Epilepsy in dogs

Our friends in Adelaide have just had their 18 month old staff diagnosed with Epilepsy.
He's started on medication (I haven't found out which one yet), but it takes a while for it to control the seizures.
He spent most of last night at the "doggy hospital" and they were told that if it kept going for 24 hours they would have to have him PTS. They are devastated and praying that he settles, he's not had one for about 10-11 hours now so fingers X'd.
Does anyone else have any experience with Epilepsy in dogs?
In humans they often have an "Aura" before a fit, but it's not like a dog can tell you that.

Hi Lee, am sorry to hear about your friends staff...why would they want to PTS the dog for...(i've got seizures two types & aura's don't always occur before one) and as long as the dog keeps stopping in between a seizure the dogs coping ok plus they need to give the medication time to work.

The time to be talking PTS is when the seizures are'nt breaking in between because there's an high risk the heart can't cope and it will be at an high risk of going into a coma.

Seizures for humans as well as dogs is the same but the only trouble is they can't say how they're feeling but the vets need to give the meds time to work and i wish your friends the very best and fingers crossed

I'm not sure of the whole story and maybe they were so stressed out they didn't take it all in, and I didn't want to bring it up again. The vet has told them the medication will take 7 - 14 days to work properly.
I did some searching and came across a few sites that I'll read tomorrow and try and get my head around the right info to be a support for them.
It's scary enough watching humans fit and only being able to position them in a such a way as to maintain their safety & airway until they relax and go into that post seizure deep sleep. I can only imagine how awful it would be to see your dog do the same.

Lee, in a human it can take that long 7-14 days but they can also give the staff a rectal diazepam (valium) which constantley stops any seizure straight away...sometimes it's given by injection form also but it does flake you out ever so quick.

When i lived at home my parents had a yorkishire terrier who used to fit badly, he had to be PTS at 4yrs old not because of his seizures because he developed a skin disorder linked to cancer and made him bald but otherwise he'd have a seizure or fit as they're known and once he came around he was back to normal.

I've since read up though over they years that apparentley if you make a dog to hypo that can bring one on out of the blue.

I work with a lot of people with epilepsy and they have an aura yes but they don't usually physically know they are about to go down they just "change" and don't realise it unless someone says something. With dogs it would be the same, he would seem zoned out and restless and probably seem confused and a bit aggressive too which they need to be careful of. Also if he is just coming out a seizure they will never want to go near him to comfort him as he can be aggressive coming out of it too. Also they will want to have lino floors, the bowels will be released.

Hayley your correct with the aggressiveness after the seizure as stopped because our Brandy was the same if you went by him but i differ with you about Aura's.

I have heard of dogs being zoned out before seizures. Maybe your dog didnt but others have

boy the staffy is young to be diagnosed with that..poor thing.. and poor owners. that's not the one you posted a pic of, is it??

I remember my old cat Boson had a fit when she was about 16 years old... it only lasted about 30 seconds but I was terrified. She died a few months later.. I had to have her PTS as her kidneys packed up

Hope the vets get this problem under control.

Lee what a terrible thing for your friends and their dog to go through. Just hope that it all works out ok. Cannot imagine how awful itmust be to go through your dog having a fit or for tha matter the contemplation of being pts.

Do they know if it's hereditary epilepsy, or if it's being caused by something?

If it's hereditary they should let the breeders know immediately to prevent any further litters being bred from the same parents - sibling owners should also be advised.

Hopefully the medication will kick in quickly, but it can take a little while for the right dose to be worked out. Normally, with patience and good handling a fitting dog can have a long & happy life. The meds will be for life, though, & may be quite expensive. Your friends might be better off getting repeat prescriptions from the vet & buying the medication online.

When Tilly had her last season she had some kind of water infection and I tiook her to the vet in the car (which she gets stressed about but we are working on it) when we got there she was panting and shaking and the vet thought she was fitting, gave her a shot of valium and she stopped shaking but still panting , he was concerned as in his words if he gave that to a normal siz dog like a lab or a border collie they would be flat on their back, but Tilly just stood there like she wasn't phased. He sent us off with 3 Rectal Diazepam and told us he would expect 1 to work within 10 minutes normally , and if it continued then give her the second and then the 3rd, but if it went that far we should go straight to the emergency vet as well. So far she hasn't had a repeat apart from 1 shaking instance when I told my OH as I was away at the time (and a little sceptical that we may have had a panic diagnosis ) to give her some time and a big cuddle and it seemed to work so hopefully with Tilly it's more about stress than a epilepsy problem , however time will tell

Equi wrote:I have heard of dogs being zoned out before seizures. Maybe your dog didnt but others have

Hayley, they can be but for some reason it never happened that way with brandy

Caryll wrote:Do they know if it's hereditary epilepsy, or if it's being caused by something?

If it's hereditary they should let the breeders know immediately to prevent any further litters being bred from the same parents - sibling owners should also be advised.

Hopefully the medication will kick in quickly, but it can take a little while for the right dose to be worked out. Normally, with patience and good handling a fitting dog can have a long & happy life. The meds will be for life, though, & may be quite expensive. Your friends might be better off getting repeat prescriptions from the vet & buying the medication online.

Caryll, i did'nt add any links in case they was the wrong ones but Dogs can get seizures through it being inherited off the parents and also through interbreeding which to me is way out of order anyway but some breeders just don't care

I had an Epileptic dog when I was a kid. He was Collie X, I remember seeing his first seizure like it was yesterday. I was 10 or so at the time and it was christmas eve, I went into the backyard and there he was on the floor convulsing, he would have been about 18 months at the time.

My dad took him to the vet but I'm not sure what they did for him, I was only kid. The problem we had with him was he'd turn aggressive without warning, I have 2 scars on my hand an wrist to prove it. I can't say for sure that it was due to his Epilepsy but he mauled me without warning.

Do they know for sure if the parents are L2 HGA clear? It may be the dog is a carrier. A test will confirm this.

Hi Summerisle,

Sorry to hear you dog had seizures also it's terrible to see.

Regarding the L2 HGA tests which vets run if required..they have paper work of the vet concerning that to show buyers but not all breeders get their staffs tested

I haven't had much of a chance to contact her since yesterday. Unfortunately they are a fair distance now from us, her mum had a fall the other day (so she's looking after her as well), and her hubby now works away for 2 weeks at a time. She has adult daughters who can offer some support but I think she's struggling a bit with trying to find the time for everything.
I got a message from her this morning and no fits for 24 hours, so that's good.

Caryll I had thought the same thing re the breeder and the need to contact them re hereditary, they may have already used either parent again (although not the dam I hope).

Equi - I'm a nurse, so plenty of exp with adults but none with dogs so good to know the similarities. I did read about the aggression after as well.

As far as I know the parents are L2 HGA clear as I remember Trevor and her hubby having a conversation in regard to this as we'd only had Izzy a few months before they got Jackson, so it was up there in the conversations.

Bit off track but the guy we got Izzy from had a 12 month old female staff affected with L2 HGA (which is where Izzy came into the picture as she was the replacement dog they were given from the breeder). This guy's dog was diagnosed when it was quite young and their kids were really attached to it and by the time they were given Izzy they were managing their dog ok - so poor Izzy became redundant to their life but a meal ticket all the same. The breeders of their original dog had both the parents desexed as soon as they found out.
We contacted the sire of Izzy to check re L2 HGA as well and she assured us both Izzy'z parents were clear as she wouldn't have let her sire be used for stud if the dam wasn't clear. Which is why I'm hoping our friends made sure Jackson's parents were clear.

Not Storm thankfully, Vanessa

This is the precious boy

So sorry for your friend and Jackson, Lee. I have no experience with this but hopefully they can get it under control. Heartbreaking though no matter what. So hard to wach someone having a siezure.

What a beauty. Hope things continue to go well for him.

I got a message from my friend this arvo, its definitely "not hereditary and all his bloods came back perfect".
Apparently his was a difficult birth and the dam lost 2 pups out of 5, I don't think the vet can tell whether there's any link or not.

I wonder if it was just a 'one off'? It would be nice to think it was.

They thought that the other week when he had the first one, but it's gotten worse & he had all these tests done the other day, the vet said he will be on anti-epileptic medication for the rest of his life

I did find this link on good old FB of an epileptic staff, made me feel sad but brought a smile anyway

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jess-the-epileptic-staffy/147352952000277

Hi Lee, great news he's not had one for 24hrs and he's a stunning staff

I don't know how it lies concerning dogs but with humans if they don't have a seizure for 2yrs sometimes they're fetched off the drugs and i hope this goes the same way concerning Jackson and lets hope he does'nt have another.

wow Lee.. he is a real spunky looking fella.

Fingers crossed that he doesn't have any more seizures.

Awww hope hes okay hes a beautiful lad
With regards to L2 in england its printed on the pedigrees and good breeders dont breed from untested dogs it really is a awful disease to be diagnosed with

Hi Lee...have you heard anything since yesterday about Jackson and how he's doing, fingers crossed he's ok

Hi Terry
No, I sent her a message last night, but I haven't heard back. I'm hoping "no news is good news".

Hi lee,

I say the same mate and thanks for letting we know...wishing Jackson all the best

Lee,

Meet George the Epileptic Staffie! More than happy to chat through how we cope. It is an upsetting thing, but we have managed to reduce the number of fits with drugs, and I am now a dab hand at coping with them when they happen without injury to me or George!
In every other way George is a fit and happy boy - just every few weeks he has a major brain mis-fire!
K
xxx

my mums labrador had epilepsy he was first diagnosed with it after his first fit at around 5 years old. He was having regular fits until the correct medication and dose was found, his fits then went down to around once a month so he could lead a normal daft labrador life lol, most disobedient, giddy dog ever (maybe this was the epilepsy, i think its just labs in general!)

he was always a happy dog still though, he was abit jaded after each fit but guess thats to be expected. A few months ago though he had a really bad fit which the vet think bought on a stroke, he was never the same again he lost his co ordination, his head went down and he just didnt look a happy dog anymore so sadly had to choose to get him put to sleep. the vets had always warned us that the epilepsy would shorten his life he was 9