Stop breathing during a seizure

I don't know much about it only to say that its not uncommon. 

Gretschen(feline) loses her vision, salivates and cannot use her legs for a period of time after the seizure is done.  But, she stays conscious and breathing thru all the phases of the seizure. 

Thank Lori!

Dyan, maybe your friend could try and get a video of a seizure to show her vet. 

Dyan, it is very common for dogs to stop breathing, esp. if it is a grand mal seizure.  That is why cluster seizures (one occuring right after the next) are so dangerous - a dog stops breathing with no chance to recoup can end up with serious brain damage.

I agree with Jackie, if she can get a video, that will help the vet see what is happening, although I am fairly certain the vet will caution her about this regardless.

ETA: the heavy panting occurs most often pre-seizure and post seizure, not always during, but it may differ for each dog.

Thanks Tina and Jackie!  I just heard from this girl and she did say an interesting thing...when I told her the one person that I talked to has a dog that started getting seizures after having a reaction to the PH6 shot ( injectable heartworm shot ) she said her dog started soon after a round of vaccines.  HHHmmm..... would be interesting to find out more about this.   I told her that I doubt that her vet will shed much light on that aspect of the seizures.  But I will tell her what both of you guys said, and thank you!

You're welcome!  Please also refer your friend to a book called "Canine Epilepsy" by Carolyn Levine.  It gives a lot of good info in layman's terms and is very easy to understand.  I think I got it from Amazon though I don't remember the price.

One thing your friend will find is that there can be many triggers.  Epilepsy can be idiopathic or inherited.  I was very cautious with vaccines when I was going through the seizures with Bear.  It is one difficult disorder to pin down.

I will tell her about the book..and thanks again! I'm sure she is scared to death.

Absolutely everything Tina said!!

But seizures are minorly different with every being who has them.  There is such a wide array of problems.  The brain is almost paralyzed - "thought" goes on but it's not normal.  But it's scarey *and* unbelievably fatiguing. 

But the difficult, but critical thing is for the human to keep their head.  You can make a seizure better or worse by how you react to it.

The idea of video-taping is is a GREAT one and if you go to U=Tube you will see TONS of videos of dogs and humans seizing because at this point vets use it as a diagnostic tool "Go to You Tube and see if you can see one something like your dog goes thru and email it to me".  But tell her to disregard ALL the comments underneath -- people react to those not understanding that it's being used as a diagnostic tool -- no one is putting their seizing dog or child up there to make someone laugh -- it's just because there are so many types of them that it's helpful to see what can go on pre/para/post ictal phases.  Post it's VERY common to see panting.  Partly just due to the oxygen debt that builds up during the seizure and the huge expendature of energy the body has to make.

How is Melissa's dog today, Dyan?

We had a small earthquake here today(I didn't even feel it).  And, some of the members of the feline epilepsy page mentioned their cats had a seizure after it.  My cat did OK as far as we can tell.