My 8-year-old Great Dane has seizures. Are they cyclical and serious?

I agree. These kind of experiences are horrifying for pet owners! Although there are a few other possibilities of what caused this, what Alan most likely experienced was indeed a seizure. Seizures can happen at almost any age in a great Dane mix. They can also be generalized involving the entire body. Seizures can be caused in 7 year old dogs by variety of things such as metabolic disease, cranial disease, or other things. Please schedule an appointment with your veterinarian to have a full neurological examination performed as soon as possible. The veterinarian will probably also want to obtain a full blood work up as a starting point. Sometimes, pets will never have another seizure. Sometimes, this seizure is the first of many to come. The good news is, however, there are excellent anticonvulsant medications available on the veterinary market today. I hope I have helped you. I wish you luck in getting an answer.

Young dogs sometimes suffer from what we call idiopathic seizures (cause unknown) and older dogs that have never had a seizure before, can suffer from a brain tumor causing seizures. You should keep a diary of the seizures: situation that triggers it, time start, time ends, what the seizure looks like. If the seizure lasts more than 4-5 minutes your dog needs to see a vet right away, as this can cause hyperthermia and damage the brain. If you can you should take a little video of one such seizure to take with you to the vet and show him. Please make an appointment with your vet for an exam. He may want to put her on anti-seizure medication such as phenobarbital.

She really does need some investigation into what is going on. If toxins can be ruled out and there hasn't been a traumatic injury to the head it is most likely going to be a central nervous system lesion. Unfortunately this is normally a brain tumour or similar. Epilepsy is still a possibility but rarely occurs in older dogs. I would recommend seeing your vet as soon as possible so they can start with some blood tests and take their investigations from there. Fingers crossed for you.

I am assuming she is a blue merle Australian Shepherd. These often have congenital defects such as deafness. Young dogs sometimes suffer from what we call idiopathic seizures (cause unknown). You should keep a diary of the seizures: situation that triggers it, time start, time ends, what the seizure looks like. If the seizure lasts more than 4-5 minutes your dog needs to see a vet right away, as this can cause hyperthermia and damage the brain. If you can you should take a little video of one such seizure to take with you to the vet and show him. Please make an appointment with your vet for an exam. He may want to put her on anti-seizure medication such as phenobarbital.

Thank you for your question. I'm sorry to hear that Ruby has been having seizures. These episodes can be very frightening. When I see a patient for seizures under the age of four, I suspect they are due to epilepsy. However, when I see an older patient that begins having seizures, I am more concerned with a brain tumor, toxin, or diseases that create electrolyte imbalances. I would start with bloodwork to make sure there is no sign of any other problem. There are medications that can be given to control the seizures and make Ruby more comfortable, but I suspect the seizures will become more frequent over time. I wish I had better answers for you and Ruby.

Poor Jackie! Unfortunately in an older dog who has no history of epilepsy, seizures usually mean something serious is going on. They can be caused by a primary brain lesion such as a tumour or they can be caused by the effects of toxin build up from organ failure, most often liver. They can be caused by other reasons such as high temperature or poisoning but the previous reasons are more likely. You need to get Jackie to a vet as seizures can damge the brain badly. The vet can examine her for clues as to a cause. Bloods can be useful to ascertain if it is organ failure. With a brain tumour clinical signs such as neurological signs can point to it, but mri tends to be the only full proof way to diagnose it. The vet will be able to administer meds to stop the seizuring then can decide the best treatment for her depending on the underlying cause. I will warn you that it is not going to be a case of curing her, but tryong to make her comfortable and manage symptoms. It is possible that her condition will be beyonf help and you may have to make the decision to put her to sleep. Good luck and give Jackie a cuddle from me.

At 7 months of age, I recommend a visit to your veterinarian to check bloodwork and make sure nothing abnormal is found. Idiopathic epilepsy, or seizures for an unknown reason, can develop at this age, but we want to make sure we aren't missing anything else. This might be the only seizure Jerry ever has, or there could be more. Write down the information about this event, and mark it on the calendar so you remember exactly when it happened. If there are more, then you veterinarian will need to take steps to properly diagnose and treat the condition.