Seizure?

[kunold]

In the middle of the night, our dachsund (Lucy/6 yrs. old) had what appeared to be a seizure. She couldn't breath or walk and her body was arched. She was moving around on her side for about 2 minutes struggling. She started trying to bite the carpet so I put my finger in her mouth and pushed her tongue from the roof of her mouth down to where it's supposed to be. This worked. She started walking and breathing normally. We took her to the emergency vet and they said she appeared normal. Any comments or suggestions are much appreciated.

[Cindi]

Congrats for getting your dog 'out of the seizure' if that is what happened. However, dogs cannot swallow their tongue as is 'said' in humans so please, watch your fingers and don't do that again. I worry you will come away with less than you had because they cannot help what they do in seizures. If she had already been in the seizure for 2 minutes, she was probably nearly done with it. This comes from experience. I have a 12.5 year old that has had seizures since she was 5 years old. If they aren't too serious or too frequent (more than 1 a month for me is too frequent) she won't need meds. I've found that the easiest way for both parties to ride it out is to hold her under a blanket (dark seems to make it pass for my girl more quickly) and just talk soothingly. It can be very frightening to the dog.
I was told they aren't life threatening (obviously since my girl is 12.5 years old)if they aren't the grand mal type and as long as you are calm, she will be fine.
There aren't really any tests that can be done to diagnose 'seizures' per se unless they are caused by a disease. So no need for expensive testing....in my history with seizures.
Good luck and if you can weather them (and there's not an underlying reason for them) so can she!!

[CJ]

When my mom's dachsie, Sugar, started having seizures around age 4, the vet put her on dilantin for few months... this seemed to do the trick. She hasn't had any major seizures in over two years, but occaisionally she'll lose bladder control while standing and staring... Doc said this was probably just a mild seizure. We're still not sure what caused the problem to begin with. (I guess I should mention, the vet did not start the medication until she began having frequent seizures.)

[Cindi]

I agree with CJ. Medicine should only be started once the seizures are frequent. My 12.5 year old is on Phenobarb twice a day and Potassium Bromide once a day. Until we started the PB, she was quite sleepy most of the day. After combining the 2 drugs, she became an active part of the family again.

[bec]

my treasured dachshund, willie, frequently had seizures. when they ocurred, we would put him under a heating pad and just soothe him. he'd slip out of it after about 5 minutes.

[Mandy]

One of our dogs used to have seizures. They were not bad enough that he had to take medicine. We held him and taked to him as he would get really frightened. A danger you don't really think of....Petie was on the couch once when he had a seizure. I was not in the room until I heard a noise...Petie falling off of the couch. The only thing I can think to say is show them lots of love..Petie died last month, just a couple months shy of his 14th brithday!

[Pam C]

One of my dogs was 5 yrs when she had a seizure. I was lucky it only happened once. I sat conforting her and made sure she did injury herself. She wasn't a dachsie but a greyhound. I found out later she had a bad heart.
Seizures can be hereditary or brought on by drug reaction (as with my greyhound from the drugs given to her at the track) or injury and disease. Puppies can seize from improper diet or parasites.
They aren't normally dangerous unless they start happening one right after another and the dog doesn't have time to recover. Then the dog can die without treatment.
Now with the drugs available seizures can be controlled. The only problem is finding the proper dosage this takes trail and error on the vet's part.
The only big caution is not to breed a dog that has seizures. You would want to chance passing it on to the next generation.
But as far as a pet is concerned I had a beagle that had seizures from around 3yrs until he was 15yrs. We did not give him medicine to control it (didn't know there was such a thing back then!)
Sorry I get writing and ramble. http://dachsie.org/ubb/smile.gif