Boxer Seizures

Mhmm...weetabix

Hi guys,
Hope you can help me on this. One of my boxers (10 year old male) started having fits on Saturday night (same day we buried my grandmother so my mom is freaking).
He had 1 Saturday, when he came to he was disorientated for about an hour and couldn't relax, but eventually settled. Strangest thing about this is my dad found a frog in the hall beside and thought he could've possibly been poisoned but afaik there's no poisonous reptiles in this part of the world?? He was grand Sunday day, eating fine was like his usual lunatic self on his walk but had another fit Sunday night, everything the same minus the frog.

He went to the vet yesterday & had bloods done, this is the 2nd time in 2 weeks and last 1 resulted in his thyroid meds been upped. I'm still waiting for the results from the UCD labs but since then his back legs are giving way and he's tripping. The vet also noticed a jaw tremor yesterday and said for us to watch out for that and it has gotten significantly worse. The vet gave us phenobarbital for the time being to reduce the siezures. Anyone any idea in what the symptoms suggest any advice til we get the results back?
Cheers,
Dave

anniehoo

Sounds like a classic case of epilepsy to me (breed trait in boxers unfortunately), seizures, tremors,weakening muscles. If your vet has put him on phenobarbital it sounds like thats what they suspect too.

golden

Hi There

I had a dog that had seizures I found that Bach rescue remedy spray in the mouth brought him round. If possible take him/her away from teh place that he had a fit and in a quiet room with no noise or lights and all you can do is let him finish his seizure dont hold the tongue as the dog could bite you involuntary. When he starts to come round make sure that there is nothing for him/her to walk into as he/she will be groggy more than likely.

Mhmm...weetabix

Thanks for the advice guys. This absolutely sucks and just to compound it the vet didn't get any lab results back today after assuring us he'd have them, I know it's not his fault, it just doesn't help!

I was reading up more on phenobarbital and it can take up to 2 weeks for a therapeutic level in blood to be reached?? Does this mean he's gonna get worse before he gets better as this is what's happening today, the poor guy is falling over quite frequently but he's such a lively (nosy)dog he cant help but get up whenever someone moves

Ugh I'm just ranting at this stage!

anniehoo

Weetabix i pm'd you there!:P

wondering

My boxer, 5, we only got him 2 years ago, has very animated dreams, all the legs go and uses all facial muscles, eyes role etc. Is this the start of seizures or am I just being over cautious? I might mention it to the vet next time.

Mhmm...weetabix

wondering wrote: »

My boxer, 5, we only got him 2 years ago, has very animated dreams, all the legs go and uses all facial muscles, eyes role etc. Is this the start of seizures or am I just being over cautious? I might mention it to the vet next time.

Aw, the poor guy! Yeah, my dad found him like that in his bed Saturday 2 weeks ago, he had it 2 nights in a row but was fine an hour later. He then developed a lip tremor and was collapsing quite a bit. He's grand now though, the vet has him on Phenobarbitol & he was back to his normal muppet self in about 5 days.

How long does it take him to come round and is he disorientated after? Any lip tremor or muscle weakening? How often does it happen?

wondering

Mhmm...weetabix wrote: »

Aw, the poor guy! Yeah, my dad found him like that in his bed Saturday 2 weeks ago, he had it 2 nights in a row but was fine an hour later. He then developed a lip tremor and was collapsing quite a bit. He's grand now though, the vet has him on Phenobarbitol & he was back to his normal muppet self in about 5 days.

How long does it take him to come round and is he disorientated after? Any lip tremor or muscle weakening? How often does it happen?

He seams fine after it, no tremers, but maybe hes a bit disorentated alright. I really just thought he was sleeping and dreaming the way dogs do,Oh god I better bring him to the vet.

jigsaw07

wondering wrote: »

My boxer, 5, we only got him 2 years ago, has very animated dreams, all the legs go and uses all facial muscles, eyes role etc. Is this the start of seizures or am I just being over cautious? I might mention it to the vet next time.

my boxer 1yr old is the same way he sometimes growls, licks his face, and moves his legs as if he is running when he sleeps

peasant

wondering wrote: »

My boxer, 5, we only got him 2 years ago, has very animated dreams, all the legs go and uses all facial muscles, eyes role etc. Is this the start of seizures or am I just being over cautious? I might mention it to the vet next time.

emm ...all dogs do that when they're dreaming ...mine even "woof" in their sleep.

Only when they move from fully awake to that dreamy state should you worry

Mhmm...weetabix

wondering wrote: »

He seams fine after it, no tremers, but maybe hes a bit disorentated alright. I really just thought he was sleeping and dreaming the way dogs do,Oh god I better bring him to the vet.

Heya, does he snap right out of it straight away?Rodges eizures last around 5 minutes and there's nothing we can do to snap him out of it, when he comes too he is extremely disorientated & restless for about an hour before he settles back down, he was also foaming at the mouth. If this is the case THEN bring him to the vet, if not & he wakes up straight away he's just chasing bunnies in his dreams, all dogs do this. Sorry if I worried you before.

wondering

Hi Wheet,

No Im glad you mentioned it, its better to be aware. Hes only in a sleeping state at the moment but I havent noticed him dreaming like this before, I know dogs do sleep in this conscious state, 'rapid eye movement dreaming'.

Didnt bring him to the vet, but will be mentioning it next time.

Our boxer also has an upturned muzzel, wrinkles on the bredge of his nose. He has been getting white patches of dry skin on these wrinkles, folds in his skin, anything to be worried about?

Mhmm...weetabix

wondering wrote: »

Hi Wheet,

No Im glad you mentioned it, its better to be aware. Hes only in a sleeping state at the moment but I havent noticed him dreaming like this before, I know dogs do sleep in this conscious state, 'rapid eye movement dreaming'.

Didnt bring him to the vet, but will be mentioning it next time.

Ah no worries, you know your dog best and if you have a feeling there's something different going on it's always best to get it checked by a pro!

wondering wrote: »

Our boxer also has an upturned muzzel, wrinkles on the bredge of his nose. He has been getting white patches of dry skin on these wrinkles, folds in his skin, anything to be worried about?

I've no idea as any of my boxers never had anything like this on their face. Again, that'd be something for the vet to have a look at but to me it sounds like atopic dermatitis so he could be allergic to something he's eating or in his enviroment. Has anything changed recently? New food, plants, air freshner or anything like that?

BTW I'm only going by the limited knowledge I have from growing up with them, there's people on here who know way more then myself!

Burkatron

Heya guys,
Back to this madness again (I've changed my account in the past few months). Rodges fitting profile has changed in the past 24 hours in that he's now had 4 seizures (as opposed to 1 every 1-2 weeks)since 8 pm lastnight.My mom finally mentioned to me that she cut his Phenobarbitol dose in half, by recommendation (according to herself) from the vet yesterday from 4.5 x 30mg tabs to 2x 30 mg tabs! Ive read that discontinuing PB can play havoc with the dog, would halfing the dose in that short space of time have the same effects? Im bulling at the moment as I was always told to ween them down by .5 a tablet every few days if they havent had seizures for a month! :mad: His dose is back up & a DIFFERENT vet has given us sedatives! Also redid his bloods so waiting on the results! Anyways,any other advice on what to do in the short term?
Cheers!

suzyball

Hi Burkatron,

I have an 8 Year old boxer myself. He takes seizures occasionally. Ive witnessed two myself (but i dont know how many he has when im not there!) Has the vet ruled out a brain tumor and heart problems as boxers are prone to both and both can cause seizures. In my dogs case its cardiomyopathy and its terminal but manageable. The next time your at the vets maybe you could ask them if they havent ruled it out already. I hope your dog gets better