Dachloves201
New Member
I had the most terrifying experience with my oldest, Gizmo, this past Tuesday at around 1:30AM. I awoke to hearing furious scratching. Gizmo appeared to have been sleeping near a box that he has taken over as his 'bed' instead of being in it though he was near it and the scratching that awoke me was him deep into a seizure fit. I initially thought he was scratching himself but realized he was laying there feet paddling, his head back and body rigid except for his feet and eyes fixed open. I've seen seizures in my friends dogs before and immediately knew Gizmo was having a seizure. I have seen him have tremors if he was dehydrated and I was easily able to solve that with electrolytes and he was up and running within minutes, but this was much different! Gizmo was blank, he did not respond to me and his shakes continued. I kept as calm as I could, pet him and reassured that I was there but the shakes continued. It felt like an eternity and he was not stopping. I decided he needed to get to emergency and fast! So I scooped him up and the violent shaking seemed to calm a bit but he was still out of it no response to his name or my talking to him at all. He just laid a bit limp eyes opened and fixed, yet blank.
As I drove him to emergency the violent shakes were gone but he still was having seizure like symptoms. Some mild feet paddling then he'd stop shaking for a bit, then again he'd have some feet paddling and then of course drooling, his head would posture back but then it would seem like he'd come back very briefly before his head would go down again and he'd start paddling again. I got him to emergency and they administered Valium but he did not fully come out of the seizure and was still seizing. They did blood work to check his overall condition and ensure their was no underlying organ issue most especially with his liver as they wanted to follow up the Valium with phenobarbital to see if that would cut the seizure and allow him to come to. Luckily, my boy had a good outcome with the blood work and was able to get the phenobarbital. He did come around after that, they then sedated him and continued to administer fluids. After some monitoring at his regular vet I was able to get him back home around 6pm that same evening. The unfortunate part is neither myself or the vet have been able to pinpoint what caused his seizure to start in the first place. This is the first time I've ever seen him have a seizure and this appeared to be a grand mal seizure just from how deep he was and there appeared to be a back to back kind of nature to them because he never got a long while of 'consciousness' before he was back in a seizure like state.
So now they have my boy on phenolbarbitol twice a day since this incident which is unfortunate considering up until this Gizmo has not had any major health issues. In fact, his bloodwork taken while he was still under really only showed at that time low glucose and mild anemia. The vet at the emergency clinic and my regular vet felt that could have been related to the stress of the event (glucose) and the anemia could have been due to the loads of fluids they pumped into him. I have read that low blood sugar could cause seizures but without knowing what state that was in prior to the seizure I guess I and the vet really can't point to that as the cause. I really checked all around my house and could not find any evidence of anything being tampered with that could have caused the seizure. So I'm left with watching one of my babies adjust to this medicine that has the most awful side effects from the start not to mention those that could come further down the road.
It's so sad to watch him trip over or be wobbly at times, sleep more and realize it's the medication doing it to him but being unsure about taking him off all together. I have a plan to talk to my vet about the chances of taking him off after some time of being seizure free or trying to see what happens if we cut back his doses a bit. He does seem to be adjusting some but he has good days and bad day on the medication where it seems one day he is fine and happy the next he's sleepy, walking slowly or slipping as he walks. I'm hoping he can come off, get a lower doses or I can find a good alternative that doesn't affect him so much.
Has anyone else dealt with dachies and seizures and have any thoughts as to what a sudden onset of a seizure could be? Some things to look at? I know they sometimes have said a brain tumor could cause a seizure but he's shown no other neurological like symptoms except for this seizure.=/
As I drove him to emergency the violent shakes were gone but he still was having seizure like symptoms. Some mild feet paddling then he'd stop shaking for a bit, then again he'd have some feet paddling and then of course drooling, his head would posture back but then it would seem like he'd come back very briefly before his head would go down again and he'd start paddling again. I got him to emergency and they administered Valium but he did not fully come out of the seizure and was still seizing. They did blood work to check his overall condition and ensure their was no underlying organ issue most especially with his liver as they wanted to follow up the Valium with phenobarbital to see if that would cut the seizure and allow him to come to. Luckily, my boy had a good outcome with the blood work and was able to get the phenobarbital. He did come around after that, they then sedated him and continued to administer fluids. After some monitoring at his regular vet I was able to get him back home around 6pm that same evening. The unfortunate part is neither myself or the vet have been able to pinpoint what caused his seizure to start in the first place. This is the first time I've ever seen him have a seizure and this appeared to be a grand mal seizure just from how deep he was and there appeared to be a back to back kind of nature to them because he never got a long while of 'consciousness' before he was back in a seizure like state.
So now they have my boy on phenolbarbitol twice a day since this incident which is unfortunate considering up until this Gizmo has not had any major health issues. In fact, his bloodwork taken while he was still under really only showed at that time low glucose and mild anemia. The vet at the emergency clinic and my regular vet felt that could have been related to the stress of the event (glucose) and the anemia could have been due to the loads of fluids they pumped into him. I have read that low blood sugar could cause seizures but without knowing what state that was in prior to the seizure I guess I and the vet really can't point to that as the cause. I really checked all around my house and could not find any evidence of anything being tampered with that could have caused the seizure. So I'm left with watching one of my babies adjust to this medicine that has the most awful side effects from the start not to mention those that could come further down the road.
It's so sad to watch him trip over or be wobbly at times, sleep more and realize it's the medication doing it to him but being unsure about taking him off all together. I have a plan to talk to my vet about the chances of taking him off after some time of being seizure free or trying to see what happens if we cut back his doses a bit. He does seem to be adjusting some but he has good days and bad day on the medication where it seems one day he is fine and happy the next he's sleepy, walking slowly or slipping as he walks. I'm hoping he can come off, get a lower doses or I can find a good alternative that doesn't affect him so much.
Has anyone else dealt with dachies and seizures and have any thoughts as to what a sudden onset of a seizure could be? Some things to look at? I know they sometimes have said a brain tumor could cause a seizure but he's shown no other neurological like symptoms except for this seizure.=/
