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What Are The Symptoms Of Epilepsy In Dogs?


ACD4EVA
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Hi,

We got our 8 week old ACD puppy a few days ago.

Over the last few days, i noticed something when he is having a snooze. This has happened a few times now, but not everytime he sleeps.

When sleeping he starts twitching (front legs, nose & throat), his tongue pokes out a little and his eyes are moving around (as he sometimes sleeps with his eyes slightly open).

I have contacted the vet over the phone and they said he is most likely dreaming (do they dream quite often?).... as his apetite is good, he drinks fine and he is still a playful puppy who likes to chew everything :laugh: They mentioned to me to call his name when this is happening to see if he responds, so if he doesn't respond then take him to the vet.

To tell you the truth it scared my partner and I, as this is our first puppy so we don't know what to expect. We love him very much, even if he has been here a few days, he is definitely part of our family.

Can anyone please tell me their experiences? And what the symptoms are. I am quite concerned :D

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It does sound like the pup is dreaming.

Movement when dreaming goes all the way up to whimpering, legs paddlng as if running and body twitches. Its quite normal.

A google search on "canine epilepsy" will give you a lot of hits. One thing you will notice if you do some reading is that fits in baby puppies are extremely rare. :laugh:

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I love it when they dream - although you're right - there can be some pretty violent twitching sometimes - enough to be scary.

I specially like the little strangled barks they do - Rory was dreaming in his crate lst night with the little yippy barks (his barks are normally big deep ones.) :laugh:

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Nawww....puppy dreams. I often wonder what they dream about.

I had a puppy once who must have had a nightmare, as she woke up with a terrible fright and ran off whimpering.

When she realised she was in the house and safe she just had a dazed and confused look on her face.

They usually grow out of the dreaming for some reason. You don't see it anywhere near as often in older dogs.

Sometimes pups make suckling noises too while dreaming. Must be dreaming about drinking from mum :laugh:

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Seizures in an 8 week old puppy go like this - puppy is playing normally, then will suddenly fall down, legs thrashing, foaming at the mouth, sometimes urinate and defecate while all the muscles in the body go crazy. Then it will stop, be somewhat disorientated, but a few minutes to sometimes a bit longer, later, will be back to normal.

Your puppy is dreaming. You would know a seizure if you saw it.

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Yep, puppy dreams like the rest of the comments advise :laugh: Our 12 month old kelpie still has them occasionally too, he twitches and cries and sometimes even has a little bark or growl when sleeping.... involuntary blink spasms too lol

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Definitely puppy dreams! My dog is a chronic dreamer, it is really scary sometimes, she twitches and convulses so violently! She also barks, whines, yelps, growls.. it is usually quite easy to tell what kind of dream she is having! Sometimes her eyes will be open and rolling around or red - it is very creepy. Her legs will move as though she is running or walking.. once I swear she was dreaming she was eating something yummy, by the way she was licking and chewing! :eek:

Don't worry too much about it, as long as your pup will wake up when you call him! :)

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Nawww....puppy dreams. I often wonder what they dream about.

I had a puppy once who must have had a nightmare, as she woke up with a terrible fright and ran off whimpering.

When she realised she was in the house and safe she just had a dazed and confused look on her face.

They usually grow out of the dreaming for some reason. You don't see it anywhere near as often in older dogs.Sometimes pups make suckling noises too while dreaming. Must be dreaming about drinking from mum :)

None of my dogs have ever outgrown dreaming. They all run, twitch, yelp, and growl in their sleep and I have one that hardly ever barks when he is awake but regularly barks when he is asleep, loud enough to wake everyone in the house. :provoke:

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Nawww....puppy dreams. I often wonder what they dream about.

I had a puppy once who must have had a nightmare, as she woke up with a terrible fright and ran off whimpering.

When she realised she was in the house and safe she just had a dazed and confused look on her face.

They usually grow out of the dreaming for some reason. You don't see it anywhere near as often in older dogs.Sometimes pups make suckling noises too while dreaming. Must be dreaming about drinking from mum :provoke:

None of my dogs have ever outgrown dreaming. They all run, twitch, yelp, and growl in their sleep and I have one that hardly ever barks when he is awake but regularly barks when he is asleep, loud enough to wake everyone in the house. :eek:

Mine either. My dog is 5yrs old and is still doing it! boy they are scary sometimes, She dreams every single night. Not one night goes by where she doesnt dream. She does the whole twitching, running, yelping etc the whole works. My mum sometimes wakes her from a dream - she thinks they're nightmares and she comes running over to me for sympathy for being woken up :)

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I don't think dogs outgrow dreaming.

All mine dream and my old girl was still dreaming at nearly 13yrs.

My boys are violent dreamers and often kick me in the back if they are sleeping next to me :) I love the little "wuffs" they make.

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Yeah puppy dreams are very cute and I don't believe dogs grow out of it either. All 3 of my boys (14.5yrs, 12yrs and 13months) all dream and my oldest can make a real racket :) with legs paddling away, lots of noises and thrashing around on his bed sometimes so much so the bed jumps around :provoke: I normally stroke him to calm him when that happens. Sometimes my youngster has woken suddenly from a dream and jumped up all startled, looked around and then crashed back to sleep again. :eek:

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Both my dogs are dreamers, but Sam moreso than Delilah..and more when he was a puppy than now. They "run" in their sleep, "wuff" and the only time I have ever heard Delilah growl was in her sleep.

Sam has recently been diagnosed with epilepsy and you would absolutely know the difference between a seizure and a dream. His first seizure he just dropped to the ground while at our friends house and started thrashing around, had no control of himself whatsoever and the fear on his face I will never forget, it is devastating and broke my heart to see. After the thrashing stops comes the recovery time where he is extremely disoriented, he has twice lost use of his back legs and once lost use of both his back and front legs. In this stage we keep him calm, talk gently to him as he "looks through" us and we tend to pat his nose a lot so he can smell us and know we are with him. Bless him but the first sign he is coming good again is always his tail starts to wag just a little. It usually takes a good 10-15 minutes to come around and then he is literally his normal bouncy self again...just a bit tired.

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Tahli is a frequent dreamer, I get the little barks, eye movements, legs about, it's very cute. She does run into some nightmares sometimes, she will wake up like a sentry and start barking and looking around till she realises she's home and safe. I have several recordings of her barking in sleep he he he

Always wonder what they are dreaming about. I read yesterday birds dream of songs, not sure what I believe with that one.

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Thank you everyone! You have all been a massive help. Its made me feel alot better knowing all of this. Its all new to me, I didn't realise how much they get onto their dreams.

I was watching him last night and he even started growling in his sleep haha that was very cute.

Thanks again!!!! :laugh:

Edited by ACD4EVA
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My dog dreams often... aside from the symptoms/characteristics you mentioned, my dog sometimes wags her tail. So when that happens to your puppy, don't be alarmed... must be a good dream. :rofl:

Good advice by the vet to call his name... I'll try that next time. (My dog would probably wake up) lol

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