[acolombini]

Hi i am realy hoping someone can offer me some advice.
We have a beautiful 4 and haly year old bitch called Totti. She has always been a little nervous but fine athome and has always been a bit clingy. She has a fantastic nature and is very humourous.

She has had a run of going to the vets this year and last friday went in to have her nail removed as she had broken it whilst outin the fields. We went to collect her after her minor op and where she was sedated. She heard us and went into a seizure, passing wee and pooh and then spent the next three days in the vets heavily sedated and very traumatised. It was heart breaking to see, she could not walk, her back leg would not hold her and she screamed and creid for 72 hours.

On monday we brought her back and by tuesday afternoon was running around, all seemed fine, hoped a one off

Yesterday i took her out in the car and parked outside a shop and i noticed that she has let off a lot of wind.

Today she woke up and was a bit subdued and then she was fast asleep in her usual spot with my wife. I came in from the garden and shut the door and she started another seizure, it lasted about 90 seconds and was so distressing to watch, very upsetting.

So it seems it is not a one off, i am sure this is stress related as she thought i was leaving her

Does anybody have any experience of this?

Kind Regards

alex

 

[dax0402]

I am so sorry this is happening to your girl. Have no advice but I am sure others who are more experienced with this kind of problem will chime in.

 

[tuxedojack]

Yes unfortunately I have alot of experience with this. There are several seizure threads on here - do a search for Jackson seizures and you can find mine . My Jackson was 2 years old in October and started having seizures back in May. We did the neurologist thing with an MRI to make sure he did not have a brain tumor. He was diagnosed with epilepsy as there was no tumor. We have been thru hell with him, to put it no better. It is not easy - we have been thru changes of meds, emergency visits at all times of the night, hospital stays, you name it - it has been rough. We went from August to 2 weeks ago with him being seizure free and the last 2 weeks, have been hell all over again. We have since upped all his meds (he's now on 2 different medications with being medicated 4 times a day) and waiting for them to hopefully kick in for the seizures to stop. Today, so far, is his first day without a seizure in a week with some days having 2 in a day.

I am so sorry you are going thru this, this is very difficult and very draining on the dog and the family. It has been a rough week for us. Im not sure what else to say, I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

 

[acolombini]

Thank you for your message. No fits last night just very restless and pacing. Waiting for the vet to call as it stresses her too much to go to vets. I really feel this is stress related as she has always been very sensitive and we have only ever been able to leave her for three hours max

 

[tuxedojack]

Yes, it could be stress related as stress can tend to bring on seizures but more than likely, there is another underlying issue. Have you talked to the vet yet? Seizures can be very sporadic, happen once a week, once a month, once a year but she she needs to be looked at and treated. You do not want them getting worse.

 

[acolombini]

Spoke to the vet and he has been through her blood tests. He wants us to monitor her for a while yet before he considers epilepsy. He is not ruling out CSS just yet. Will keep you poster

 

[tuxedojack]

Well best of luck to you and for everyone's sake, I pray it is not epilepsy. Something that can help, if it happens again, videotape it and take it into your vet. We kept our camera ready to tape...it was a huge help for the vet and the neurologist to be able to watch this.

 

[acolombini]

Thank you for your advice. I am on tender hooks now.

 

[Chatty]

So sorry you are going through this. It is so difficult to watch an animal have a seizure. Stress anxiety can trigger a sz. My Niko would have one if he got too worried about us "leaving him for eternity". Make sure the vet gets to the bottom of this you don't want an out of control seizure dog. Let us know how it goes!

 

[acolombini]

Thank you i will
Really settled today, the three days in the vet really stressed her out

 

[SoCalGirl]

I would also urge you to look at underlying issues, and videotape if you can. My Elke was diagnosed with epilepsy in August and the neurologist really appreciated the videos I took with my phone to show exactly what she was exhibiting during her episodes.

While her episodes are not as severe as you describe and others here have described, they are very frequent so her curent medication has reduced the frequency but not eliminated the seizure activity. Recently we are looking at the possibility of underlying neural activity as a contributing factor to anxiety - she may need additional or different medication.

Anyway, no answers here either, just sharing what we are also going through and some concerns our specialists are looking at.

Please keep us posted as you learn more; it is a day by day evolving process.

 

[acolombini]

Thanks that is great advice. The vet knows her very well and how stressed she gets. She has had two fits in her life once in the vets after coming out of sedation and one a week later when she was stressed.

I think all we can do is monitor her for the next few weeks and he if she has anymore fits. The vet has done blood samples at the time of minor op aNd nothing has come back. So i am reall not sure what to do apart from wait to see if she has another?

 

[Darkevs]

i hope all will be well.

Hugz to you and Totti.

 

[acolombini]

That is very kind, thank you

 

[tuxedojack]

Also remember, having blood work is really not going to answer any questions about seizures. All of Jackson's bloodwork shows normal but he has epilepsy...just something to consider.

 

[SoCalGirl]

What does your vet think is causing the seizures? Personally, with two episodes as you describe within that period of time, I'd be looking for more answers and possibly getting a second opinion, or seeking out a neurologist on my own. With no definitive cause identified, I would expect to see more occurrences.

As Tuxedo Jack says above, epilepsy frequently has negative blood work (no results) because they don't know the cause. So clean blood work is not definitive. Blood work and other tests can find other causes for seizures (tumors, other conditions, etc.) so at least you may be ruling some potential causes out, but not necessarily getting any closer to an answer.

Just my two cents but that's what I'd be doing.

 

[acolombini]

I have also noticed she is pawing at the rug and circling the rug alot before she lays down. I am fairly sure she has always done this. Trying not to be over sensitive to everything! Any thoughts?

 

[SoCalGirl]

To me that sounds normal - I know Elke has always done this.

Are you keeping notes? I started a notebook where I keep notes of when Elke has an episode, along with what she's doing and any other observations. Then you can compare your notes and see if you see any patterns. I share my notes with her neurologist as well, so that he has a better picture.

 

[acolombini]

Well she is at my feet crying to get chicken out of the fridge!

 

[acolombini]

totti update
She is doing really well and no more fits
Been really bright this week