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What to do About a Seizure in a 3yo female German Shepherd Dog

LyndseyM

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Hi!
My female, Brynn, experienced a seizure this evening. She was in the other room at which we suddenly heard knocking and banging, only to find her experiencing a tonic clonic episode. She has never had these before and it only seemed to last no more than 2 minutes. She was disoriented coming out of it so much so that she didn't seem to recognize us and backed away. After about a minute she came around and was kissing us. I checked her pupils and they reacted accordingly. There was no seemingly obvious stimuli to prompt the seizure; however, our other female dog had vomited her food about an hour or 2 earlier.

Her vaccination history: full puppy series prior to coming home with us, rabies at 3 months and didn't continue.
She is on no chemical flea/tick/heartworm preventatives.
She is fed a raw diet. Up until this point she had been eating, pooping, peeing just fine. We had noticed less excitement in her demeanor over the last couple of months, but to that we associated her post-partum state. There was also an incident with a neighbor where she was kicked about 3 weeks post-partum (I believe this was in the abdomen, though, not her head) so not sure if that had something to do with it.

We have been keeping her calm and have given her a dose of Pet Rescue Remedy, too. It has been about 1 hour and she has been acting normal.

I did schedule a phone call with @Dr. Jeff for his first available on Friday evening.

Any insights would be helpful in the interim. She's my "tank" of a dog - nothing ever bothers her and is not remotely sensitive like my boy, Xander, so this is very shocking for my significant other and me.

Thank you in advance,
Lyndsey
 

Dr. Jeff

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Sorry Lyndsey to hear about Brynn's first seizure. :confused:

After a first seizure in a young and otherwise healthy pup, you have two options.

First would It would be to wait and watch and see if any other symptom clues.

Second, and my personal preference, would be to get her in to see Dr. Dan (or another local vet) for an exam, and baseline blood/urine tests.

This would look for internal symptoms and help rule out any metabolic or infectious internal imbalances that may have predisposed her to the seizure.

The most likely diagnosis is "idiopathic" epilepsy with the conventional treatment of choice usually being continued monitoring for other seizures or problems.

Holistically, as you know, there are many ways to support her body's ability to maintain inner balance. Fortunately you are already doing many of them!

Are you already giving her a methyl donor like dimethylglycine? These are great to use as they can decrease the seizure threshold.


@Dr. Christina @Dr. Sara @Dr. Jean @Dr. Sue and others may have other thoughts, to add to this thread.

I hope you both have a quiet day! It's a great time to start extra Therapeutic Sniff and Awe walks!???
 

LyndseyM

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Sorry Lyndsey to hear about Brynn's first seizure. :confused:

After a first seizure in a young and otherwise healthy pup, you have two options.

First would It would be to wait and watch and see if any other symptom clues.

Second, and my personal preference, would be to get her in to see Dr. Dan (or another local vet) for an exam, and baseline blood/urine tests.

This would look for internal symptoms and help rule out any metabolic or infectious internal imbalances that may have predisposed her to the seizure.

The most likely diagnosis is "idiopathic" epilepsy with the conventional treatment of choice usually being continued monitoring for other seizures or problems.

Holistically, as you know, there are many ways to support her body's ability to maintain inner balance. Fortunately you are already doing many of them!

Are you already giving her a methyl donor like dimethylglycine? These are great to use as they can decrease the seizure threshold.


@Dr. Christina @Dr. Sara @Dr. Jean @Dr. Sue and others may have other thoughts, to add to this thread.

I hope you both have a quiet day! It's a great time to start extra Therapeutic Sniff and Awe walks!???
Thank you Dr. Jeff!

I did call Dr. Dan's office - I spoke with his lovely tech who basically sad what you did. She said unless we were very anxious about her, we could wait and see if anything else happens.

I am not already giving her that, but will add it to my list. Wasn't sure your thoughts on phosphoplipids like choline and CBD? I would assume her raw diet already puts her in a ketogenic-like state to also work in her favor, but I could be wrong since I mostly deal with those in humans.

She slept beautifully through the night, no issues, actually even came to sleep in bed with me, something she honestly hasn't done since before she had puppies - could have been the hot summer weather, not sure. This morning she was more than normal - playing with the other dogs, barking even - kinda of like herself prior to puppies. Almost like a personality switch took place - in a good way. I can't explain it. I am going to take her to work with me to monitor.

Lyndsey
 

Dr. Christina

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You took two great steps in the moment, Lyndsey. You: 1. gave rescue remedy (be sure to take some yourself in any stressful situation) and 2. quickly scheduled a homeopathic vet appointment .

This is a reminder for everyone to create your health care team. Even if you are working remotely with a homeopathic vet BEFORE there is severe illness, I suggest finding a hands on (even if not super local) vet trained well in TCVM pulse and tongue diagnosis and one with chiropractic/osteopathic training. Once a year, or if any problems more often - get a great physical exam. They can possibly pinpoint problems early on.

Keeping a journal and tracking BEAM, Early Warning Signs of internal imbalance, and maybe doing an annual or semi-annual phone consult with an animal intuitive who can "see" the body can help, too.

Dr. Christina
 

LyndseyM

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You took two great steps in the moment, Lyndsey. You: 1. gave rescue remedy (be sure to take some yourself in any stressful situation) and 2. quickly scheduled a homeopathic vet appointment .

This is a reminder for everyone to create your health care team. Even if you are working remotely with a homeopathic vet BEFORE there is severe illness, I suggest finding a hands on (even if not super local) vet trained well in TCVM pulse and tongue diagnosis and one with chiropractic/osteopathic training. Once a year, or if any problems more often - get a great physical exam. They can possibly pinpoint problems early on.

Keeping a journal and tracking BEAM, Early Warning Signs of internal imbalance, and maybe doing an annual or semi-annual phone consult with an animal intuitive who can "see" the body can help, too.

Dr. Christina
Christina thank you for your validation - even though I actually feel very at ease/calm about this (which is not typical) I think I needed someone to co-sign :).

How serendipitous - I actually was considering a medium for myself recently (for other matters) and now that you mention this, it makes a lot of sense and will offer more information than blood work may even provide - especially if it is idiopathic, nothing will show up.

Do you have any animal mediums you would suggest?

Thank you!
Lyndsey
 

Dr. Christina

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Kate Solisti, whom I mentioned last night and who has spoken at EH, is one. Katesolisti.com. Her condor/eagle channeling is free tomorrow so you could "tune in" to see if she is good for you.
Equinox Teaching with Eagle & Condor Zoom
Date: 22 Sep 2021 6:00 PM MDT

This week we'll get a real treat! The Eagle, who represents the northern hemisphere, the masculine mind, duality, yang energy will be joined by the Condor, representing the southern hemisphere, the feminine heart, intuition and yin energy.

The fascinating thing is how their energy also coincides with what's happening astrologically right now. Venus is in Scorpio and Mars in Libra. Add on to that the full moon in Pisces and we have an amazing opportunity to understand these "opposing" forces and how to make the best use of these energies.

The Eagle and Condor will guide us through this equinox and give us tools to help us in the next quarter and beyond!
This will be such an important session, I'm inviting everyone! Feel free to share with any interested friends and family.
Please note that you'll need to register for this and it will have a different link and pass code from our usual sessions.
You are invited to a Zoom meeting.
When: Sep 22, 2021 06:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Register in advance for this meeting:
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Equinox Teaching from Eagle & Condor. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.


Cassandra Kraham is a member, so you can PM her her or go to pawsofenchantment.com

Dr. Christina
 

LyndseyM

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Unfortunately, Brynn had another seizure last night at just about the exact same time as the one the night prior - after being more than normal all day. This one didn't last for as long - I want to say 45-90 seconds and was much quicker to orient.

Knowing that un-treated UTIs can contribute to some disorientation in both animals and humans, I was curious to know if this might be the same for seizures. Brynn had a heat cycle the 2nd week of August and even though there weren't obvious signs and sxs of a UTI, I had this high degree of suspicion. So today I took a UA and she does have moderate proteinura (it doesn't look at anything more than that, pH, glucose or ketones).

I scheduled an appointment with Dr. Dan, but can't get in until tomorrow afternoon.

Maybe I'm reaching here, hoping there isn't something more seriously wrong.
 

LyndseyM

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Apr 22, 2021
Messages
51
Kate Solisti, whom I mentioned last night and who has spoken at EH, is one. Katesolisti.com. Her condor/eagle channeling is free tomorrow so you could "tune in" to see if she is good for you.
Equinox Teaching with Eagle & Condor Zoom
Date: 22 Sep 2021 6:00 PM MDT

This week we'll get a real treat! The Eagle, who represents the northern hemisphere, the masculine mind, duality, yang energy will be joined by the Condor, representing the southern hemisphere, the feminine heart, intuition and yin energy.

The fascinating thing is how their energy also coincides with what's happening astrologically right now. Venus is in Scorpio and Mars in Libra. Add on to that the full moon in Pisces and we have an amazing opportunity to understand these "opposing" forces and how to make the best use of these energies.

The Eagle and Condor will guide us through this equinox and give us tools to help us in the next quarter and beyond!
This will be such an important session, I'm inviting everyone! Feel free to share with any interested friends and family.
Please note that you'll need to register for this and it will have a different link and pass code from our usual sessions.
You are invited to a Zoom meeting.
When: Sep 22, 2021 06:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Register in advance for this meeting:
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Equinox Teaching from Eagle & Condor. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.


Cassandra Kraham is a member, so you can PM her her or go to pawsofenchantment.com

Dr. Christina
Thank you Christina! I will check her out tonight! I looked into both of them and a referral from somebody local to me. Its hard to figure out who is the "best" so I am praying/meditating on that.
 

Dr. Christina

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Keep up with the rescue remedy and get your timeline put together for your appointment Friday with Dr. Jeff.

Being able to have the seizure at the same time shows a healthier vital force who can stay more focused than having seizures at different times, so points to better success with homeopathy.



Dr. Christina
 

LyndseyM

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Apr 22, 2021
Messages
51
Keep up with the rescue remedy and get your timeline put together for your appointment Friday with Dr. Jeff.

Being able to have the seizure at the same time shows a healthier vital force who can stay more focused than having seizures at different times, so points to better success with homeopathy.



Dr. Christina
Thank you for that insight! It makes me feel much better to hear that information!
 

Dr. Jeff

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Don't worry (too much) Lyndsey.

I personally have not seen any association, physiologically, between UTIs and seizures.

Energetically however, any symptom may result from the internal imbalance that caused the seizures. This would include the internal-only symptoms of an untreated UTI (which is usually untreated because there are no external symptoms).

Then there's the whole genetic predisposition question...

 

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