Seizure in 12 yo Yorkie - Zowie

[Laura]

About 4:30 yesterday we were sitting outside, Zowie came out the dog door and sort of tripped. She walked across the patio to the water, turned around and came back. I reached my foot out and petted her, she stood and let me pet her with my foot which is unusual, she seemed to be leaning into it. I put Dexter down and picked up Zoe and she sort of flailed. I pulled her to my chest and tried to lay her down, but she seemed only to be able to be held to my chest, curving toward her right side. After about 5 minutes, we went inside, I gently handed her to my husband so I could change clothes, took her back and we tried to think what could be wrong.

I started to write on here, but could not think straight. At 5:00 she was still out of it, as I called the vet, she threw up all over my son. We took her right in and by 6:00 they had done all the blood tests; as we were waiting for results, suddenly she lifted her head and slowly over the next 10 minutes she started coming around and could stand and was fine.

The vet was rather stunned, but he said all her tests came back fine and she was amazingly healthy for a 12 year old. I think her potassium was at the line between ok and high and her thyroid was a tad low. He put her on Phenobarbital and wants to see her in 3 weeks to test the levels and will start her on thyroid meds at that time.

Now she seems fine, but a seizure lasting 1.5 hours? I am so afraid, I just wondered if any of you had thoughts about this.:

[lillymae]

The seizure most likely did not last as long as you think but seizures are very hard on the body & most likely what you were seeing were the after effects of the seizure. Sometimes depending on the severity of the seizure they can be out of it for a day or so. What's the Temps like there ? she may be just getting too old to handle much heat especially if it's warm/hot & she was out in the sun. Dark colored animals can be a bit more sensitive to the heat due to coat color as IF they stay in direct sunlight for too long they heat up faster & heat stroke can cause a seizure. Be mindful of her time in the sun & heat at her age. I'll be Praying this does not happen to her again whatever the cause & am glad she's doing better now.

[Laura]

She came out from the air-conditioning just fine and was outside about 2 minutes before it started. One and one-half hours was how long she was like that at the vet, he thought I would have to put her down that she had had a stroke, aneurysm, or tumor‎. He was surprised when she started to come to.

Also, she is golden in color and her hair is cut short, about 1 inch. She doesn't see very well and we have a pool, so she doesn't like to stay outside too much. We are in Texas and it is 100 degrees out right now, so we run our air-conditioner.

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by Laura

She came out from the air-conditioning just fine and was outside about 2 minutes before it started. One and one-half hours was how long she was like that at the vet, he thought I would have to put her down that she had had a stroke, aneurysm, or tumor‎. He was surprised when she started to come to.

Also, she is golden in color and her hair is cut short, about 1 inch. She doesn't see very well and we have a pool, so she doesn't like to stay outside too much. We are in Texas and it is 100 degrees out right now, so we run our air-conditioner.

Hmmm...very odd, and how scary! So sorry this happened to your little girl, poor thing. The vomiting is what intrigues me here, bc the body usually only does that under certain circumstances...but I can't figure out what this could have been. Initial thought is a stroke of some kind, not seizure...but who knows.

I'm just really glad she seems to have snapped back !

[Laura]

I also think it was more like a stroke. I didn't see her acting like seizure. Now she is behaving a little strangely, holding her head to the right when she drinks water. I give then Cesar's as a treat in the morning, cut it into 9 pieces and feed with a fork 1 by 1 to each of 6 pups. She knew what we were doing, but she didn't seem like she could maneuver the fork too well. I guess time will tell. When we go see him in 3 weeks if we want, we can start doing MRI, brain scans, etc if we want (says the vet.) I just can't find any good information to tell me what is going on with her. I don't want to be cheap, but the $400 I spent on friday is a meager amount compared to starting MRI's, etc on a great girl who I have loved for 12+ years. We lost two in the past 2 years, both to cancer. Spending so much money, one to find out there was nothing to do but love him. Two, for them to recommend we put him down. If we had not done that throat biopsy, he would have probably been fine for a few more months, and I thought they could tell that before they did it by what they said. These things just weigh heavy on a mom.

Thanks for thinking of us.

[lillymae]

You say she holds her head to the right ? 2 things come to mind here, 1 that her neck may be out & 2 she may have a Chiari Malformation & the most common ages for diagnosis for this is ages 2 to 3 yrs but can be diagnosed at any age & IF this were the case then most likely she would do very well on the meds as if you are just seeing any symptoms at 12 yrs old then it's a fairly mild Chiari. Is she holding her head Down or just Turned or Both ? Some dogs DO vomit with the Chiari but some dogs also vomit from seizures.

[Lil Sis]

I hesitate to be an alarmist but I would take her to a neurologist asap. I just went through this with my Remy -- the head tilt, not seeing and other signs. In our case Remy was diagnosed with encephalitis. There are several other possibilities with different levels of severity. The sooner treatment the better the chances of recovery are.

I am sending prayers your baby will be ok.