[machinista]

Hello, all. First time poster here.

I have a 12-year-old yorkie who, this week, had for the first time what I think may have been a seizure. However, I've seen dogs having seizures before and this doesn't really look like one. She's not shaking too much, she doesn't roll around, she doesn't vomit, nor soil herself in any way. What happens is, her whole body shakes only when she draws breath, her front legs go almost completely limp, her neck goes stiff and she becomes virtually unable to look anywhere but forward. Also, at apparently random moments, she will yelp loudly if touched on her neck, ears and head, but at other times she will show no reaction.

The first time this happened, she stopped breathing and we rushed her to the vet as fast as we could. He detected water in her lungs and said that had been the cause, that she had choked while having a drink of her water. He kept her overnight on a breather and when she came back to us the next day, she seemed groggy and slightly dazed. She would still respond to our stimuli, look in our direction when called, come to us for attention, eat and drink, and walk around; however, she is usually a very, very lively dog, and after the episode and having been kept at the vet she became quiet and slow. Her neck was also stiffer than usual. We put this down to side effects of having had a tube down her throat and having been sedated, but we kept an eye out for any other abnormalities.

Early this morning, I woke up to a tiny yelp coming from her, lying on the floor by my bed. Upon picking her up, I noticed the symptoms I described above. Her hind legs worked fine, but if she tried to stand, her front legs would give way and she would tip forwards. If I arranged her legs so that she could remain in a sitting position, she would sometimes remain completely still, with her ears tucked back, or lean to the side and fall over (I kept my hands hovering on either side of her so as not to let her hit the ground).

We took her to the vet again (same clinic, different doctor) and he said that yes, she'd had a seizure, and he found it likely that the first episode had been a seizure as well, not choking. He prescribed phenobarbital (0,5mg every 12 hours) and recommended that we order a CT scan, but we honestly can't afford that right now. He says the causes may be numerous, ranging from head trauma to a stroke to plain old age. We think maybe she really did choke at first and the lack of oxygen to her brain left her with brain damage, which might be what is causing these episodes.

Obviously I'm not as well-versed in this as the vet, but as far as I know, seizures last a few minutes and go away leaving the animal perhaps dazed afterwards. Well, that is not the case here. The limpness of her legs and the stiffness or her neck, as well as a generalized groggy, half-awake demeanor, persist for upwards of 45 minutes. That was the first episode; roughly an hour after taking her first dose of medication, she had another episode and has remained in this state since (that was hours ago). She's not shaking or making any sounds, she is breathing normally and her heart rate is fine, but she is groggy and her legs are unresponsive. It took her about 2 or 3 hours to regain use of her legs after the episode earlier this morning.

I don't know what this could be. The vet says seizures, but we are clueless as to what's causing them. I would greatly appreciate any help. She is currently lying on my lap, and all I can do is lull her to sleep. I don't know what else there is to be done.