Epilepsy - Page 1

Hi all,
Today my rescue GSD, Shelby, had three grand mall seizures in a row. It was awful to see her like that and quite a terrifying experience. I took her to the vet immediately and they're keeping her there for observation. The vet is leaning towatds idiopathic epilepsy (seizures with no known cause). Since she is a rescue, I know nothing about her past or pedigree. The only thing I do know is that she has been abused as is evident by her reactions to certain things and by the two gunshot pellets found in her when hip x-rays were taken. Can't help but wonder if she was hit hard on the head. I know it doesn't matter at this point and we need to deal with controlling the seizures now. Has anyone had any experience with dealing with epilepsy or seizures?  Thanks in advance for any advice or help you can provide.

Epilepsy is fairly common in dogs, and in most cases, it can be well controlled by medication, My mom had a Springer with epilepsy, and he lived to be 13 1/2 years old. I think he went something like 8 years without having a siezure. That's how well the medication controlled it.

I can't say your girl will be so lucky, though. I do know of dogs who have died from siezures. Usually, though, it can be controlled, and your girl may well live a normal life with the right medication.

Good luck with her, and bless you for rescuing her!

When you say Grand Mal (note it is mal, not mall, French language) just what do you mean? Describe the seizures. And how long did it take for the dog to come out of this episode?

This topic has been discussed here at length in the past, so try searching for the topic. If you don't find it, let me know and email me and I can help you. There are many causes of epilepsy, but, as your vet suggested, idiopathic is the most common. It is scary as heck for someone who has not had much experience with seizures. The fact that she had three in a row is troubling for sure. A single seizure here or there is generally not a huge deal. One protects the human or dog and lets them have the seizure and they will wake up eventually and be fine. However, when there are uninterrupted seizures, or ones that follow very closely on another, yes, that can be a different story and one worries about hypoxia eventually. So such seizures need treatment with a drug. This is something you should talk to your vet about. If this happens as it did today, then you may want to ask him for a syringe of some medication to give in a repeat situation. How long have you had the dog and where did you get it?

I presume blood work was done as soon as possible after the seizure. That will provide information about whether there might be an infectious or metabolic or toxic reason for the seizures. But if the bloodwork was relatively normal, then one must look for a neurological cause and most of the time that cannot be found. More often than not, seizures are simply caused by a mis-firing of neurons in the brain. How old is the dog? How well does its liver and kidneys function? What did it eat? Is there any possibility it could have gotten into something that was toxic? 

I don't remember the history that you do know about this dog, but I will tell you that everyone always thinks that a given rescue was abused. This is simply not true. Many are neglected, and some are abused. But, for instance, just because it had several pellets in it, or bullets, does not mean someone actually hit the dog. X-rays and other fancy and expensive neurological tests could be run, but it is probably not worth it at this point. Wait and see if there is a repeat. When there is a seizure, keep a notebook and record everything about the situation, the time of day, what you were doing, what the dog was doing, what it ate, whether it had been ill, acting normally, drinking, running, weather etc. This can help establish whether there is any pattern. Again, often there is not any pattern discernible. 

Good luck.

Also have the vet check & see it's not caused by something she ate, that to is a possibilty

Thanks Sunsilver for the encouragement. In spite of Shelby's past she is as sweet and loving as they come. We will do whatever we can to get this under control as I can't imagine life without her!

is there any chance of lead poisoning from the gun shots?  Please excuse me, I don't know if the pelletts are made of lead or not

A few lead pellets are not going to cause lead poisoning in a dog. And if the pellets are from pellet guns, they are probably some sort of copper alloy, like BBs.

 I've posted this a couple times on the messageboard... here it is again.  This is a link that you really should check out if you have a dog that has seizures/epilepsy.   I guarantee that if you email them you WILL get a response and support.  Good Luck...

 www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/

My experience with it was many years ago. Ambred gsd from spectacular (AKC ashow) pedigree. Seizures began when she was 3. Initially, they were monthly. Imean every 30 days like clockwork. Heavy duty meds did nothing. She was on phenobarb and ace promazine and never even appeared so drugged. She was very attached to my Scottie and when the Scottie dies, the seizures increased to weekly, then daily. Finally, she had several a day and I believe she was brain damaged. She was confused and frightened all the time--didn't know who I was, who she was, where she was. She was pys at age 6 and a few months.