OT: MGoDogs
This is extremely off topic, I know, but I need some advice from fellow dog owners.
My dog had two semi-bad seizures in the past year and just had a mild one about fifteen minutes prior to my writing this post. He is extremely hyper sometimes and is very attached to the wife, so he sometimes freaks out when she isn't around; he knows when she is here and when not.
Well, he constantly barks at her until she gives him a toy and she always gives in to stop the barking. I keep telling her that is part of the problem, as dogs are not stupid and learn how to get things. Sometimes when he gets the toys, he wants to play fetch and when she doesn't do it, he goes into his barking frenzy again, which adds to his excitement and contributes to the seizure. I was very firm with her this time and demanded that she not give him any toys anymore. I want him to forget they even exist because it just isn't worth it anymore (health-wise).
Anyone else had a dog that went through seizures?
Are you talking literal seizures? My wife and I own a vet clinic, your dog needs to be seen by a veterinarian, now.
Yeah, literal seizures. The one he had tonight was very mild. His front legs were stiff, but he could still see what was going on. Like, I would move something in front of his eyes and he would follow it. That didn't happen the last two seizures that occurred last summer and then sometime in January I think. We did take him to a vet (a clinic with nothing but OSU doctors, but I know OSU has a good vet school) and one doctor said seizures are fairly common with dogs and occur more often than a person might think. She did say if he has another major seizure, then to bring him in for some kind of blood work, which I don't know what would do.
OSU's vet school is meh (I'm not saying that because I am biased, MSU is top 5 in the country), but anyway I would highly recommend taking him to be seen by an ER clinic and if there isn't one in your area, call your regular vet first thing in the morning.
Do you know what the blood work is for? She explained it to us, but I can't recall what was said. What would they be looking for in the blood?
I am not a doctor (I manage the finances, staff etc) but seizures are a big deal. There are a lot of things that can cause them so the bloodwork is probably to rule out bad things. When someone calls us with a seizuring dog or cat we always tell them to come in immediately.
April 16th, 2014 at 11:38 PM ^
OSU is ranked #5, MSU #9
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools…
April 16th, 2014 at 11:43 PM ^
April 17th, 2014 at 12:08 AM ^
Condolences to the OP. Hope it gets figured out soon and the pup is all right.
April 16th, 2014 at 11:46 PM ^
Logged in to say I miss your old profile pic of that local Denver high school football reporter.
But yeah, take the dog to another vet. A second opinion never hurts.
I'm 100% sure you are thinking I am someone else.
April 17th, 2014 at 12:56 PM ^
Yeah I had kind of been feeling like changing it, and then someone suspected I was in fact Darrell Funk after I had defended him, so it just felt right.
April 16th, 2014 at 10:22 PM ^
I don't want to scare you, and I'm not saying your dog has a tumor, but if your dog is having seizures, take him to the vet as soon as you possibly can.
April 16th, 2014 at 10:32 PM ^
April 16th, 2014 at 10:53 PM ^
From Dr MGoWife (she's a veterinarian downriver)
"If your dog has another seizure, you should bring him to the vet right away. The bloodwork is to check and see if there are any abnormalities with the liver, kidneys and other things like his glucose value. There are many different causes of seizures in dogs and you'll need to bring him to a vet to figure out what may be causing them.
If your dog has more than 1 seizure a month or if an episode lasts 5 minutes or more, he needs to be put on medications."
And off the record she doesn't seem to agree with your vet - she thinks he needs to go in and get seen right away.
April 16th, 2014 at 11:13 PM ^
April 16th, 2014 at 11:23 PM ^
Working your dog up with toys is not the cause of seizures in your dog. However, when he has a seizure episode, it is important to calm him down and reduce stimuli such as light and noise. That said, it sounds like your dog is having seizures too often to treat with benign neglect. Bloodwork is a good baseline diagnostic for most patients and is fairly cheap. Your vet may want to check bloodwork so that they can start him on anti-seizure medication (phenobarbitol) which can be damaging to the liver. His liver enzymes would have to be normal before starting this trial. Treating with medicine (daily) is fairly cheap and also helps reduce occurrence in most dogs. Obviously if a brain tumor is causing this condition (more likely in older dogs and some breeds) advanced imaging can give you your diagnosis. But it will be cheaper to do bloodwork and begin a medicine trial. It's all up to you, but as many others have stated, it sounds like this is happening too frequently (you want to see <2 episodes per year) so you should seek treatment. Seizures can increase in severity and can result in permanent brain damage. Best of luck with your pup. I am 3/4 veterinarian; so take this for what it's worth.