QUESTION
Last May my 9 year old bitch had what seems to be a fit. She ran back and was unco-ordinated and unbalanced, yelping and frothing slightly at the mouth and her eyes appeared glazed. She remained like this for about 20 minutes before returning to normal. There was no history of being unwell beforehand and she's been fine since. We have not witnessed any other episodes until today. She had another episode similar to the first but was howling like a wolf. She came out of it after approx 10 minutes. I took her to the vet to be checked over after both episodes. I was told it could be epilepsy and advised to keep a diary. I am concerned that this has begun at a mature age with no obvious underlying causes. I was told today that the fits are likely to increase and to come back when they get more frequent. Other than a brief physical, no bloods were taken. Do you think I should ask for a more thorough examination next time? Do you have any ideas what could be causing the fits? It seems strange that they should be so far apart. I would appreciate your advice on how to take this forward.
Julie
ANSWER
Dear Julie,
Seizures are a common occurrence in the dog. They do tend to fall into four groups.after birth, young adult, middle age, and old dogs. all four groups of dogs can show the same seizure patterns, often with episodes months apart. Each vet will deal with these cases on their own merit. it may be that the history suggests to your vet an idiopathic epilepsy-that is of no cause, other than the electrical diasturbance to the brain. Yes, it is often worth a further investigation, especially if the episodes become more intense or frequent, and bloods are one way forward. it would be a help to your vet to investigate the parents/siblings, if possible, as epilepsy can be a familial condition. at the end of the day, it may well be that unless your dog does not end up with continuous seizures, but only 1 or 2 a year, that deep investigation may not be nedded, nor treatment-which would be lifelong. it is a complicated illness.
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