After a google search, it sounds like it is fairly common for dogs to get seizures. The concern would be if it occurred for a long period of time (>2min) or if they come in clusters. This is something I'll keep an eye on

Our Australian Shepard has seizures, had one yesterday as a matter of fact. He has gotten them since he was about 2 years old, typically 1-2 a year. His go just as you described, but usually starts when he's sleeping - then he'll start to flail around before going stiff, which is then followed by losing control of his bowels.

We've talked to our vet about it, and she basically said that it is not uncommon for dogs to have seizures, and there's really not much they can do about them. There are medications, but they are expensive and a daily dose - and if your dog doesn't have more frequent seizures, you really won't know if it is even working until a year after you start giving it.

She said to try to time the seizure, if it's longer than 2-4 minutes, then it's concerning, or if they start to overheat. Her advice was to just comfort them while it happens but to keep your hands away from their mouth, as they may bite uncontrollably.

If I'm home when our's has one of his, I'll try to get him outside as quickly as possible to lessen the clean up, then I'll just hold his head so he doesn't slam it into the ground and talk gently to him. Then once it has passed I'll slowly start to stand him up and let him get his legs back before letting him go into the yard to do whatever else he hasn't already done.

The one he had yesterday was pretty mild, and it started in my peripheral vision, so I was able to quickly get him picked up and brought outside before it got fully going. Once it's over, he's usually back to himself in about half an hour, but he'll normally spend the rest of the day right next to me napping.

Thanks for sharing

I'm no DVM, but look into Exercise Induced Collapse or Exercise Induced Seizures. I have a yellow lab that gets this too. It occurs after too much exercise, especially in heat. The dog overheats and triggers the event, which can occur right away or some minutes after playing too hard. We have to take breaks and she has learned to jump in the pool to cool off which helps.

As said above-some blood work to rule out organ dysfunction or metabolic disorders would be in order. But-highest probability with seizures in a young dog where they recover spontaneously, without intervention is epilepsy.
Unfortunately, no test for epilepsy.
If seizures are frequent or prolonged then medical intervention is recommended--this is a subjective decision. If brief and infrequent then maybe not.

Meds need to be given daily and you usually try and titrate to lowest effective dose.
Commonly used medicines are NOT expensive.

IslandAg76 said:

---

As said above-some blood work to rule out organ dysfunction or metabolic disorders would be in order. But-highest probability with seizures in a young dog where they recover spontaneously, without intervention is epilepsy.
Unfortunately, no test for epilepsy.
If seizures are frequent or prolonged then medical intervention is recommended--this is a subjective decision. If brief and infrequent then maybe not.

Meds need to be given daily and you usually try and titrate to lowest effective dose.
Commonly used medicines are NOT expensive.

---

My comments were info from a previous vet. May need to have the conversation with our new vet. Was originally told the medication was pretty expensive.

Thanks guys, I'm taking 'Benchmark' in to see the vet today during lunch. I'll let you know what she says. I will ask about the exercise induced seizure so thanks for sharing that

Our Golden is on 1000mg levetriacetam twice a day. Seems to limit his to 1 sometimes 2 a week. He would have clusters if not.

Ours is not an environmental issue.

Our lab had seizures from an early age until she passed. The last seizure she had produced blindness in her, so we chose to put her down. Her age along with other ailments led to this decision.

I ran across an article that stated Nexguard Heart medicine may also contribute to seizures. Maybe a vet can chime in on the usage of heart worm medicine side effects.

Heartworm Medicine

joerobert_pete06 said:

---

Thanks guys, I'm taking 'Benchmark' in to see the vet today during lunch. I'll let you know what she says. I will ask about the exercise induced seizure so thanks for sharing that

---

Best of luck, hoping you get some good news. I had a sheltie that developed seizures after his rabies vaccination some years back. The seizures slowly increased in frequency over time and eventually he died during one about 3 years after the initial.

Just a detail-Nexgard is a flea medicine.
And, I don't think (my opinion) that the different flea/heartworm meds Cause seizures they just lower the seizure threshold in dogs who may be susceptible to seizures.

Benchmark needs to wear a vest now in the water. I had to ditch waders for a buddy's lab years back. Have a few scars both physical and mental over that rescue.

I have a blue healer and a pyrenees/gap mix that both have seizures. They were having g them 1 to 2 x a month and their vet started both on Zonisamide since they were fairly frequent. Similar to what you described OP as to what occurs. Now they both will have one every few months and they last only about 30 seconds to a minute and 30 seconds. Still froth, but do not always lose control of bowel and bladder, and recovery is typically much faster. We have learned to let ours do their roaming with minimal interruption or direction from us and they recover faster. If just one or it has been several months then vet may not start meds and just monitor. My healer started meds only after his seizures went from 1 every 6 to 8 months for a couple years to 1 or 2 a month.

So I went to the vet:

She said for sure he had a grand mal seizure and the event I described from last summer was probably a mild seizure. She drew blood and the results came back negative. Said dogs with epilepsy, they usually start having breakthrough seizures at the same age as my dog but does not want to make that diagnoses until he has more episodes. She acknowledged the EIC disorder in Labradors but did not believe this was the cause with my dog; said normally dogs with that conditions are not as active as my dog or those episodes occur more frequently.

So overall, all I am suppose to do is monitor his behavior and keep a journal to record the number of events that occur within a 2 month period.

I'm no vet or MD but that sounds like a very reasonable approach. Hopefully you never document another one!

So my dog just had another episode just like before, a grand mal, and that makes two within a 6 week period. This is looking more like epilepsy to me so I will continue to monitor and explore different things to help out. I think I will change his diet, maybe meal preps…. I've got a bunch venison that I'm sure he will enjoy.

joerobert_pete06 said:

---

So my dog just had another episode just like before, a grand mal, and that makes two within a 6 week period. This is looking more like epilepsy to me so I will continue to monitor and explore different things to help out. I think I will change his diet, maybe meal preps…. I've got a bunch venison that I'm sure he will enjoy.

---

Depending on how much more diagnostics you want to invest in... I would look into doing a tick panel to rule that out. And I'm sure your vet thought of it but potentially think about meningitis. That is diagnosed with an MRI so be ready to drop 5-8k. These are just a few things I have researched in the last week for one of mine. Good luck!!!

Wouldn't the blood work show this?

My 10 year old sheepdog x poodle mix has a seizure anytime we take him to the vet / groomer. It sucks, and it's forced me to start grooming him myself and avoiding the vet as much as possible. Anti-anxiety meds don't really help.

It takes a few days for him to fully recover from seizure…usually drags his feet around a bit and acts out of sorts. Hate it.

Grand Mal seizures look scary as hell, but I had a golden who dealt with them successfully for years with medication. I thought he was dying for sure the first time I witnessed one. Fortunately not! Good luck.

We went through pretty much the exact same thing in the exact same time frames as you. Vet was sure it was epilepsy. I did some research on lab forums and found others who had the same thing where it ended up being the flea/ heartworm meds. I don't remeber which one it was but it was the combo one. Vet didn't think that was it but we decided to try it. It's been almost 3 years now since we took her off and no more seizures. Not saying that's what it is but I'd definitely look into it.

We had a German Shepherd many years back that developed Grand Mal seizures after a vet in San Antonio prescribe hormones to him to calm him from going nuts when a female lab came into heat. He would have them once every 6-8 weeks....then more often.
After the seizures he exhibited the same behavior as your dog.
Ended up taking him to TAM vet school and they determined the hormone pills somehow kicked him over to having them.
He was seizure medication for 6 years but would still have them once or twice a year.
They eventually took a toll on his eyesight and hearing.
That was many years ago. Hopefully they have some new medicine and cures now.
Prayers for you and your pal.

warreng said:

---

We went through pretty much the exact same thing in the exact same time frames as you. Vet was sure it was epilepsy. I did some research on lab forums and found others who had the same thing where it ended up being the flea/ heartworm meds. I don't remeber which one it was but it was the combo one. Vet didn't think that was it but we decided to try it. It's been almost 3 years now since we took her off and no more seizures. Not saying that's what it is but I'd definitely look into it.

---

Our vet said that his flea and tick medicine was known to give seizures and that they were going to recommend another brand however I haven't given him the pills in probably 6 months.

Update:

Since I made this original post, my dog has had 3 more seizures and were spacing out between 6, 3 and now 2 weeks apart. Strange thing is that they are always occurring at the same time, ~9:30pm when he is sleeping on the floor.

I took him back to the vet and even though they did not do any further testing, they are now saying he most likely has epilepsy. That's a shame because he is an extremely active dog, always wants to run outside and appears to be a very healthy dog. Vet said I can put him on pills but that they will turn him into a zombie. After the initial dosage, I can monitor his activity and can cut back the dosage to make him less zombie however it doesn't guarantee that he won't have seizures.

After his diagnoses, the vet said that he would not put him on the medicine if he was his dog and that it's all up to owners, whether they can handle the episodes. I agreed with him and about a week after the visit, he had another episode.

I started doing meal preps for him but after that, I don't know what else I can do. I gave him some CBD treats to calm him down before bed but I don't think they do anything; he likes them though. Hopefully he comes out of it and this gets behind us.

I am sorry to hear that. Is there someone else or some sort of specialist you can see about it? I know nothing about this just empathetic because if my hunting lab had this issue it would be pretty rough on me…

Good luck and I hope you can find a solution!

My dog is 12 and has been having seizures since he was 1 year old or less .. maybe 1 seizure a month max. He's a little dog and if he eats any type of meat w spices his body cant handle it and he goes into a seizure.. they need to be on their main dog food as much as possible. Also any pesticide shots like heart wormer or flea and tick pills or pour on liquid will make him seize.. he never gets flea medicine.. if there is a flea present he gets washed in flea dip only. Also his vet gives him a special seizure pill daily for a week when he gets heart wormer or other drugs. Non common Food and medicine is what makes him seize… if your dog keeps doing it look back at what you fed him or what medicine he was given prior to a seizure.. changes to their system is what causes my dogs episodes. Hope this helps.. if you have questions I'll try to answer them

Little sucker will have a seizure and 20 minutes later be fighting w the other dog .. they are tough

There are a number of anticonvulsants that don't cause sedation and are very safe. Some require drug monitoring with blood tests. Others do not. Price can be low to expensive, however the statement that they will all cause sedation and therefore aren't worth pursuing due to severity of side effects isn't accurate.

Thanks for the share

I don't think my dog is consuming anything that is causing the seizures. They are occurring almost exactly at the same time of day, 9:30pm when he is sleeping. I think that observation alone is a big tell that this is epilepsy.

joerobert_pete06 said:

---

Thanks for the share

I don't think my dog is consuming anything that is causing the seizures. They are occurring almost exactly at the same time of day, 9:30pm when he is sleeping. I think that observation alone is a big tell that this is epilepsy.

---

I see, so If your dog has epilepsy he will prob need something like daily phenobarbital meds or one of the other seizure meds .. the vet started my dog off on that originally but I quit giving it to him and we realized it was diet and medicine related .. good luck

Just wanted to provide an update:

To date, my dog has had 17 seizures (that we know of), all grand mals. He usually has one episode every 2-3 weeks but recently, he has started having multiple episodes in the same day. It sometimes makes a giant mess, especially if we are not home, need to scrub down the floors rugs furniture and even the walls.

We have put him on medicine, 50mg Zonisamide (6pills/day) and 300mg Gabapentin (2pills/day). His last blood work showed high markers for his liver and so he is taking medicine for that as well. Before that test, we was taking steroids for an ear infection so I think that is related. One thing the note, he gets constant ear infections and I he hasn't even been swimming; vet thinks it is allergy related.

Surprisingly I have not seen a change with his behavior, still very active and hyper; I thought the medicine would slow him down a bit. I am 3 weeks in with him being on the medicine, have already spent 1k$ with vet bills within the last month with about $400 of that being medicine alone. This is getting expensive quick but I will see about adjusting the dosage next visit and see if there is any improvement with the seizures.

Talk to your vet about Keppra extended release and also a referral to a neurologist. Having cluster seizures like that isn't ideal. Were the liver values ever off before? Could be related to pred, could also be related to the seizures. Recurrent ear infections are almost always going to be allergy related ( environmental or food).

Phenobarbital worked well for my retriever. If you haven't tried it, it might be worth a shot. His seizures were awful, but the phenobarbital pretty much kept them under control.