Thought he was going to die but pulled through

[warrenj]

Had a dog about a week ago that was sick/acting weird. One day fine was jumping and waiting to get fed, the next he was was all uncoordinated was falling and looked sick. When i would try and walk up to him he would growl at me and look at me as if he was going to attack me, his mouth was foamy also. so i just left him some food/water and the next day he let me touch him but was really scared and was still weak/uncoordinated. i moved him inside for a cpl days. was still weak but coordination was getting better but was still acting scared,this went on for a week are so him being scared. Good news is he is pretty much back to himself, only thing is when i yell for him to be quiet he dont obey anymore. im just wondering if anyone has witnessed something like this b4? I really dont know if he was sick or a act of someone clubbing him over the head or something. Anyone?

[outlaw13]

I almost wonder if someone tried to poison him with something?

[warrenj]

was kind of wondering the same outlaw, glad hes better now tho, have high hopes for this dog, end of the season he got to see a few dead bears and wanted to rip the hide off them, be working him hard this coming training season.

[South Texan]

I have had two or three dogs thru the years that kinda had the same symptoms you mentioned. They were having seizures. You will have the foaming of the mouth, growling at you, scared. They just don't know who you are when they first come out of a seizure and they are scared. I also witnessed a seizure that my wife had, it was about the same thing. I will never forget the look see gave me when she first come out of the seizure, like I was a demon or something, and she didn't know who I was and she was scared to death. So I can kinda relate to these dogs having seizures. The only thing you mentioned that sounds out of the ordinary is lasting for a week or so. My dogs would be kinda back to normal after 2 or 3 days, until they had their next seizure. When the dogs first started having them, they might be 3 to 4 weeks apart, maybe longer than that at first. But... as time went on they got to having them closer and closer together. So...be on the lookout. If you see these symptoms again in this same dog later on, it could possibly be seizures.
I hope not. Good luck with your dog. Robbie

[outlaw13]

South texan i think you are absolutely correct. After reading what you wrote and remembering how my hunting partner's dog acted during and after having a seizure this year it clicked. It was a bit of a scary thing. The one thing i did notice was the other dogs around the dog having a seizure started acting funny right before and during the incident.

[shoot4fur]

I also had a black and tan dog that started having seizures, he would get dizzy run into things foam at the mouth and at the worst fall on his side and run with his legs. He would be out of it for a little while then come to, this would get worse as time whent on. He lost a lot of his smarts, would not respond well even to his name. sad to see a dog go though this. hope thats not the problem your dog is having, but have to say it does kind of sound that way.

[warrenj]

Thanks guys this is probably what happened then, does this mean this will always happen with him? Right now hes ok just does listen when yelled at to be quiet like he use to. ill keep you posted tho. Gotta love this part of this forum, helping eachother out. Have a good day

[South Texan]

If seizures is really what the problem is, yes it is going to get worse and more frequent as time goes on. But...I have also heard they have seizure medicine now for dogs, just like humans. Don't know how expensive it is but you could check with your local vet. But...you might want to wait and see if it happens again, to be sure of the diagnosis.

[shoot4fur]

you are right about medication, and there are different levels of medication depending on how bad it is. As is the cost. I had to bring my dog in while he was having one. It got a little spendy in my case, and did not take care of the problem, not saying it won't in your case if that is your dogs problem. hope you get it all cleard up. good luck

[desertdog]

Just a thought Warren, are you using any kind of cleaning chemicals in his kennel? He might be having a reaction to them. I had this happen to one of my dogs.

[MKT]

Here are a few thoughts.. One cause can be a brain tumor BUT the chances of this is pretty small. At the vet. hospital I work at 1-2 seizures a month is not something we would medicate. The meds for treating seizures are a controlled substance, in some dogs it makes them "spaced out", so you have to wonder about hunting while on these meds. There are websites all about folks living with seizure dogs (warning: these people take pet care a little overborad). There have been links to preservatives in dog foods and seizures. Some of our clients have had luck in controlling seizures thru homecooked diet. Good Luck.

Melanie

[Liz ODell]

I agree sounds like a seizure or a stroke. I would second what MKT said about changing diet, and what others have said about a build up of some kind of toxicity, that may hopefully a simple fix. I had a bulldog that had issues with siezures due to the preservative ethoxyquin (still fairly commonly used in dog feed).
Found a food free of it and she quit having the seizures.

[Rednick]

I had a dog that did the same thing as your dog. He would get really scared and just run off, and would also foam at the mouth. After a couple of these episodes i took him to the vet and they said he was fine which he was at the time you wouldn't know anything happend. Over a couple of weeks he got really bad and i finally witnessed a seizure and took him back to the vet. They gave him some meds and said it would take two weeks for it to kick in. Over the next two weeks he got to where he couldn't even stand at times, or control his bowels, or he would just walk in circles like he lost his mind. He went into a coma before the two weeks were up and died a couple hours latter. I kept calling the vet to say hey somethings wrong and they just told me to wait 2 weeks. I'm glad that your dogs doing better I hope it works out it's hard to watch a hunting partner suffer like that.