One of the worst experiences for pet owners is to watch their dog or cat have a seizure. Canine seizures can range from mild ones that look like your dog was bitten by a bug, moderate muscle tremors and drooling, to full-blown laying on the side, screaming, arching the back, defecating and urinating on themselves. Seeing this happen to your dog and not being able to do anything about it leaves the pet owner with a terrible feeling of helplessness.
What Causes Seizures in Dogs?
Most of the time seizures develop in adult dogs, although even puppies have been known to suffer from epileptic seizures. There are various causes of canine seizures such as dehydration, heavy-metal toxicity, or a negative reaction to vaccines. Infection and diabetes can also cause seizures. And yet, sometimes there is no known cause – this is what we refer to as idiopathic epilepsy .
Seizures are a problem when they happen repeatedly, occur with increasing frequency or duration, or have the potential for more life threatening problems. The overwhelming concern is for a dog that goes into status epilepticus . This is a condition where the seizures don’t stop and the body gets so hot that the dog’s brain cannot cool down, causing permanent brain damage. Sometimes, status epilepticus can even result in death.
Some dogs have seizures just once and then they never happen again. This is obviously preferable, but not always the case. The usual preliminary diagnostics when a dog has seizures is to review their blood work and urinalysis results. Infection and diabetes are two of the most common causes of seizures that can be found in their blood work.
