Is this a seizure??

[Coach+Louislove]

Hey guys.
Sorry if this rambles a bit, it's kind of hard to explain.

My Bichon-Shih tzu Toby is 14 years old this month. He is still in good health, loves to go for walks, good eyesight. We just noticed this about a month or so ago. He'll be standing there watching us eat dinner, or just looking out the window and all of the sudden he'll kind of start twitching (it only lasts for about 4-5 seconds) and then his back legs kind of give out and his back end collapses. But after it happens, he is fine and running around again. I've only seen it happen 2 or 3 times, and I don't notice a pattern in terms of when it happens. We went into the vet to ask him and talked to him for about half an hour. There were a few things he thought it might be (metabolic, liver, etc) but the one thing he thought was most likely was that they were mini seizures. He said that if they were, it would probably just get worse which scared me a lot. We are taking Toby in to get some blood work and such to see if they can figure out what else it might be. Just wondering if anyone else has had this happen to their dogs before or if they can offer some support or insight on why this is happening.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Cindi]

I know this is probably a stupid question but is it possible he fell asleep standing up? When he has these episodes what are his eyes doing? I have never heard of a seizure acting this way but I am not a vet.

 

[JetSetGo!]

I can't give you answers as I'm not familiar with this, but I know you must be very worried. I'm glad you are taking him in to be checked out. If they are seizures, it may be a condition that's manageable, so try not to fret too much. Let us know how his appointment goes.

 

[Coach+Louislove]

I know this is probably a stupid question but is it possible he fell asleep standing up? When he has these episodes what are his eyes doing? I have never heard of a seizure acting this way but I am not a vet.

That's actually a valid question. I'm not sure, but maybe that is the case. I'm not sure if it's a falling asleep thing or not. I don't think so but you never know. The vet said it sounded like a mini seizure or maybe a metabolic condition or something. Either way, we have to take him in to get checked.

I can't give you answers as I'm not familiar with this, but I know you must be very worried. I'm glad you are taking him in to be checked out. If they are seizures, it may be a condition that's manageable, so try not to fret too much. Let us know how his appointment goes.

Thank you Jet! It is a very scary thing when there may be something wrong with your pet. He has been in our family for 14 years, we got him when he was like 8 weeks old. We are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. I will for sure keep everyone updated!

 

[buzzytoes]

My MIL had a pug that was on seizure medicine pretty much her entire life and was never the worse for wear. Her seizures were mostly brought on by stress (like around holidays when there were extra people staying in the house) and mostly she would kind of lock up and then stumble around. She tended to have them away from people as well. Like if she was in the family room she would go under a table or behind the sofa. They never really lasted longer than about ten seconds and she would be fine right after.

 

[chanelsuperhero]

My chihuahua has seizures randomly. I took her to the vet and they said similar stuff potentially liver, potentially epilepsy, or something chihuahuas can have called water on the brain. I however happen to believe that it's because she has a soft spot on her scull (like babies) where the scull didn't close up entirely over an area- chihuahuas have that sometimes. And when she has had seizures I've noticed it's because she has hit that part of her head. We have two dogs, one is much bigger and they play very rough together. Once my baby fell off the couch and hit her head on the hardwood she started staggering around like she was drunk, then started screaming and going around in circles then her entire body went stiff and she sort of started convulsing, her pupils go entirely dialated. It's the absolute worst thing that's ever happened to me. When it happens I freak out I have to leave the room and bf has to deal with it.

It is awful and scary! I would suggest you get the bloodwork and stuff done to figure out what it is. At first before I noticed a pattern of my pup getting hurt we tried to do the blood work but they had to have 4 vet techs holding down the 4 pound dog lol and she was freaking out so much they couldn't finish. They also suggested I could get an MRI- but I don't want to subject my dog to that. Only once she has had a seizure that I didn't know what had happened prior to the seizure so I'm fairly certain it's just a stun on her brain if she smacks her lil head.

But they can happen for so many different reasons, you should research different health issues that your bread of dog can get. It's crazy but every bread is prone to different health issues, some that others can get too and some that aren't common for other dogs. Vet stuff is super expensive so you may want to get vet insurance it's like 30 bucks a month and covers up to 20,000 worth of surgery, medical stuff

 

[justkell]

I have an 8 year old beagle who has had seizures too. His breed is very well known for being seizure prone. Luckily they haven't been that bad. All of them except one has just been him stiffening up and not being able to walk for about a minute or so (longest minute of my life each time!) but his eyes are still "with it" he just can't move. The worst was when he was laying on my bed and got up to jump off the bed (i believe he knew something was about to happen to him) and he just fell on his side before he could jump and was out of it and he lost control of his bladder (my poor guy!) and peed all over himself and the bed. It was the scariest moment of my life because I didn't know what was happening to him. I do believe that one was brought on by extreme stress though. The night before we had brought home my brother in law's boston terrier for a sleep over, and that dog is extremely hyper and my beagle did not like it one bit. He was depressed the whole time he was there. And it was the night after he had gone home when he had the seizure. This happened about 10 months ago, and after that he had a seizure it seemed every 4-5 weeks (we marked it on the calendar whenever he had one). He hasn't had one in a couple months (knock on wood.) I have noticed a small pee spot on one of my blankets on the bed when I cleaned it last so it is possible he had a small one when we weren't home. But he seems to be doing a lot better now with them. I have researched medication for dogs for seizures and from what I've seen medication is only really recommended when the seizures are very frequent and violent where the dog could injure themselves. The medication can have long term bad effects on the liver so it's really only an if neccesary treatment for seizures.