Seizures in Dogs
About a year after qualifying as a vet I remember taking an early morning call from a frantic client in Treboeth who was really upset about her two-year old German shepherd dog. According to the owner the poor dog had been fitting throughout the night, was unable to walk, had lost control of its bowels and its bladder, and was in such a terrible state. The owner claimed that it would have to be euthanized. There was no way that the owner could transport the dog to us at the surgery, so I agreed to go to their house to put the dog to sleep.
Without further ado I assembled a small kit and enlisted the help of our only male veterinary nurse in the event that the dog need to euthanized or transported back to the surgery. It was dark and miserable day and raining heavily. The mood inside the house was pretty similar. I was greeted by the entire family (and some other relatives) at the door that were distraught and extremely upset (as you would expect). We were then led to the utility room at the back of the house where the dog had been left “fitting” over night on the lino floor. The dog was recumbent and covered in urine and faeces... What became immediately apparent was that rather embarrassingly, the reason the dog was struggling to get up and creating such a performance was that it had been trying to scratch its ear and its hind leg had got caught up in its collar! I felt a bit sorry for the lady who obviously needed a stiff drink and a visit to the opticians! I didn’t charge her for my services, and advised her to keep “a close eye” on the dog.
Anyway, without any further anecdotal padding (or a discussion about how some people cope with the demands of day to day life) dogs can begin to have seizures for a number of reasons. The ones that we certainly learnt about in vet school (rather than on the job in Treboeth) are as follows: -
Young dogs such as puppies from birth to about one year of age can be affected by low blood sugar, “shunts” in the liver, or structural or congenital brain problems. Younger animals due to the immaturity of the immune system can also be affected by meningitis.
Dogs from one to five years as a general rule of thumb that are affected by seizures tend to have epilepsy (or idiopathic epilepsy). With epilepsy the seizures are generalised from the onset, of short duration (30 seconds to 3 minutes) and are followed by a rapid recovery. Whilst dramatic these seizures tend not to be life threatening unless they become prolonged (over five minutes) and frequent.
Older dogs are more prone to sinister causes of seizures namely tumours of the central nervous system or nasal cavity.
Other causes of seizures include low blood calcium, low oxygen (in cardiovascular disease), toxins and bacterial or fungal diseases. As a practice we have seen dogs with large lungworm infections with unusual neurological symptoms that can be attributed to bleeding in the brain.
Management of a patient showing seizure activity depends on the inciting cause. Blood tests and spinal taps in practice are useful in ruling out some of the less common causes of seizures; MRI is currently the gold standard where masses and cancers in the brain are suspected.
For dogs diagnosed with epilepsy, patients are usually put onto therapy when seizures become frequent- usually more than one every two months.
As far as I know strobe lighting, flash photography, or playing on an Xbox without an eye-patch don’t cause fits in dogs (I have been asked), and dogs in Kama Sutra positions in Treboeth certainly don’t need to be put to sleep! If you require any further information, or would like to discuss any issues raised in this article, feel free to get in touch with your vet or phone us on 01792 205000 for more advice.
Geraint Jones
St James Veterinary Group
