit having them (she'd seek me out when she had them, so I don't think I missed too many). My vet said sometimes dogs have seizures for no apparent reason, and if they aren't frequent, then meds aren't always necessary.

 

[Leeana]

Thanks Chanda.....its nice, well, comforting, to hear some good....

 

[chandab]

I will tell you, the first one scared the crap out of me, she had it about 11PM. I didn't know what to do, as at the time, there wasn't a local vet, so I called the vet my Mom's friend used (100 miles away), I called the emergency number and he talked me out of my histeria, while she was on the floor seizing. It didn't last terribly long, but it was more than a few seconds. Once the seizure was over, she rested a few minutes, and then went about her "day" like nothing happened; which is how all her seizures were. She'd seek me out, so I'd sit with her and talk to her, when it was over, she was off and back to whatever she was doing before, like nothing happened.

 

[Leeana]

Sass is a bit more distressed after her's...once it is over she will stand and walk a few feet with her tail between her legs and her back end very unsteady and sit down and shake for a minute and look at me and I can see the fear in her eyes. She is laying here by my foot (if i am touching her, it comforts here...in bed she is always against my leg or hip or arm or hand) and I feel her body tense just a little and she will get up and walk a couple steps and then come back and lay down on my foot....that seems to be how she is stopping the seizure if that is really what she is doing, but when she does that she doesnt go into a full seizure.

 

[Mona]

Leeana, I agree with Danielle. She needs a full blood panel/work-up done. My Mom's little Chihuahua/Terrier mix had occassional seizures too, and the vet said not to be concerned at that time, but when she had 2 of them back to back, we took her to the vet right in the town that my Mom lived in.(she vetted in a different town about an hour and a half away) Anyway, they did the bloodwork and like Danielle said, they dound she had severe panchreatitis, and was also shortly thereafter, I think on a 6 week heck back, found to have a low thyroid. Anyway, with the Panchreatitis, she had to stop ALL treats, and all dog food. Was allowed onloy to eat cooked lean ground beef and white rice for 2 weeks. They we had to put her on a very low fat commersial dog food. Since Beneful was the lowest fat we could find, that was what we went with, and kept her on that until recently, when we had to have her euthanized. She was also put on phenobarb for her seizures, but the change in diet ured the pancheatitis. Best of luck with your little one.

 

[Jill]

Leeana, I kept thinking of you and Sassy last night. Keep us posted. We're all worried and care!

 

[Danielle_E.]

Hey Mona!

Wanted to say I love your avatar! One day I will own a Chinese crested. I just adore them!!

 

[shorthorsemom]

Hi All, You need to get your dog to a vet because there are things that look like a seizure and are something else. My chinese crested looked like he was having seizures and it turned out to be his heart, that was 5 years ago and he is happily living on heart medication and has not had any more episodes and he is 13 now but he was 7 years old when it first occured.

I had a collie my vet was sure was having seizuring episodes and she thought it was due to a brain tumor (common in long snouted breeds like collies) ..and she put my dog on anti-seizure medication to help control the episodes. I was so scared for my girl...

After a week with no improvement, I begged my vet for an antibiotic as a last ditch effort before I put her to sleep. The episodes were that severe...., I had a feeling that my dog had an inner ear infection due to yeast, she kept telling me her ears hurt. The vet reluctantly gave me sulfa meds and lo and behold my collie immediately responded to the medication and so far so good she is back to her silly old self.

My other elderly chinese crested girl had a really scary episode yesterday where she shivered and dropped over and passed out and then twitched and it looked like a seizure... I made a mad dash to my vet and her heart is really bad. She is going to see a cardiologist if we can get her stable, but right now she is touch and go so be thinking of me guys. I was a wreck yesterday, love this little girl. She only weighs 6 lbs and she is so full of spirit and spunk.

Most of my dogs are senior, it is tough watching them struggle sometimes... They all look terrific in their old age, but when 5 of your 6 dogs are elderly, it seems like you live at the vets office....I'm glad I retired and I can be home to take care of them and watch her during the day and not have to leave her at the vets.

If your baby does have epilepsy, there are great medications out there. I had a min pin that lived on phenobarb much of her life and she lived to be 18. Ironically after 7 years of phenobarb, I reduced the dose and eliminated it and she never seizured again. Seizures can also go away or be so infrequent that you don't have to treat.

The other thing you should check and make sure your dog food does not have any mold on it, and if you put your dog food in a secondary container, make sure it has not grown mold. Mold toxins can cause seizures.. When I worked for a vet we treated a seizuring cat and it kept re-occuring every time the cat went back home. It was traced to some moldy cat food she had purchased at a convenience store.

Best wishes and keep us posted. Adair

 

[Leeana]

Sassy went to be with god this morning, god took my heart and soul with her...I feel like everything inside of me has been ripped out........

 

[Mona]

Oh my God Leeana, I am SOOOOOOOOO VERY sorry. Did she pass on her own, at home, or did you have her euthanized? Again, I am sio sorry. (((HUGS)))

 

[Mona]

Well Danielle, even though Monkey is not purebred Chinese Crested, he is VERY hairless (does not even have the heavy strip of hair down his back like a "hairy hairless" does) and has a SUPER FUN personality!

Adair, sending prayers for your little ones. They have the best of homes, for sure!