My 7-month-old deaf Aussie puppy has night seizures. Is it serious?

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.

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.

This does look like a mass that should be removed as it looks raw and is a perfect host for a bacterial infection. Please have your veterinarian examin this mass. There likely is no connection between this mass and your dog's seizures. 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 himi on anti-seizure medication such as phenobarbital.

I am so sorry to hear that Roxie isn’t feeling well. Your profile doesn’t state how old Roxie is. Seizures in puppies can often times be due to low blood glucose or liver shunts, mid age dogs is commonly epilepsy or inflammation in the brain, and in older dogs it is more commonly associated with cancer. I would highly encourage you to have her evaluated by your veterinarian soon. Blood work will likely be recommended to look for other causes such as thyroid disease and liver shunt. They May discuss anti seizure medication, although many veterinarians may discuss but not start medication with just 2 seizures. Best of luck and I hope she improves soon. Thank you for using Pet Coach.

This will depend on the diagnosis. Seizures may be controlled with medications that your veterinarian can prescribe or dispense. A consultation with a veterinary neurologist may be recommended. In the meantime, begin a Seizure Log. For every event, record the time, duration, diet, medications, supplements and activity before and after. This may help your vet diagnose the underlying cause

12 seizures within 20 hours is a large number of seizures. Also the length of the seizures at 5 to 9 minutes is extreme. This does certainly point to a serious problem in the brain and likely to a tumor. Make sure to take your dog to the vet on Monday to adjust the dosage/add other medications. If the seizures last longer than 5 minutes , use the diazepam your vet gave you and if the seizure does not stop with the diazepam, you need to take Murray to an out of hours vet or ER right away.

We do not typically see signs like you are describing before seizure activity. Dogs can have an "aura" immediately before a seizure, but it is commonly seconds or minutes before a seizure starts. What you are describing may be unrelated to her seizure. I am attaching a link to a handout with more information on seizures below including potential causes. http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=560 I would recommend discussing Lexi's seizure with your veterinarian because seizures in dogs as young as Lexi may be something other than epilepsy. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.