My dog had a seizure - went to hospital

[Matthew]

WARNING: LONG READ!

Before I let you know the story, I'd like to tell you that my dog is around three years old, and he's a small, white chihuahua. Last night, of all the nights, in New Year's Eve, around maybe 1AM my dog had a seizure. We had to bring him to the hospital, and they're not sure what it really is yet, but we think it's a seizure. At first we thought he was choking so one of my relatives was our dog's neck, and he stopped. However, after he stopped it seemed like he couldn't recognize every one. His eyes were looking every where, and my dad approached him, and he backed away: my dog never backs away from my dad. They are very close to each other. Which led me to think that maybe the dog couldn't see, and I still hold that hypothesis that my dog couldn't see and he was still dizzy from either the seizures and combined with the attempt of, what they thought at first to be something in his throat.

The doctor is doing his roundups, and I believe we will pick him up today. We were told he hasn't had any seizures the past night (he spent the day there). I'd just like to know if you guys know if it was a seizure or not. My dog was, I think, drooling when he was having this seizure. He was huffing, seems like he couldn't breathe. After a moment, he was in a state where he seemed fine now. My relative who smacked the neck left, and as soon as he left my dog started having seizures again. The drool looked like white mucus. Also, my dog wanted to run every where. My dad was shaking him a lot too when this happened. When my dad put him down for a moment my dog was bumping into every thing and running into every thing. He looked literally like a pinball in a pinball machine and he was bouncing every where.

No one knows what happened except most of my parents and their friends were in the kitchen talking and I was in the living room. I heard my dog running from the hallway, but I thought it was just one of the kids bothering him, but then I saw that he was running weird. As if he had a limp, and then he smashed into the wall and a woman screamed and I saw him breathing like that.

I've never seen any thing like it. At first, I thought he was going to die. Just typing this post gives me goosebumps. The damage whether temporary or permanent is not known yet. I'm just thankful to God that there was a veteran hospital (I'm still thankful even though the hospital was 30 minutes away even if you took the highway) at 1:30AM on New Year's Eve. I felt hopeless, I couldn't sleep last night. I slept at around 5:30 and woke up at 7. This dog isn't the closest with me in the family. The last thing I remember with my dog doing with him was trying to shoo him away since I was told to keep him in a room and he kept trying to go outside when someone opened the door. I wasn't the one that let him out by the way.

Anyways, the causes are unknown and the doctor said that this happens once in a lifetime with dogs, but I can't clarify that any longer. I'm going to the animal hospital with my parents today to check it out so I can actually listen to what the doctor says and be one of the first to see our pet chihuahua. He's like a baby child in our family, and I was about to get ready to accept the fact that he died. The causes are unknown, but the doctor said something about lead poisoning. My mom told me over the phone last night.

I don't think he ate anything, but I'm also wondering if a dog could sniff something then get poisoned off of it? The dog is small so a small sniff is enough of a dosage. My dad sprayed white paint in the bathroom, and it was very strong. He left the door open too, so the smell spread throughout the house, and it was very strong. At first I thought it was an insect killer, but I asked him that day and he said it was paint. I saw my dog approach the living room from the hallway, and he smelled something and it seemed like he was reluctant to go to the living room, and I think it's because he smelled the paint. I understand that paint contains leading, so that's why I'm thinking it's from that. However, I'm not sure. There also seems to be a small part in the rug that looks chewed on, and I don't know if that was there before the party. The next day, anyways, after the painting, he was sleeping the whole day, and I don't know the symptoms. Then the next day he was very hyper.

I know my post is unorganized, but I'm just trying to write the best way to get you guys the most info. This has never happened to my dog, but my uncle, who's a nurse, thinks that this has happened to the dog before because we adopted him from an orphanage at around 1 and a half years of age last August. Nothing concerning seizures were on the medical record. Sorry again if it's too long, I'm just in adredaline mode right now. Both sad and angry at myself for not being able to do anything. Happy New Years...

[ACampbell]

Paint that is manufactured now a days is lead free - it has to be by government standard. Lead paint is usually found in older houses (built before 1975 I think) and usually the paint flakes off the walls and that's how it gets ingested. Lead is not an inhaled chemical that will make you sick (unless you are subjected to a LOT of it) and many houses still have lead pipes. If you have an older house and the paint flakes, then I would be concerned about lead poisoning the most.
Maybe if he inhaled a lot of the paint fumes it could have caused something like that - I've painted houses and if not properly ventilated, it can get you really "stoned" and dizzy off the fumes.
Sometimes seizures just happen...I have seizures due to massive head trauma years ago...just I don't have them very often. So seizures have lots of causes, head trauma, chemical inhalation, being electrically shocked - anything that can make your brain go haywire - that's what a seizure is - when your brains electrical charges spazz out...
Symptoms can be disorientation, urinating on themselves, frothing at the mouth, spastic muscle movement, temporary confusion...
That's not a comprehensive list but just some of the symptoms.

I'd see what the vet thinks it is, that will probably be your best answer. Hope everything goes well!

[Matthew]

Thank you for the quick post. We are talking with the doctor on the phone as I post. I think we're about to pick him up. Thank you.

[ChrissyBz]

My dog Cassie has had seizures. They are very scary I know.

Her symptoms are, in order.

1 aura

2 clinginess

3 loss of coordination in back legs

4 bulging eyes

5 drooling, clenched jaw

6 heavy breathing, erratic eye movements

7 arching back

8 respiratory arrest

All of these happen within about 1 hour and then she comes out of it.

She's had two and they both happened at 10 pm.

If your dog has another one try and see if there was anything similar happening just before it starts.

[RopingBarrels]

My toy poodle has been having seizures lately, and we think it's epilepsy. She had one yesterday-and it was very scary. I've never seen it before. She fell off the couch and was seizing-breathing hard, foaming at the mouth, urinating, paddling her legs. When she was done seizing and coming out of it she was very disoriented. Then she is fine. She's 11 years old. We don't know if we should have her put done or not. I think she seizes once or twice a month-but I don't live at home anymore and the dog is with my parents, so I don't know patterns or anything.

Hope all is well with your dog. I'm glad you posted this-I was going to post something on my dog.

[whimsy]

Was wondering if mabe someone left a glass on the floor with liquor in it and maybe the dog drank some? Or could someone have given it some to drink thinking it was funny? Sounds very much like a seizure, but some things don't add up. Could she have been dropped or hit on the head? Maybe like a concussion? She didn't become incontinent, dogs having seizures usually do.
The disorientation is different than what they do after a seizure, acting more like she could have gorten into some meds? Anyway, you'll know when You pich him up...hoping for the best for you....Happy New Year.

[Shalva]

I have posted quite a bit about seizures in the health thread as my Cuinn as cluster seizures and has had them for the past four years..... I would do a search in the health section and then if you want more information I am happy to help or you can go to my website linked athte bottom of the page and go to cuinns page and there is a link there to a great resource for seizure active dogs on the web.
good luck
s

[ACampbell]

Was wondering if mabe someone left a glass on the floor with liquor in it and maybe the dog drank some? Or could someone have given it some to drink thinking it was funny? Sounds very much like a seizure, but some things don't add up. Could she have been dropped or hit on the head? Maybe like a concussion? She didn't become incontinent, dogs having seizures usually do.
The disorientation is different than what they do after a seizure, acting more like she could have gorten into some meds? Anyway, you'll know when You pich him up...hoping for the best for you....Happy New Year.

It actually depends on the severity of the seizure on whether or not the person/animal becomes incontinent. Usually Petit Mal seizures aren't as severe and most of the time don't last as long...usually doesn't result in incontinence - these are the type you usually get after a minor concussion (if any seizure at all) -
Grand Mal's are the ones where you go into fits and pee yourself...lucky for me I've only had 2 of those since my head injury, but they are bad and have the most symptoms of confusion, muscle spasm (the extreme muscle spasm anyway), drooling/frothing, labored breathing...etc.
They all leave you feeling "hungover" and confused though...

How'd the vet visit go, what did they say?

[007Dogs]

I had a rescue dog that came from a puppymill that had seizures totally out of fear of human contact. If anyone came near her other than me when she first came here, she would begin convulsing, and then her eyes would roll back in her head and she would loose conscienceness. Never became incontinent. I worked with her alot and was finally able to place her with a couple who has a pretty quiet lifestyle.

[Matthew]

My dog returned home safely, and he's doing fine. He's sleeping on my bed now. Last night, we thought he was acting weird because he was just pacing back and forth, but we walked him and he went right to sleep.

I'm so happy my dog is alright. There were no medications given. We were just told to watch him for any side effects. My sister says he walks a little slower, but I can't really notice. He's been sleeping a lot lately, but I can understand a little because he must be recovering a little, and I know he's traumatized.

My doctor doesn't know what caused it, but he believes someone fed him something like chocolate. And I believe he was doing the thing that looked like he was a pinball (he was bouncing off anything in the way) because when he was having seizures, my dad was screaming and shaking him, and we thought he was choking so the relative hit him in the head pretty hard, and when he stopped having the seizure, we thought he'd be ok.

The doctor also said that there was nothing wrong with his brain. He looks like he's going to be okay. Thanks for every one's advice.

Oh and to the poster above who said something about the paint, I'm not sure if he sniffed it or if he licked it. My dad might of painted the ground and he might of licked it or something like that. Also, the paint he used was spray paint.

Thanks to all for the replies and the concern directed to my dog. I appreciate it. I'm going to spend time with my dog now.

[ACampbell]

Spray paint is lead free...so if anything it might have made him high off the fumes...so at least you can pretty much rule out lead poisoning

[007Dogs]

Matthew, so glad to hear your little dog is back home and is doing better.

[Matthew]

Well guys, I'm sorry for bumping such an old topic, but I'd like to give you guys an update on my dog right now...

Two Saturdays ago, my dog had a seizure at around 1AM at night time. We didn't send him to the vet or anything because we didn't have money, and he was fine the next day, so we thought it was just another one of those seizures that happened in New Year's. Then a week later (Sunday night) he had a seizure. Again, we didn't rush him to the hospital, but we did make a note of it that we will get him to the vet as soon as we can. The next day (Memorial Day Monday) he had three seizures consecutively at my uncle's house. He was playing outside and he just had a seizure when no one scared him or anything. His claw caught onto the stone floor when he was having a seizure because he couldn't control himself and it was ripped off. There was blood every where outside, and then my dad tried taking him inside and into the bathroom but he was still bleeding. Blood was on the wall as well. They then rushed him to the animal hospital the same one we sent him on New Year's as mentioned in the first post. He spent around a day and a half there and he was in ICU. They haven't officially diagnosed him with epilepsy, but they're saying that that was one of the possibilities. Another possibility is a brain tumor, and they wanted to scan him for brain tumor with MRI, but it is $2,000, and we are very low in funds. Our family in the Philippines is doing very poorly right now, so we are trying to help them out too. The hospital bill yesterday was $1,000+ already.

The doctors say he can't walk right yet, and they want to keep him at the hospital, but my parents said we will just take him home and watch over him the whole time. It is getting harder and harder to accept, but we are now considering putting our dog down. He will need to be put on meds, and we have to feed him two pills a day, but the side effects are that he will always be hungry/thirsty, forget his manners (with his bowels and bladder), and he might also get liver damage from the pills that he takes.

I'm very down because of this because our dog is only three years old, and he only had his first seizure (that we know of because he came from a shelter) in New Year's, and this was just very sudden. I'm not the closest one with my dog, but I know that I love him because of the support from him that I feel. In a way, he's also helped bring this family closer together.

I'm sorry if this post is long. I'm not sure what I'm looking for whether it'd be advice, comfort, or any comments from you guys. I just had to post this somewhere.

[Shalva]

Well guys, I'm sorry for bumping such an old topic, but I'd like to give you guys an update on my dog right now...

Two Saturdays ago, my dog had a seizure at around 1AM at night time. We didn't send him to the vet or anything because we didn't have money, and he was fine the next day, so we thought it was just another one of those seizures that happened in New Year's. Then a week later (Sunday night) he had a seizure. Again, we didn't rush him to the hospital, but we did make a note of it that we will get him to the vet as soon as we can. The next day (Memorial Day Monday) he had three seizures consecutively at my uncle's house. He was playing outside and he just had a seizure when no one scared him or anything. His claw caught onto the stone floor when he was having a seizure because he couldn't control himself and it was ripped off. There was blood every where outside, and then my dad tried taking him inside and into the bathroom but he was still bleeding. Blood was on the wall as well. They then rushed him to the animal hospital the same one we sent him on New Year's as mentioned in the first post. He spent around a day and a half there and he was in ICU. They haven't officially diagnosed him with epilepsy, but they're saying that that was one of the possibilities. Another possibility is a brain tumor, and they wanted to scan him for brain tumor with MRI, but it is $2,000, and we are very low in funds. Our family in the Philippines is doing very poorly right now, so we are trying to help them out too. The hospital bill yesterday was $1,000+ already.

The doctors say he can't walk right yet, and they want to keep him at the hospital, but my parents said we will just take him home and watch over him the whole time. It is getting harder and harder to accept, but we are now considering putting our dog down. He will need to be put on meds, and we have to feed him two pills a day, but the side effects are that he will always be hungry/thirsty, forget his manners (with his bowels and bladder), and he might also get liver damage from the pills that he takes.

I'm very down because of this because our dog is only three years old, and he only had his first seizure (that we know of because he came from a shelter) in New Year's, and this was just very sudden. I'm not the closest one with my dog, but I know that I love him because of the support from him that I feel. In a way, he's also helped bring this family closer together.

I'm sorry if this post is long. I'm not sure what I'm looking for whether it'd be advice, comfort, or any comments from you guys. I just had to post this somewhere.

my cuinn was 2.5 when he started seizing. seizures starting between 2 and 4 are commonly vaccine reactions. I can tell you that cuinn is almost seven, he takes meds every day and is a bit loopy at times but he is cuinn and he is happy most of the time.... and we just manage the epilepsy.

when cuinn was first diagnosed they suggested an MRI, now I have the money to do it and opted not to.... because the reality is .... lets just say it showed a brain tumour.... would you change your treatment??? would you do brain surgery ???? I decided that I would not.... and that in six months if cuinn died I would know he had a brain tumour....but here we are 4 years later and he is still alive, he just has epilepsy.... I am happy to help in any way that I can.
S

[Dog5]

One of my Chihuahuas started having seizures around age 3. As Shalva said, I believe that this was a reaction to too many vaccines. It was around this time that we stopped vaccinating him and just tested his titers every year. The doctor gave me valium for him, just in case he ever seized for too long or had two seizures in a row, but thank God I have never had to use it. Barney is almost 12 now and has not seized since that time.
Don't give up yet. Stop your dog's vaccines and just do the titer test. Give him meds if you need to. Who knows - he may outgrow it just like my boy did.