My 5 year old border terrier is having these fits every couple of weeks, it only seems to be happen when he is in a deep sleep. I have taken him to the vets and he informed me that there are no proplems with his liver, heart of kidneys and that he didnt see anything wrong with the dog, he said my dog was in good health, it might not be anyhing to worry about but why would he have fits like this for nothing??

Please help. Thanks rachel

Did your vet not mention the possibity of epilepsy? Humans and animals with epilepsy are often completely healthy in every respect apart from the fact that they have repeated seizures. If your dog is having frequent seizures, he probably needs medication to contol them.

Are you sure he is having fits and not dreaming?  Dogs can yelp, kick and thrash in a deep sleep, I have not seen a sleeping dog fit myself, so cannot comment on that.  There is a problem in Borders called "canine epileptic cramping syndrome" often confused with Epilepsy but these cramps NEVER ocur when the dog is sleeping.
Dawn.

What form do the fits take?
Did the vet agree they were fits or did he think they may be dreams?
Is there any reason why the dog may be fitting - recent head injury, access to toxic substances, new medication, recent vaccination even new type of cleaning fluids used in the home?

Hi Busydoggs, good points and all worth noting ;)

I think the OP has to establish first with the vet if these are likely to be fits.  If they are, all fits have a cause - although obviously it's not always possible to determine that.

If idiopathic epilepsy is a problem in the breed, he's reached a classic age for symptoms to appear but I'd want other things ruled out first - particularly over-active dreams :D  Also if it were epilepsy, "cluster" type fits tend to be an earlier onset than 5 years - hopefully he's chasing wild boar <LOL> while in the land of nod or failing that it's a reaction to a local trigger which can be removed from his environment.

Hope he's OK, Teri 

Hi, I've got a 5 year old BT and I'm just asking again if these are definitely fits.  My BT has pretty noisy sleep disturbance patterns where he whimpers a lot and shakes.  He sometimes sleeps on the end of my bed and the dreams and whimpers are loud enough to wake me up.  If I stroke him he calms down and goes back to sleep but he doesn't always wake up.  I've never thought of these episodes as fits as he's in good health.

If the vet has checked him over and he seems healthy I wouldn't worry too much but if you are worried then get a second opinion. 

Hope he's OK :)

CG

The second Border Terrier definitely sounds as if he/she is just having particularly animated dreams. Although there are many many different types of fit, stroking a dog does not usually stop one. I am sure yours is just dreaming so you shouldn't need to worry, especially since your vet has given him the all clear (although epilepsy is often hard to spot).

my friends rottie fitted and fell off the bed it was a realy bad fit she urinated on herself and was foaming abit it turned out she was diabetic.