Do Dogs Have Seizures and Never Again
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It is very worrying when your older dog suddenly starts having seizures. You are left to wonder whether they are sick or if it is a sign that your dog is in its concluding days.
You are right to be concerned, every bit seizures are not common amid dogs, fifty-fifty as they enter their older years. If they kickoff having seizures, information technology is a sign that something is wrong.
A wide variety of things could cause your older canis familiaris to have seizures, some minor and some serious.
Without you knowing, they might have eaten something that they shouldn't have, which is something that is relatively easy to treat.
Still, they might also exist suffering from a serious illness such every bit kidney or liver illness.
The but way to know for certain, and the just way to become your dog the handling that they need, is to go to the vet.
The vet clinic tin can run a battery of tests to figure out what exactly is happening with your domestic dog, and what needs to exist done for them.
Simply to assistance yous better understand and manage this scary process, in today's article we will go through what exactly a seizure is and what it looks like at its various stages.
We will also become through what you should do if your domestic dog is having a seizure, to give them the best chance of being properly diagnosed and to recover.
Nosotros will stop off by taking a look at some of the nigh common causes of seizures in senior dogs.
Contents & Quick Navigation
- What Are Dog Seizures?
- The Three Stages Of Dog Seizures?
- What To Do When Your Dog Has A Seizure
- The Virtually Common Causes Of Seizures In Senior Dogs
- FAQs
- Why Would An Older Domestic dog Start Having Seizures?
- How Common Are Seizures In Senior Dogs?
- Should I Put My Dog Down If They Take Seizures?
- What Foods Trigger Seizures In Dogs?
- How Exercise You Calm A Dog Downwardly Subsequently A Seizure?
- The Verdict
- Save To Pinterest
- Top Picks For Our Dogs
What Are Dog Seizures?
A seizure is an involuntary electrical disturbance in the brain that is typically accompanied past uncontrollable body movements and changes in beliefs and consciousness levels.
What information technology actually looks like when your dog is having a seizure varies greatly depending on the type of seizure and its cause.
Information technology tin also vary significantly in how long it lasts. A seizure could last a few seconds, or it could last several minutes. The longer the seizure lasts, the more dangerous it is to your dog.
Notwithstanding, you can be reassured that the seizure itself is not painful for your canis familiaris, unless they accidentally autumn against something or hit something while they are not in command of their body movements.
Even so, it is generally very disorienting, so they may feel fearful after the fact.
There are 4 different types of seizures in dogs.
Grand Mal Seizure, or Generalized Seizure — This affects both sides of the encephalon and will cause your dog to lose consciousness, and all of their limbs to move and twitch spasmodically.
Focus Seizure — This type of seizure merely affects a single surface area of the brain, and will mostly create abnormal movements on i side of the body or in one limb only.
If your dog continues to have seizures, very often focus seizures volition progress into generalized seizures.
Psychomotor Seizures — These are the about difficult seizures to identify, equally rather than losing consciousness, your canis familiaris volition acquit strangely such every bit attacking an object that is non really there.
Since dogs do this type of thing all the time, it is hard to know whether this is simply them being loopy or something more than serious.
Nonetheless, if your dog is doing this during a recurring seizure, they volition repeat the same strange behavior each time.
Idiopathic Epilepsy — When the cause of repeating seizures in a dog is unknown, this is known equally idiopathic epilepsy.
This is an inherited condition that is more common in some breeds than others, including Labrador retrievers.
However, it is very unusual for an older canis familiaris to suddenly starting time displaying idiopathic epilepsy. It is virtually always diagnosed within the kickoff half-dozen years of a dog'south life.
The Three Stages Of Domestic dog Seizures?
While the master earthquake stage of a seizure is the ane that we are nearly aware of, seizures actually have three distinct stages.
Pre-Ictal Stage
The pre-ictal phase is the lead up to the seizure. It may kickoff just a few minutes earlier the primary phase of the seizure or several hours before.
It happens first because your dog is aware that something is wrong and will start to bear differently. Secondly, the encephalon is already showtime to misfire, which can cause your dog to act strangely.
What exactly the pre-ictal stage looks similar varies significantly just you tin can expect your domestic dog to seem distressed.
They may hide from you, or on the contrary they may stick very close to you, depending on their temperament. They might also cry or otherwise endeavour to indicate to you that they are in distress.
Y'all may also find that your dog is wandering around aimlessly, or is experiencing temporary incomprehension.
They may accept a tendency to engage in compulsive behavior at this fourth dimension. Information technology is also not uncommon for them to feel increased hunger or thirst at this stage of a seizure.
Ictal Phase
Side by side is the seizure itself, which every bit nosotros have already discussed will look different depending on the type of seizure they are having.
While this is the scariest part of the seizure for pet parents, your dog is not in pain during this stage of the seizure.
The biggest chance to them is accidentally knocking into something or falling down stairs when they are not in control of their body.
This part of the seizure can final for anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes, just somewhere between thirty seconds and two minutes is about common.
If the seizure lasts for more two minutes, your dog's body can overheat and they can be at risk of hyperthermia.
Post-Ictal Phase
This is the recovery stage of the seizure, which over again varies greatly. Some dogs bounce back quickly, while others may nevertheless feel disoriented 24 hours after the main episode.
Your canis familiaris may feel disoriented and distressed, every bit they do not sympathise what has happened to them.
They tin can as well go along to experience a lack of coordination, as the brain is still misfiring and disrupting their motor control.
What To Practice When Your Dog Has A Seizure
Office of the reason it can feel so distressing when your dog is having a seizure is that yous will probably experience powerless to help them.
But, while they will need to get through the seizure themselves, at that place are a variety of things you can practice to support them before, during, and afterwards a seizure.
Stay Calm
The most of import thing you can do for your dog is to stay calm. You lot know that your dog picks upwards on your emotions, and so if you panic, they might panic also. If yous continue calm, they will be reassured that everything is OK.
Seizures tin exist very disorienting for dogs, equally they practise not empathize what is happening to them.
Having a familiar, at-home, and loving presence near them during and after the seizure will help them better respond to the situation.
Remove Hazards
One of the biggest dangers to dogs during a seizure is that they might accidentally hurt themselves while they exercise not take control of their bodies.
And so, while they are having a seizure, motility annihilation potentially dangerous exterior of their reach.
Your canis familiaris can also have reduced motor part during the pre- and mail-ictal stages of the seizure. And so at this time, it tin can exist a good idea to protect your dog from hazards.
This could include putting barriers over stairwells to preclude them falling, and covering sharp corners on piece of furniture and so that they do non accidentally bang into any of them.
Time The Seizure
When you lot speak to your vet near the seizure, they will want to know details about what exactly the seizure looked like and how long it lasted, and if they had multiple seizures, the time between them.
Then, while the final thing you might want to be doing while your pup is in distress is to be looking at the clock, brand sure to take a note of these details in lodge to aid in diagnosis.
Cool Them Down
If your dog's seizure lasts more than two or three minutes, their body temperature will probably ascension dramatically, and they tin experience hyperthermia.
You tin try to forbid this by cooling them down. Apply common cold, wet towels to their neck, paws, and groin areas.
Don't Worry About Their Natural language
Information technology is a common misbelief that both dogs and humans are at risk of swallowing their natural language when they are having a seizure, but this does not happen.
If yous do try to stick your manus in your dog's mouth during a seizure to move their natural language, the well-nigh likely outcome will be that they inadvertently bite you.
Speak To Your Vet
Even if your dog seems fine after the seizure, speak to your vet. Dogs don't just take seizures for no reason—it volition be a symptom of something else that probably requires handling.
If your dog has a seizure that lasts for more than than two minutes, or has more than than one seizure inside the infinite of 24 hours, don't wait. Immediately take your dog to an emergency vet.
The Virtually Common Causes Of Seizures In Senior Dogs
In that location are a variety of unlike underlying issues that might cause seizures in older dogs.
Some are more serious than others, and some are more than treatable than others, so you will need to speak to your vet to observe the all-time class forward.
The 1 major seizure condition that your dog is not likely to accept if they suddenly first having seizures when they are older is epilepsy.
This is an inherited status and is near ever diagnosed within the showtime six years of a canis familiaris's life.
Here are some of the most mutual conditions likely to exist affecting your dog.
Poisoning
If your dog ingests something toxic, their body might respond with seizures. This tin can include medications, foods, or household cleaners.
Your vet will probably accept questions about what they might have ingested, and some of the get-go tests that they will run will be to dominion out poisoning.
Some of the most common poisons that might cause seizures include a variety of medications, such as ibuprofen and penicillin, toxic plants such every bit mushrooms, mutual human foods that are poisonous to dogs such every bit caffeine, chocolate, and the sugar substitute xylitol, and household cleaners and poisons.
You lot can read a more consummate list of the foods that are toxic for dogs here.
Encephalon Tumor
This is one of the most mutual causes of seizures in senior dogs, as opposed to immature ones.
The responsible tumor may exist malignant or benign. If your vet suspects a tumor, they will order a CT or MRI, and if a tumor is identified, they will require a biopsy.
Head Trauma
Any trauma to the brain may also crusade seizures, and older dogs are more prone to this than younger ones as they lose their coordination and eyesight as they age.
You lot may discover other disoriented beliefs prior to the seizure if your dog has had head trauma.
Liver or Kidney Disease
If your canis familiaris has liver or kidney disease advanced plenty to cause seizures, they will likely also be experiencing other symptoms such equally loss of appetite, digestive upsets, and darkening of the urine.
Hypoglycemia
This is most common in dogs with undiagnosed diabetes, or that are being treated for diabetes and have received besides much insulin.
Hypothyroidism
When something goes incorrect with the thyroid, the whole body is thrown into chaos due to hormonal imbalances. Seizures are just i type of many symptoms that you tin wait, including rapid weight gain or loss.
You will need to speak to your vet to decide which of these conditions, or the various other weather condition that can cause seizures, is affecting your pooch.
There are also another conditions that can cause symptoms that look a bit like a seizure but are in fact something else.
For case, if your dog has a astringent ear infection, this can cause a lack of balance and coordination, and can also impact the nerves in the facial muscles.
A severe allergic reaction may as well cause a loss of balance, strange beliefs, and even a loss of consciousness.
A transient ischemic stroke is a mini-stroke caused past reduced blood flow to the brain, usually caused by a blood clot. While this sounds serious, it usually passes apace and causes no long-term problems for your dog.
If you want to know more nearly what might be affecting your Labrador's health, read our round-upwards of the most common Labrador health conditions and how to forbid them.
FAQs
Why Would An Older Dog Showtime Having Seizures?
There are a variety of reasons why your canis familiaris might start having seizures later in life. It is a mutual symptom of a diverseness of medical conditions, from poisoning to kidney disease.
The but way to discover the cause of your dog's seizures is to consult with your vet. They will run a diversity of tests to make up one's mind the cause of the seizures and to suggest treatment.
How Common Are Seizures In Senior Dogs?
Seizures are not mutual in older dogs. They are a symptom of a variety of potential medical conditions, then you lot should take your dog to the vet immediately if they brainstorm to have seizures.
Should I Put My Canis familiaris Downwards If They Have Seizures?
You do not immediately need to put your domestic dog down if they start having seizures. These tin exist an indication of a diverseness of medical conditions, some of which are piece of cake to treat.
Others, though, may outcome in your canis familiaris needing to be put downwardly. But y'all will need to seek a proper diagnosis of your dog's condition earlier making any kind of decision.
What Foods Trigger Seizures In Dogs?
A variety of foods that are toxic to dogs can event in seizures.
Some of the well-nigh commonly ingested foods that cause seizures in dogs include mushrooms, xylitol (a sugar replacement common in human foods), caffeine, and dark chocolate.
This is one of the reasons that you should never feed your dog food off your plate.
How Do You Calm A Canis familiaris Down Afterward A Seizure?
Seizures are not painful for your dog while they are happening, simply they can be disorienting and scary later the fact.
The all-time matter you can do for your dog during a seizure is to ensure that they are non close to anything on which they may be able to hurt themselves when they are not in control of their body.
After the seizure, you should remain close to your domestic dog and requite them affection in a calm manner. This volition reassure them that everything is OK.
The Verdict
As dogs get older, their health deteriorates, and you might notice a lot of changes in them. Information technology tin can be challenging to know which of these yous should exist worried about, and which are only a normal part of aging.
If your canis familiaris does start having seizures as they get older, this is cause for concern.
This is not a normal part of the aging process and could exist a symptom of a number of different medical weather condition, some treatable and others more serious.
If your older dog starts having seizures, schedule a vet visit and make sure you record all the data almost the incident to help with a diagnosis.
You also need to support your pup through the seizure by being a calm and reassuring presence amidst all the stress and confusion, and by ensuring they don't injure themselves while they aren't in control of their bodies.
Take you lot dealt with an older dog having seizures? Share your experiences with the community in the comments section below.
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Why Is My Older Dog Suddenly Having Seizures? was last modified: Feb 19th, 2021 by
Source: https://www.labradortraininghq.com/labrador-health-and-care/old-dog-seizures-2/
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