Darcy rushed to the vet

[susandavis1]

I had to rush Darcy to the vet his afternoon as I think she had some sort of fit, although I don't know if that's the right word to describe it.
I was outside talking to my neighbour and her little daughter in the garden and Darcy was with us. When I looked down at Darcy, she was holding her right paw up and limping and looking a bit odd, so I picked her up and noticed she was shaking. I brought her inside and her shaking became worse (but not jerky), she started drooling and her eyes became very wide, she looked quite dazed. This continued for possibly 2 minutes or so and then she slowly came back to normal, the shaking eased and her eyes returned to the right size. She then seemed to return to normal quite quickly and she hopped down from the couch and walked normally and took some water and a treat and even wanted to play.This lasted for maybe 5 minutes or so and I thought the worst had passed, however she began shaking very hard again and her eyes became wide and streaming. The drooling was much worse than previously and her body started arching and she made a few small whimpers. This episode lasted for maybe a minute and a half or so. She slowly started to return to normal and by the time I had grabbed my keys and phone to bring her to the vets she was back to normal and even wagging her tail as we were going in the car.

I explained everything to my vet and she said it sounded like she had a fit or seizure. She asked me about poisons or medicines but Darcy hadn't been near any. There was no changes to her diet and she hadn't been injured in anyway. The vet asked about bee or wasp stings, I can't say for definite but I don't think Darcy had been stung (she was stung once before and she cried out straight away). I have very few plants in the garden so I don't think it can be that. The vet took some blood tests but unfortunately the results won't be back until Monday. She sedated Darcy to help relax her muscles and will keep her in for the afternoon to see if has any more episodes. If she has no more than she will let her home.

If anyone has any thoughts on what this might be, I would aprreciate any advice. It was an extremely upsetting experience and I couldn't think clearly to ask the vet all the questions I needed to. I'm still shaking here.

[Desrae]

Oh dear! I am so sorry that this happened to you guys! It must have been so extremely frightening. Let's hope Darcy will be ok and it was just one incident. Let us know how things are with her later on...

[Zoe bowie]

I am so sorry to hear that this has happened to Darcy and I really hope that it is just a once off

Zoe (my 1st Cavalier) had a few episodes like what you have described with her last one lasting about 45 mins, but thankfully we got her to the vet (Royal Pet Vet in Navan) who witnessed the seizure, Colman could tell that it wasn't an epileptic fit, but he suspected it was a seizure due to her being in her first season. As I said that one lasted a full 45 mins and I was beside myself thinking the worst-but when she came to, she was grand-she has not had another one since and that's 6 years on!! It is horrible to witness and I was very upset, and I could see that she was very distressed while it was happening to her...but thankfully she is a happy, healthy girl now-suffice to say we got her spayed as soon as we could after that, we were not taking any further chances with her.

Maybe Darcy did ingest something that caused her body to stress out, and hopefully this is the one and only time you both experience this...let us know how it all goes and what the results are on Monday, until then sending you both hugs

[Karlin]

Oh gosh really sorry to hear about Darcy. It does sound a bit like a fit after eating poison -- the drooling etc would make me wonder -- snail pellets can be source, for example; or a lot of household items and foods even. Some here have epileptic dogs and might have an idea of whether this would possibly be epileptic (that is what the blood tests will have been for, in part). It doesn't sound at all like episodic falling fits. There are some causes of dog seizures listed on this helpful website:

http://www.canine-epilepsy.com/Why.html

it was a seizure due to her being in her first season

I have never heard of this before. Are you sure this is what the vet said? I'd think it more likely to be epilepsy that just has not recurred? It is not uncommon for a dog to fit a few times or even just once and never again. I must say I have never heard of dogs having fits -- especially for 45 minutes, which would be an extremely long seizure -- due to being in heat. I'd be very interested in knowing if there is any literature to back this, if anyone knows more or has heard of this as well.

[Bet]

Oh gosh really sorry to hear about Darcy. It does sound a bit like a fit after eating poison -- the drooling etc would make me wonder -- snail pellets can be source, for example; or a lot of household items and foods even. Some here have epileptic dogs and might have an idea of whether this would possibly be epileptic (that is what the blood tests will have been for, in part). It doesn't sound at all like episodic falling fits. There are some causes of dog seizures listed on this helpful website:

http://www.canine-epilepsy.com/Why.html



I have never heard of this before. Are you sure this is what the vet said? I'd think it more likely to be epilepsy that just has not recurred? It is not uncommon for a dog to fit a few times or even just once and never again. I must say I have never heard of dogs having fits -- especially for 45 minutes, which would be an extremely long seizure -- due to being in heat. I'd be very interested in knowing if there is any literature to back this, if anyone knows more or has heard of this as well.

DARCY RUSHED TO THE VET

Sue ,I can only tell you what our Becky was like when she had a Fit.

She was lying on her side, her Legs were doing a Paddling motion,her Eyes were darting all over the Place, and she was doing the Toilet.

After the Fit passed ,she would get up and was Staggering a wee bit, then would fall asleep ., and was OK when she woke up.

She only had one Cluster Fit thankfully, the Vet was at the end of the Phone, and we had to give her a number of Phenobarbs.

The other thing was, Becky was not allowed to come into Season, I was scared to have her Spayed, because of the Anaesthetic so we always got the jag for her that stopped her coming into Season.

This might be of a wee bit of interest to others who have Cavaliers suffering from Epilepsy, our Vet always took the Distemper part out the yearly Combined Vaccine.

Becky lived a normal life, but was always on Phenbarbs.

That was around 12 years ago ,so the treatment could be different now for Dogs with Epilepsy, just remember though , our Vet said that it was far worse for us than Becky when she had a Fit!!!

BET

[susandavis1]

Thank you for the replies.

Darcy is home from the vets as she had not had any episodes in the 4 hours she was there. She is a little out of sorts and looks a bit dazed but I am putting that down to the sedative for now. I have some diazapam in case she has another episode and will have the blood test results on Monday.
I walked up and down my front garden (it's quite small) and could see absolutely nothing that could have caused this. Darcy is not really food oriented so I know she would not have ingested any garden pests, at most she would have sniffed them. There were definitely no medicines or cleaning products hanging around either. I have six plants in my garden and I brought samples of them all to the garden centre and none of them are poisonous to dogs. I truly have no idea what caused this but I really hope it was a once off. Fingers crossed that the blood tests may reveal more. I will keep you updated.

[Sabby]

I can’t really give you advice as thankfully I never experienced anything like this.
Just want to send you and Darcy a and hope the blood tests reveal more.

[Zoe bowie]

Yes Karlin he said it was a seizure not a fit (not sure what the medical difference is!) and that cause was mostly like the stress of her first season, she was very small, her body temp was high, not too abnormally high, he said that in some dogs not many, the hormones, body temp & pain experienced can put the body under so much stress that it can cause a seizure. All blood tests came back normal (as in no evidence of eplipsy).

The seizure as I said last 45 mins, poor Zoe it was like her body muscles went into a spasim, her back kept arching & her body was stiff BUT she was aware of what was around her...she even gave me a lick at one stage Jesus I was beside myself that evening, iwill never forget it, as the minutes passed I was thinking the worst! Colman was brilliant with her, he didn't want to give her anything straigt away as he wanted to see how it was progressing, thengave her a muscle relaxant, it took a whe to work but she did come around & as I said she never had another one.

I really hope Darcy is ok & that you can relax a little over the weekend.

[Karlin]

That's really interesting Lucille -- thanks for the detail.

Susan we will all be hoping it is a once off. Let us know what you hear from the blood tests.

[susandavis1]

I spoke with the vet today and she advised that Darcy's blood tests came back relatively normal, there are no problems with her kidneys or liver and the only slight worry was that her glucose test was a bit low. The vet feels that this might just be a post-siezure result as potentially a lot of energy is used during a siezure. She didn't seem concerned about this and asked if Darcy had been very thirsty or peeing more than usual which she hasn't, so just to be aware of it. Darcy has returned to her normal happy self over the weekend and is showing no issues so fingers crossed that it was a once off and she won't have to endure another episode
Thanks for all your good wishes. xx