Well...........
As far as the seizures are concerned, in our personal study.
*Infection due to her first round of shots.
Here's the low down on infections. In dogs, when infections happen, white blood cells rush to that area. They interact with other cells causing oxidation. Which results in inflammation, which is the dog's bodys' natural way of keeping out additional infection, giving the antibodys a better chance of working against the existing infection. The point being, the inflammation. Inflammation is not usually bad. This is how the body fights. But in our case (if this is the problem) little Icee got an infection in her brain, then the white cells would indirectly cause the pressure. And pressure on the brain can cause all of the mentioned symptoms.
Another note about infection:
When an animal's body is infected in some area, inflammation is the usual result as stated above. Another way animal's bodys deal with inflammation is they lower their body temperature. The cooling can sometimes aid in the resolving of the inflammation. In Icee's case, they had a hard time keeping her temp up, so this could be possible.
*Trauma
Again, this was never proven. But if she could have hit her head with just enough force to cause swelling, but not be able to detect any evidence. This is a long shot, but possible. Trauma can take years to develop into symptoms. Ex:: She could have had a traumatic birth, and just now the symptoms are revealing themselves. But in this case, the breeder confirmed a normal birth.
*Brain lesion
This could be anything from tumor to blood spot. Anything that is accumilated on the brain itself. It could be a birth defect or cause by trauma as well. It could also be mutation in her genetic stran.....etc.
In really small dogs, they lesions or spots would have to be big enough to show up on a cat scan. Their little brains are so small that anything that's gonna cause a problem would mostly show up on a CT scan.
*Bizarre problem
This could also be just a food allergy, some reaction. She could have been exposed to something that caused the swelling. She didn't show any signs of poison, but maybe she got just enough to cause the infection.
Our puppy is so tiny that anything from a bite from a bug, or even one single lick of something nasty could have caused her to have the seizures. Or even something that's very slightly toxic would probably be very toxic to her.
*Epilipsy
They completely ruled out this because of her young age. Inflammation of the brain doesn't happen for no reason, something jumpstarted it. Whether it was the seizures or the infection, something caused the inflammation. Which the inflammation contributed the frequency and intensity of the siezures. It's kinda like "what came first, the chicken or the egg" heh.
They also ruled it out because, after the seizures she wasn't disoriented, depressed, she ate good. She didn't show the classic signs of post-seizure behavior. It's very possible, after she reaches 1 year old, that if the seizures continue with no aparent cause, they could classify it as idiopathic epilipsy only because she would fit in no other category. In that case, we would just be treating the seizures.
Hope this helps
chad |