Siezures

[jperrin]

I have a three year old Long-haired Dachsund. Very healthy and great personality. last feb she had two siezures in abaout a one month period...each lasted 30 min or more. Glassy eyes, legs paddeling or shaking, licking lips and vomit. Staggering too. I do not believe it is a back issue but could be.

Our vet says that it is common with the breed.He said not much could be done, might outgrow them and gave us some vitamines as a supplement for her diet (oh she was also the runt in the litter and is not inbred). So in May she had a very very mild one and then in the last three weeks two more...

What happens next? Waht can we do? Do they get worse? WE feel sooo helpless and heart broken watching her...

[katew888]

A few things:  

Just because it is common with the breed doesn't mean that you shouldn't do some tests to make sure it isn't something more serious than idiopathic epilepsy (technical term for "common with the breed").  Some blood work and, if affordable, xrays and an MRI to rule out tumors.  I would seek out a Veterinary Neurologist for more information, if you happen to live near one.

IF it is nothing more than epilepsy, there are several things you can do.  Depending on how frequent the seizures are, you can consider medication.  However, a couple of seizures every few months is often considered to be "well controlled" as medicating for such few seizures can lower the quality of life by causing drowsiness, limb lameness, etc..  

Sometimes with epilepsy, the seizures will continue to increase in frequency until medication is required.  In this case, you can play around with the different dosages for control of the seizures along with side effects of the medicine.  Most common medication is Phenobarbital, which is usually successful in controlling seizures, but can cause some clumsiness in the back legs, and drowsiness in some dogs.  You also have to have their blood checked every 6 months because occasionally the medicine will affect the liver.

During the seizures, be sure to keep her from hitting her head on anything, cooling her back down with an ice pack has been scientifically proven to slow the seizure, and just generally make sure she knows you are with her as she goes through it - she's bound to be scared and overwhelmed afterward.  I'm sure it goes without saying to keep your hands away from her mouth :)  Understand that she is unconscious as they occur, so she won't have any pain or real idea of what's going on, which has always been a relief to me in my experiences.

For now it is important to keep a notebook on hand, write down everything that happens with each seizure, before and after it occurs, like what your dog ate, how much she exercised, if anything out of the ordinary happened that day.  After a month or two, you can go over the notebook with your Vet and consider the medication levels (and whether it's necessary), etc..

I would personally be cautious about a Vet who immediately writes the seizures off as genetic without doing any tests to be certain.

Good luck!  Please post back and let us know how things progress.  Or shoot me a message if you prefer, my 1 1/2 year old pup has been dealing with idiopathic epilepsy for almost a year now and I'm happy to share everything I have learned with you.

[jperrin]

We did have blood work done and that came out normal

[Thomas Dock, CVJ, Vet. Technician]

Kate gave you some good solid advice...sure sounds like she has the right type of experience!

There actually is a predilection for Dachshunds, as well as Beagles, German Shepherd Dogs, Keeshonds, Labs, Goldens and Belgian Tervurens to have seizures.  Although the genetic mechanism is unknown, these breeds all display characteristics for a genetic basis to seizures.

Keeping a journal, as Kate said, is a great idea.   That type of information can be invaluable to veterinarians!

Good luck with your little guy.   If you would like more of a professional opinion, our veterinarians here over in the Ask A Vet Forums would be happy to help you.