Seizures in dogs

[Kaitum]

My 3.5 yr old lab started having seizures this week. He's active, a normal weight, and otherwise a healthy dog. I know there are dozens of things that can cause a seizure. Blood work after the first one was normal. After the next one I figured I'd better seek out a specialist clinic and see if they can give me more answers. Him having them at a relatively young age is what worries me most. I know medication can help manage for seizures but both vets suggested he'd be on meds the rest of his life once he starts. Seems all meds have their side effects, mostly to liver and kidneys. I was curious what experiences others gave had managing seizures with their dog. I realize even after diagnostic tests I may not know anything more and he'll still end up on meds.

 

[mdhunter]

I am convinced my labs seizures were caused by Seresto flea and tick collars. Changed those out and she got off seizure medicine and never had a seizure again.

 

[stillkickin]

My Draht started having seizures after her first dose of oral flea and tick medicine at age 7. Always used topical prior and never had an issue. Vet said unlikely but i see now they have a warning about that in their ads. Coincidence ?

New pup gets the old stand by topical

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

One of our Labs had them and it turned out his prostate was twice the size as normal. The vet neutered him and that took care of the seizures. Drastic measures but it worked in his case.

 

[Mallardsx2]

I know this is a long shot but make sure you don’t have any rat poison randomly lying around.

 

[SAJ-99]

My 3.5 yr old lab started having seizures this week. He's active, a normal weight, and otherwise a healthy dog. I know there are dozens of things that can cause a seizure. Blood work after the first one was normal. After the next one I figured I'd better seek out a specialist clinic and see if they can give me more answers. Him having them at a relatively young age is what worries me most. I know medication can help manage for seizures but both vets suggested he'd be on meds the rest of his life once he starts. Seems all meds have their side effects, mostly to liver and kidneys. I was curious what experiences others gave had managing seizures with their dog. I realize even after diagnostic tests I may not know anything more and he'll still end up on meds.

Sorry to hear. I had a lab that started to have seizures (grand mal) at around 3. Apparently that is the when stuff starts declaring itself, so the age of your dog is about right. I started him on potassium bromide and it helped to control/manage the seizures but the side effect of thinking everything was food eventually did him in. Good luck.

 

[Carnage2011]

I’d check his ear canal’s if the blood work is good. I had a dog get a couple seizures that we couldn’t figure out. Ended up being a cheatgrass seed stuck in her ear. It had festered and caused an abscess which was throwing things off.

 

[Tmbrgost]

I am sorry to hear about the seizures. I too have had some experience (issues) with cheat grass in the ears of one of my Boykin Spaniels causing seizures. Once cleaned out issues went away.

Over the years the different vets I used weren’t very helpful (some not all). Seemed to want to push medications over actual deduction and common sense approaches. Sometimes the answer is in the little, insignificant changes that we don’t think of. IMO look for any changes to anything your pup has been exposed to or has had changed I.e food, fertilizer, ticks, fleas, environment, essential oils, check pads etc.

I hope you can get it figured out and remedied soon! Best wishes-

 

[OpenCountry]

I am convinced my labs seizures were caused by Seresto flea and tick collars. Changed those out and she got off seizure medicine and never had a seizure again.

I had my dogs on bravecto for fleas and ticks for a couple years. One started having random seizures around the same timeframe each year. Finally connected the dots and stopped giving it to them. He hasn’t shown a sign of anything since.

 

[utah400elk]

We have an older lab that has seizures. We tried the medicine but it was sad to see it kill his general drive to do anything lab like so we stopped. My wife did a ton of research and we learned that it could be his food. We switched to a Costco brand and he has gone several years without any seizures.

He was a rescue dog from Hurricane Urma and has been a great family pet. He was found running around the swamps of Florida with a electric training collar around his neck. It kills us to watch him have a seizure. (He is the dog in the back)

 

[Bhoesl]

This might seem obvious, but was it unusually hot out when the seizures happened? Our lab/border collie mutt has had a few seizures, always while outside on a hot day. Getting her into a cool creek has helped each time.

 

[Fire_9]

Our German wire hair started having them when he was a year and half old. Never could figure out the cause and had to put him down at 5. We tried all the meds with him and they definitely took a toll on him but the longest seizure free stretch we had was after we started him on CBD. They slowly started to ramp up again but we went 7 months without one after we started him on that.

They’re no fun to watch. I really hope you can get a handle on it

 

[elkhuntinfool78]

Man, so sorry to hear about your dog. Hopefully it will be a result of some environmental factor or medication and it won't happen again.

My best buddy had idiopathic epilepsy and that's a rough road. He had his first seizure at 2 1/2 and lived to be 7 years old. Seizures got progressively worse. I actually got trained as a vet tech so I could start iv and administer different drugs to pull him out of a bad spell as they got very severe.

I've really never gotten over losing him. He was there for me after I had brain surgery and I tried to be there for him until the very end. He ended up having a heart attack in the middle of the night and passed. Probably for the best as I don't think I could have made the decision to put him down

I sure hope your pup does well, I know many do and even if he needs to go on meds many times they can live a long healthy life

 

[Kaitum]

I appreciate the feedback. When he had his first seizure I was in the middle of transitioning to a different brand of food. I've switched back to his old food. Heat was something I considered but it wasn't especially hot those days and he wasn't running around much. I have an appointment with a specialist in Tucson on Thursday but before then I'm going to ask the local vet to check inside his ears closely. I don't have him on any other meds or flea treatment.

 

[Bhill552]

My beagle never had a seizure until i started simparica trio. Had 3 all within a week of the taking the pill. Stopped the simpairca trio and he hasnt had one in 3 years.

 

[FairWeather]

My pup has had them a few times, due to liver issues. We give him SAMe nightly, and that works for the most part. He’s had all of 3 throughout his life.

 

[Labman]

My first lab had the Exercise Induced Collapse seizures starting at about 2yrs old. Pretty scary deal, especially when he was around water. Other than that it wasn’t really life altering. The phenobarbital was exceptional at treating it. Lived until he was 14.

 

[Kaitum]

This is a scan of a dog's brain. Luckily, Pecos' was 'unremarkable.'

 

[bogey]

My rescue lab started having them at about 7 years old. Working with my vet took her off the different medications and changed her food a number of times. She is on phenobarbital and Keppra. It has been very successful, but if she misses a pill, or the timing gets off, she is very susceptible to have one. With the treatment they have been cut down by about 90% and the severity of them are much lower. To mirror the comments on the ear infections, she has chronic problems with her ears, I spend more time and money on her ears, but even with clean ears she still has them. Good Luck, it is hell having to watch our four legged kids have them.

 

[shannerdrake]

Our pup had seizures for the last 8 years of his life, but we managed them pretty well. I took awhile to get dialed, but without a doubt CBD oil was the best treatment and it was cheap and natural. There is a company called Lazarus that makes a high dose canine specific CBD that worked miracles for him.