by It’s a scary feeling to watch your dog having a seizure, and the first time it happened to me I wanted to know why is my dog is having a seizure.
What causes a dog to have a seizure?
There are many specific causes for seizures, including poisons, head trauma, brain cancer, heat stroke, liver disease, low blood sugar, meningitis or encephalitis, and canine distemper virus infection.
Seizures caused by these disorders are diagnosed by examination of the dog, blood test, and X-rays. Modern veterinarian technology even allows for dogs to have magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test, that provide images of the brain.
The dog’s history often provides important clues to the cause of seizures. For example, did the dog have access to bug traps or pesticides – which could be poisonous? Is the dog an older dog, possibly a brain tumor? Does the dog have diabetes, a seizure could be due to hypoglycemia?
Often though, the cause of seizures in dogs cannot be determined, and the presumed diagnosis is idiopathic epilepsy, or epilepsy due too uncommon causes.
Epileptic seizures usually occur early in a dog’s life. A first seizure in a dog that is more than five years old suggests that epilepsy is not the case of the problem.
There are many forms of seizures ranging from mild stiffness or twitching to the stereotypical seizure during which the dog becomes stiff, chomps their jaws, drools and profusely, urinates, defecates, howls, and paddles with all four legs.
Some dogs recover immediately after the seizure, but most appear confused, disoriented, and that lasts for a few minutes to several hours afterwards.
How long do dog seizures last and how often?
Some dogs have one or two short seizures at a year, while others have three or more in a day – in an event known as a cluster seizure.
Most seizures are short lived, lasting only a few minutes, although they seem longer to the dog’s scared owner. But sometimes a dog has a seizure that does not end, a condition called status epilepticus, which demands emergency veterinarian care.
Single episode seizures are not usually life threatening. Prevent the dog from hurting themselves on surrounding objects or from falling down stairs, while waiting for the seizure to end.
Do not put your hand on their mouth or try to hold their tongue. A dog cannot swallow their tongue during a seizure but they still can bite you badly.
Dogs who suffer significantly from epilepsy, and those who have frequent and/or severe seizures, can be treated with anti-seizure medication. Although most dogs need to remain on the medication for life in these cases.
The medication can be expensive, and frequent blood tests are necessary to monitor the level of medication in a dog’s blood stream.
Phenobarbital And potassium bromide our most commonly used, and they are sometimes both given at the same time. Phenobarbital is somewhat toxic to the liver and most dogs taking it eventually develop some degree of liver disease.
New drugs that are less toxic and more effective are available for humans and now available for dogs. That said, do not give your dog any form of medication without first consulting your veterinarian and do not give out expired medication either.
