Dog convulsions

[white eagle]

My buddy a 6 year old yellow lab has just recently acquired a disturbing
feature that has me and mama very concerned
he seems to become off balance and has muscle tremors or shaking
and seems to be trying to regain his balance
it does not last long might be a minute to a minute and a half and is totally fine
afterwards
has anyone else seen this or dealt with it and or was it serious leading to further
issues :sad:

[Blackwater]

This is a question for a vet, I think.

[William Yanda]

My son had a mostly lab who had seizures. We were told it was hereditary, common to labs. He lived to 14 1/2. Sometimes the seizures were more severe than others. Good luck with your friend.

[Walkingwolf]

Some dogs are prone to seizures, some cases certain flea, tick, heartworm medication can trigger them.

[quack1]

I had a lab that had pretty much the same symptoms, started when he was about 7. I was concerned, as I hunt ducks with my labs and didn't want him to have a seizure while he was swimming. The vet said it was epilepsy, proscribed phenobarbital, and that took care of the seizures. From what I understand it isn't uncommon in labs. That dog lived to 13. That was almost 30 years ago, maybe there is something better to deal with the seizures now, check with a vet. Non of the other labs I have owned since have had any seizures.
Hope you get it figured out, labs are great animals, I'd be lost without having one around.

edit: I must be the worlds slowest typist, there were 3 other responses while I was typing

[shaune509]

Our 4yld lab, Leroy had seizures also, first time tried to swallow his tongue, 2nd trashed the coffee table, and 3rd got stuck in his dog house door,these were the ones we knew of. Had to put him down for the wife's piece of mind and the fact I hate to pay over charging vets being raised on a farm.
Shaune509

[labradigger1]

He needs a vet diagnosis, could be seizures, diabetes or any number of things.
Sorry for your pals trouble.
Labs are my favorite breed

[Skunk1]

Had a Boston terrier a couple years ago. Started have seizures in January. Lots of vet visits and could never get it truly figured out. Ended with him having a seizure that never stopped at 1am when we were camping. Long 1.5hr drive to the nearest emergency vet to have the poor guy put down. Broke my wife's heart. Seizures are more common than you think and most can be treated inexpensivly. Luckily we had a good vet that gave us his private number to call and didn't charge us for half the visits. New Boston in the house now to make the wife happy.

[thegatman]

My friend just lost is lab pal of 4 years to seizures. I think he had a heart attack during the seizure. He was allergic to chicken, and birds but did not have any when he died. Sad cause he used to hunt with us.

[xs11jack]

I had a German Shepard that developed epilepsy at age 8. The sizures weren't often, 2 or 3 times a year. If I was where he could get to me, he would bump my leg and try to bark. I would get down and hold him and talk to him. Usually lasted about a minute or two. Despite that, he lived to age 14. Man, I miss him.
Ole Jack

[crowbuster]

sounds like my buddies lab this time last yr. turned out to be lyme disease and rather costly

[prsman23]

My dog did this a few months ago. Bet said to give him a pill of vitamin e twice a day.
They stopped in a few days and haven't come back. Try that while you are at it. Can't hurt.


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[historicfirearms]

It might be he ate some rat poison. One of our dogs did recently, and tremmors in the back legs were one of the listed side effects.

[srtolly]

I have a Shepherd mix that has seizures. She's about 5 1/2 years old (hard to be sure with a rescue dog). Our vet told us to give her a benadryl since she lets us know before it starts and it has shortened them significantly. Her longest was about 45 minutes but it usually takes her a day to recover from one.

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[lavenatti]

What are you feeding your dog? There are a number of online claims that Purina Beneful can cause seizures in dogs.

http://purinabenefulseizure.blogspot.com/2010/09/dog-seizures-caused-by-purina-products.html

I have no first hand info on this but I avoid Purina products.

[Taylor]

My Cocker also had these before the wife ran over her with the jeep.Now I know that sounds bad...but lets hear the whole story.She was old,had seizures,lost most of her hearing and eyesight.Had very few teeth left.Well she always met us when we came home.It got to the point that she really couldn't see us,so she would get close to the vehicle.When we (the wife and I) were together,one of us would get her out of the way.One day Karen came home from work,no one to help,Buffy got under the wheel,broke her hips and we had to put her down.

A year or so before my Flat Coat died he had a seizure so bad I thought he was dead on the spot.He recovered fairly fast and never had another.The seizure was not the cause of his death. Totally unrelated.

I guess my point is that,it seems a lot of that have pets have seen this in them.I have no answer,just hope your friend gets better.

[Lloyd Smale]

My lab is 10 and has had a couple episodes in the last year. He starts shaking and gasping (for lack of better words) and cant get his back legs to work. the vet did a bunch of tests and said his back has a lot of arthritis and this is pinching off nerves. She said it was very common in labs over 8 and even labs as young as 5 can have it, especially overweight dogs (like mine). We give him a prescription anti inflammatory every day along with fish oil and glucosamine. It helps but he seems to slow down more and more every day.

[9w1911]

Ugh I hate that they get old.

[Alstep]

Our pit bull terrier mix was getting up in years, 12 or so, and started loosing rear body functions. Had a hard time getting around, etc. Was laying at my feet one night, went into convulsions for a few minutes and died. Saved me from having to put him down. Contrary to pit bulls reputation, he was the most gentle and best dog we ever had. A once in a lifetime friend, and we still miss him.

[bubba.50]

distemper has a lot of the same symptoms described.

[rollmyown]

What's his name? Let us know how he goes. It's terrible when family or friends gets sick.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

There are just too many explanations for what we have heard here. Some may be things he can go on forever with, and others easily cured. But it really does need a vet's diagnosis to be safe.

[Multigunner]

Any blue tailed lizards around? Twice I've seen cats go into convulsions so severe it damaged their spines, and a friend's collie ate one and became permanently mentally disturbed.

Our old Bulgarian herd dog was bitten by a spider once and an hour or less later he collapsed and could not get his hind legs under him.
I took a large beach towel and folded it to slip under his belly and pull him to his feet so he could practice walking. It took weeks but he finally recovered full use of his hind legs.
To get him up the back steps I'd get behind him and raise one of his hind paws at a time to position them on the steps then raise him a bit with the towel. His fore legs were unaffected.

[fast ronnie]

Too much salt can cause seizures in dogs. Happened to one of ours. Too much salt can be fatal to them. Mine love popcorn and that's what happened. (chihuahuas)

[Ballistics in Scotland]

My Irish terrier has a thing for microwave popcorn. It only takes a piece down the side of my armchair, and I don't get any peace for half an hour. But he is several times Chihuahua size, and I don't think he will come to any harm on the share he gets. It is salt shaken liberally over things that is most harmful to them.

[robg]

Our lab cross is epileptic started when he was 4 .epifan from the vet works but make him a bit dopey but very rarely has a fit now .he's 7 now .he was a rescue .

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Our lab cross is epileptic started when he was 4 .epifan from the vet works but make him a bit dopey but very rarely has a fit now .he's 7 now .he was a rescue .

Just like in humans, that can happen, apparently randomly, to anybody. It really angers me, though, that boxer dogs, in addition to a long list of other inherited disorders and a very high rate of death in puppyhood, have a high rate of epilepsy due to irresponsible breeding.

A few years ago the BBC ran a documentary "Pedigree dogs exposed", on the frequency of serious health problems caused by breeding for shows. The breed standards mostly contained fine-sounding words about activity and normality, but the trouble was, you didn't win shows if you did it. It produced a combination of denials and at least partial cleaning-up of acts, just like politics, which I suppose it is.

I had an extremely professional second mother, the daughter of Lanty Hanlon, my grandfather's Kerry Blue terrier, whose blood runs in champions around the world more than sixty years later. I could have tracked down a descendent, but the gene pool is very limited, and they do have health problems - not very grave ones, but the worrying thing is, they are the same health problems as in the early 50s. Kerry Blues are a big grooming problem, and I think they tend to be fighters - which Lanty was, of the most fatal kind. I still think he was probably fine with humans and non-combatant dogs, but I didn't fancy the risk.

So the 21st century Lanty Hanlon is an Irish terrier, for they're as healthy as a mackerel and he loves everybody. He has as good a pedigree as the other, and bred by a veterinarian, for we have done very well so far with farm dogs, casual breeders' dogs and a thirty-shilling petshop dog, and the last dog we might be young enough to cope with seemed no time to run out of luck. But we don't tell him that, so he thinks he is just a dog.

[varmintpopper]

http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/neurological/c_dg_seizures_convulsions

Look this over, Feeding Chocolate may be the cause.

Good shooting

Lindy