Seizures

[dukemom]

A few weeks ago, my golden retriever had a seizure for the first time. I was scared too death. I knew what it was but he had never had one before. I rushed him to the emergency vet (cost lots) and she did a blood test. The blood test came back fine.
Since then, he has had 3 total, that I know of within 4 weeks.
He is a chewer, chews whatever he can get a hold of. But I am usually very good about closing all the doors and picking up. The night of the first seizure he had gotten into the bathroom a few hours before the seizure and chewed stuff such as plastic, toilet paper, etc. So, I was wondering if some toxin had gotten into his system, but the vet said the blood test came back fine.
Last night, he had another seizure. Yesterday, during the day, he chewed a few pieces of a plastic lid.
I do not know if he is getting epilespy or if it is something that he is getting into?
Any help appreciated.

 

[GlassOnion]

What'd the vet say? Did you just have a blood test done or did you have her test for neurologic conditions and what not?

 

[Kat09Tails]

Most seizures in dogs are idiopathic and a one time event from my understanding. At this point however I'd be looking for a medicated control since they are recurring rather frequently.

 

[dukemom]

The doctor just did a blood test, that's all.
Not sure why.

 

[StillandSilent]

How old is your dog? Many of them start developing epilepsy in the 4-5 year old range, even if they didn't have seizures earlier.

I'm not 100% sure what the blood test is for either, but they did one on my Argon after his 1st seizure that came back negative also. At the time I wasn't savvy enough to ask what it was for, and I'd almost forgotten it.

Make sure you document not only the date of the seizures, but times, how long it lasted and what exactly occured when you speak to the vet. You might end up seeing a pattern.

 

[dukemom]

He is 4.
The blood test was to check if any of his levels were off and to see if he had any toxins in his body.
I was saying I dont know why just a blood test was done and not other testing.
Is your Argon on medication?

 

[StillandSilent]

Argon is not currently medicated. His epilepsy responded well after we went to a totally raw and grain free diet. He has not had a seizure in 8 months, and is doing very well. We tried phenobarbitol, and it did work, but I was concerned about his liver, and I would rather keep him off of medication for as long as possible.

However, I will say that his seizures were not severe to start with. If his seizures had been dangerous, he would be on meds.

 

[UniquityBelgians]

The first thing you need to ask for is a thyroid test. Goldens are extremely prone to hypothyroidism, and an underactiove thyroid will often cause seizures.
Make sure you get the full blood panel done for thyroid. If your vet says it's negative, I'd ask them to send the results to Dr Dodds, who is the expert on thyroid testing. Dr Dodds will often point out issues in the results that are overlooked by other vets.
If it's the thyroid, he'll just need a pill every day that will release a synthetic hormone into his body. They're inexpensive pills. The dose will likely need to increase over the years, so I wouldn't expect him to be seizure-free forever, but when he has a seizure he will just need the medication dose regulated and then he should be good again for a while.

 

[dukemom]

Thanks UniquityBelgians!
Who is Dr. Dodds?

 

[Bigpoodleperson]

You said that the emergency vet saw him and ran the tests. Im guessing from your posts that his regular vet was never followed up with? If not then he needs to be ASAP! You need to talk to your vet now about medications, further testing, etc. The ER doc is not the one you need to go to now. You need a regular day practice vet to do these things with (like a GP doctor).

 

[dukemom]

I have followed up with my regular vet. He decided to put my dog on phenob.
So, we will see what happens.
It's very scary and upsetting.

 

[UniquityBelgians]

You should run the thyroid tests before trying phenobarb. It's alot more likely to be thyroid than epilepsy. Phenobarb has it's risks, the thyroid meds are alot safer, and not a "band-aid" like the phonobarb (if it's thyroid). Pheno should be your last resort. A thyroid test is one of the first things a vet should recommend. I'd switch vets.

 

[Gypsydals]

Most vets(good ones anyway) will require a thyroid test and liver test before giving Pheno. That way they have a baseline to compare to in the future. I know when my girl Chloe was on Pheno and a mulitude of other anti-seizure meds. She was required to have a thyroid and liver test every 6 months to make sure the meds where not messing other things up. Because most anti-seizure meds can mess the thyroid and liver up pretty badly.

 

[~Dixie's_Mom~]

Yeah, if he's only had two seizures, and they weren't grand mal seizures (what happened when he had the seizures? was he flailing? making sounds? peeing/pooping on himself?) I'd be very hesitant to put him on pheno...

My 6 year old dog, has seizures (pretty low range as far as how bad they are) and has had several, but we are trying to find a way to get rid of them without putting her on pheno. It's very hard on their bodies, and at at this point would be much more detrimental to her health than the seizures are.