Our 2.5 yr old Mastiff had a bad seizure today. He's okay now, but the whole thing was very scary. After the seizure he wasn't himself...very menacing towards us, almost like he didn't know who we were, so we had to put him outside for about 30 minutes until he "came out of it". He is normally a very sweet, gentle dog.
There is no history of seizures in his bloodline that we know of, and the bloodwork the vet took today all came back normal. For now he's on phenobarb twice a day, so I guess we just have to sit back and wait to see if it happens again.
I guess I'm just looking for feedback on this. From what I'm reading about seizures in Mastiffs is that *if* it's epilepsy, the prognosis is pretty poor. I'd love to hear stories of dogs who have had seizures and they continued to live normal, healthy lives...
The dog I had as a child used to have seizures. My parents hid them from me, but one day I saw her having one. She would typically have them when we were getting ready to go on vacation... I guess she would get stressed?
Anyway, I would hold her and talk to her through them because she would be obviously terrified. We got her when I was 4 and she died when I was 19. She lived a long, happy life. I don't think my parents ever took her to the vet for the seizures either. but I could be wrong. I do know she wasn't on medication or anything.
He was actually asleep in our bedroom with dh when it started, so I don't think he was stressed. There was no way to comfort him or talk him through it either. He's very large (220 lbs)...dh felt him climb up onto the bed & stand over him, drooling excessively and foaming at the mouth. He suddenly fell off the bed sideways and started thrashing about, was incontinent and lost conciousness for a few minutes. When he awoke he didn't know who we were and was obviously very agitated (probably scared). We were actually afraid of him at that moment, he had a "wild" look in his eyes....not a good feeling.
From what we've read, large dogs can't tolerate these very well, so we've went ahead and put him on the meds for now. It wasn't caused from low blood sugar or an infection or anything like that, so all we can do is hope that is was a "fluke" thing, and if it's not then the meds will prevent further seizing.
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I had a large basset hound as a child, his name was Yazer. He was "my" dog. He began having seizures when he was about 2-3 yrs old. He was diagnosed with epilepsy and was put on phenobarbital and lived a long happy life until he was 13 yrs old.
He was put to sleep because he was in horrible pain from herniated discs in his back (from being a large low to the ground dog), for a few years we had him treated with cortisone shots, but it got to the point where he could barely walk (we had a special wheelchair built for him) because sometimes his back legs wouldn't work. His death had nothing to do with the epilepsy.
We aren't sure how he developed the epilepsy. We got him when he was 6 months old because he was a large basset hound (90 lbs) and the previous owners returned him to the breeder because they didn't want a big dog, so I don't know if he was abused during that time or not.
Anyway, after he was put on meds, it was rare for him to ever have a seizure, he was on half a tablet once a day til he died. I would say he probably had maybe 2-3 seizures in his entire life after he was put on the med.
Location: perpetually attached at the boob to my sweet nursling
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Quote:
Originally posted by 4munchkins Thanks for sharing, gives me some hope.
He was actually asleep in our bedroom with dh when it started, so I don't think he was stressed. There was no way to comfort him or talk him through it either. He's very large (220 lbs)...dh felt him climb up onto the bed & stand over him, drooling excessively and foaming at the mouth. He suddenly fell off the bed sideways and started thrashing about, was incontinent and lost conciousness for a few minutes. When he awoke he didn't know who we were and was obviously very agitated (probably scared). We were actually afraid of him at that moment, he had a "wild" look in his eyes....not a good feeling.
I wanted to add that my basset had similar seizures, when he awoke, it took awhile for his sense of smell to work again and he could recognize us, he also acted as if he was blind for a short period of time after the seizure was over.
When he did have a seizure we would clean up his mess, give him some water to drink and I would sit and comfort him, petting him and talking to him in a low quiet voice so he would recognize me. I think it helped him a lot.
You describe a grand mal seizure. Sounds a lot like epilepsy to me if the bloodwork was all normal. I'd recommend keeping him ON phenobarb and simply monitoring that. He will likely need it for life, and will need a lab test every 6-12 months to check phenobarb levels and make sure his liver is handling the phenobarb. If he seizures while ON the meds, he may need his dose upped.....it is not uncommon to see a few seizures as we get a dog on meds and find the right dose needed to control the seizures. That is what you want, control. The seizures are what cause problems, not the actual cause OF the seizures....so if we can control the seizures, with phenobarb, the dog usually lives a long, healthy, normal life. With simple meds (phenobarb) and bloodwork once a year, I rarely, rarely see dogs who don't do great on their phenobarb....most go on to live normally and long lives.
Good luck and be patient as he gets regulated on his meds. Don't give up if he does seizure again, he likely just needs his dose upped. Sometimes vets like to taper the dose to the smallest one needed to control them and they will lower a dose now and then to see how they do....sometimes the dog does fine and we keep them at a lower level...other times we see seizures and know we need to bump them back up. There is a therapeutic and recommended range for the phenobarb in their blood, so bloodwork will be needed. But at only once a year or so, it's totally worth it. He will do fine I am sure. (o:
Oh, and if he is not neutered, he should be. You don't ever want to breed a dog with seizures as it can be passed along, and the actual hormones from not being neutered, according to some, can cause epilepsy to be worse.
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I had a German Shorthair that had epilepsy, he had it in his bloodlines and the bastard breeder didnt disclose that and continued to breed because his dogs were champions. Unfortunatly we couldnt get his sezures undercontrol with meds and he ended up siezing when I was at work and drowned in his water bowl, I was 8 months pg with Jer and it just sucked . My neighbors had a Boston Terrier with epilepsy that lived till she was 16. They just had to have her put down due to some unrelated medical issues.
Stephanie, thanks for sharing your story as well. I'm glad the meds worked well for Yazer, we're hoping for the same here.
Denise...we contacted our breeder right when this happened. We're in pretty close contact with them anyhow...they always ask for pictures and updates on Hogan. Out of the puppies from his litter, so far he's the only one that's had a seizure. They've already said they won't breed the same pair again though (they own the mother). Oh, and he is neutered...we got him to be a pet, not to breed him, so at least that's not a concern.
We're giving 1.5 gr 2x/day and in two weeks we're supposed to cut that in half, so it sounds like our vet's recommendation is right in line with what you've said
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