I think my dog may be having seizures

LuvMyBabies

Hi all. I have recently rescued a second dog. Toby is a two year old yorkshire terrier that definitely has some issues.

He spent the first 5 months of his life in a cage at a pet store. He was purchased by a co-worker of mine who decided after a year that "he didn't fit in with the family".

I took him in knowing that he had some issues with separation anxiety, but he is a very loving little dog that gets on very well with my other dog, William.

Anyway, I have been noticing episodes where Toby will stand there and his mouth starts to chatter as if he is shivering. His bottom jaw just chatters a mile a minute for a short period of time then is stops. Immediately afterword, he seems a little disoriented but soon is back to himself again. I have tried to find a common factor when this happens and it usually is either (A) when he is playing and is very stimulated or (B) when is is stressing out about something.

Has anyone else had this issue with their dog?

HDrydr · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 1:52 am Post subject:

luvmybabies, Have you taken Toby (BTW I had a dog growing up named Toby and my mom has a dog named Toby Jr named after Toby). sorry have you taken him to the vet?? Sounds like a epilepsy issue by the way you say he is disoriented afterwards for a brief time then is "normal".

I certainly would not wait to have him checked. This can be treated, and I would hate for him to have a bigger more dangerous seizure. Seizures can be triggered by stress or strenuous activity. Which is what you said you noted them happening.

Keep us informed!! WTG at taking in a "special needs" fur animal... Hats off to you.
Your the best

Good luck

Samsintentions · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 4241 Location: Texas

Small breeds are known for having seizures and other issues. My mothers Chi does the same thing. Sometimes she'll fall over and go stiff and do the same thing.
I highly encourage you to seek veterinary advice and help. There are medicines and things you can do to prevent them. Diet change is also in order.

LuvMyBabies · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:33 pm Post subject:

We have been to the vet this afternoon and she is doing a full range of blood and urine tests to try to make a diagnosis but her initial reaction is petit mal seizures. We are also trying to get his records from the former owner's vet.

Toby (like William) is an allergy dog so both of my dogs are on very restrictive diets. Fortunately, they are on the same diet so I don't have to worry about each one getting the other's food. We don't think that it is food related as these "seizures" were happening when I first got Toby before I changed his diet.

I feel terrible that I didn't recognize this sooner. I noticed some odd moments with Toby and I was perplexed but not really worried as I was chalking it up to stress of a new home/environment, etc. It was just last night that all of a sudden it dawned on me that it could be seizures.

Mary_NH · Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:38 am Post subject:

my Molly did this when we first got her. She was 6 months old and would stand still, her head would start to slightly bob just quickly go up/down. It would only last for seconds but it was quite noticable.
I got lucky as her first vet appointment as I was telling the vet about them she had one - and it was hard as her head got to bobbing so hard she actually fell over!!!
Molly is a GSD BTW
Anyway vet said watch for frequency, see if we could relate it to her emotions (anxious, excited, etc.) and the intensity.
She stopped having them when she was about 1.5 years old. She never had to go on medication at all. The intensity stayed the same and very very infrequently she would have one hard enough that she'd fall over.
She hasn't had one now in over a year and she'll be 3 in July.

Mary_NH · Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:40 am Post subject:

I wanted to mention Molly is a very anxious neurotice OCD-type dog. We did discover these little seizures would occur if she was overly stimulated ("wanna go for a walk, ride" type thing...or after playing with her). But she's still a very anxious dog

HDrydr · Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:54 am Post subject:

Glad to hear that it was diagnosed hopefully Toby can be medicated so that his seizures can be managed. Good luck and thanks for keeping us informed.

Mary I'm glad that Molly's seizures are gone.

Sara · Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:13 pm Post subject:

One more thing with small dogs and seizures when they are young, they can grow out of them.

Dauby, my chinese crested, would have seizures but usually induced by some kind of "trauma"... He'd play with the other dogs and if he got toppled just right or anything like that he'd kinda have a seizure and we'd have to keep him in his crate pretty much for the rest of the day. Afterwords he would be REALLY disorented and nervous and he'd kinda think we were the bad guys so the best thing for him at the time was to just let him rest. He'd usually have one once a month but after the last real bad one last summer he hasn't had any since and I'm hoping he's grown out of it. He turned one over the winter.

It's very possible that the Chi. will grow out of the seizures too. They are REALLY hard to diagnose sometimes but hopefully it'll be resolved for you. I think it's probably scarier for all parties involved than it often times is.

Sara

Samsintentions · Moderator Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 4241 Location: Texas

Yeah, Tubby had them BAD when she was a puppy. They put her on an epliepsy drug but mom didn't give it to her after a while. it just wasn't helping. So she switched her over to a new food, lower in protien content and no grains... and now that she's older, she hasn't had one in a while.... So could be that they grow out of it...

I do know in Chi's it takes a while for their fontenels to grow up... and in some they don't at alll. So any trauma can lead to siezures or damage.

HDrydr · Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 2:14 am Post subject:

I hope that the pup grows out of the epilepsy issue!! How are things going? Keep up the good work.

Nik · Member Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 258 Location: UK

Hi there,
firstly, well done you for taking on another dog with "issues". Complications must be the last thing you need!

I haven't had any experience with siezures in dogs, sorry.

I have witnessed this behaviour in my dog though. I thought I'd mention it as if the tests come back that he has a clean bill of health this 'could' be the issue.
My boy does the thing you've explained when he's licked another dogs urine. Yuck! But he only does it very rarely, he licks at the ground/grass then stands there with his jaw going at warp speed, chattering and dribbling before pulling himself together and racing off as normal.

I always found it really strange and haven't mentioned it to anyone so have no idea if anyone elses dog does it, or if it's 'normal' behaviour.

I just thought I'd throw it in there incase it was the same thing.

Nik.

HDrydr · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:58 am Post subject:

Sara · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:38 pm Post subject:

The behavior you're describing Nik is totally normal. Dogs have sent glands in the roofs of their mouths and they do that chattering to get the scent to go into those glands. Those glands are more sensitive than their noses are so that just usually means they're trying to get a closer "look" at the dog who left the tidbit of information in his/her urine.

Sara