Pru had a seizure today... a question for the seizure dog owners

I definitely have those fears. I actually don't allow Emma around other dogs, unless they're leashed, for a day or two after a big seizure. I've seen how fast a seizure can cause dogs to attack another dog, and it's scary! Emma likes to play in groups of dogs, and that would be very, very dangerous.

I crate dogs in the car, because of the possibility that the stress of the trip could trigger a seizure. Emma stays right near me, at home, so that isn't a problem. I definitely never let any two dogs stay together while I'm not home. There's usually at least a door or gate AND a crate between any two. Em has opened crates and freed dogs, before, LOL, so I make sure to close her up separately.  

It's a genuine concern. I play very, very safe, because I've seen nasty dog fights, and I'm a bit paranoid, LOL. 

I am so sorry you are having to go through this....how scary it must be!  I have no knowledge or past experience but I did want to send some good comforting thoughts along to you. 

The closest experience I have had was when Izzy was really young and she got snapped at by an older dog...she started screaming at the top of her lungs....there were about 5 other dogs in the room so I went and picked her up and tried to get her to stop b/c she was really upset.  My aunt's dog jumped up and bit me in an attempt to get to Izzy b/c she was showing a weakness.  That would be one of the big reasons I don't leave Izzy at her house when we leave town b/c of my aunt's dog's reaction.  I don't know if it is anything like this but JJ must either be seeing a weakness or just as freaked out by the whole thing.  Hopefully it won't ever happen again but if it does, hopefully he will adjust.  I think keeping them seperated while you are gone is probably not a bad idea and keeping a close eye on things when you are home. 

You say she went to the vet today, was that before or after the seizure?  Did she get any shots or anything else that could have played a role in it?

I was a seizure cat owner until we lost our Iggy two weeks ago.  Luckily the cats seemed not to be so sensitive to any change in his scent or whatever else JJ may be reacting to and we also got his seizures under control after only two (underlying cause was hypertension and once we had that controlled, the seizing was history).

I just wanted to offer sympathy because I know how hard it is to watch a pet seize. 

OH seizures are so scary. Belle had one last summer. I hope we never see another. I hope you don't either.

Recently I read that magnesium is good for siezure dogs (on another board) I will see if I can find that post and copy and paste what it said here. Something to look into I suppose. Has anyone else heard this?

My vet said for Belle don't do anything (we ran a gammut of tests to make sure there was not a reason for the seizure) he said if she starts seizing regularly to let him know. Knocking on wood there will be no more.
 

I have no advice, just want to offer thoughts and concern.  My husband used to have grand mal seizures, usually in the shower, so we are always concerned he will split his head open.

Last summer I was at an agility trial and I saw this one dog walk past some others and all the others ran up to him and were very curiously sniffing him all over.  Not in an aggressive way, just different.  The owner said he is a seizure dog and he gets that reaction a lot, like the others can tell something is wrong with him. 

Liesje

Last summer I was at an agility trial and I saw this one dog walk past some others and all the others ran up to him and were very curiously sniffing him all over.  Not in an aggressive way, just different.  The owner said he is a seizure dog and he gets that reaction a lot, like the others can tell something is wrong with him. 

That is interesting...kinda along the lines of seizure alert dogs...I believe there's a different odor as the body chemistry changes.

As for seizures - many hugs for ya, I had one dog have a seizure. I understand the worry and the fear. He spent that night and the next day at the vet's (he had been unresponsive for several hours). I wasn't given any instructions for precautions when I took him home and I didn't take any except for stairs and furniture, but only because he was noticably uncoordinated. Took about 3 months for him to get his coordination back.

I didn't notice any change in behavior towards him from my other dogs, I do always keep them separated when they're unsupervised, and Leo had the seizure minutes after I got home from running errands so they were all crated at the time.

Gosh I'm late to work -- but will try.

Please don't let them just slap her on seizure meds -- once on them it's very difficult to get them off.  I know up at U of FL they recommend that unless an animal is seizing more than 3-4 times a month they try hard to control it with Chinese herbs/acupuncture *first* because it so radically reduces seizing and no bad side effects long term.

It's not an uncommon thing to see one animal get aggressive to another seizing animal -- I would surely crate or at least separate them.  Stress is a HUGE factor in seizing -- so you may have to do something with *both* of them that reduces the stress in the one who seizes.  Make sense?

Willow may have had a seizure on Monday evening. She will be 7 in July, has never had seizures before and is otherwise healthy...has great annuals. I took her into the Vet yesterday morning. They are not 100% certain that what she had was a seizure. Some of her actions were seizure-like and then others were not. So they are running bloodwork to make sure it isn't something else that stands out and should get the results today.

Right before it happened she was in bothering me at the computer, acting very needy. She had already eaten and gone potty, so I assumed she was acting antsy in anticipation of my hubby coming home from work.

I've been wracking my brain about our routine over the past week or two. Any changes, did she bang her head?

Our other two dogs alerted me to something being off about her. Earlier in the morning Myrika was sniffing across Willow's upper back and head. Then when it was happening Myrika and Oakley were standing near and sniffing her. They didn't act aggressive, definitely concerned.

The Vet suggested keeping a log. Hopefully, I won't have to and this is the last episode we'll see. Waiting on the bloodwork for more answers.

Rubs to Pru.

Have you had a _full_ thyroid pannel done?  Sometimes siezures and hypothyroidism are related

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and support.  I am running off to work so only have a minute for right now, but I wanted to address Callie’s concern over putting her on meds.  This is not something my vet just “does”.  She said that the dog must really be having more than 1 seizure a week to even warrant medication and before that she doesn’t put them on meds.  Pru has had a full thyroid panel before and everything was fine. Yesterday they took blood work just in case there was something else going on with the body. She feels it is very unlikely this is the case tho and also says that there are very good chances I will see more. But the concern for seizures that last less than 2 minutes are falling down stairs and other dogs….. so we are talking precautions with that starting today.

I will respond more to some of your comments later… thanks so much for all the input everyone.    Pru appreciates it too. 

Most of Pirate's seizures have actually been at doggie day care, where I work. (He's had 2 at home, 1 at my moms, and about 3 or 4 at work). At work he's always been in the group of dogs while he's started having one, but the staff is under VERY STRICT INSTRUCTIONS to separate him (or any other seizing dog) as soon as possible. I'll actually go right up to new girls and say, 'This is Pirate. He might have a seizure. If he does, separate him and call me as soon as you can.'

And I'm with Callie, try to stay off of the meds for as long as you can. Pirate had a good run of seizures over a period of about 3 weeks before I put him on meds. I wish I would have gone with the herbals/acupuncture, looking back. As soon as last summer's vet bills are paid off I'm going to start taking him to a holistic vet and trying to wean him off.

My JRT has idiopathic epilepsy and is on phenobarbital.  Fortunately, we have not had any problems with the other dogs being aggressive during a seizure.  When Reggie feels one coming, he looks for me.  If I am not near by he will actually try to get to me during the seizures (I shouldn't laugh but he is quite comical looking when this happens).  My border/beagle ignores him during the seizure.  My boxer tries to get as close to him as she can and lays beside him until he is done.  As far as the meds go, when it seemed like he was having the episodes more frequently the vet suggested that I keep a log of when they happened, how long they lasted and what we were doing immediately before to see if we could find a pattern of either something external causing them or something food related.  For us, we couldn't find any patterns and nothing medical to show why they happened.  But once he was having more than 1 a month it was decided to put him on the pheno.  He still has them, but much less frequent and they last for a shorter period of time.

Cadie is 8 years old and has had seizure since she was 4.  They can be very scary, especially the first one. Lately she has been having them about once a month. She is not on any med for it, we simply sit with her and talk to her, wipe away any drool etc. and clean up accidents when she does have a seizure. It's obviously not any fun for anyone. I don't blame you one bit for being stressed out - seizures are very scary and stressful for the dog and person. Riley is still in his cage during the day when no one is home but when the time comes for him to have free reign with Cadie, they will not be separated. Riley was concerned for Cadie and interested in what has happening when he was with her having one, but did not act aggressively. Do you know why JJ acted aggressively with Prudence?

Shelly, how old is Pru?  Just a thought - with cats and dogs that are older when they first seize, metabolic diseases are the first thing many vets will look for.  With our Iggy cat, the underlying culprit turned out to be hypertension.  Blood pressure checks are not commonly done by most vets (in fact, I suggested it based on input from members of a Yahoo Epi-cat group), but it might be worth having them check on Pru, especially if she is an older dog.  Iggy's seizures were completely controlled as soon as we got him on meds for high blood pressure and we never had to go to anti seizure meds.