Seizures in Dogs: Cause, Symptoms and Treatement
Many dog owners have no idea that how a dog can suffer from seizures. If you don’t take it seriously then you may see that one day your dog flopping to the ground. Many dogs are seen having a serious problem when they suffer from seizures. Seizures are mainly a neurological problem & it can happen if the cerebral cortex, works unusually.
What Causes Seizures in Dogs?
Dogs can suffer from seizures for many reasons. One of the most common causes of seizures is Idiopathic epilepsy which is a serious disorder, however, the main cause of it is still mysterious.
When the brain activity changes, like if the dog becomes too excited or sleeping then seizures are mostly seen in dogs. Sometimes you not understand if the dog is suffering from seizures or not.
When a dog eats something harmful they may have a chance to have seizures. To keep your dog safe, you must keep the dog away from anything that may hurt the dog.
Another thing is that when dogs have head injuries they may suffer from seizures
Illness Problems
If your dog is suffering from seizures then chances are he may also suffer from kidney disease, brain cancer, liver disease, anemia, blood pressure and also encephalitis.
There are some specific breeds that have a higher chance to suffer from seizures, Bernese mountain dog, Finnish Spitz, English springer spaniel and Irish wolfhound are one of them. From our experience, we have noticed that, genetic epilepsy normally happen in dogs of ten months to three years of age. However, it normally shows up only when your dog is six months or five years of age. Also keep in mind that, male dogs are most likely to suffer than the female ones.
What are the Symptoms of Seizures?
If your dog is suffering from seizures then you can find out some signs like
- Muscle twitching
- Jerking
- Stiffening
- Loss of consciousness
- Tongue chewing
- Drooling
- Foaming at the mouth
Also, you can see that the dog is peeing during seizures and falling aside. Sometimes, before the seizers, dogs are seen to stare off into space by making a confused facial expression. In serious situations, dogs are seen to hide.
Treatments
There are many treatments are available for the dogs suffering from seizures. Most vets recommend owners that they should not allow the dog for swimming. Also, another important thing you need to keep in mind that, dogs with long-term antiepileptic are most likely to gain weight. So it’s a good idea to monitor the dog’s weight & if you see any changes then it’s better to take him to vet.
Sometimes, it’s seen that having a tumor causes seizures in dogs. So if your vet finds out any tumor casing this then he may recommend you for the medical procedure. However, drugs are useful sometimes to decrease the frequency of seizures. If your vet believes drugs are useful depending on the dog’s condition then he may recommend you to go with anti-epileptic, corticosteroid and anticonvulsant medications.
Matthew Frank was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. He was a reputed author of Pet Therapy Dogs and Pet Dog Cat.
Matthew is a regular author of this blog who is studying Veterinary medicine at Purdue University.
