Seizures in my daughters dog

Hi Chaps,

My daughters dog Asha (9yr old female Ute) has had what sounds like two Grand Mal seizures in the last 12 hours, she is taking her to the vet this morning at 10am.

She has never had a seizure before, She is currently under the vet for Arthritis in her hind legs if that makes any difference.

Any advice from those of you who go through this on a regular basis that I can pass on to my daughter, are there any questions you think are important to ask the vet etc?

One thing she did say is that Asha was dragging her knuckles once she was up and about after the seizure, is that normal?

I have told her not to panic as she will stress Asha even more and thanks to those of you that post on here with epileptic dogs I knew to warn her of the Post seizure type behavior, so thank you for those posts they helped my girl cope much better than she would have.

Sorry to hear this Imana. Having had a quick look it seems these dogs are a bit prone to this condition?

There seems to be a lot of info out there for Utonagans and Epilepsy. Just having a look at this site:

The Utonagan Society
http://www.theutonagansociety.com/epilepsy

And wondering if the dog's breeder could be of any help to you too?

I do not know what to say except that if Asha has only now, at 9 years of age, had seizures, they are possibly of genetic origin or some recent head trauma that would have triggered them. My Pereg is of no known origin and has Idiopathic Epilepsy and had her first seizure at just over 2 years of age. No known cause and no known trigger. At the moment she is post-ictal as she had a second Grand Mal at 7.30am after one at 12 noon yesterday si both she and I are not really "with it" at the moment.

Yes, dragging knuckles is normal - as normal as any post-ictal behaviour can be classed as normal, and especially so if the dog has never had seizures before. And I would not really worry about that - yet.

I really cannot give your daughter any advice and I hope her vet can help her. Just tell her that it is not the end of the world if Asha has seizures, because like Pereg, she is still the Asha that your daughter loves.

Sorry I cannot help any more - I am currently dealing with my beloved epi, but you know what? If you love your dog you love them, epilepsy or not.

Hi Malka,

Thank you for the reply, I am very sorry to hear Pereg is bad again. Sending hugs to you both xx

I have told my daughter that it doesn't mean a death sentence and that many dogs go on for years with medication, she rang last night during Asha's seizure almost hysterical bless her, so we have had many conversations since yesterday.

I will let her know about the knuckle dragging as we worried it might mean some kind of nerve damage.

She is going to phone me after her vet visit.

Again thank you

Imana I was reading about knuckle dragging but it wasn't ascribed to epilepsy so I didn't want to mention it.

I do hope it all works out OK. What a worry these 4legged friends of ours can be eh?

I know, poor Kay was beside herself last night, I have sent her off with a more positive frame of mind this morning. No point panicking until there is something to panic about

My old Saluki X had one seizure at about 4 years old, frightened me to death, but then she never had another.

We are a pragmatic lot in my family and take things as they come so she is trying to prepare herself for all options.

Will keep y'all up to date.

Just remember one thing - Pereg is 100% healthy but just happens to be epileptic. Just as Ram, our Vet, is 100% healthy but also just happens to be epileptic.

And advice I give you is from real experience, not from the internet. And there is a huge difference between living with an epileptic dog and reading about it on the internet.

Following a first-off seizure, or even further ones while the dog is having episodes, knuckle dragging and any form of ataxia is, for them, normal. Depending on what caused the seizures, and what medication the vet decides might be suitable, such things should ease off, stop etc. But it depends on what has caused the seizure in the first place.

But please tell your daughter that even if Asha is epileptic for some reason, it is not the end of the world.

We do not live for epilepsy, we live with it. Whatever age the dog is when it starts and for whatever reason it happens, we need to accept it and just love our dogs. As I love Pereg.

This is awful, poor Asha. Do you know what litter she was from, there is a certain line that seems to be behind any epileptic Utonagan. It certainly isn't that common in Utonagan as a whole, but this one line does have more than its fair share of epilepsy and also the rare case of haemophilia every so often. The haemophilia is now being genetically tested for, but unfortunately there is nothing that can be done about testing for epilepsy.
As a breeder of Utonagan I do know what lines to stay away from, and what lines seem to have had odd incidences of epilepsy generations back, but nothing recent.
If I can be of any help, let me know. Linda and Rose can also be of assistance to you as both their Utonagan displayed epilepsy at around 9 months of age and onwards.
9 years old is quite late in life for this to show, so was wondering if there were any other contributing factors, as I have noticed that it does seem to present itself in the first year in Utonagan.

Hi Malka,

I think this is the main worry that the seizures maybe a symptom of something more worrying.

She has had a lot of tests over the last few months as she has been showing signs of stress and pain, the only thing the vet could find from the tests was Arthritis so they have been dealing with that, so unlike Pereg she isn't 100% in other ways.

My daughter took her on after we bought her from a couple who where trying to sell her for breeding, we took her and another got them both sterilised then re-homed, Asha has had a very difficult few years, She has her issues but they have stuck with her and love her very much, she is very much a part of the family.

June - if there is "hidden" epilepsy in the line it can stay hidden forever, or the slightest trauma can start if off. Which could possibly explain why Asha did not have a seizure until she was 9 years old.

Sarah - I do not have any experience of Utonagans but for obvious reasons canine epilepsy is something that I not only live with, but have been studying for the last three years, with the help of my wonderful vet.

And as June and all decent breeders know, epilepsy is very much hidden amongst far too many breeders of all susceptible breeds.

I just cannot help thinking that Asha has a problem that might have been hidden until now and that some unknown thing has triggered it.

Please pass on my best wishes to your daugher, from one epi owner to another.