After reading many other posts regarding this subject, I felt as if I needed to post my experience. My Bailey girl is 2 1/2 years old and had her first major seizure this afternoon. It came on completely out of the blue. She had no symptoms that would have indicated anything was wrong. She began scratching her ear (or at least what appeared to be scratching) and then lost control. She was thrashing around on the ground, urinating and lost control of her bowels. The whole thing lasted about 5 minutes, but I swear it was a lifetime for me. I did not handle it very well, thinking the whole time I was going to lose her right there. I tried to comfort her by saying her name and petting her trying to be cautious if she reacted violently. Thankfully, she didn't and when it was over she was terrified. It took her a while to return to herself.
Not having a clue what to do, I immediately rushed to the emergency vet. He looked her over and gave her a shot to calm her down. He said there we no symptoms to explain...normal temp, etc. He sent me home with liquid Valium in case she had another and amino acid pills for her to take for the next 6 days.
He told me that if I start to notice anything out of the ordinary or she has another seizure that he will do a blood panel, but for now, just wait and hope I wasn't a pattern.

Has anyone here experienced a fluke seizure? I find it very strange that she's so young and randomly had such a bad seizure.

Also any other advice would be welcomed. I am extremely concerned for my girl and at a loss right now! Thank you.

BoomBug

I am so very sorry this just happened to your girl.
I have no experience with seizures, but I know lots of people on here do, so hopefully they will chime in!!
What does the vet say?

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Tonka & Tucker

SNOBEAR at the Bridge
Dec. 23, 1999-March 27, 2010


SMOOCH at the Bridge.
Feb. 14, 1999-Dec. 7, 2010

sorry to hear about Bailey having a seizure, and i was as surprised as you when Tom had his first at age 4, there are people in this section where their dogs are much younger than Bailey. Hopefully it was just a one-off !!! but in the mean time just try and consider if anything about her food, usual routine and absolutely anything that she may have had different and start making notes already just in case.

Best wishes to you and Bailey, I know how scary this all is to you.

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I am sorry you are going through this. I hope it is just a one time thing. Molly started having seizures just after she turned one. She has never lost bowel or bladder control. Your reaction is quite normal for the first seizure, it's very scary for us! It doesn't get any less scary, we just learn to handle our emotions better for the sake of our dogs. I know they say not to, but I always stroke Molly's head and talk her through it. You are doing the right things. You got her to th vet right away.

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My name is Terra
I am married to Allan
That makes me Allan's girl

Sorry you have experience this...that's how Tailer started too...out of the blue, no notice...I figured poisoning from something outside...blood tests were done any everything was fine.

I would have a complete blood panel done including a complete thyroid panel...go here and see: Dr. Jean Dodds - Canine Thyroid Testing | Hemopet.org

or here more specifically: http://www.hemopet.org/files/T%20%20...v%209.2010.pdf

Some seizures are directly related to thyroid issues, of course some are not. Have you searched the "Seizure" section here? Unfortunately too many stories just like yours, and mine.

Tailer started his seizures 2/1/10 At age 4.5 and has had 36 since. Tailer is on phenobarbatal and Chinese Herbs. Hopefully we are under control. I use Ocular Compression to help ease Tailer's, to me, it helps shorten them and let's him bounce back more quickly.

Have you just applied flea medicine or has your pup gotten shots lately? Change of food or treats? What food n treats do you use?

They don't feel a thing, I'm told...but Tailer feels embarrassed due to him peeing on the bed or floor. Tailer's happen when he is at rest. I do loudly call him to come, hoping he can hear me and break free...not sure if that helps or not, but it helps me! We have hand towels scattered all over the house, I'm getting pretty good at pee catching!

Good Luck! I have to go to work, or I'd write a book...

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Welcome to the Forum! I also offer you a sad welcome to our seizure community, which is a very supportive place though none of us want to be here.

If Bailey has another seizure, especially within the next 24-48 hours, I urge you to get her to a veterinary neurologist for an examination and appropriate medication. Given her age, I suspect that the diagnosis would be idiopathic epilepsy, which simply means seizures of unknown origin. There is actually good news in that diagnosis - no suspected brain tumors or lesions, for example.

Give care and medication, some GRF pups have lived a decade or more with seizures. Terrifying though they are, you will learn to cope with them if you must.

Please keep us posted about Bailey's progress and don't hesitate to ask a lot of questions. Someone here is bound to have experience with almost any problem you encounter.

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Lucy, owned by Joker and Sunny, who remember Charlie with me
http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/...years-old.html

Thank you to everyone who has responded! It is nice to know I'm not alonr. Bailey has been sleeping most of the day, of course waking when she knows I'm checking on her! I'm hoping our night will be much of the same.

After thinking about it all afternoon, I am going to have the vet run a blood panel Monday. He said he did not feel it necessary unless she showed more signs or had another seizure, but I need piece of mind. I feel so helpless!

I recently changed her food - probably about 8 weeks ago. She has allergies and was having a lot of ear infections and our vet suggested a change. She's on Nature's Recipe Lamb and Rice for Adult dogs. Could this be the cause? Other than that, she was given Frontline on April 16th and her heartworm April 6th, meaning she's due for it tomorrow. As far as treats, we give her frozen green beans. She loves them and our vet suggested it as an alternative when she started gaining weight last year.

I apologize if I didn't answer all the questions, but thank you again for taking the time to post a reply. Just hearing others that have experienced it maes me feel better. I wish the best for your babies as well. It I heartbreaking when we can't do anything for the one that would do anything for us!!

I think for the moment just see how she goes on, have the blood tests done asap to just rule out anything obvious. It still may be just a one-off so don't start worrying just yet and just make a list of every thing she eats , when she eats it, what treatments etc etc and carry on as normal

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I am so sorry you and Bailey had to experience the seizure today. It is horrifying and nothing can prepare you for the first one or even any more. I promise you, during the main part of the seizure - she has no idea what is happening, she is completely unconscious. It is the same in people. Though she will feel odd before and after which at times can be upsetting to watch. I really, really hope this is a one off and she never has to go through any more. It is terrifying and I think I spent at least 48hrs in tears after mine had her first one (and she wasn't even 2). I just as you did, spent every hour thinking of any possible trigger. At the time I decided to wait to see if we were going to have any more - sadly we only had to wait 5 days before we had another. Then as others have suggested, we booked to see a neurologist.

You will cope with this and Bailey will be ok. Fingers crossed it was a one off.

I'm not sure the blood tests would help at this point. I think they have to be run within a few hours after the seizure for the signature chemical changes to show up. Perhaps someone else can confirm or correct this?

A friend of mine has a Golden whose seizures stopped altogether when she was taken off food that contained lamb. That doesn't mean that lamb causes your girl's seizures, but you can do a challenge test for that. You feed her something lamb-free for a couple of weeks and see if she is still having seizures. If not, you give her the lamb-based food again and watch for seizures. If they occur, I'd be very suspicious about the food as a trigger.

Frontline Plus clearly triggered grand mal seizures in my Charlie, though it took me far too long to recognize the pattern. I would not use that product on any seizure-prone dog.

Oh yes, this is so painfully true.

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Lucy, owned by Joker and Sunny, who remember Charlie with me
http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/...years-old.html