I have a 1.5 yr old golden from good field lines. There is no history of seizures in his lines. 3 weeks ago after a couple hours of hard exersize he woke up and came down the stairs. He hesitated like he was going to stretch. My husband went to the door to let him out but instead of running to the door as usual he laid down. My husband thought he was trying to get something out of his paw. He called him again but Chroma (the golden) had difficulty getting up because he was favoring his right front paw, but all of his limbs appeared weak and unbalanced. He reached my husband at the door and laid/fell down at his feet. He was starting to tremble so my husband got down on the floor with. Chroma would look at my husband and kept his right front paw pulled up. After petting him for a few minutes it seemed to pass. Because of the amount of exersize he had had that day, and because I wasn't there to witness it (my husband is fairly new and still learning about dogs) we chalked it up to a muscle spasm. The dog is fairly high strung and proan to emotional reactions.

Tonight my husband was letting the dogs out before bed: Chroma stops looks over at the neighbors yard and seemed to be sniffing his head continued to lower but it didn't seem abnormal. My husband told him to leave it and moved him towards the back of the yard. After about 8 feet he laid down which he rarely does of his own volition if he's outside unless he's really tired. Today he's only had moderate exersize. Because of this my husband was worried something might be wrong. He knelt down beside him and realized that Chroma was trembling (this is not major shaking). He tried to check his pupils, but it's night...however, they didn't seem unduly dilated. Chroma was alert and would attentive to my husbands voice. He carried him into the house and called me to come look. When I got there Chroma was quiet but seemed okay. The whole episode lasted about a minute. He definitely seems lethargic now.

This is my first Golden. I got him because he was a more appropriate breed for younger children than my usual Chow types. So I'm sure there's alot I still don't know about the breed. I have never personally owned a dog with seizures and I've only witness full grand mal type seizures in dogs. Does any of this ring a bell with anybody? My stepson is very attached to him and beside being the most co-dependant needy dog I've ever encountered he's shaping up to be a good little worker and I'm pretty fond of him.

For what it's worth Winnie my older dog has had no reaction to either scenario.

Advice or experience? I'm calling our vet tomorrow.

My training is in human medicine, but this is what I know about canine seizure disorders:
There are a variety of different type of seizures but the main two types that you encounter are petit-mal and grand-mal seizures.
The petit-mal seizures are usually briefer in duration, less dramatic in their presentation, and they have a shorter post-ictal period. A post-ictal period is the period following a true seizure, and you see a slow regaining of the normal level of consiousness.

Your dog could be having petit-mal type seizures, but seizures are usually a diagnosis of exclusion, which means you need to have the dog worked up to rule out other potential disorders first. And most medical professional are going to have trouble really giving you a good diagnosis without witnessing the event.

Hope that helps, and good luck!

I have a Mal that started seizuring at the same age. The first time was after hard exercise when it was relatively hot before he had his evening meal. It looked exactly the same and lasted just as long if not less. Then after hard exercise, when it was relatively hot outside and the dog had nothing to eat, he would be more prone to seizuring again. I've taken the dog to the vet, did bloodwork several times, but everything came back normal.
My suspicion is that this is a result of hypoglycimia. What I have done is adjusted his feeding schedule and include snacks inbetween feeding times to make sure his sugar levels are up. Especially before exercise, I will make sure to give him something sweet...maple syrop, condensed sweetened milk or something like that. And obviously, I use caution exercising in heat or exercising too much. So far so good. On average he is seizuring 2-3 times a year.

Also, you will soon be able to tell when he is going to have a seizure. I was recommended to immediately give something sweet or fattening (cheese would work too) as that can sometimes stop the seizure with a truly hypoglycimic dog.
I also heard of adding pasta to your dog's regular diet (never tried it though).

Thanks Will and Marina, that's alot more than I knew last night. If this is a condition that can be managed thats great. Somewhere/sometime I got the idea that when animals have seizures they deteriorate, undergo personality changes and usually have to be put down. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> I really appreciate your guys input.

If anybody else has more information please, please post.

I have a 15yr old Beagle that started seizures when we gave him a tranquilizer to calm him before a 12hr road trip. Two hours into the drive he had a gran-mal in my lap out in the middle of nowhere...that was 14yrs ago. The vet said the symptoms can be hidden and were, most likely, brought out by the drug.

To this day, he still has petit-mal seizures - nervousness, paces around the house, excessive panting, tries to climb the walls, etc. We find that these mostly occur when he has not eaten his dinner (he holds out for the "good stuff" sometimes) - makes me think that it might be blood sugar related as well. We now just let him work through it and keep an eye on him to make sure he is safe. Once he settles enough to sleep it off, he wakes up VERY hungry and doesn't have another one for 3-4mths.

As I mentioned, he's 15 now and except for being deaf, a fat heart, and lumpy from cysts and too much "good stuff", he's the most energetic and happy-go-lucky dog I know! Still digs out, rolls in whatever mess he can find, and just loves being a beagle.

Good luck with your pup...with your love and patience, he'll be okay.

I had a male Lab that started having seizures at the age of nine months. Initially he had them frequently – about once or twice a month. His were always brought on by a sudden wakening from a deep sleep. We learned to gently wake him to avoid the startle and the seizure. I eventually put him on Phenobarbital to control the seizures, and he got to where he was having fewer and fewer episodes. The last 3-4 years of his life he only had a couple of seizures per year. Since he started seizing at such an early age, I don’t know what his personality would have been like without the seizures; but his whole life he was happy, energetic, very trainable and obedient, and just a joy in my life. I always worried that the Phenobarbital would damage his internal organs, and shorten his life. In the end, cancer did him in – totally unrelated to his seizures or the Phenobarbital, according to the vet.

His seizures were always the petit-mal kind – he would collapse, eyes would dilate, and he would shake. They lasted about 1-2 minutes, and recovery time would vary, but was short. He only occasionally would lose his bowels. He always wanted me near him, and somehow knew if I left him (to get a towel, or scoot another dog out of the room). Mostly, the other dogs completely ignored his seizures.

This is my bottom line on this: The seizures were manageable, and didn’t seem to affect his daily life very much. He was “normal” most of the time, although he did sleep more and harder than any other dog I’ve had. He was often difficult to wake, and we had to be careful if he was on a sofa or bed. His greatest danger came from the possibility of falling off something or hitting his head during a seizure.

Definitely bloodwork is in order to eliminate other causes, and to set a baseline for your dog – that’s what I did for my Lab before starting him on Phenobarbital. Hope this helps a little and good luck!

Many thanks to everyone who has sent me PM's and posted. When my stepson came home from school today (he's 10 years old) he was clearly very worried about Chroma. I was able to show him your messages and I truly wish you could see how relieved he is. Me Too! Thanks Again,

Molly