Seizures in a Labrador *Please help!*

I'm not new to PT; I post a lot on Cat Talk but I have a serious issue that I'm hoping PTers can help me w/here. A friend of mine has a 6 yr. old female yellow lab, Bailey, who had a grand mal seizure on Sat. And she had them every 8 hrs. His vet was out of town and the office was closed and every vet we tried was either closed or booked solid. He finally got her in at an emergency clinic and they gave her phenobarbitol until his vet could see her. He's currently awaiting results from blood tests. He just called me again and I could hear Bailey crying in the background and she follows him around constantly, always underfoot. He was able to get ahold of his vet this time and he's on his way in now because Bailey had a nose bleed. I've never heard of such a thing! I've had dogs and cats all my life and never has that happened to any of them. Has anyone experienced this, especially w/this breed of dog? He's stressed to the max because he lost two labs already, both in the month of March and he's scared to death the worst is going to happen again. He takes excellent care of his dogs, coddles them even. Can anyone offer insight into this situation? Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

my dog has seizures. alex is 11 and has had them for 10 years, seizures can come from many causes, and a vet visit for a complete check up is needed, includiing low thyroid. the 3 main websites i know, the canine epilepsy website, one group in yahoo, and the guardian angels are wonderful, jam packed with information and caring helpful people. please join us. BTW alex is a lab-terrier mystery mix. seizures are not a death sentence any longer.

My RB dog Charmin, a peke-a-poo lived to be 18 1/2 w/seizures which started right after she gave birth at approx. one year of age. But as soon as she started on the phenobarbitol, she was fine. Bailey isn't having seizures any more but the crying and pacing and esp. the nosebleed have me concerned. I've just never seen her like this. But thank you so much for the info. I'll be sure to read all I can get my hands on.

Well, my friend just called me again and said that until the blood work comes back, his vet said that she's shooting in the dark. She cut the phenolbarbitol in half and said to give Bailey that plus half a valium. She's afraid that the phen. has caused immediate kidney damage. God, I hope not. And her nose is still bleeding. My friend is afraid that he's going to wake up tomorrow morning and find a dead dog. Please, friends, pray for Bailey. He loves that dog so much and to lose another Lab in the month of March would be too much!

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Originally Posted by Medusa

I'm not new to PT; I post a lot on Cat Talk but I have a serious issue that I'm hoping PTers can help me w/here. A friend of mine has a 6 yr. old female yellow lab, Bailey, who had a grand mal seizure on Sat. And she had them every 8 hrs. His vet was out of town and the office was closed and every vet we tried was either closed or booked solid. He finally got her in at an emergency clinic and they gave her phenobarbitol until his vet could see her. He's currently awaiting results from blood tests. He just called me again and I could hear Bailey crying in the background and she follows him around constantly, always underfoot. He was able to get ahold of his vet this time and he's on his way in now because Bailey had a nose bleed. I've never heard of such a thing! I've had dogs and cats all my life and never has that happened to any of them. Has anyone experienced this, especially w/this breed of dog? He's stressed to the max because he lost two labs already, both in the month of March and he's scared to death the worst is going to happen again. He takes excellent care of his dogs, coddles them even. Can anyone offer insight into this situation? Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

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A lab is usually very stoic. If the dog is crying then most likely it's experiencing pain.

Seizures could be caused by anything from Leptospirosis, to Hypoglycemia. The nose bleeds alone without the seizures could be infection or nasal sarcoma, or cross linked to another problem. There's also the chance the dog merely injured its nose during a seizure, which would be the best case scenario.

The previous blood work may or may not pick up some abnormalities (e.g. elevated WBCs, or depleted platlets). Additional tests such as a cranial Xray and/or ultrasound of the body cavity should be suggested by the Vet to determine the root cause.

I will pray for Bailey. I hope they find out what is wrong with her quickly and can help her. This must be so hard on your friend. :(

Actually the crying and acting different, being underfoot is not that unusual. Snoopy was that way after several of his first seizures. I think it is because something that they don't understand has happened to them and they, just like us are scared. Plus they do have a time after each seizure where they are confused, disoriented etc. I now have valium on hand to give Snoopy when he does have a seizure (he has had them 3 years now). It calms him down some but the reason to give it is to stop further seizures. Good luck on your friend's dog coming through this okay!

Well, he got the blood work back this morning and in his words "Everything is normal". Now how can that be? The dog had 3 grand mal seizures w/in an 18 hr. period. His vet suggested a brain tumor test but she said it's very expensive and he's a landscaper who hasn't gone back to work yet so he can't exactly afford that. He hasn't spoken to his vet this morning because she will be in surgery all day. It was the vet tech who gave him the info. He's more stressed today than he was yesterday. But Bailey has remained calm, no more nosebleeds or seizures at this point.

Thanx, everyone, for your feedback.

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Originally Posted by Medusa

Well, he got the blood work back this morning and in his words "Everything is normal". Now how can that be? The dog had 3 grand mal seizures w/in an 18 hr. period. His vet suggested a brain tumor test but she said it's very expensive and he's a landscaper who hasn't gone back to work yet so he can't exactly afford that. He hasn't spoken to his vet this morning because she will be in surgery all day. It was the vet tech who gave him the info. He's more stressed today than he was yesterday. But Bailey has remained calm, no more nosebleeds or seizures at this point.

Thanx, everyone, for your feedback.

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A possible approach is to find out exactly what the brain tumor test involves. If it's an MRI, then he could call to the nearest Vet school(s), and get an idea as to pricing. With the blood work normal that is pointing more towards neurological problems, and expensive tests. It may be a case of waiting to see if the symptoms can be treated with drugs. Presumably your friend had a chance to describe in detail what the seizures looked like? What we might call a seizure, a Vet may call something else.

Oh it was a seizure alright. Foaming at the mouth, urinating, defecating, paddling on her side so much and so hard that she went from one room to the next. It lasted approx. 3 min. each time. I thought about neurological problems, too. But he wants to talk to his vet when she gets out of her surgery day. So I guess I'll have to wait til then.

What the dog is having is a cluster of seizures. That is the way Snoopy started out - and they never did find out what causes his. Sometimes they just can't. You can have expensive tests done and still not know what caused them. They started Snoopy out on a low dose of phenobarbitol - now he takes a stronger dose of Phenobarbitol and Potassium bromide. We also have the valium so he won't cluster.

No advice as Kia's one and only Grand Mal seizure was due to a reaction to ProHeart 6.

I will say a prayer for Bailey though.

My terrier Daphney has mild seizures. Hers aren't very often and a lot of the time she just has spells where she looks a little drugged and just stares off into space. After each of her seizures she is very clingy. She attaches herself to my leg and has tripped me several times. They think Daphney's seizures are hereditary. She started having them when she was two years old. We can't be for sure though because we found her and her brother in the road.
I hope they find out what is causing Bailey's. I will be praying for her.

So far no more grand mal seizures but a few petit mal. His vet gave him liquid valium to be injected into Bailey's rectum if she starts having another grand mal. And he has an appt. w/a specialist tomorrow. So we're keeping our fingers crossed. I'll post when I know more.

I saw this thread and had to reply.
My Bailey, a rough Collie, age 2 years this April 7th has had seizures since mid September 2006, not very often but this month he had 2 seizures.


Each time I hurriedly wrote down everything that happened down to his extremely pale, pale gums. Without going into all the detail that encompasses the symptoms of the seizures he has in this post, due to the fact that I noticed every little thing, typed it up and presented it to the vet. It helped him rule out certain things that could be wrong and narrow down to extremely minute possibilities after a physical examination. Cerebellar Cortical Abiotrophy (aka CCA), a neurological disease which is treated the same way they treat common Epilepsy, with Phenobarbital as it is not cureable.

From the minute detail I gave him he is certain it's not a brain tumor, which is good, if I look on the bright side. A brain scan will just confim the diagnosis of something that is not cureable and treatable with nearly the same meds as epilepsy. Bailey presents with a few more symptoms that just common epilepsy and given that Collies are one of the breeds listed as possibly prone to coming down with CCA. I just hate the effects of the Phenobarbital but he hasn't had all that much time to get used to it. But with this last seizure the frequency and duratiion is coming around faster and longer. On the Phenobarb. he seems like an old dog instead of one just about to turn 2 years old and he's irritable which is out of character for him.

My friend just left me a voice mail. They just cannot get the seizures stopped. She's had one an hour for the last 2 days. He took Bailey to the specialist and he was crying on the voice mail; he said he'd catch me up on everything when we talk but that none of it is good news. I've been sick all day so I haven't had the chance to talk to him. But I'll keep you posted. Thanx, all, for your help and prayers.