I did yesterday and it was my first. I was doing my workouts yesterday so after riding 20 miles, swimming 1000yds, I went for a short run. I got to the turn around point at the run and I noticed a dog in a neighbors yard. It ran to the sidewalk, stopped, fell over and started convulsing. I ran by the house and said “That doesn’t look good” not realizing exactly what was happening. It was obvious that the dog, a black and white Boston Terrier, was having major issues. The owners of the house were freaking out a bit and brought her off of the sidewalk to their grass yard. This dog was having convulsions, was foaming at the mouth, and its eyes weren’t focusing on anything. It was also having some shallow, quick, labored breaths. The man has kind of laying on the ground next to the dog holding it. The woman was pacing around and acting a bit frantic. There really wasn’t much I could do to help the dog at the moment and if the dog was going to die right there, I didn’t want to get in the way.
The dog was still convulsing which was actually a good sign since she was still moving and was still breathing/grunting. Her eyes weren’t looking good because they were turning from white to red and bloodshot. The woman was really starting to panic and I had her go inside and call the emergency vet. She asked if they were open 24/7 and I said yes. She ran inside and came back out 30 seconds and asked what the name of it was. I told her the name of it again and she then disappeared inside. I was out on the lawn with the man kind of just in the moment. I told him that he really should take the dog to the ER vet but he kept saying that he wasn’t going to make it. He kept saying that it was either a stroke or a seizure and I assured him that it was a seizure and not a stroke. If it was a stroke, the dog would be limp on half of its body. I also tried to assure him that even though it looks really bad right now, the fact that the dog is still moving and breathing is a good sign.
I told him that I couldn’t watch this and told him that I was sorry and that I had to go. I took 2 steps and changed my mind. I just kept trying to keep this guy calm. He wasn’t freaking out too badly, but his dog was in trouble and he really didn’t know what to do. I’m glad that I sent the wife inside because I think it did a lot to calm the situation down. After a few minutes, the wife came back outside. At about the same time, the seizure started to subside. The dog’s breathing became easier and it stopped foaming at the mouth. If you’ve never seen a seizure before, they don’t subside nearly as quickly as they start. Well, they didn’t in this case. I noticed that the dog was starting to stop seizing but I didn’t know if it was OK or that it was actually dying. The dog was calming down and was still moving so that was a good sign. The wife was saying that it isn’t uncommon for dogs to have seizures like this. The ER vet said that if it happens again to bring it in but to keep an eye on her and to take her to the normal vet tomorrow. The ER vet said that the dog would likely be very tired afterwards and will want to rest a lot.
The dog was coming to but you could tell that she was still very dazed and really didn’t comprehend what happened. The wife brought out some water and the husband was scooping water into the dog’s mouth. I told him that she knew where the water was and if she wanted it, she would get it. They did clean off the dog with a towel. There was all kinds of grass stuck to the dog’s eyes and the man cleaned it off. The dog just laid there while he cleaned it off by actually touching the eyeball and she didn’t even flinched. Her eyes were getting white again. The dog really didn’t want to move at that point but she was no longer convulsing and was breathing fine.
I had them repeat to me what the vet said and I gave them a few more tips like to go ahead and find out where the vet is in case this happens again so they don’t have to waste time looking up directions. I also said to take the dog to the vet in case it happens again tonight. I also explained to them why the dog would be tired after the seizure and to not really worry about it. We talked a bit more and I found out that they’ve had the dog for maybe 6 months and this was the dog’s first seizure that they know of. We introduced ourselves to each other, they thanked me, and I continued on my run.
It is difficult to watch the first time it happens. I had a dog for 12 yrs, when she had her first seizure. the wife and I thought she was dying right in front of us. Very bizarre, when she came out of it - she was dazed, confused, and tired, just as you described. Several trips to the vet, a few hundred dollars later, nothing certain could be deteremined as to its cause. The vet offered up a CT scan ($2600) to find out the cause but clearly told us, that even if we knew what caused it, there is no way to say if it could be cured. Too expensive of chance for us, so we dealt with it. (medications and seeing the onset and recovery of several seizures) after 9 months of this (and the seizures were coming more and more often) we finally came to the deciscion to have her put to sleep. Not an easy thing to do, but we knew it is what was best for her.
Best wishes to the family & their dog that you encountered. It was kind of you to show that kind of interest and compassion, I tip my hat to you. Another fine example of the kind of people that are involved in our sport!
Kind of a Debbie Downer story and response for a Monday… I hope other threads are much more up beat!
Yes, it was very freaky; it lasted for at least 5 minutes but I’m glad I stuck around. I’m sure that it helped the dog’s owners because both of them were of different levels of freaking out. I’m also glad because I was able to look at the situation objectively and not freak out. I’m one of those people that tries to be prepared and you really can’t simulate something like this. Yes, it was a dog but it could’ve just as easily been a person as well. I feel better that I know that I can stay calm and cool during something like this and help out instead of being a hindrance. One thing that popped in my head is that my past training has said that if someone is being hysterical and not really helping out the situation, give them something to do. That is what I did with the wife because she was on the verge of freaking out completely. I got her out of there and she actually called the vet and was very calm comparatively when she got back.
I had a golden retriever that started having seizures at 6 years of age. I opened the door to let her out to go to the bathroom and she keeled over and went through what you described. I thought she was dying. The vet put her on phenobarb. She lived 4 more years, but still had seizures occasionally.
Our Boudreaux is epileptic, is on phenobarbitol and has seizures almost exactly on a monthly schedule. Not a big deal once you become accustomed to it.
Seizures are fairly common in dogs. I had a black lab when I was a kid that had seizures occasionally. Our Austrailian Shepard also had seizures and he died during a particularly bad one. There doesn’t seem to much that can be done for them except to prevent them from becoming injured during the seizure. It is very disturbing to watch, though.
We have a Border Terrier that has seizures occasionally which all started after she ate poinsonous mushrooms as a puppy and had a weekend of grand mal seizures where she almost died. They aren’t often enough to put her on meds and we can’t seem to figure out if anything triggers them. She has exactly what you described and loses control of her bowels and usually throws up as well. It then takes her awhile to get herself back together afterward and her balance is usually off and she is dazed for awhile. The vet told us to time them. If they start to last more than 5 min, then we need to get her to the vet because there is the risk of their body temp spiking and causing brain damage. The last one she had was the longest thus far and when we got her to the vet her heart rate was racing and her temp was fairly high. They ended up keeping her overnight for observation, but she was fine the next day. The other thing the vet said that is helpful to help dogs through it a bit is to kind of dim the lights if you can, turn off any TVs or radios or minimize the noise if possible, and just kind of be there to comfort them. He said it is imperative to get them away from stairways or anything that could hurt them (thankfully she is small enough where you can just pick her up). It is really scary to see and the first time she had one I admittedly freaked out a bit. Now that I’ve seen it and know how to handle it and how to try to help her, I don’t freak out, but it is still really scary because you feel so helpless and as the clock ticks on you wonder if this is going to be one that really harms her or does irreversible damage. Thankfully she only has one or two per year, so it isn’t too often we have to deal with it. Sounds like you did the right thing and were very helpful and I’m sure those people were very appreciative.