Yellow Lab is having Seizures

My best buddy has been having pretty bad seizures for the last couple of month’s. Took him to the vet and he said it is normal?????

I said he is only 2! And he is in great shape! He knock’s me over at least once a day!!

I still am having a hard time with this. It is hard to watch Rocky go through them. Sometimes they last 10 to 15 minutes. When he comes out of a bad one he is wore out. He can hardly stand up.

Any ideas????? Has anyone else gone through this???

Do these seizures happen when he is working? I wouldn’t think this condition would be “normal”. I have heard of dogs doing this while working, something about a blood sugar problem almost like with diabetic humans.

I wish I could help, and hope somebody on here can, but I sure wouldn’t take that vets answer and let it be. Try another vet too.

Hope all is well, and you figure this out!!

Here is a link to the best vet that I know of. She specializes in sports dog medicine and is an expert on labs. deeprunretrievers.com

Her name is Phylis Giroux DVM. I know her personaly and would trust her with any of my dogs lives.

Hope this helps and I hope your canine friend gets better.

Sometimes dogs can have seizures from a lack of minerals in their system–calcium and I either potassium or sodium can cause seizures of not at the right levels. Also, like my brother’s lab, the dog may just have epilepsy (sp) like humans can have. His now takes a pill twice a day and it cost about $25 a month. Blood tests will be needed to make sure theirs is not a biological reason–then the medicine can be prescribed. Best of luck!

–Whitey

We had a lab that had similar problems. What ended up working best for us was to carry a couple small snickers in our pockets. When the dog would start reacting we would bite a chunk of snickers and give it to him. Instint fix…

They say pure chocolate is bad for little dogs, so I wouldnt feed him lots.

No, this is not normal or a good thing for your dog. My sister is a vet and my golden retrevier had them. I was lucky and he snapped out of them, but if they would have continued she would have done blood work to find out whats going on. If not taken care of this could become very serious and even kill the dog.

We are going to bring him in to have some blood work done. Hopefully the Vet. can get this figured out. I would hate to lose my duck hunting buddy.

Good old Rocky loves watching the ducks come in a down just as much as I do. It would not be the same without him.

Thanks for all help!!

It is not “normal” for labs to have seizers. When a lad gets old, like around 8-10, it can happen. They can do blood work and find out what’s up.

My first retriever had epilepsy. It showed up after 1 year of age. Feel free to PM me with questions. We dealt with the condition for several years. Happened about once a month or less. We had to medicate her twice a day. I would be curious how often your dog has them. You certainly need to consider it around water. You dont want it to happen while they are in water obviously.

Get a second opinion PRONTO!! I lost a dog to a similar scenario…I now have a new VET!

It only happens about once every couple of weeks. But like you said I am afraid to take him in the water now. If he is out there chasing a green head and has one. I don’t think I could handle watching him drown.

This sucks!

Thanks for all the help guys. We have a appt. on Sat. morning. I just hope this Vet. does something this time. Or I might be forced to say a few choice words.

Hang in there. If it is a permanent condition there is medicine that can help and allow your dog to live a normal life.

I’ll give you $5.00 for it

This was in my p.m.s

Some guys have a sick sense of humor

My golden has seizures and I have done some research on it. Couple of things…when a dog has a prolonged seizure the muscle spasms will cause a dogs core body temperature to rise and in some extreme cases can cause heat stroke. The anti-seizure medicine works wonders but causes great strain on the dog’s liver. So basically, if the dog is having in-frequent, short, seizures the anti-seizure medicine will do more harm then the actual seizure. A couple of things to do now that your dog is having seizures. Call your breeder. Seizures are genetic; your breeder will want to know that once of his pups is having seizures. If he is a good breeder he will try and find parent with the gene and remove him/her from the breeding pool. Another thing is to document each seizure. Record exact time and what the dog was doing that day and days prior. With my dog, they seem to happen only in the summer, preceded by a few days of inactivity. They become somewhat predictable also, in humans with epilepsy, they can feel a seizure coming on, so can dogs…they will either attach them self to the master or in some cases they tend to hide,(sleeping/laying in places they typically would never go). For my dog it is our walk in closet.

As far as the water goes….I am pretty sure I read that if there is any oxygen depletion the brain automatically signals the seizure to stop. But don’t quote me on that.

If you have other questions, please ask.

My brother has a beagle who has seizures… He’s on meds for it, from the vet. He’s had them for about 6 years now (he’s twelve now)

Whoever left the message about giving you 5 bucks for your sick dog should be removed from the site. Good luck with your companion.

I have a chocolate lab who has had them since he was 2 and is now 8. Mine had been having them probably every couple weeks for about 5 mintes each. It is definately a scary thing to witness. My Vet has us medicate him with Phenabarbital(sp?) twice per day since they started. We haven’t “witnessed” him have one for over a year. He used to be extremely hyper, and has mellowed with age which may also be helping. Hang in there, and hopefully your Vet finds something that works as well.

wiswalleyenut

There are two basic causes for seizures. The first type is metabolic. Things such as low blood sugar (glucose), or an electrolyte imbalance (sodium, calcium or potassium). Both of these are possible but usually occur only under extreme physical stress or as a result of another serious illness. Blood testing can be done to help identify these causes or in the case of low blood sugar the history is sometimes helpful. For example if they occur after long periods of extreme physical activity.

The second cause is seizures. These do occur in a certain percentage of dogs and usually begin to occur when dogs are a year to two old. The seizures can range for mild to very severe and over time a pattern usually develops for both frequency and severity. There are several drugs that are used to help control seizures. Phenobarbitol was mentioned and there are several others. These drugs raise the seizure threshold which often reduces the number and somtimes the severity of seizures. There is no cure for this type of seizure but there is hope for sucessful management and a normal life including hunting.

Many dogs sense they are going to have a seizure and certain behaviors can be identified which helps predict seizure activity but my experience with hunting breeds is when they are hunting they forget all else and give little warning. As far as giving chocolate to a seizing dog. Be careful. Most seizures are very short in duration and probably are over before the chocolate does anything. It just appears there is a relationship between the sugar and the end of the seizure. Second dogs can and do bite during seizures as they have little control of their behavior. Third chocolate is toxic to dogs although in my experience small amounts in big dogs has not been a big problem. I have seen small breeds die from chocolate toxicity. Karo syrup or another sugar dense syrup would be a better choice although hard to carry in the field.

In addition to seeing dogs in the clinic I hunted with a friend with a german shorthair that often seized when he went on point. I medicated him and he improved somewhat but still occaisonally seizes when he gets around birds. Fortunately for him there are not many grouse around here now. \

good luck.

I had a black lab that also had really bad ones and we ended up giving him phenalbarberthal(sp?) also for the rest of his life. He started at having them around the age of 4 and he lived another 9 years. He was a VERY good hunter and friend. He did have one maybe once a year while on meds but not bad ones like before. He never had them in the field only at home thankfully. He was about 90 pounds of muscle and energy, I used to throw the dummy down the stairs about 20 times so he would wear down enough to sleep. I really miss him.

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I had a black lab that also had really bad ones and we ended up giving him phenalbarberthal(sp?) also for the rest of his life. He started at having them around the age of 4 and he lived another 9 years. He was a VERY good hunter and friend. He did have one maybe once a year while on meds but not bad ones like before. He never had them in the field only at home thankfully. He was about 90 pounds of muscle and energy, I used to throw the dummy down the stairs about 20 times so he would wear down enough to sleep. I really miss him.

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Our Lab mix had epilepsy – start up when he was about 2, the vet said it was fairly common in Labs, and that was about the age it showed up. So while it is not uncommon, I wouldn’t call it “normal”. The vet perscribed phenobarbital, twice a day. About once a year (or more often if he had a tremor) we’d have his blood levels checked. The only thing to watch for is that phenobarbital will slow them down a little and can lead to weight gain. Good regular exercise will serve to counteract this and keep him healthy.

Well guys and gals Rocky is going to the Vet. in the morning. Hopefully they will figure this out. I will let you know when we get back. He had another one last night. I am getting a little nervous. It really sucks when you feel and are helpless.

I have faith they will get him back to his old self in no time.

Our yellow lab started having seizures around the age of 2 also. He was having them about every 4 months or so. At first he was having them when there was a full moon. Weird. The seizures only lasted 5 minutes or so from start to finish. There are alot of websites out there. We finally gave into the meds, and have been seizure free since. We delayed given meds because of his age, but began to get worried we may be doing more harm then good by not giving him the meds. If you do put your dog on meds, make sure he is given a yearly blood test. After the first year of him being on them, we had to raise the dosage. In the morning he gets a pill and a half in his food, and then 12 hours later he get the same amount with an apple. Good luck, and if this vet thinks it’s normal, find another one again!! Labs are known to have seizures, but your vet must be concerned! My wife use to work at Petco and a customer told her once that she gave her dog a raw hide from Target and her dog had a seizure. She was also told that raw hides that are made in other countries seal the raw hides with arsenic. We only give american made pigears to our dog now. Every little bit helps, whether it’s the raw hide or not, it has given us peace of mind. Hope you get good news!
RD

Well got back form the Vet. the other day. They took blood sample and all the test cam back negative. However the Vet. did decide to put him on phenobarbital for a month to see if it has any effect on his seizures. We explained how often they were occuring and told him that they last upwards on 10 to 15 minutes.

So we are on a month to month basis. Checking to see if any changes occur.

Hopefully this drug will take care of it. Given my mouth 2 times a day.

And Rock does not mind a little peanut butter anyway. So he has not had one for allmost a whole week now and seems to be his normal self again. Knocking me over and chasing the dummy ( ME )

For the best part our minds are at ease for the time being.

Thanks for the help guys!

Thanks for this post & the IDA search engine that lead me to it..Happened to my buddy the other day & this was a welcome reference source in an uncertain time !

Mine is also having seizures and I don’t know what to do she had two one after another and I am worried. Can you help thank you

Not sure if my experience will take away some of your anxiety. We had a springer spaniel that lived to 13 yrs. Hunted hard, great family dog.

Had seizures since he was 2. Took phenobarbital every day for the rest of his life with apparently no ill effect. Even while on the meds he still would seizure about twice a year.