Weird neurologic event (dog)

[Mango20]

Yesterday we had a 6+ mile off-leash hike, where my almost 2 year old dog runs all over the place (so probably goes more like 8-10 miles). We’ve been doing this once a week or so for a year with no problems. Also no other health issues thus far. Yesterday, we came home and the dogs napped as usual. I got them up two hours later to feed the horses and she got up a little stiff until she walked it off, like when your leg falls asleep or something. She was sitting sort of weirdly when I came back from the barn but then ran full speed to the door. I got the neighbor’s dog, who I’m watching this week, and brought her over for some play time.

Things seemed okay, then my energetic puppy was sitting but I thought she was just still tired. She got a bit of a rhythmic head bob, seemed slightly uncoordinated in the hind legs, had her mouth closed with her upper lip in between her canines, and leaked some urine in a few places (not squatting, just came out when she was lying down). This came and went and lasted longer than what I’d think a seizure would, and she was totally unbothered by it all - no signs of pain or distress. I gave her a rimadyl, thinking an anti-inflammatory might help if there was something pulled or inflammation on the spinal cord anywhere, and that I’d make a vet appointment in the morning. She was fine to go out again that night, climb the stairs, and jump into my bed (no more urine leakage). We went to bed and she was perfectly fine/normal this morning and has been all day.

I did not end up making the vet appointment, as she’s pretty traumatized by going there and there aren’t any symptoms to show them at this point. Has anyone seen anything like this before? Should I skip Saturday’s agility class to give whatever happened time to heal? For context, she is thoroughly a mutt, with GSD, coonhound, bloodhound, pit bull and lab, according to Embark.

[Mara]

Wow, that’s odd. I’ve heard of anxiety/stress-induced seizures in dogs before, but it doesn’t sound like anything you did with her yesterday would trigger something like that.

I had a cocker spaniel decades ago who had exactly one seizure, when he was about five. And I mean it was a falling-over-thrashing type of seizure, after which he hopped up and strolled away like nothing happened.

Narcolepsy could also be a possibility, but again, just once seems weird for that pathology.

This is just me, but I’d skip the agility visit this week just to be safe.

[ladyj79]

Just maybe?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiopathic_head_tremor_in_dogs#:~:text=Idiopathic%20head%20tremors%20(IHT)%20in,of%20spontaneous%20initiation%20and%20cessation.

I had two lovely valley bulldog sisters who occasionally experienced this.

When it manifest, I gave them a cup of yogurt. It never failed.

[Bluey]

At two is when many dogs start having seizures.
There are different kinds of seizures, some act like classic grand mal ones, others a dog may just stop mid stride, one leg not quite down, as mine would and stand there for half a minute, some times holding her head at an angle, then keep moving on like nothing happened.
At times she would kind of sit funny for a bit, then wobble and go on again without trouble.
We made some videos and our vet sent them to VIN so specialists could watch and it was diagnosed as idiopathic seizures.
She was on medication for two years and then we tried to taper off and she was fine after that, never had any more seizures and passed away at 14 1/2.

If you can catch some on video, your vet may be able to consult and see where to go from that.

[Mango20]

@ladyj79 - interesting. It’s possible that the long hike left her low in calcium or glucose, I guess. She definitely wasn’t “out of it” while it was happening, and acted mostly normally other than the loss of body control. It’s never happened before, but having a friend over to play also has never happened on a hiking day.

@Bluey - that’s a good idea to video it if it happens again. Hopefully it doesn’t.

@Mara - I just cancelled the agility class before the 24 hour limit. There could be some component of anxiety involved, because my dog and my neighbor’s are still learning to play with each other. Mine is doing pretty well, but the other dog is still pretty snappy and defensive until she gets comfortable (she’s way better on her home turf). They don’t get together on a regular basis, but it was the third time this week since I’m pet sitting that dog.

[OnAMission]

My total mutt had one of those when he was about a year old and scared me to death. I was able to talk to him and he pulled right out of it. He’s never had another episode that I’ve seen, whatever it was. He had been in the house and was kind of sleepy as I recall.

[Irish_Ei_s]

FWIW, I had to put my 6yo. Down due to a seizure disorder.
The more we upped his meds the worse he got.

At this point I’m blaming the Advantage flea treatments.

[candyappy]

How scary. Is it possible she had some head trauma while running wild?? My last dog had seizures at 3 for no apparent reason we could find. 4 in a 24 hour period then nothing until she was 10.

I hope you dog never has another episode.

[Mango20]

I guess anything is possible. She runs really fast and all through the underbrush. She usually ends up with several thorns stuck in her. I don’t have eyes on her 100% of the time. But, we’ve gone to this same empty park for a year so she should know the terrain fairly well. There are also a lot of water crossings and breaks, so dehydration is not a likely cause.

It’s been 48 hours and so far she seems perfectly normal. We did a shorter off-leash hike on my neighbor’s overgrown farm with her dog today. I sure hope this was a one time thing but I guess time will tell.