Yesterday, I witnessed one of the most heart-breaking and distressing things that I have seen. My parents' dog, a beautiful black and white cocker named Rex, had what my dad said was his 13th observed seizure since October 1999. I witnessed Rex's first seizure that day and although it only lasted for 5 minutes, it was very upsetting to see. Unfortunately, his seizures have gotten longer and this one last night lasted for a little over 10 minutes. I was sitting at the computer at my folks' place, reading the main forum, when Rex who loves to chase the lights and sniff the floors in the dining room shot over to me and got under the desk. I sensed something wrong immediately and noticed he was shaking. I told my dad, and he knew that Rexie was having a seizure. My dad then picked Rex up, not easy to do since he was shaking so much and took him outside. Rex continued to shake and his whole body got stiff. He wound up defecating on the deck, but the worse was yet to come. He continued the shaking and then I saw his eyes....they were so glassy...he looked like he was dead! My mom happened to come out at that time and saw that & she started crying. I was very upset, but my dad remained very calm. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, Rex came out of it. 5 minutes after the seizure, Rex was back to normal. You see, Rex was run over by a truck 5 years ago and we feel that he suffered a concussion. He broke his hip and had to have surgery and was lucky to be alive. But a side effect of this accident apparently are these seizures he has (which are about every 30 to 45 days). Unfortunately, the vet we go to says that he can't really do anything about this problem because he has to be there to see them. Of course, the seizures are only 5 to 10 minutes long, so they would be over by the time he got to our house. My dad told me that Rex's seizures are mild compared to other dogs and said that some dogs have seizures that last over an hour! I just could not imagine to see Rex go through something like that for that long of a period of time. I guess I have a couple of questions to people who have had experience with this situation/problem: 1) Will these seizures continue to get longer? Like maybe up to an hour? 2) Will these seizures wind up killing him prematurely? Any insight that anyone has on this would be greatly appreciated. We have had several Cockers in the past, but none has been as much loved as Rex. Just thinking about what happened to him last night is tearing me up right now. Here is a picture of me with him before he started being afflicted by these terrible things:
I really hate to hear sad stories about people's pets... I'm sorry for your pet and your family... here's a link to a google search on Dog Seizures hope something in there can help. I have never experienced nor wish to experience what you and your family are going through...
My mom used to have a peke-a-poo that had seizures. He was on the same type of anti-seizure medicines that humans were. The medication appeared to help. His seizures were never terribly long in duration. They would pick him up and stroke him to calm him down. He lived to be a ripe old age and I think died a natural death.
rockHEAD: Thanks for the links and for the sympathetic words. Rex means a lot to me and my family, and your post was greatly appreciated. bobrek: That is very encouraging news. My biggest fear other than the damage that is done to Rex by these seizures is a premature death. Your story gives me hope. I'll need to tell my dad about that. fade: Unfortunately, we never know when they are going to happen, but that is something that I have thought about, but I think my dad would not go for that until the seizures get longer in duration.
Yesterday I found out my dog has arthritis in all his joints (ankles, knees, and hips). We knew he had it in his back legs, but the vet told us he has it all over. The bad thing is that, although treatable, it will eventually get so bad that he will probably need to be put down. He's only 8 years old, so he isn't exactly ancient. But it's nothing compared to dog seizures.
I hope you weren't thinking that I was implying that seizures are the worst thing that a dog can have. If my post came across that way, then I apologize. If Rex had arthritis, then we would all be upset by this. Any debilitating disease, whether arthritis, epilepsy (seizures), etc. for a dog is just a terrible thing to see your dog go through. Life can be so unfair sometimes.
Manny, no reason to appologize, your post didn't come round that way. In my eyes (and I know very little about dog related illnesses) a seizure seems to be worse than arthritis. I wasn't trying to get into a heated debate or anything. Damn straight....
That's quite alright, getsmartnow. I would almost think that arthritis is just as bad or worse than seizures, but they are all bad. Especially to creatures that you love with all your heart.
Manny- I have a 6 year old lab that starting having seizures last year. He actually jumped out of my second story window one afternoon when he had his first one. I wasn't home so it must have scared him to be alone. I took him to the vet and at first they wanted to do a CAT-scan, which ios about $1500. I asked about other options and hey gave me some pills (can't think of the name but essentially muscle relaxers). It hasn't totally cured him but he typically only has one every 2 months or so. His seizures when they first started got more frequent and more extreme, I'm not sure if they ever reach a max point. But go and see a vet, the pills I get are only $8 for 100 of them and they work fairly well. Also I considered the CAT scan but $1500 didn't guarantee me anything, they could look in his head ands say everything looks fine, give me your money. But I'm sorry to hear about your dog.
My dog has seizures. She is a beagle. Last year she had her first seizure. This year she had her second one that we know of. Each time, like about 5 minutes after the seizure she was up and back to normal, begging to be pet like usual.
