12yo spayed female 1/4 shelti, 3/4 blue heeler I have owned since she was 7 weeks old. Only health problem has been chronic anal gland impaction resulting in both glands being removed, second surgery was over 2 years ago now. Otherwise she’s always been healthy–but incredibly timid/shy, frightened easily, just an all around sensitive, scaredy cat.
I think she had a seizure around July 1st. We were on vacation in the Northwoods, which was a new concept for her (vacation that is, I never go anywhere), but she was with familiar people and dogs, my immediate family whom with she is all familiar. Her and my other dog, much younger 2yo, were having a rip-roaring good time splashing and wading in the shallows of the lake and running up and down the shore and hill back to the cabin, under supervision but they lingered too long at the top of the hill. Everyone else headed out on the boat and I waved goodbye and went to go gather the dogs fro whatever they were up to at the top of the hill. I found her collapsed just off the trail, foam dripping out of her mouth, disoriented, but lucid. This scared me [omg!] and I went to approach her [omg pupper, what’s wrong?!?] and she growled at me–seemed to not recognize me. She has NEVER growled at me or anyone else in her life. This scared me and I ran my other dog back to the cabin, locked him up inside, ran back and she had fled down the trail back toward the lake. I persued, calling her but she was fleeing in fear, unable to recognize me. She got to the dock and jumped off in a panic and began swimming out into the lake [OMG]. I jumped in and swam after her [and thought this is how people drown–remember, I was totally alone in the backwoods at this point]. I caught up with her somewhere around the middle of the lake and grabbed her and she seemed to finally recognize me. I hauled her back to shore and carried her back to the cabin upon which she seemed 100% normal and fine. We were in the backwoods for another 6 days and she was fine, normal, no signs of any lingering issue and certainly no repeat of this episode. My family, who learned what happened upon returning from boating convinced me she was fine and perhaps had a panic attack. I was pretty sure it was a seizure but with no further symptoms we just let it go.
Well fast forward to yesterday she had another, full blown, at home, right in front of me. She rose from resting, wandering to the living room, collapsed flat out and classic seizure commenced. I was terrified and thought she was going to die. It lasted about a minute, maybe a minute and a half, long enough for me to run all over the house searching for the phone, dial the vet, and then she came out of it, again, disoriented, frightened, not recognizing me, for a few seconds–then anxious, restless, pacing, thirsty. About an hour later she was totally fine, had a short walk, dinner, begged for popcorn during Netflix & chill, and we had a peaceful night.
Vet this morning ran full cbc and 2 other specific blood tests found nothing remarkable besides minor elevated liver enzymes which vet thought was unrelated. Vet Rx’ed phenobarbital and milk thistle for her liver, recheck blood in 4 weeks, tweak phenobarbital, possible switch to different med she can stay on for life that is easier on liver. It’s a bit of a blur.
Upon returning home she had another seizure. It started in her head/face, lips pulled back, bitting at air, teeth chattering. She tried to come to me, got scared, staggered to living room and collapsed and went full blown, legs paddling, braced body, foaming mouth, defecating, head/neck shaking, hitting the floor. I petted her and scratched her back and said her name frequently and this one only lasted about 30 seconds and she came out of it faster/recovered to normal faster. I called the vet back and he gave me his cell # to call anytime and told me to start the phenobarbital immediately [was waiting for pm feeding as this was 2pm already].
I don’t know what I am looking for by posting except maybe other people who have been though this with their dogs. I have never had a dog that had a seizure. It’s really scary. She knows it’s coming and it frightens her, and it’s frightening me. I have another dog and he doesn’t understand. Thanks for reading.
