I think my bichon frise is having seizures. How can I tell?

Question

She is two, and at night she sleeps on my bed. Her eyes roll back in her head and she starts twitching and shaking and won't respond to anything. She yelps sometimes too, and afterwrds she looks dazed. I put a blanket on her too, just to make sure she doesn't go into shock or anything. I know I should call a vet but I can't get a hold of her. Any suggestions? Am I doing the right thing?

Answer 1

That definitely sounds like a seizure- my pug dog gets them too. Keep a log of her seizure activity, and make an appointment with her vet. My dog suffers probably 5-10 seizures a year. My vet ( and I ) feel that this isn't enough to treat him. Seizures in dogs are treated usually with Phenobarbital and is the sort of drug you have to give every day and you can't just stop giving it. When my dog has a seizure, I just make sure that while he is in the twitching phase he can't hurt himself by bumping into nearby objects- DO NOT hold your dog tight during this part of the seizure- you will just be fighting against the muscles and this could hurt her and DO NOT put anything in her mouth either, and them afterwards I hold him and reassure him. Your dog can't go into shock from a seizure- it's a "short circuit" in the brain and as long as it doesn't last too long- a min or longer- it won't hurt her. I am a nurse too, btw and have extensive experience with humans having seizures- it's amazing the similarities! Take your baby to the vet- it will be ok!

Answer 2

are you sure she's not dreaming? if not then odds are that was a siezure, as they can present in different ways. until you can get her to the vet keep a log of when she siezures, for how long and what shes doing while seizuring. this will help you and your vet so you have an idea of what is going on. if you hold her during a seizure you or your dog may get hurt. make sure there is nothing she can fall off of when having a seizure and calmly reasure her. there isn't much you can do unless you happen to have injectable valium handy. after your vet checks her over she may want to do some blood work then will probably put her on a medication called phenobarb (or phenobarbitol, same thing) which should decrease seizure frequency so maybe she only has a couple a year. unless there is a neurological problem try not to worry too much it can be managed.

Answer 3

She may be only dreaming. During the seizures I have witnessed, the dog's teeth were gnashing, there was a lot of slobber, the dog urinated all over,and sometimes defecated, too.The legs flail like if the dog was paddling.The episode usually lasted under a minute,although it seemed longer.Leave her alone while this is happening, just be sure she isn't going to hurt herself - like fall off the bed. Take notes on what you observed and tell your vet as soon as you can.

Answer 4

Besides the answers on here already, if you have a video camera take a video of the seizure (it is a seizure) that you can show your vet because it can aid in diagnosis. My fear is it's epilepsy. Check out this website.

http://www.canine-epilepsy.com/Resources.html

Get your dog to a vet asap. (As you know).

Answer 5

When I was younger my poodle would have seizures. You do need to get them to a vet ASAP in the mean time when she has an episode you need to wrap her in a blanket and hold her tight so she doesn't jerk to much and hurt herself. I don't know how big your dog is...sorry, but you need to restict movement as much as possible. Try calling other Vets in your area one of them has to have emergency services.

Answer 6

sounds good so far, if she starts biting dont put your finger in her mouth. Find something she cant chomp through to protect her tounge and in the morning take her to the vet and tell her. It does sound like she is have siezures.