Scary moment - dog seizure

[Parker_Rider]

So I'm sitting at dinner with my parents about 20 minutes ago and their dog, a 4 y/o Bernese Mountain Dog, was sitting at our feet. We looked down and his right back leg was starting to shake, he couldn't move like he was absolutely frozen, and slowly started to shake all over. He's salivating like crazy still, about 15 minutes afterwards and his respiratory rate is still sky rocketed. Clearly a type of seizure. It's happened only once before, maybe about 2-3 months ago where he tried to get off their bed and just completely fell off and couldn't move.

Anyone have experience with this? Obviously another trip to the vet is in order (this has been the year from hell... my mama's other dog ended up at the vet last week with a volcano hole and the biggest fly larva living in him the vet had ever seem....), but any ideas? Some insight that we should ask the vet about or things we can do? We can't think of anything that would be triggering the attacks.

ETA: After I posted it, he just vomited.. dont' know if that matters other than the fact that his body was just racked.

[Bluey]

Our rottie started having serious grand mal seizures, that lasted several minutes, every hour or two, one morning, as she was still asleep.
Boy, it is scary to see a very large dog like that and not be able to help them.
We rushed her to the vet and he finally stabilized her.
She was medicated very heavily and when we were told to start tapering it, so she would have more of a life than a zombie, one massive seizure killed her before we could get her loaded to go back to the vet.

Those dogs as rotties and yours, that have the same ancestors, tend to have the bigger, more serious seizures, idiophatic, no known reason for them and inherited.
You should tell the breeders about this and they should try to quit using those lines.

One rare seizure is of no concern, if a vet can't find a reason, but if they repeat, the eventually can cause brain damage, so it is better to control them then.
Your vet will tell you where to go next with treatment, if it is needed.

Be sure to keep a log and if possible to take pictures or make a video to show the vet.

Hopefully the dog will only have mild ones and not very often.

[MSE]

I feel for you. I had to PTS my one year old seizure dog last year due to complications from his seizures and other problems. As an FYI the complication from the seizure was that sometimes when they have a long (more than a few minutes) seizure it can permanently disrupt the brain chemistry. In his case it caused sudden uncontrollable aggression in him, which didn't show up for several months. These websites were really helpful for me in controlling his seizures and maintaining him until his other problems got the best of him. Good luck!
http://www.canine-epilepsy.com/Resources.html
http://www.holisticpetinfo.com/Conditions/epilepsy.htm

[kdow]

Our previous rotti/gsd rescue developed seizures at ~1 year old - he had one really bad one, but luckily my mom is a nurse and recognized the signs as it was just getting started, so my dad got him into the car and they took him to the emergency vet, who got him sorted out after a while.

He was then on medication twice a day for a couple of years - he seemed to somehow out-grow the seizures, though, as after that we were able to taper him off and he never had another one.

[Thomas_1]

So I'm sitting at dinner with my parents about 20 minutes ago and their dog, a 4 y/o Bernese Mountain Dog, was sitting at our feet. We looked down and his right back leg was starting to shake, he couldn't move like he was absolutely frozen, and slowly started to shake all over. He's salivating like crazy still, about 15 minutes afterwards and his respiratory rate is still sky rocketed. Clearly a type of seizure. It's happened only once before, maybe about 2-3 months ago where he tried to get off their bed and just completely fell off and couldn't move.

Anyone have experience with this? Obviously another trip to the vet is in order (this has been the year from hell... my mama's other dog ended up at the vet last week with a volcano hole and the biggest fly larva living in him the vet had ever seem....), but any ideas? Some insight that we should ask the vet about or things we can do? We can't think of anything that would be triggering the attacks.

ETA: After I posted it, he just vomited.. dont' know if that matters other than the fact that his body was just racked.

We had a retriever that developed epilepsy and because my sister in law was a small animal vet and geneticist and now an international dog judge and breeder, we worked extensively with Professor Skerrit at Liverpool University and other organisations who were researching canine epislepsy.

It's important that you get to the vet and get it checked out and if necessary get the right medication to attempt to control the fitting.

PM me if you want to know anything specifically.

[Drummerboy]

My Westie is going through this right now, started last Nov with one, now we are having them more frequently, looks like we are going to try Phenabarbitol. I had one dog who lived to 19 that was on this, a setter cross, who had a very happy life, went running everyday etc. This one has been harder to diagnose, blood work is fine, we are also dealing with some vision loss, (she is 5), can't tell if its because of the seizures, SARDS, brain tumour etc. Glaucoma ruled out.

It is normal for them to vomit or have a bowel movement after a petite mal seizure, a grand mal is cause for losing bodily functions and may have them urinating or defecating during the seizure. Be cautious for fear agression coming out of one, if the lose conciousnes they are very disorientated coming out of one and may not recognize you at first.

[Bluey]

My current dog, a little rat terrier, had seizures, the kind where she would stand there in mid stride and not be able to move.
We took videos and our vet sent them to a specialist and we put her on phenobarbitol and she was ok for a year.

This last spring, we tapered her off and she has now been several months without medication or seizures, although the specialist said they may come back some time, especially as she gets older.

We really can't say how a dog will do, each one is different, depending on the parts of the brain the seizures affect.

[Over the Hill]

My 7 year old Wire Fox Terrier has had a history of petite mal seizures, very infrequently, perhaps three over a period of some years. Last summer he suffered a grande mal, with the effects lasting over three to four hours. It was very scary. Blood panels and x-rays show nothing, he seems to be the picture of health. I decided, after several serious discussions with his vet, to try accupuncture and Chinese herbs as a route to managing the condition, with the understanding that if there was little to no improvement, we would put him on drugs. His accupuncturist is also a tradional western medicine small animal vet, so he would be closely monitored. Over the course of the past year, beginning with his grande mal, he has had about six accupuncture treatments, along with Di Tan Tang and a short course of Yang Yin Xi Feng. I was truly not a believer going into this, however, as the duration between treatments grew, with no return of seizures, I became one. He has had maybe three very mild episodes during the course of treatment and has returned to the healthy, happy squirrel chasing, frisbee catching dog that he was as a pup. In my opinion, it is worth the try.

[LLDM]

We had 2 over-sized large poodles that were litter mates. The larger one had occasional seizures, but they were pretty rare. He had about six over his lifetime and he made to just under 12 years old. He was never put on medication because they were simply not frequent enough (according to several vets he had over the years).

I know how scary they are. And to me they were quite severe. But I did want to pipe in and say that they *might* end up not being much of a problem. Our dog had a very normal life with an occasional bad seizure thrown in. His brother never had that problem. So it isn't always the worst.

Good luck to you, your parents and your poor dog.

SCFarm

[crosscreeksh]

Another thought...our Great Pyrennes had a mild seizure two years ago. He was on the side porch and his movements sent the house dogs into a frenzie. I, too am an RN so recognized the seizure. The next day (Monday) the vet sent blood off and it was determined that he had a tick born disease - Erylichia. He was on tetracycline 3x a day for 3 weeks - never had another seizure. Then last summer he had another mild seizure and the vet said that Erylichia can lay dormant in a dog so we went with Tet. for 30 days. I watch him like a hawk, but there have been no signs of the condition/seizures returning. I also make sure he is as "tick-free" as possible. I do Frontline and put diazonine pellets in his frequented areas. I also inspect/search for ticks about 4x a day. It may be another possibility for your dog. I hate to see 100+ pounds of seizing, flopping dog!!!