Need your opinions on what this could be and your
suggestions to try to over come it. I am sure i will hear alot of different thoughts but thats ok.
I know could be 100 million things. Had a client call about a 19 mo male. I thought when i heard partial seizure EIC,Because of the high energy he is.
he is in a pet home.
But this partial seizure only happens when he is awoken from a sleep. He gets a 2-3 mile free run excercise every day.with another dog.He has never collapsed after excercise. Only when he wakes up.
The seizure is not full blown most of the time rear legs. he quivers and whines when he slowly goes down sometimes his front legs go stiff.Its just his rear.
His first one. was after what she thought possibly hitting his head with a cut under his eye.
Then 3 mos later then today. lasts about 35-45 sec

He is about 25 " tall and very very high energy. I thought when i seen him in april he was to thin.
she says he weighs 72lbs. I feel he should weigh closer to 85lbs. He is very well bred and english.

I'm not a breeder, but have had a dog with seizures in the past.

Tick diseases can sometimes cause seizures, they can be sort of hard to pin down too, not always acute illness.

Head trauma could cause seizures too. So the cut under the eye is suspect, but could be a result of an unwitnessed seizure and banging into something, so who knows. Do the owners live near or own horses or cattle, maybe a kick.

I had a rescue with seizures, every few months, among other health problems. His were early morning or evening, so probably was on waking. After a couple years his stopped so I don't think it was genetic epilepsy. We think it was head trauma (at some point before rescue he had been hit by a car or fallen from a truck, had old fractures) or a chronic sub-clinical tick disease, he was eventually treated for the suspected tick diseases, the seizures ended but don't know whether it had anything to do with the tick meds.

Maybe you should find out the EIC status of one of the parents, then you won't have to wonder whether it is EIC(I mean this nicely). Not knowing what is wrong is the most stressful and depressing thing there is.

Good luck.

It sounds like a petit mal seizure to me. The most common time for seizure activity is when an animal is awakened. I would suggest a veterinary exam and possibly a trip to a teaching hospital.

Is it possible he is quite wormy? I think a good worm infestation could cause this? At 25inches and 72lbs, this dog for a male is quite thin.

He needs to be seen and a full work up done for sure. Elimination of seizure causing activity and if none found, he may just have petit mal seizures due to IE, idiopathic epilepsy.

What you have described is the textbook description of epilepsy. The age is right. Seizures upon awakening. They need to consult their vet. If it turns out to be epilepsy, I hope the will send blood for the study.

This sounds like classic epilepsy... please have vets try to confirm with testing.

yes, this is seizure activity-have had two pups years ago that presented just like this-we had hoped because it was just upon wakening and only involved the legs that is was "something" else. Never progressed to full blown grand mals and did not need meds however-pups had this their whole life. This did come down later thru the lines and we sent in blood to the study...and by later I mean 10+ years...
see if you can encourage them to get blood sent in-please...

This could be auditory induced seizures. I have a pet bred girl who if startled when she is sleeping (i.e.dog barking, something dropped, loud knock on the door, etc.) she will wake just like that. The first time it happened I took her to the vet immediately and her temperature was up, as it does rise with seizures and the vet said it was more than likely auditory induced. She had two more after this and they were also sound induced. Good luck with your boy.

I will add she was 3 when her first one happened and the successive ones were within a 6 month time frame. She had not had any more in two years.

This has happened 4 times. The last one Wed night.
They happen about every 3 mos.And she said it happens after the dog has been at a doggy daycare for 8 hours. Doggy day care is only 1 x a week for 8 hours. she can see on the webcam his activity which is just walking around. maybe lying in the pool but nothing heavy or slipping and sliding.

some of you mentioned sending the blood in for further testing. Where does the vet send it in? For
Epilepsy? TIA. Many Many of you have emailed me with your different opinions.Really appreciate it. And I will keep you posted on what the vet finds.

I would not send him anymore-maybe that is adding to his threshold level-being too on edge during the day and the coming down from it - just a thought.
Just do a search on this site for epilepsy update and Joan has all the info on where to send the samples.
His sounds very mild and will probably stay like this-I wish the family the best-anyone who has lived with seizures will tell you, it is very difficult to deal with.
Thanks for sharing your story.

Epilepsy Research FYI:

http://pub12.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=976632990&frmid=4&msgid=838293&cmd=show

I just talked to the client,And she mentioned. He has never had a full blown the grand Mal seizures.
they are light just the rear end going out and slowly like squatting to pee goes down with a whinning.Over in about 35 seconds. He did have an injury the first time. By possibly hitting his head and resulting with a cut under his eye.Then hour later having a seizure. My gut feeling is stemming from that.My opinon.

Sounds like our old deceased boy. His were almost indentical and he also remained standing through most of his.
Lots of commotion in the day would always bring on a seizure later in the night.
This started at 3 and continued until he died at 14.
I highly doubt this is being caused by a "head injury". But believe whatever makes you sleep better at night.

The owner is starting out with xrays .Then if nothing there will do a blood panel for the organs
diabetes epilepsy thyroid.and the organs.So something will show up i would hope.

Wondering if it might be a heart issue.....a have a human friend who faints when he gets up from resting (older man). Turned out his heart wasnt' "firing" on all cylinders and he needed a pacemaker and a defribulator (sp).

Just a thought.

typically there would be other symptoms if it were diabetes, heart issues, etc. I think it is important that the vet run blood work-I don't see an implication for radiographs but if they want to run that many tests looking for a different diagnosis then they should. There is no test for epil. in dogs, it is a matter of ruling out everything else. However, from what you described it really does sound classic seizure activity.As when anyone is faced with this their hope is for a different diagnosis. Keep us posted on the results

So if there is no test for epil. Then sounds like its just an assumption that it is ,because there is nothing else to go on.mmmmm ok..Well sounded like she wanted to cover her bases. where i live xrays aren't that expensive. but she lives near a city where things are a bit pricer. will see

I just sent a sample to U of Missouri for one that is very similar. He could very well be EIC affected, but vet saw a video and said seizure.

This does not sound at all like EIC, but more like classic epilepsy. Auditory or waking up seizures are still epilepsy, just triggers seizures when the threshold for stimulus is reached.
You could get an MRI of his brain to rule out a brain tumor, injury or inflammation to the brain, but first he should see a general practice vet.
And yes, it does sound like he is way too thin, not related to seizures but a concern. Some people do not realize, and need to be gently told. If this dog gets sick or stops eating for any reason he will be in real trouble being underweight.