[g00dgirl]

Delilah had a seizure UPDATED with panel results

So, I had a terrifying experience tonight.
Delilah was beside me on the couch while I was on the laptop when she hopped off and then fell into the chair next to the couch, tensed up apparently losing consciousness, then urinated as her head was slowly falling to the ground. A few seconds later she appeared to awake and her eyes darted around like she was confused. the whole episode lasted no more than a minute but I thought she was dying right in front of me.
She seems ok now. She is responsive and walking around. We are most certainly going to the vet as soon as possible tomorrow.

I'm frantically searching for causes online now...

 

[whiteleo]

I hope everything is O.K.! I will say that my Mom's poodle has seizures from time to time, she's had all the tests done and they can't find a reason as to why this happens, she's a very active little thing with no health issues besides this.

I'm thinking good thoughts for Delilah!

 

[DaneMama]

How old is she? What kind of dog is she? Anything new in added to her life in any way, shape or form?

 

[g00dgirl]

Delilah is a boxer and I think she is about 9 years old, I adopted her 7 years ago.
I've been trying to think of anything new or anything she could have gotten into and I can't come up with anything. The schedule is the same, no new items in the house, same diet.
She also has separation anxiety, I have been occasionally giving her benadryl when I go to work to keep her calmer but that's only two days a week usually.
I suspected hypothyroidism a few years ago but her panel came back normal. I still haven't gotten into the vet, I keep getting a busy signal so I'm about to just show up so they can at last draw some blood so she can eat, I've been fasting her for the blood test.

Edit: finally got the on the phone but i'm on hold
Edit again: They are one vet down today so she can't get in until tomorrow.

 

[DaneMama]

Boxers are known to have epilepsy...

You might really want to get her to a vet that CAN get you in today.

 

[g00dgirl]

Yipes, do you think it's that urgent? It could be right? since the cause is unknown... I will call the emergency clinic. Since it's the only other one I have experience with.
I really like and trust my vet though so I would like to have him look at her too. The problem is i am a broke college student with almost maxed out credit card. I would totally max it out for her and borrow money from family but would rather not have duplicate office visit fees, etc. if at all possible.

 

[CorgiPaws]

Epilepsy in dogs is only "diagnosed" when the seizures reoccur and the cause can not be found.
My Beagle was diagnosed with it at age 3. The good news is that very rarely does it cause any real problems. Max was having them quite frequently, and was on medication. Sometimes it can be as simple as an allergy triggering it. Max was sadly fed pedigree for the first ten years of his life before I knew any better, and once we put him on Wellness, he stopped having them altogether. The vet thinks it may have been a food allergy triggering the convulsions. He's 14 now, and on NO medication, and has had NO seizures in nearly 4 years.
Of course it's a good idea to go to the vet. I don't think that it's a huge red tagged emergency, just in my experience with my own dog. We kept rushing max in every time it happened for about the first 4 or 5 and finally the vet just told us to let him walk it off, and that he'd be fine.


I know it's hard to watch. Even after Max's seizures had been dubbed pretty harmless otherwise, it's painful to watch them look so lost and confused.

 

[DaneMama]

Seizures can and do cause serious damage in some cases. I wouldn't assume that she will be ok after having any seizure, especially if she hasn't had any history of them as of yet. Can you at least drop her off with them for observation/hospitalization?

 

[g00dgirl]

I have just come back from the 24 hour clinic. I'm less than pleased with their service. A vet student preformed her exam after I waited for 45 minutes in the room and alerted the staff that we had been waiting so long (there was a sign on the wall that asked the client to let the staff know if you've been waiting for more than 15 minutes).

So, the vet student came in, at the orders of the owner's wife (i could hear them all talking outside the door). I am glad he did though because I liked him much better than the real licensed vet who did not even attempt to pet Delilah much less examine her.

The "real" vet told me there are many causes for seizures and it is hard to diagnose and suggested a blood panel as a basis in case they continue and instructed me to document any other seizures should they occur.
I also requested a thyroid panel.

At least I got the blood and thyroid panels though. I will be taking the results to my regular vet. Meanwhile Delilah acts no different than any other day.

Thank you all for the well wishes and support! :smile:

 

[DaneMama]

Keep us updated please. In the meantime I will keep her in my thoughts and hope that it was just a random occurance and not epilepsy. Keep being the good dogmom we all know you are!

 

[g00dgirl]

Update

So here are the blood test results. I am omitting anything in the normal ranges.

TEST RANGE Delilah's VALUE
RBC 5.50-8.50 ; 0.25 and 5.07 (they ran it twice it seems)
HCT 37-55 ; 35.9
HGB 12-18 ; 19.1
MCH 18.50-30 ; 37.72
PLT 175-500 ; 8 and 65 (again lower corresponds with low RBC in two different tests)


LIPA 200-1800 ; 4189

----------
Thyroid

t4 1-4 ; 2.0
free t4 8-40 ; 22.2
TSH 0-0.60 ; 0.13


From what I can tell it seems she has an iron deficiency. I'm going to do some more research tonight when I get home and also probably request that my vet run the other 3 thyroid panels.

 

[g00dgirl]

Perhaps I am reading too much into this?
It seems that she should be anemic according to these results yet she shows no symptoms, gums aren't pale, has healthy appetite.

Danemama08, I remember a thread where you talked about some issue with Shilo and raising iron intake, was this itching? I tried to search for it but failed.

Anyway, according to this http://www.diamondsintheruff.com/HowtoAnayzeYourDogsThyroidTestResults.pdf Delilah shows sub-clinical hypothyroidism even though the vet told me everything was normal. I plan to take the results to my regular vet and see if he thinks we should put her on a low dose of soloxine supplementation. Will also be adding more fish and beef into her diet in case she really is anemic.

 

[Khan]

Yikes, that is soooo scary. About a month ago this happened to our Boston. I got home, she came out to greet me, and when I picked her up, her eyes got kinda glassy, and her head flopped, I thought she had died while I was holding her! I kinda shook her, and was about to give her CPR when she came to. The whole thing was about 30 sec. I rushed her to the ER. We were there within 10 min. They did a glucose test that came back negative, and everything else was "normal". I was not even there an hour! They suggested I have a blood panel done; but since she had no visible signs of anything wrong it wasn't necessary for the ER to to this. They told me this may or may not ever happen again.
We did have the blood work done, and all the results were right down the middle of normal. No real reason as to what caused this, or if it will ever happen again. All I know is, that was one of the scariest things imaginable. I'm sure for you too. Hopefully both of us NEVER have to go thru that again!