Are These Fits?

[shapeshifter]

Now I know the answer is probably yes but I can't figure out why and what they would be.

About 4 years ago I noticed every now and then, months apart, my mini foxie/TT would glaze over and start to stagger, she would then fall on her side, I would pick her up not knowing what was going on, she would never move though, no fitting as such.

I took her to the vet and she has a heart murmur, oh she was 11 at that stage so it's an old age thing, never had a heart murmur before. She was put on fortekor. The episodes basically stopped that I'm aware of.

In the last 2 years these episodes have started up and gotten worse, she can have several a day.

She used to just do it after she'd be playing and suddenly she starts coughing and then glazes over, staggers and falls over, she is now to the point where her body is twitching when this happens.

We were told originally (she wasn't twitching then) that it was because she wasn't getting enough air as she also has fluid on her lungs if she gets too hot when it's humid, she was also put on a diuretic for when it got worse, she gets incontinent though so I don't give them too her all that often.

Yes I know I have to take her back to the vet, I will be, it's a Saturday night though and I don't know that it's an emergency.

These episodes are lucky to last a minute at the most and she comes back to herself and is completely normal.

I'm just wanting to know if anyone else has experienced this sort of thing and what the vets did, if anything?

[Kirty]

If her heart is not working properly, then she is probably not getting enough oxygen to her body/brain especially when her heart has to work overtime (eg during exercise, stress, etc).

[shapeshifter]

Yes that is what the vet said and that is definitely what we see as well, like fainting in humans, she's only just started with the twitching as in the last month or so, it never happened before it was just more like fainting.

[Staff'n'Toller]

Keep her quiet for the weekend, but if she were one of mine I would be a running full blood profile to see exactly what's going on - or rule some things out.

You may need to talk with your Vet about the dosage and timing of the frusemide so she wees inside less, she will feel pretty average if she has fluid on her lungs all the time.

Has she had a cardiac ultrasound in the last year? Yearly ultrasounds give you a very good idea of the size of the heart, how the valves are working and precisely how much fluid is on the lungs.

[shapeshifter]

She did have a full blood profile done a year ago, so yes she's due to be done again, it was all completely clear last year.

No I haven't had an ultrasound done, we don't like having to put her under any more, she was attacked very badly in 2008 and almost died but turned around really quickly (as mini foxies tend to do ). She hasn't been put under since due to that and her heart.

She on the smallest I can give her, quarter of a tablet lol I don't know if I can make it smaller than that, I might give it a go, surely a little bit every day and not making her incontinent would be better than irregular times and making her incontinent.

Oh I should also add that she is permanently in air conditioning, sits between 19-21 degrees, she has been sleeping with me lately so this has made her worse, I just started working full time so she's been a bit funny, I've stopped that now and she is back out in the laundry (right on the room where the air con is).

[Staff'n'Toller]

You may find giving her the frusemide every day she gets rid of the fluid and then is not so incontinent- hard to tell, but your other option is to have it made up by a compounding chemist into a capsule or paste or gel. Your Vet should be able to ring them and find out your options.

Cardiac ultrasounds are always done conscious, the dog has to be happy to lay on their side though.

Edited October 22, 2011 by Staff'n'Toller

[Lab lady]

ok i'm not a vet but i would have thought that if you reduce the diuretic, the fluid on the lungs would increase and reduce the oxygen saturation and may be causing her to have more episodes.

I think i trip to the vet first thing monday for more test is needed.

[shapeshifter]

Oh thanks for that, I'll ask them about it, funny enough she never has any fluid when we go to the vets LOL, I've cut up the tablets into tiny pieces and given her one, it takes about 20 minutes and then I'll know, she never gets in trouble, it's not her fault, just makes for more washing.

Mmmm thanks for the info about the ultrasound, I'll talk to them and see what they think.

[Rileys mum]

Might be completely different but my previous dog was diagnosed as having epilepsy. his seizures were similar to what you describe. glazed look in his eyes, stagger sideways with his head down and twisted and then drop on his side. he never had traditional jerking which people assume all fits are like. i video taped an episode and showed my vet.

It may be seizures that your dog is experiencing too. in any case definitely worth a trip to the vet.

all the best :-)

[Bluefairy]

I have a Pug called Archie, he is 15 months old. He was starved of O2 at birth and has co-ordination problems, so he wobbles and trips over a bit. This has only affected his balance and not anything else.

About 2 weeks ago he had a reverse sneezing fit, it just seemed to go on forever. I had never witness a reverse sneeze so I was unsure what it was or what to do. After the sneezing stopped (about 10 minutes) Archie was very jumpy (like electrical currants going through his body every few seconds), was staggering, would stumble to one side, and would fall over. His head constantly nodded.

I rang the vet asap, they told me to get him down there as they thought it was a seizure. He continued to have this seizure for the 30 minutes it took us to get to the vets, then it stopped. Archie was lethargic, he looked exhausted and all he wanted to do was lay there. They kept him over night and did a full blood work up, xrays, and an ultrasound.

The blood tests were negative to anything, the xrays showed Archie has a large misshapen heart, and it sits in the wrong place. He doesn't have a heart murmur or one they could hear, but they haven't ruled this out yet. The ultrasound was unclear as the heart is sitting against his ribs, and the ribs are so close together that they couldn't check it properly.

The only thing we know is it probably was a seizure, cause unknown. The vet had dealt with one other dog with Archies O2 starvation condition and the dog also started having seizures which eventually led to being PTS. So Archie is now being watched for any more, we are unsure of how long he has, or if the seizures will return. Its just a waiting game.

Lynn