MY dog has seizures.

[AnitaF]

My 3-year-old Jack Russell had a seizure last evening. He's been extremely healthy and has eaten all kinds of foreign objects since he was a puppy. He was very destructive until age 2 and ate DVD's, stuffing from a comforter, styrofoam, etc., etc., etc., even my husband's seizure pills, but never had any health problems.

I had him and my other dog, a 6-year-old collie/terrier mix (the unhealthy one) outside for about 1-1/2 hours. They roam around and eat grass, leaves and whatever they can find. After I brought them inside, I fed them their raw diet - yesterday was canned mackerel, raw egg and raw chicken liver and gizzard. About an hour after they ate, I heard a ruckus in the living room and went to investigate. Vito, the Jack Russell, was doing something that I can't even describe and I thought he was playing with the other dog. I yelled his name to get him to stop but he didn't and then I could see that he was having a seizure. It seemed to last a very long time and I didn't know what to do. My son tried to pet him and talk to him to get him to calm down, and he bit my son (not hard) and scrambled to get up, had a wild look in his eyes and scrambled ("spinning his wheels" on the laminate flooring) from the living room to my son's room. My husband and son said when he reached the carpeting in my son's room, he seemed okay. He then ran back out to the living room and sniffed (kind of frantically) the area on the floor where he had had the seizure. He was panting, so my husband gave him a drink and then took him outside. He was not lethargic after the seizure at all and played normally and has been okay ever since. We did notice, though, that his nose was warm after the seizure and it's usually cold and wet, which it is this morning.

I was wondering if maybe he ate a toxic plant or something outside that may have caused the seizure. He once ate some weeds I was pulling out of the garden and then acted "high" and "spacy" all evening but has never had a seizure before. I'm hoping it never happens again. I've seen my husband have grand mal seizures and I had a mini schnauzer that had seizures from her congestive heart failure but every seizure, no matter how many you've seen, is always very scary.

[Amanda885]

yeah, i agree...keep note of when they occur so maybe you can pick up on other patterns and see how often they are , and if they decrease or increase within time. poor dog. Hope everything will be ok and you figure out what causes them

[Gguevara]

Eating certain things such as plastic or other toxics can definitely cause your dog to have seizures or seizure like episodes.

My mom has a beagle who would have seizures and the vet couldn't figure out why. She got him from a pet shop in the mall (I know) so I figured it was genetic due to bad breeding - even though besides the seizures he looked and acted like a dog who was very well bred.. One day I caught him chewing on a water bottle when I was over and figured out they use to let him play with water bottles because they seemed to be his favorite toy.
So, I went to a different vet and told him about the seizures and suggested they might be from chewing plastic, he told me I was right (in this case). Since they stopped letting him play with things that he can actually tear apart and swallow he hasn't had any seizures and it's been 2 years now.
As for what to do when a dog is having a seizure, NEVER pet it or try to comfort it, the dog doesn't have control of his body and they can suddenly bite etc (your son was lucky he didn't get bit hard AnitaF). You should just make sure the dog doesn't injure himself by running into a wall or something. Grab something soft, like a pillow, and put it in the way of the dog and whatever he might collide with. If he tends to stay in the same spot, just wait it out.
A dog will most likely be pretty tired after the seizure/convulsion so just let him have something to drink and give him some rest.

So, if your vet has ruled out other causes for your dogs seizures and nobody can figure out why they happen. I would watch what goes into his stomach. Good luck.

[bubbatd]

One of my off-springs had seizures after getting hold of a golf ball . The center is toxic .

[MicksMom]

I think the Labrador Retriver Club was doing research on epilepsy in Labs. They might be able to give you some info.

The AKC Parent Club of the Labrador Retriever