Possible Seizures?

[Jojo's Mom]

Hi everyone. Jolene, one of our Poms, went outside, ate some grass, and then threw up. As she finished thowing up, she flipped backwards and then all four legs shook as she was lying on the ground. This was very brief, less than a half minute. It really looked like a seizure. Afterwards she was fine. She did this a couple of other times a few months ago. Both times, she threw up, and then fell with legs twitching. Since it didn't happen again I wasn't too worried, but then it happened again yesterday.

I'm very familiar with seizures in people, as my daughter has them. Have you ever heard of vomit-induced seizures in dogs? Do you have any idea what happened to her if it wasn't a seizure? Also, she is about two and a half years old and otherwise healthy. She had one litter of pups before we got her. At that time she had a c-section and was spayed. Thanks.

*Edit- I forgot to mention that she has a very slight heart murmur that our vet discovered a year ago when we first got her. He said it was a "grade 1" murmur.

[jdf]

Vomiting can be part of a seizure...don't know if it could actually cause one but I personally doubt it ( not a vet however). Vomiting is one possible affect of a Partial Seizure but it sounds like if this is a partial seizure, it may be a complex form given that your pup follows the vomiting with further seizure activity. At this point, it sounds like the seizures are fairly mild and not very often. Still, It would be a good idea to speak with your vet about this, especially if the seizures increase in severity and/or rate of occurance. As you know, epilepsy can be controlled with medication and for a Pom, the cost would be very minimal. For peace of mind, I think you should have your vet check things out.

I doubt if the other things you mention -the litter of pups, the spaying and the heart murmur - have anything to do with what's going on since the source of seizure activity originates in the brain.

Best of luck with Jolene....

[Jojo's Mom]

OK, thanks for the reply. I was hoping that maybe it was something other than seizures. I hate to have to medicate her because I know the meds can have bad side effects, including personality changes.

[Tia's Mommy]

My toy poodle was frequently having what I thought were seizures. She would not go on her back but would be flat out on her chest, legs splayed, head bobbing back and forth. Occasionally she would urinate and almost always she would vomit. The first time I went to the vet I didn't describe everything that I thought was happening, but did say I though she was having seizures. The vet indicated that she would prefer not to put her on medication unless they were happening more than once a month. From that point on, I decided to really monitor them. Everytime she had a seizure I would date and time and also describe any activity and also the symptoms. Well, after many years she started to have them more than once a month so I took her to the vet. The vet was perplexed with the vomiting. She said that is NOT a typical symptom of a seizure and she thought it may be a digestive issue. We didn't give our dog alot of people food except fruit so we cut out all fruit (which she loved). She had one questionable 'seizure' since we went to the vet re this about 1 1/2 years ago so all is well in that regard. Recently, we have reintroduced watermelon to her since it is very low acid but other than some grated apple that goes into her homemade cookies, she no longer gets fruit. I hope this helps.

[Jojo's Mom]

Well Jolene did it again yesterday. My husband saw this one and he thought it was a seizure too. So we'll be off to the vet's office today.

[anneh]

Go to canine-epilepsy.com for all the information you need about epilepsy. Covers meds/supplements/diet/holistic etc. My dog hs seizures and found this site to be gift from heaven for us plus they have a forum to get input on your case (site is overseen by Dr William Thomas, neurologist so all info is correct).
anneh

[quote="Jojo's Mom"]Well Jolene did it again yesterday. My husband saw this one and he thought it was a seizure too. So we'll be off to the vet's office today. [/quote]

[Traci]

Jo-Jo's mom, if your vet doesn't persue further disgnostics with your dog, I would suggest a second opinion. If the second vet is perplexed as well and doesn't feel it is actually seizure activity, you might want to discuss ruling out megaesophagus or myasthenia gravis. (thyroid, adrenal function testing and AChR antibody titer might be helpful if myasthenia gravis is suspected)

[Jojo's Mom]

Thank you for your replies. Our vet feels that Jolene did have seizures. After running a blood panel, he had us start her on Phenobarb. Hopefully she'll be fine.