June 18, 2024 • 10 mins
On this episode of the Dog Professor Pawdcast, Robb Lust from the Edgefield Animal Care Center, talks about Seizures in Dogs. How to spot them, how to react to them and how to properly treat them.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
It is time for another Dog Professorpodcast. Rob Lust here from the Edgefield
to Animal Care Center with another episodeof the Dog Professor Podcast and Rob.
Today, we're going to talk aboutsomething that you see quite often in dogs,
and that is seizures. Interesting.Yeah, it's something that a lot
of people don't realize until they actuallytheir dog actually has one. But dogs
(00:22):
are susceptible to seizures and epilepsy anddifferent different types of things that go on
like that, just like people are. So it's important to kind of be
able to recognize some of that,try to avoid some of the triggers that
cause the seizures, and then gettreated if we need to. Okay,
(00:43):
two of the most common type.There's different types of seizures. There's like,
well, for lack of a betterterm, the grand Mall seizures a
lot of people have where it's kindof like a whole body seizure, and
dogs will have that same thing.They'll have it, you know, due
to eple or they'll have it dueto mitigating factors like maybe it's anemia,
(01:04):
you know, maybe they have lowblood sugar, diabetes, cancer, something
like that that that that they havean abnormality in their in their system,
and seizures are usually caused by youknow, electric electrical firings in the brain,
abnormal electrical firings in the brain,so that abnormality will sometimes cause those
(01:29):
abnormal firings in the brain which resultin a seizure. And a lot of
times it's not necessarily always older dogs. It can be seen in dogs,
young, old, whatever. Buta lot of people need to know what
to do with it. And theproblem is is that there's other types of
caizuars. Grandma seizures are easy tosee. They're your your dog's whole body.
They lay on the ground, theystart shaking. Uh. The best
(01:53):
thing you can do at that pointin time is to make sure they're not
banging themselves into furniture, the wall, whatever. You know. A lot
of times people will say, well, with seizures, make sure someone doesn't
swallow their tongue and so forth andso on. Not necessarily in dogs,
because you can actually get bit doingthat with a dog when they're when they're
(02:14):
having that seizure. So the bestthing you can do is keep them calm.
Also, the best thing to doif you notice your dog having a
seizure, which is the last thingwe think of, But the best thing
to do is to try to timeit. Okay, Timing a seizure will
is a factor that sometimes can beeffective in helping veterinarians diagnose what's going on,
(02:37):
right, okay, and then thekind of assess the situation that led
to the seizure. Okay, wasit activity? Was your dog sleeping?
Did they just eat something that theyhaven't eaten before. You know, we've
seen a couple times in the pastwhere you know, a dog got a
piece of pepperoni or some sort ofprocessed meat or something and then they ended
(02:59):
up having a Was it linked tothat, No, we can't say that
for sure, but it was afactor in what led up to that seizure
at that point. Yeah. Sowhen you see those grand mall seizures and
dogs, that's what we have totry to do. And if they become
common, the more information you canrecord and take care and give to the
(03:21):
veterinarian, the easier it is forthem to kind of diagnose it. The
only way they really diagnose it isin an EEG, which is hard to
do because the seizures themselves are justcome out of the blue, you know.
So the more you can find outwhat led to that the better,
and those are the easy to seegrand Mall seizures. There's other seizures like
(03:42):
focal seizures, which basically is aseizure that comes that just affects a small
point of the brain that causes acertain behavior in the dog. Grand Mall
seizures affect the entire brain. Theentire brain is firing, but certain parts
of the brain, whether it's thepart that dictates movement, or maybe it's
(04:05):
the part that makes my right legmove, you know, whatever it is,
when the seizure is located in justthat, just that part of the
brain, you'll only see those smallsymptoms on the outside. One of the
common ones that we see focal seizuresis what we call flybiting. And what
(04:26):
flybiting is is a dog that sitsthere and seems perfectly normal, but they
start snapping at the air like they'rebiting it flies. That is actually a
neurological issue that's going on. Whetherit's related to a seizure that the dog
is having at that point in time, or it's a consistent neurological issue,
(04:48):
it's it's an actual issue. Sowhat we want to make what we want
to make sure of when that's occurringis that there's not really a fly there,
right, Yeah, And if it'sa common thing, you know,
we want to get that evaluated byour veterinarian and a lot of times the
treatment with these type of seizures.The other things you'll see is maybe you'll
(05:10):
see a you know, a constantshaking in a limb or something like that.
Now, that's not always a seizure. Sometimes that's a reaction to pain,
and you'll see it in older dogswhere they'll sit there in their back,
right leg or shake or some ora shake in their face or something
like that. But seizures are alwaysa possibility in those type of things.
If it's diagnosed as by a veterinarianas a seizure, usually they'll put they'll
(05:35):
prescribe some type of anti epileptic drugmedication as a treatment for your dog,
and usually once they go on that, they're pretty much on that for the
rest of their life. Okay,So it's important to kind of keep track
of things, you know, it'salways safe with dogs as far as keeping
(05:56):
them in shape, okay, keepingkeeping their weight down out number one,
keeping them exercise, keep their dietand what's entered into their diet on a
normal consistency. Okay, a lotof outside things thrown in there will sometimes
result in seizures. It's important tokeep your just like you, it's important
(06:18):
to keep yourself monitored as far ashealth checkups and blood work. You know,
some blood work can can show sometendencies to have seizures, but so
it's important to make sure you stayup with it. On dogs like that,
And when you're getting a dog,it's important to kind of look at
(06:39):
and research the breed you're getting becausethere has been some predisposition with certain breeds
that they are prone to possible epilepsy. So it's important to kind of research
that as you go. But it'svery very much the same as it is
with the treatment with people. Okay. In fact, dogs are used with
(06:59):
people who have seizures because as analert dog, because they can sense that
that's coming. So you have thechemistry the brain's firing, which messes with
the body's biochemistry, which usually resultsin a behavior difference that your dog notices
or a possible scent difference that yourdog notices from your body and the body
(07:20):
chemistry stuff that's going on at thatpoint, So you talk about the fly
biting. Is this something that hascome out just recently or has this been
forever we just haven't noticed it wellor is it increased now because you're saying
you guys have seen a little bitmore. Well, we've seen it forever.
Okay, Okay, we've seen itforever, but it's been just realized
as to what it actually is becauseit's so I mean, this time of
(07:42):
year, you know your dog's goingto bite it fly. There's flies out
there, right okay. And onthat point, okay, if you start
to see sores on your dog's tipsof your dog's ears, or the tips
of their tail or the base oftheir nose, they're being bothered and bitten
by flies, So do something aboutit. Can get different salves and gels
and all that stuff. Long storyshort, but if your dog spends the
(08:03):
majority of the time in his houseand he's sitting over in the corner looking
at the wall and he's biting itflies, that's probably what we're talking about
in the cases like that, yeah, okay, Or you'll have some issues
like that, so that's that's whatyou kind of look for. In that
case, we've seen it more thannormal. Yeah, I mean, but
(08:28):
we've seen it for a long timealso, and it's just kind of now
been lumped into that idea that it'san actual seizure that's occurring more than anything
else. Yeah. My point wasmaybe there was something that was changing in
diets or something, you know,because they talk about you know, food
used to be ten, fifteen,twenty thirty years ago versus how food is
today, and I'm sure it's thesame with your pets, and I'm just
(08:48):
wondering if it's a trend that mayhave changed with lifestyle. Oh, it's
very possible. They throw it inthe lump of the bubble of seizures,
right what the actual cause of itis? Who knows? Who knows?
Okay, So yeah, we'd haveto look at that data and see if
it's increased over time, if it'sbeen diagnosed more often now, and then
(09:09):
maybe do a spreadsheet on diet andeverything else to see where that's it.
But their usual lump is it's youknow, pay attention to diet can be
trigger, stress can be trigger,Anxiety can be trigger, and health issues
such as diabetes, cancer, respiratoryissues, all those can trigger possible seizures
(09:31):
in that case, great stuff.And if you do need to see a
veterinarian, if you're looking for one, you guys, have you ready to
go, don't you? Yeah?We're ready for action. The Edgefield Animal
Care Center in Central Ohio here andMarion. We are a full service veterinary
hospital, a boarding facility, groomingfacility, training facility, just about everything
you need to have done with yourdog. Easiest way to find out where
(09:52):
we are, what we do,and when you can come see us is
to get on our website at EdgefieldAnimal Care com. There you go.
Good stuff and the Dog Professor podcastavailable with over one hundred and thirty three
episodes for you to check out,most of which are very evergreen. So
if you're just finding this show,make sure you check out the Dog Professor
(10:13):
Podcast wherever you find your podcast andright there on the iheartapp as we was
well and you get all those details, make sure you hit follow because every
time we put a new one up, you'll get a notification
It is time for another Dog Professorpodcast. Rob Lust here from the Edgefield
to Animal Care Center with another episodeof the Dog Professor Podcast and Rob.
Today, we're going to talk aboutsomething that you see quite often in dogs,
and that is seizures. Interesting.Yeah, it's something that a lot
of people don't realize until they actuallytheir dog actually has one. But dogs
(00:22):
are susceptible to seizures and epilepsy anddifferent different types of things that go on
like that, just like people are. So it's important to kind of be
able to recognize some of that,try to avoid some of the triggers that
cause the seizures, and then gettreated if we need to. Okay,
(00:43):
two of the most common type.There's different types of seizures. There's like,
well, for lack of a betterterm, the grand Mall seizures a
lot of people have where it's kindof like a whole body seizure, and
dogs will have that same thing.They'll have it, you know, due
to eple or they'll have it dueto mitigating factors like maybe it's anemia,
(01:04):
you know, maybe they have lowblood sugar, diabetes, cancer, something
like that that that that they havean abnormality in their in their system,
and seizures are usually caused by youknow, electric electrical firings in the brain,
abnormal electrical firings in the brain,so that abnormality will sometimes cause those
(01:29):
abnormal firings in the brain which resultin a seizure. And a lot of
times it's not necessarily always older dogs. It can be seen in dogs,
young, old, whatever. Buta lot of people need to know what
to do with it. And theproblem is is that there's other types of
caizuars. Grandma seizures are easy tosee. They're your your dog's whole body.
They lay on the ground, theystart shaking. Uh. The best
(01:53):
thing you can do at that pointin time is to make sure they're not
banging themselves into furniture, the wall, whatever. You know. A lot
of times people will say, well, with seizures, make sure someone doesn't
swallow their tongue and so forth andso on. Not necessarily in dogs,
because you can actually get bit doingthat with a dog when they're when they're
(02:14):
having that seizure. So the bestthing you can do is keep them calm.
Also, the best thing to doif you notice your dog having a
seizure, which is the last thingwe think of, But the best thing
to do is to try to timeit. Okay, Timing a seizure will
is a factor that sometimes can beeffective in helping veterinarians diagnose what's going on,
(02:37):
right, okay, and then thekind of assess the situation that led
to the seizure. Okay, wasit activity? Was your dog sleeping?
Did they just eat something that theyhaven't eaten before. You know, we've
seen a couple times in the pastwhere you know, a dog got a
piece of pepperoni or some sort ofprocessed meat or something and then they ended
(02:59):
up having a Was it linked tothat, No, we can't say that
for sure, but it was afactor in what led up to that seizure
at that point. Yeah. Sowhen you see those grand mall seizures and
dogs, that's what we have totry to do. And if they become
common, the more information you canrecord and take care and give to the
(03:21):
veterinarian, the easier it is forthem to kind of diagnose it. The
only way they really diagnose it isin an EEG, which is hard to
do because the seizures themselves are justcome out of the blue, you know.
So the more you can find outwhat led to that the better,
and those are the easy to seegrand Mall seizures. There's other seizures like
(03:42):
focal seizures, which basically is aseizure that comes that just affects a small
point of the brain that causes acertain behavior in the dog. Grand Mall
seizures affect the entire brain. Theentire brain is firing, but certain parts
of the brain, whether it's thepart that dictates movement, or maybe it's
(04:05):
the part that makes my right legmove, you know, whatever it is,
when the seizure is located in justthat, just that part of the
brain, you'll only see those smallsymptoms on the outside. One of the
common ones that we see focal seizuresis what we call flybiting. And what
(04:26):
flybiting is is a dog that sitsthere and seems perfectly normal, but they
start snapping at the air like they'rebiting it flies. That is actually a
neurological issue that's going on. Whetherit's related to a seizure that the dog
is having at that point in time, or it's a consistent neurological issue,
(04:48):
it's it's an actual issue. Sowhat we want to make what we want
to make sure of when that's occurringis that there's not really a fly there,
right, Yeah, And if it'sa common thing, you know,
we want to get that evaluated byour veterinarian and a lot of times the
treatment with these type of seizures.The other things you'll see is maybe you'll
(05:10):
see a you know, a constantshaking in a limb or something like that.
Now, that's not always a seizure. Sometimes that's a reaction to pain,
and you'll see it in older dogswhere they'll sit there in their back,
right leg or shake or some ora shake in their face or something
like that. But seizures are alwaysa possibility in those type of things.
If it's diagnosed as by a veterinarianas a seizure, usually they'll put they'll
(05:35):
prescribe some type of anti epileptic drugmedication as a treatment for your dog,
and usually once they go on that, they're pretty much on that for the
rest of their life. Okay,So it's important to kind of keep track
of things, you know, it'salways safe with dogs as far as keeping
(05:56):
them in shape, okay, keepingkeeping their weight down out number one,
keeping them exercise, keep their dietand what's entered into their diet on a
normal consistency. Okay, a lotof outside things thrown in there will sometimes
result in seizures. It's important tokeep your just like you, it's important
(06:18):
to keep yourself monitored as far ashealth checkups and blood work. You know,
some blood work can can show sometendencies to have seizures, but so
it's important to make sure you stayup with it. On dogs like that,
And when you're getting a dog,it's important to kind of look at
(06:39):
and research the breed you're getting becausethere has been some predisposition with certain breeds
that they are prone to possible epilepsy. So it's important to kind of research
that as you go. But it'svery very much the same as it is
with the treatment with people. Okay. In fact, dogs are used with
(06:59):
people who have seizures because as analert dog, because they can sense that
that's coming. So you have thechemistry the brain's firing, which messes with
the body's biochemistry, which usually resultsin a behavior difference that your dog notices
or a possible scent difference that yourdog notices from your body and the body
(07:20):
chemistry stuff that's going on at thatpoint, So you talk about the fly
biting. Is this something that hascome out just recently or has this been
forever we just haven't noticed it wellor is it increased now because you're saying
you guys have seen a little bitmore. Well, we've seen it forever.
Okay, Okay, we've seen itforever, but it's been just realized
as to what it actually is becauseit's so I mean, this time of
(07:42):
year, you know your dog's goingto bite it fly. There's flies out
there, right okay. And onthat point, okay, if you start
to see sores on your dog's tipsof your dog's ears, or the tips
of their tail or the base oftheir nose, they're being bothered and bitten
by flies, So do something aboutit. Can get different salves and gels
and all that stuff. Long storyshort, but if your dog spends the
(08:03):
majority of the time in his houseand he's sitting over in the corner looking
at the wall and he's biting itflies, that's probably what we're talking about
in the cases like that, yeah, okay, Or you'll have some issues
like that, so that's that's whatyou kind of look for. In that
case, we've seen it more thannormal. Yeah, I mean, but
(08:28):
we've seen it for a long timealso, and it's just kind of now
been lumped into that idea that it'san actual seizure that's occurring more than anything
else. Yeah. My point wasmaybe there was something that was changing in
diets or something, you know,because they talk about you know, food
used to be ten, fifteen,twenty thirty years ago versus how food is
today, and I'm sure it's thesame with your pets, and I'm just
(08:48):
wondering if it's a trend that mayhave changed with lifestyle. Oh, it's
very possible. They throw it inthe lump of the bubble of seizures,
right what the actual cause of itis? Who knows? Who knows?
Okay, So yeah, we'd haveto look at that data and see if
it's increased over time, if it'sbeen diagnosed more often now, and then
(09:09):
maybe do a spreadsheet on diet andeverything else to see where that's it.
But their usual lump is it's youknow, pay attention to diet can be
trigger, stress can be trigger,Anxiety can be trigger, and health issues
such as diabetes, cancer, respiratoryissues, all those can trigger possible seizures
(09:31):
in that case, great stuff.And if you do need to see a
veterinarian, if you're looking for one, you guys, have you ready to
go, don't you? Yeah?We're ready for action. The Edgefield Animal
Care Center in Central Ohio here andMarion. We are a full service veterinary
hospital, a boarding facility, groomingfacility, training facility, just about everything
you need to have done with yourdog. Easiest way to find out where
(09:52):
we are, what we do,and when you can come see us is
to get on our website at EdgefieldAnimal Care com. There you go.
Good stuff and the Dog Professor podcastavailable with over one hundred and thirty three
episodes for you to check out,most of which are very evergreen. So
if you're just finding this show,make sure you check out the Dog Professor
(10:13):
Podcast wherever you find your podcast andright there on the iheartapp as we was
well and you get all those details, make sure you hit follow because every
time we put a new one up, you'll get a notification
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