How do I know if my dog has epilepsy?

GO TO YOUR VET!!! This is NOT normal behavior, see a vet immediately!!!

Only the vet will be able to tell you, but there is a possiblity that it could be a one time thing.

My 6 year old min-pin-chihuahua developed epilepsy and is now under daily meds to control it. The meds simply go in his food twice a day and everything has been fine since then. It started as a couple of isolated incidents, and then clustered one day (3 seizures in a row)…he’s been on the meds ever since. So glad your baby is going to the vet soon, as it is worth investigating…the treatment can be so simple.

We had a beagle who had frequent seizures. I would try to hold him steady, so he wouldn’t hurt himself, until it passed. There is medication, but the vet discouraged us from using it–said it was dangerous. We just decided to live with it. He lived a normal lifespan.

I’ve just read that one thing that can cause seizures in dogs is artiicial sweeteners, such as sugarless gum, candies,etc.

Otherwise…I have a 4 yr old Golden retriever with epilepsy. She’s only had 2 grand mal seizures so far. I give her b complex, kelp and fish oil (on my vet’s advice) and feed soy free meat based food (Purina ONE) is good. Vet appt is a good idea. They’ll probably check her thyroid and liver and for brain problems, etc. What you describe sounds like a seizure. I hope it was caused by something she ate. Good luck.

By the way, we too are avoiding meds because they are fard on the liver. Another remedy that helps is Bach Rescue Remedy. Put a few drops inside her gum if she doesn’t snap during a seizure. If she does you can rub some on her nose or inside the ear. It seems to shorten and lessen the seizure. A little sweetened organic vanilla ice cream or yogurt helps bring the blood sugar and temp back into control. Avoid organ meats as treats. Chicken livers brings seizures on for my dog. Stay as all natural as you can with foods. Avoid flea/chemical treatments as much as you can.

It’s possible for a dog to develop epilepsy later in life. Could be an underlying medical condition that’s causing the seizures to happen. We had a Lab mix that was plagued with seizures. We tried special diets, and different medications, but we finally had to put him to sleep when he was 4. An autopsy was done because we were perplexed at why nothing was helping control his seizures. The autopsy revealed he’d had a tumor.

My dog is two now but when he was 4 months I found him in a full seizure. It was scary. He had 8 seizures in a week and that was it. He had tons of blood tests, went to 3 different animal hospitals, and we had a day of tests where they shaved his head and went into his brain. He was perfect and they couldn’t figure it out so they called it juvenile epilepsy. We had to administer Valium when he had the seizures and they wanted him to be medicated. We did it for a week and then stopped. We felt he was given the wrong dose of heart worm medication and still believe that to this day. The doc’s were mad that we stopped all meds and treated it alternatively – no chemicals and all organic stuff in the house. He’s perfect – never had another one. Try to figure out all the stuff she was in contact with for the past few days and see if there is anything new that you have given to her or gotten. Try to figure it all out…. it is scary and I feel so badly for you. I’ve been there. It’s tough. We did read that dogs with epilepsy do well on vitamin e. We have been giving our dog a vitamin e capsule every night since his seizures a few years ago. I also make all of his food. He eats chicken or beef, oatmeal, and carrots. All of his snacks are organic – Newman’s cookies for dogs, etc. Good luck. It’s good that you are getting the blood tests.

It is not too late for epilepsy to develop, so that is definitely a possibility. However, other problems certainly will cause seizures in a little bit older dog. They include

1) toxin exposure (i.e. chronic lead toxicity, antifreeze, etc)
2) endocrine disease (i.e. hypothyroidism, cushing’s disease, etc)
3) organ dysfunction
4) heart disease that causes blood clot to brain
5) brain tumor

DEFINITELY get your dog to the vet and have her checked. Hopefully it is only epilepsy, but the vet should check her to make sure.

Good luck with your dog. You are doing the best possible thing by taking your dog to the vet.

take it a vet

I would go to the vet as this is not normal. Is there anyway your dog could have eaten onion or some other food that should not be given to dogs. I know onions can cause seizures in dogs (and cats).

But definately go to the vet

when she is playing video games with flashing lights or at a rave she has convulsions. what ever u do DO NOT LET HER DRIVE
or have *********** with her.

I have a 6 year Maltese who has epilepsy since before he was 1. He too comes towards me when he feels a seizure coming on. He has no idea what is going on when he has a seizure and seems his old self afterwards although occasionally he is a bit tired. We are managing to keep his condition under control with medication. The downside of the medication is that it compromises his liver and so he has to have special diet food. Apart from that he is great and he know rarely has fits. He is still a wonderful companion and his personality hasn’t changed as a result.
Good luck at the vet.
Robyn

Totally possible….I have to disagree with some of the other answers though. My Labrador had seizure from the age of 3 right till the last one (which was a cluster seizure) that she did not come out of at the age of 13. Vets told us that she would not live to the age of 6 so the meds even though they have side effects they still have their benefits as she would never had lived as long as she did. She was on Phenobarbital which is the drug that they use for human epileptics.

You should have your vet check your dog out as there are many types of epilepsy though your dog could have. Also you should never try to restrain an animal or human having a seizure as you will do more harm than good. You should move away all objects from them so that they can not topple them on themselves, loosen clothing around the neck if it is a human and comfort them when the seizure is over……remember it is just as frightening for them as they “lose time” whilst in the seizure, and will be disoriented when they come out of it…both human and animals

My son has epilepsy. Whilst it is not obviously the same, do not restrain him, let it pass by itself. Nor, should you put your fingers anywhere near his mouth as he could bite off your fingers. He could go rigid like humans do but, see a vet. It is unusual if epilepsy is picked up in later life.

I know that this is human epilepsy, but if it helps you at all, great.

Andy.

My Labrador also has epilepsy, apparently it is common in Labrador breeds. We have witnessed 5 of her seizures and yes it can be quite frightening to watch. We have witnessed 5, but that is when we are home, I think there would probaby be many more than we havent seen.

You will start to recognise the signs of one coming on for eg. My dog ‘Tia’ will start crying before it happens and get a little bit disorientated, then she will lay down on her back and fit and then froth at the mouth for a while. She seems to be distressed as it is like she doesnt know where she is when she comes out of it. She will crygoing from one side of the fence to the other. It really is quite upsetting to watch.

My vet has advised me that unless she is having seizures a lot it wont be necessary to be on medication.

Good luck with your dog!!!

PS. Also when I was researching this, alot of sights said the seizures happen a lot on full moons…..thats when Tia had her last one. A bit weird huh?