Hi this is my first post and looking for advice ,my dog who is 7 has always been fit and healthy ,last week i took him out for his usual walk we got five mins from the house when he just stopped shook his head a few times then fell over ,he was trashing about ,wet himself ,i really got a fright ,when vet came, he was up on his feet but he did seem a bit confused ,vet said it could be epilepsy and just to keep a eye on him .
I got such a scare i never took him for his walk the next day just let him run about the garden ,he was fine so i tired a walk the other day ,got 5 min from the house same thing happened .
My husband says it could be down to excitement as he gets really worked up when its walk time .
We took him down to the vets to get blood taken ,but vet said it prob wont show up anything as you can not test for this ,i have put him on aloe vera gel and calm dowm as am unsure as to get meds from the vet as it can damage his liver i was told .
Any advice would be great as i just dont know what to do
ps he is fed on burns

No-one can really diagnose what's wrong with your dog all we as fellow dog owners
can do is relate our own personal experiences to you.
Or perhaps give you other things to consider when asking your own vet for a full health check etc.

Has the vet run full blood tests, checked the dog over for other problems such as heart function to see if it's functioning
properly? Fits can be caused by a brain tumour but not always. So as you can see there can be a number of causes for your dogs
'fitting'

There can be risks/side effects to any medications given to you or your animals.
But I'm sure if you voice your concerns to your vet they can give you all the options open to you and your dog.

Not sure what benefit the Aloe Vera would have for a dog if it has epilepsy..perhaps others would have more ideas for you.

I am not a vet but my dog started doing that when he was 15. He is still with us but he does'nt go out for walks just plays out the garden but still then we have to be careful not to exhaust him.

>We took him down to the vets to get blood taken ,but vet said it prob wont show up anything as you can not test for this

No epilepsy will not show up on a blood test.
I find it quite strange that the vet has put forward the diagnosis of epilepsy after 1 seizure. This is generally a diagnosis made after other things have been ruled out and after several seizures. Seizures can be caused by many different things, including a bad infection that is making the dog very poorly.

> i have put him on aloe vera gel and calm dowm as am unsure as to get meds from the vet as it can damage his liver i was told .

What has the vet prescribed?
Often the respone/lack of respone to prescribed medication can help the vets with a diagnosis. What did the vet say to you about refusing a prescription?

It can be dangerous to give the dog things the vet is unaware of. There is no way I would be giving my dog any 'calm down' remedy or any other treatment I had sourced myself if he had a seizure, unless of course the vet OK'd it first.

Hi There

It must have been a very frightening experience for you.

A number of things spring to mind.

As you say, epilepsy could be a possibility. However, it's very much a wait and see approach and can only really be diagnosed once everything else has been ruled out and a number of seizures have been observed. I have one dog with epilepsy who is on Phenobarbitone. He's now ten after developing epilepsy aged four. 7 is rather old for idiopathic epilepsy although not unheard of.

You don't say what breed you have, but I do know the labs can suffer a condition called Canine Stress Syndrome. Perhaps worth reading up on.

I had one border collie who suffered what I called "colliewobbles" which only came about during hot weather and following exercise. He would become very unsteady on his feet and wildly sway from one side to the other as though drunk and, at worst, collapse. Recovery was very quick and back to normal within ten minutes. It was not the same as watching a seizure however. After extensive tests - nothing! Then, I heard of others having similar problems and who had rectified the issue by using electrolytes designed for racing greyhounds. Bingo! It worked! Although, I do admit to limiting his exercise on warm days. Never needed to use the electrolytes through the winter months at all.

The thrashing you describe does sound more like a seizure. Did a period of rigidity follow the thrashing?

xxxx

I have a dog with epilepsy. Yes the medication can cause liver problems eventually, but I'd rather have a happy dog for several more years, than lose him straight away. My dog has been on medication for 2 years now and he's living a perfectly normal life -just a little bit more tired than before, otherwise absolutely fine. No fits at all since the medication was started (just one exception: when he had to go under anaesthetic to be neutered he did fit) and he's fine.

I think stateing the breed of dog would be helpful as there are breed specific tendencies and conditions.

I spoke to a holistic vet who had reccomended the aloe vera and the calm down .I also asked my own vet who said to try the holistic meds see how we get on ,if there is no differance then we can try something else .
He has had 2 seizures in the space of a week ,thats why the vet had said it could be epilepsy ,but the seizures only happen when he is excited about going for his walk ,thats why the holistic vet suggested the calm down .

How is the weather where you are?  Hot & muggy?  It's that bad in Grampian that the thunder storms we have had haven't really cleared the mugginess away.  Could be that your dog is just getting too hot and it's triggering the fits, especially if he is getting over-excited.  The weather could also dehydrate him quicker, depending on how the weather is where you are.  Fits are caused by so many things.

> I also asked my own vet who said to try the holistic meds see how we get on

Thats good then :)

When do you get the results of the bloods back?
My sisters Boxer had 2 fits in a week (both happened when the dog was laying in its bed, so my sister was worried about sleeping herself for fear of missing another fit :( ), it was assumed a vaginal infection that made her very ill was the cause, she had no more fits once she had recovered from the infection so the vets didn't investigate further, it had been discussed that if she had any more fits they would need to do lots of tests including an MRI scan.
My sister was very worried about her dog and found the fits very distressing, I hope you get to the bottom of this soon, it must be an awfull worry.