Does anyone know anything about seizures in labradors? Since my chocolate lab was around 6 months old (he's now 2 1/2), he has exhibited very strange behavior around once every few months, sometimes more, sometimes less. The behavior I'm talking about is this: He will get this very strange look in his eyes, almost like there's no one home, and his entire body will tense up. He will run around in circles, and then begin lunging at me, snapping at me. He becomes incredibly viscious, although he's normally a very sweet dog. His eyes are almost set back in his head, and his pupils become dialated. This behavior only lasts for a minute or two at the most, and then he returns to normal, only a little tired. He doesn't do this on a regular schedule, maybe once or twice in a week, and then he won't do it again for another month or so. He's even gone several months without having an "episode."

I've spoken to both his vet and to several trainers about this, but no one has ever mentioned seizures, but they've also never seen him act like this. I've been told that it's "redirected aggression," but we've never been able to get him to stop doing this. I never even thought it could be seizures until someone just mentioned it to me a few days ago, and I've since done some reading on the Internet. I feel terrible that I never thought of it before, and a little angry that his vet never mentioned that it could be a possiblity. I'm also slightly relieved if it does happen to be seizures because I've always had difficulty believing that he has an aggressive bone in his body.

We've recently moved, so I will be taking him to a new vet next week, but I'd really appreciate any information anyone has on seizures. I imagine that the vet will want to run blood work, but I was wondering if there are any other tests he should have.

Sorry this is so long!

Can you give a little more info? What is his natural state, quiet, active, bordering on hyperactive? How long do these turns go on for, minutes, hours or days? How do they start, when he's quiet, active? How do they finish, just fade away with no real end or possibly finish with a bout of hyperactivity?

Any little details you can give could point the way.

Best wishes, John

He's a very active dog, but I would not go so far as to say that he borders on hyperactivity. He does get VERY excited by anything new, and I have noticed that a lot of these episodes seem to happen when he's overstimulated. Then again, they have also happened for no apparent reason that I could see. I was told once that they could be an indication that he needs more exercise, but they've also happened when he's completely exhausted, so I don't know. Since he's so active, we make sure that he gets plenty of exercise (several walks a day and time to run off leash several times a week).

The episodes only last for one minute, maybe two minutes at the absolute most. They do seem to just "stop." I usually put him into a sit position, which is quite difficult because he's jumping up and trying to snap at me, but I can tell right away when he's back to normal because he gets his regular look in his eyes, and it's like it never happened. When he's having an episode, his eyes make him look crazed.

My thoughts are possibly epilepsy although it does not completely tie up. The fact that his eyes seem to change and that it is of short duration points to me to be a medical thing rather than a behavioural thing. It sounds very mild though if it really is epilepsy. My Beth was down on the floor for up to 20 minutes with the full shaking bit.

If these turns happen often it might be worth using one of the "Anti epilepsy" drugs such as Epiphen to see if the attacks stop. An EEG could show it but unfortunately very few vets have the equipment so it would almost certainly require a referral to a vet college.

Don't beat yourself up about it. We do the best for our dogs but we cannot always think of everything. I would be interested in what your new vet thinks when you see him or her.

Best wishes, John

There is a possibility that the dog could be hypothyroid too, this can cause sudden aggression outbursts for no apparent reason.  It might be worth a blood test, but do iNSIST on a FULL thyroid panel and not just a T4 test.  Good luck.
Dawn.

As suggested I would want a full thyroid panel test done on the dog.  The behaviour you describe could be an indicator of a number of things.

You have not mentioned what diet your dog is on either which could have a bearing.

Thank you very much for the advice everyone. I will be certain to bring up these tests with his vet. He eats Science Diet Sensitive Stomach dry food, 1 1/2 cups, three times a day.

Not sure why your dog is on this as I thought it was designed for dogs 1 - 6?

The ingredients are as follows:

Ground rice(minimum Rice 18%), ground maize, chicken and turkey meal, maize gluten meal, dried whole egg(minimum Egg 13%), animal fat, digest, vegetable oil, flaxseed, oat fibre, dried beet pulp, potassium chloride, salt, L-lysine hydrochloride, vitamin E supplement, choline chloride, L-tryptophan, vitamin C supplement, calcium carbonate, ferrous sulphate, zinc oxide, mixed tocopherols, niacin, thiamin, vitamin A supplement, beta-carotene supplement, citric acid, copper sulphate, calcium pantothenate, manganous oxide, pyridoxine hydrochloride, rosemary extract, riboflavin, vitamin D3 supplement, calcium iodate, folic acid, sodium selenite, biotin, vitamin B12.

You might want to consider using a food that is not so high in maize as it is tryptophan deficient (as evidenced by the need to add this amino acid to the mixture) which can impact on brain function/behaviour. 

Have you considered Naturediet or Burns?  Both of these are highly bio-available and do not contain maize/corn and suit many dogs with "sensitive" stomachs. 

Just a thought.

my boxer had 3 seizures in less than 24 hours.He had never had them before and was 11.The only thing i found out is that there is 3 stages to a seizure all i witnessed with him was the 1st. he had no medical history of seizures but he had been tested for thyroidism but it came back ok.the vets did all the test possible to find out what was causing them but all the results were normal.They told me it can be because of a problem in other organs that bring them on but he was given the all clear.so in the end it had to be in the brain.....imflammation of the brain but no cause could be found.we asked about tumors with him being a boxer but he had no syptoms of a tumor.in the end he had general weakness and couldn't stand the vets said the only thing left was a mri scan to have a look.he has on all the drugs to stop them but was still twitching all the time,he didn't improve so we had to make that call to pts.the vet said that nothing could have been done as he had no improvement on the medicine but that he could have had brain damage because the last one was life threatening.when we went to see him and say our goodbyes he didn't reckonise us at all.24 hours earlier he was this normal self.the only thing i can think of is that he had a blood clot that possibly burst and caused swelling etc as to why it happened so fast.this was now 3 weeks ago and i will never know what and why. but all i do know is it was the best thing to do for him as he just wasn't with us anymore.maybe you should get your dog checked out (nerologically) as it may give you the answer as to what is happening and why.
hope it helps.  

Marie, I am so sorry to hear about your loss. I am sure that it was extremely difficult decision to make, and I thank you for your advice because I will be sure to mention the possibility of a neruological disorder to his vet. Also, thank you for the advice about the food. That is also something else I will bring up. 

I have a Border collie - I am actually about to put up a link  about her asking for advice, she has fits / seizures.  Like your pup, she knows when one is going to happen as she just up at me, her eyes glaze over and her pupils are basically fully fully dialated.  I would hazard a guess that your pup is being what you term as viscious because like my meg they don't understand what is going on but they know they don't like it.  she will get very very clumsy, jump up knock things over, but she's basically trying to get up on my lap to be cuddled and held.  if you leave her too soon she starts fitting again.  you can see in her eyes when she is so out of it that shes unaware of what is going on, but during on average 9 minute fit for 5 minutes she will be aware and basically panicking not understanding what is going on.
I have a massive problem getting her to eat, sometimes i think that has something to do with it, she is completely not food orientated at all - how she was ever trained without treats is a mystery! we have found a food she likes a kibble food that is for active dogs sometimes she'll eat it others she'll starve herself for days, even fresh fish, steak, etc doesn't work sometimes.  In the last month she has had 6 episodes/fits/seizures and i believe alot of it is the exercise- being a proper collie she wants to chase balls and sticks all the time, mostly she will let you know when she has had enough, but with the heat recently she has been fitting, before that we had gone 6 months without one.    the vet has told us that her brain activity with concentrating on what she terms as 'work' gets too high and everything just shuts down, we can put her on drugs but she will never be able to come off them which is daunting when most of the time she is fine.  All her blood tests have come back clear but she is so highly strung that she gets very upset.  - like when a baby bunny ran  past her last week. fitted straight away.  I am after advice as well, but i know that when she is eating properly and when she's not too hot she's fine.  I think the vet called it idiot epilepsy.  In other words the vets don't have a clue why it happens, but they can control it with drugs if required. 

'Idiopathic' epilepsy, not 'idiot'! ;)

I know, its my strange of humour! - it is more like idiot though when a bunny starts her off!!

Thank you for telling me about your Border. Although you say that your pup just wants to crawl in your lap and be held, I'm afraid that mine really does become quite viscious when he has these episodes. He growls and tries to bite me (and has bit me), which is why I've been told that it's "redirected aggression."