Quote:
Originally Posted by drawlins27  Aww, I'm so sorry to hear about Stewie. I have a lot of experience with seizures in Yorkies. The bad news is that a seizure is not usually an isolated event, meaning that he will most likely have them the rest of his life at odd intervals. The good news is that a seizure is rarely life threatening unless it lasts past 15 minutes or occurs one right after another (cluster seizures) In these instances, they can be dangerous and must be treated right away.
Your vet will run a few tests just to rule out any obvious causes. Considering his age, he most likely has Idiopathic epilepsy (not as scary as it sounds). This is actually very common in dogs, especially Yorkies and most dogs experience their first seizure at 1-5 years old.
The most important thing is to keep calm when he has a seizure and time it. You also need to start a log and keep track of how often he has a seizure and how long they last. Your vet needs this info to decide whether or not he needs medication for the seizures. Typically a vet will not give medication for epilepsy unless the seizures are severe or are occurring on a frequent basis.
I recommend that any dog owner keep a dose of rectal valium on hand (the valium should be kept out of the light because it will break it down and make it less effective). The valium can be administered if the seizure lasts longer than 15 minutes, is particularly violent, or become cluster seizures.
Good luck at the vets, let us know how it goes! |
I've also have a lot of experiance with seizures and did quite a bit of research on it.
If they choose to start medication, make sure they give Potassium Bromide and
not Phenobarbitol. Phenobarbitol can damage the liver and kidney.
Here is a thread I started that has details on how you can help Stewie with diet.
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sho...hlight=allergy
And here is a link to a very informative website if you haven't run accross it yet.
http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/
I do hope it was not a seizure - There are no tests for epilepsy. It's usually running tests after tests to eliminate other causes.
Best wishes
Corinne