My Puppy Had Seizures Yesterday

[Sasha (Alexander)]

Hello everyone.

Yesterday My wife and i witnessed our Maltese X pup of 6 months of age, have a seizure.

We kept him outside in our backyard that day when we went to work and when we came home i noticed that the puppy didn't greet me with excitement as he usually does and he had soiled himself. I thought it was strange, but apart from washing his bum, i didn't think deep into it. It was only an hour after when the seizure that we witnesses happened that i deduced that he must have had one or more already when we were not home.

It started with him jumping off the couch we were on and walking in an unusual manner outside looking back at me as if calling me. I followed him outside to have a look.

He started peeing as he usually does on the grass, but then started to have saliva forming around the mouth. He started uncontrollably drooling and almost frothing at the mouth, while still in the squatting position as he was peeing. This was followed by shacks that started gradually until he was on the ground shaking to what i thought was pretty violently.

I tried holding him down because he was trying to get up at the same time. Eventually after about 2-3 minutes the shaking went away and he became very disoriented but was on his feet. He started barking and not wanting us to come near.

We took him to the Baulkham hills emergency center, but we didn't really get any clear answers from them what might be the cause. They gave us some Valium in syringes (without needles) to stick it up the dogs bum if he has another large fit.

We took him home that night and he didn't have any more fits.

Now i am not sure what it could be. The vet said it could be abnormalities in the brain or from an injury that he sustained to the head when running around. I hope it's not those options because we cannot do much about them.

We haven't got any snail-kill, or pesticides in the backyard. We have used weed-killer to remove some unwanted grass. We have been at the property for only 6 months, so i am not sure if the previous owner could have used some chemicals and they would still have an effect. We had one of our sheds open because the door opens up due to wind, but that doesn't have any chemicals that i know off, unless from the previous owner again. Is it possible to be a spider bite?

Anyway we are keeping him inside today and someone will come and see if he is fine. Tomorrow i have a day off so i will do a thorough check on the backyard and try to remove anything that could be harmful to my pup, and padlock the shed.

Any ideas or suggestions are welcome. Would also like to hear similar experiences.

[Sandra777]

The cause of seizures can be very hard to narrow down.

Consider things like flea treatments, wormers, household chemicals such as carpet cleaners, tile disinfectants etc.

Write down everything like this - along with the brand, variety etc and keep very good records of what is used when and where.

I would be asking on here for a vet who has experience with this sort of thing and going straight to them.

Best of luck, hope it was just a one-off

[poodlefan]

Not all seizures have an identifiable cause. When they don't your dog is epileptic. It is often controllable with drugs.

If further seizures occur, in the absence of an identifiable cause discuss this with your vet.

He's mighty young to be experiencing seizures. Has a tick been ruled out?

[Sasha (Alexander)]

Not all seizures have an identifiable cause. When they don't your dog is epileptic. It is often controllable with drugs.

If further seizures occur, in the absence of an identifiable cause discuss this with your vet.

He's mighty young to be experiencing seizures. Has a tick been ruled out?

He was given frontline about 3 weeks ago. I will feel him today to see if any ticks, but i have been told by another vet that my area (Rooty Hills, Sydney) is a low area for ticks.

[poodlefan]

Have a really good look - especially forward of the shoulders.

If you see any weakness in his hind legs, there is vomitting, staggering or you notice a change is the pitch of his bark.. break the land speed record to the nearest open vet.

[luvsdogs]

Not all seizures have an identifiable cause. When they don't your dog is epileptic. It is often controllable with drugs.

If further seizures occur, in the absence of an identifiable cause discuss this with your vet.

He's mighty young to be experiencing seizures. ;) Has a tick been ruled out?

He was given frontline about 3 weeks ago. I will feel him today to see if any ticks, but i have been told by another vet that my area (Rooty Hills, Sydney) is a low area for ticks.

I have heard many ppl say that Frontline doesn't work any more. Was it the spray on or top spot? Also it needs to be applied every 2 weeks for tick control.

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

I have a dog with seizures and epilepsy was ruled to be the most likely cause as nothing else was found. Please get to your local (usual) vet for a blood test at least. If it is epilepsy, medication to control/limit the seizures is essential. But it could be something else causing the seizures and you need to know.

Best of luck and please keep us posted. ;)

[~Anne~]

At 6 months of age I wouldn't be thinking epilpesy. Typically, the onset for epilpesy is 18months - 4 years. I have seen a 3 month old have seizures from severe worm burden. I assume though that you have reguarly wormed him?

I would be looking at toxins, disease or a neurological condition/injury.

What is he crossed with?

Edited December 23, 2009 by PugRescueSydney

[Sasha (Alexander)]

At 6 months of age I wouldn't be thinking epilpesy. Typically, the onset for epilpesy is 18months - 4 years. I have seen a 3 month old have seizures from severe worm burden. I assume though that you have reguarly wormed him?

I would be looking at toxins, disease or a neurological condition/injury.

What is he crossed with?

Yes he has been wormed regularly. I am leaning towards toxins myself.

The woman we bought it off says it's a x Shih Tzu, but i saw the mother and she doesn't look like a Shih Tzu. But i only had one look.

[poodlefan]

He's the right age for symptoms of liver shunt to start appearing. Seizures are one of those. I'm not trying to alarm you Sasha but did the vet discuss doing some basic blood tests?

If the seizures reoccur its something to consider.

Edited December 23, 2009 by poodlefan

[Sasha (Alexander)]

He's the right age for symptoms of liver shunt to start appearing. Seizures are one of those. I'm not trying to alarm you Sasha but did the vet discuss doing some basic blood tests?

If the seizures reoccur its something to consider.

Yes the vet discussed the possibility of liver problems.

At this point i am going to monitor him to see how he is going, check the backyard for any possible causes and see how it goes. If he does have another episode, then i will definitely take him to the vet for blood tests etc.

[poodlefan]

Fingers crossed there are no more seizures Sasha.

[joanne76]

My Maltese Foaster dog was just diagnosed with an Insulinoma which is a polyp on the Pancreas. It causes seizures too, It can be treated with medication but in some cases needs surgery.

Seizures can kill and its especially dangerous if they have multiple seizures, I would get him to the vet if i were you.

I hope your pup is ok.

[Talien]

If the pup has one that lasts more that 5 minutes...be very worried.

If the pup has multiple seizures in quick succession, get him to a vet, this usually indicates something very, very, wrong

Check the yard etc, dig he dig up or get into anything unusual?

IMO blood test as soon as possible if their are no abnormalities in the pups blood, he should be ok and may simply have an early onset epilepsy, easily managed.

I hope its nothing! And hope pup is ok, keep us updated!

[Erny]

Added to the advice/comments above, I'd do whatever I could to steer clear or at the absolute very least, minimise, any administration of drugs (save for what might be necessary to control seizures, that the Vet prescribes).

I'm in Victoria, so ticks aren't a huge problem. I don't have an issue with fleas. And we don't experience heartworm as you might in your climate. Consequently, I don't apply any preventatives for these things. I don't worm regularly, just 'because'. Instead, I periodically get a worm burden count done (stool sample - Vet can do it on the spot) if I'm concerned or think it's been a while. And I don't vaccinate beyond the puppy vaccinations.

After a seizure, there is often a phase where they are up and about, yet they aren't really 'there'. They can see, but it is as though they are 'out of themselves'. During that phase I keep an eye out (my avatar girl, since :D, used to have Grand Mals, towards the latter end of her life) and just follow around to make sure the dog doesn't come to grief. But I allow it to do what it needs to do, until the phase has passed. After that, I found my girl to be very tired and needing just to sleep. The affect of seizures can be very exhausting. During a seizure, I just made sure that there was nothing on which my girl could injure herself on, and held her only as much as I needed to prevent that. Sounds to me like you did the right thing in your pup's case.

I hope your pup is ok.

Edited December 24, 2009 by Erny

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

Any updates? How is he doing today?

[t-time]

Along with Poodlefan, my first thought is Liver Shunt as well.

Particularly with the seizure followed by aggression - unfortunately that sort of disorientation coupled with the aggression is common with Liver Shunt whereas not so common when it's epilepsy but no doubt, there is someone with an epileptic dog who would disagree!

If it is Liver Shunt, the symptoms won't go away now so you will know pretty soon - the disorientation continues and becomes more frequent.

Hope your little one is doing a bit better.

[Sasha (Alexander)]

Just an update.

It's been over a week now, and he hasn't had any more seizures. Which is good. However i haven't been putting him outside in the day time as i still feel a bit scared.

I discovered that he was near a pond that has really green algae, so he might have drank from that. I also found a frog jumping around in the backyard. Maybe he ate a frog or something?

I still think it was something he ingested. I will try to block off the pond and get rid of the frogs and will let him out more often.

Edited December 31, 2009 by Sasha (Alexander)

[Kirty]

Please don't get rid of the frogs!! Most frogs are totally harmless and they are struggling so much in Australia. Block off the pond by all means, but our frogs need all the help they can get.

[persephone]

Agreed Frogs are protected, and struggling. You cannot relocate them either- because of a froggie fungus (dangerous to frogs only)

fence off your pond properly- keep the water going, and enjoy knowing you are helping out the struggles of our frogs!

Hope your little fella continues to be seizure free . He will love being able to go outside again!! perhaps there was some spray or something from next door?