Seizures in dogs

Seizures, also known as fits or convulsions, can affect dogs of any age, size or breed. Around 1 in 100 dogs in the UK will have a seizure at some time in their lives. Severity, treatment and outlook depend on the cause of your dog’s seizure.

Seizures are caused by an uncontrolled flare of electrical activity in your pet’s brain. They look scary, but seizures are not painful, and they usually only last a minute or two. However, your dog may seem sleepy and out of sorts for several hours afterwards.

What to do

What to do if you think your pet is having a seizure.

Stay calm
Turn down the lights
Keep the room quiet
Try not to touch your dog during the seizure
Remove children and other pets from the room
Keep your dog safe from injuring themselves

Causes

Causes of seizures in dogs

There are several reasons why your dog may have a seizure, including:

Changes inside their head and the way their brain works:

Epilepsy
Head injuries
Strokes
Infections
Tumours

Changes starting outside their head:

Eating poison
Liver disease
Kidney disease
Low blood sugar
Problems with electrolytes (salts) in their blood

So the cause of your dog’s seizure can depend on their age, breed and general health. Getting the best outcome for your dog depends on finding out why the seizure happened.

When to worry

When to worry about your dog having a fit

Call your nearest vet if your dog’s seizure is lasting more than 5 minutes

Speak to a vet if your dog has more than one seizure in a day.

Joii can help with:

Recognising the signs of a fit
Keeping your pet safe during a seizure
Advice and support while a seizure is happening
Providing real-time guidance during your pet’s recovery and beyond
Keeping your family and other pets safe if your dog has a seizure
Plants and human foods which can cause seizures in dogs

Prevention

Tips to prevent a seizure from happening

How you can tell if a seizure is about to happen

Some pets with epilepsy will experience changes in behaviour in the period leading up to a seizure. This is called the pre-ictal phase or aura and may happen up to an hour before the seizure itself.

During an aura your dog may be:

Restless and pacing
Whining
Exceptionally clingy

You may learn to recognise these cues in your dog and be able to take steps to create a safe environment.

For example:

Turn down the lights
Turn off the television or music
Turn off the heating (pets can overheat during seizures)
Cover hard corners and edges of furniture with cushions
Take other pets and children to a different room

These steps will reduce stimulation of your pet’s brain and, in this way, help to reduce electrical stimulation feeding into the seizure.

If seizures happen regularly, your vet may prescribe sedative medication to give into your pet’s mouth or bottom. This medicine may be used either:

To control a seizure lasting longer than 3-5 minutes, or
To reduce the severity or prevent a fit completely, if an aura allows you to recognise when a severe one is about to happen.

Diagnosis

How to know if your dog is going to have a fit.

Symptoms of a seizure or fit vary but often include:

Becoming unsteady, losing balance
Falling over, with stiffened muscles
Becoming vacant or unconscious
Lying on their side and jerking their limbs
Drooling saliva
Chomping and biting movements
Passing faeces (poo) or urine (wee) without being aware of it

These are signs of the main seizure. The medical name for this is an ictus.

For a period of minutes to hours after the seizure, your dog may appear:

Disorientated
Wobbly on their legs
Very hungry
Very sleepy

This is known as the ‘post-ictal phase’. It’s best to leave your pet to recover safely and peacefully in their familiar surroundings until this phase passes.

There can be many other symptoms of ‘full’ or ‘partial’ seizures

Home treatment

How to look after a dog who has seizures at home.

Please follow the advice above to reduce the risk of seizures happening
Give any medication recommended by your vet at the correct times and doses
Stay calm and make sure your dog is safe from becoming injured during a fit
Administer any emergency medication, if you have some, as recommended by your vet

Living with a dog who suffers from seizures

Sometimes a seizure may be a one-off and your dog will never have another. Sometimes they happen infrequently, maybe once every year or two. However, for dogs with a condition like epilepsy, the first seizure may be followed by more frequent episodes.

The good news is that most dogs who experience seizures due to epilepsy can go on to live full and active lives. Although the disease cannot be cured, with the right medication and veterinary care, you and your canine best friend can continue to do all the things you enjoy together!

Vet treatment

How vets investigate seizures

To find out why your pet has had a seizure, vets will check the following

‘History’ – your account of what happened and your pet’s general health
General and neurological examination – checking things like balance and eyesight
Blood and urine tests to check for liver or kidney disease, low blood sugar or abnormal electrolyte levels
MRI or CT scans – vets may recommend a closer examination of your dog’s brain using advanced tests such as MRI
Tests on samples of fluid from around the brain (the cerebrospinal fluid or CSF)

These tests don’t always find something specifically wrong with your pet. This does not mean the investigation has ‘failed’. Rather, the cause of your dog’s seizure is most likely an intermittent ‘electrical fault’ in their brain. The ‘fault’ comes and goes and leaves no trace in between.

This is what happens if your dog has epilepsy. Idiopathic Canine Epilepsy is the most common cause of recurrent seizures in dogs in the UK.

‘Idiopathic’ is a medical word that means we don’t know the exact cause of the illness.

How do vets treat seizures?

In emergencies, vets use sedatives and anti-seizure medicine injected directly into your dog’s veins to control seizures. An emergency is a seizure lasting more than 5 minutes or recurring multiple times in a short period.

Longer-term treatment for seizures depends on the underlying cause but could include:

Anti-seizure medicine given daily as tablets or liquid
Specific treatments to control blood sugar, electrolytes or other illness
Emergency medication for at home treatment of seizures lasting more than 3 minutes

Risk

Which dogs are at higher risk for seizures?

While all dogs may be at risk of seizures, certain breeds are more likely to develop an inherited type of seizure known as epilepsy. The breeds most commonly affected include: