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Major dog event - FCD - 07-01-2025
Now that things have calmed down a bit (at least for the moment), I'll take a breath and try to write this out in a post...
Last night around 8pm one of our two dogs, the Australian Shepard had some sort of a pretty major medical event, a seizure basically, but a big one. He was outside with the wife after she got done watering the cows and all of a sudden he whipped his head to the side, started foaming at the mouth and fell on the ground completely spazzing out (like major seizure). This was out of the blue, and he's never had anything like this before. The event went on for 4-5 minutes and then he seemed to come out of it, immediately trying to get up and walk around. At first he couldn't really walk, like really wobbly and stumbling, but slowly he regained his coordination (for the most part, still unsteady though). (You can read more about what happened in Shoutbox)
After we got him inside, he was pacing around all over, obviously distraught. Finally got him to calm down and lay down. He eventually went to sleep. Around 1:30am this morning, he had another event, basically the same thing. This time it was from a dead sleep. Whips his head back, literally starts foaming at the mouth like he's rabid (but he's definitely not rabid), eyes rolled back, and then he falls down on his side, legs outstretched kinda' like he's running sort of and just totally spazzes out. Classic seizure symptoms. Happened again just after 4am for a third time, this time a little shorter duration (first two times were really traumatic for the wife and other dog). All of his bodily functions let loose after the 3rd event, but his poop looked really healthy (oddly). Not pleasant, but he's a family member. Then it happened again, for the 4th time (and hopefully last time before we can get him into our large animal doc). This last time the episode was the shortest, lasting only for about 1 minute and then a couple minutes to recover his bearings and get to his feet.
Each time he has really struggled like panic style to get back to his feet, and then he's really unsteady for a few minutes, stumbling and periodically falling down, but generally conscious and semi-alert (which he is totally not when he's having one of these seizures, he's just in lunar orbit). As time moves on he seems to become more aware of his surroundings, his buddy (the other dog) and his people. He's kind of like a zombie at first. I'm not entirely convinced he recognizes me yet, but he does recognize my wife. He's not really responding to voice commands though. He definitely seems to hear us, but it's like the words don't make sense. He looks at you like..."I know you said something, but I have absolutely no clue what it was".
Finally managed to get a hold of our on-call vet around 4:30am (normally used for the cows, but you gotta' go with what you got). That's another story, but I'll maybe get into that later. Anyway, now it's just a waiting game until 7:30am when we can get him to the same location as the vet. Not looking forward to that ride.
Interesting times. Not what I had planned for today at all.
On a final note, I'd rather put the dog down than have him go through this kind of stuff. We've had lots of dogs over the years, so we know they don't live forever, but this kind of stuff is really unpleasant. Hate to see them suffer. And it comes on so suddenly too, it's like..."SURPRISE!!".
Sigh.
RE: Major dog event - Ninurta - 07-01-2025
Keep us updated on his condition.
.
RE: Major dog event - FCD - 07-02-2025
(07-01-2025, 09:40 PM)Ninurta Wrote: Keep us updated on his condition.
Spent all day at the vet (off and on, and via phone). "Touch and go", per them, at first. Said it wouldn't have stopped, unless we'd have brought him in. No "final answer" conclusion, but they ran every test on him imaginable (not cheap, but he's a great guard dog and a really good cattle dog; he's worth it...within reason, obviously).
They eliminated a lot of the big items (cancer, tumors, brain issues, other weird bodily organ functions). Came down to "ideopathic" (epilepsy, basically, among some other remote possibilities). He's 11, so not a spring chicken, but not super old as his breed goes, certainly for something like this.
He's home now. Still kind of freaked out. Seems to recognize all of us (now)...but he totally wasn't recognizing people when the events were happening. At that point he was either 'threat' or 'friend', but not much more.
Got the wife to lay down (finally). Poor girl has gotten no sleep at all in the last 24 hours. Dog is pretty much hanging with her, which is fine. Not a time for ego. He's on some major sedative anti-seizure drugs, and we're monitoring him (supposed to be anyway, and keeping a log). Still can't really walk right, but I'm thinking it's pure exhaustion at this point (he's been through a lot, certainly emotionally for him). He's really tired, and rightfully so; he's been hooked up to IV's and machines monitoring him all day. Not really steady walking (yet), and periodically falling down, but that could be the seizures, the drugs, or a combination of both. I'll bet that poor dog is tired beyond description.
As it stands right now; it looks like he's going to live. (Good thing). This morning at the vet, they gave us a 50-50 (best case).
That's pretty much where we are.
Between us girls...I'm pretty damn tired too! Not gonna admit it though.
RE: Major dog event - Ninurta - 07-02-2025
He's probably pretty sore, too. Those seizures can tighten muscles up like rocks... and then keep them like that for a good while. The buildup of lactic acid in the muscles creates muscle pain, like overworking but worse. That will wear a soul out, and I'd imagine it might have a bit to do with his "walking funny" as well. Overwork makes me walk funny, too - I can't imagine putting maximum strain on every muscle in my body, and then holding that strain for a while! I doubt I could walk at all after a few minutes of that, once the muscle pain set in.
Glad to hear he's doing better now!
.
RE: Major dog event - Bally002 - 07-05-2025
(07-02-2025, 01:26 AM)FCD Wrote:(07-01-2025, 09:40 PM)Ninurta Wrote: Keep us updated on his condition.
Spent all day at the vet (off and on, and via phone). "Touch and go", per them, at first. Said it wouldn't have stopped, unless we'd have brought him in. No "final answer" conclusion, but they ran every test on him imaginable (not cheap, but he's a great guard dog and a really good cattle dog; he's worth it...within reason, obviously).
They eliminated a lot of the big items (cancer, tumors, brain issues, other weird bodily organ functions). Came down to "ideopathic" (epilepsy, basically, among some other remote possibilities). He's 11, so not a spring chicken, but not super old as his breed goes, certainly for something like this.
He's home now. Still kind of freaked out. Seems to recognize all of us (now)...but he totally wasn't recognizing people when the events were happening. At that point he was either 'threat' or 'friend', but not much more.
Got the wife to lay down (finally). Poor girl has gotten no sleep at all in the last 24 hours. Dog is pretty much hanging with her, which is fine. Not a time for ego. He's on some major sedative anti-seizure drugs, and we're monitoring him (supposed to be anyway, and keeping a log). Still can't really walk right, but I'm thinking it's pure exhaustion at this point (he's been through a lot, certainly emotionally for him). He's really tired, and rightfully so; he's been hooked up to IV's and machines monitoring him all day. Not really steady walking (yet), and periodically falling down, but that could be the seizures, the drugs, or a combination of both. I'll bet that poor dog is tired beyond description.
As it stands right now; it looks like he's going to live. (Good thing). This morning at the vet, they gave us a 50-50 (best case).
That's pretty much where we are.
Between us girls...I'm pretty damn tired too! Not gonna admit it though.
How's the bluey now mate? (Australian) Hope the dog gets better. They are a tough breed.
Bally)
RE: Major dog event - FCD - 07-05-2025
He's hangin' in there and returning to normal more each day. Takes a while for them to get used to the anti-seizure meds; they're really loopy at first. No 'breakthrough' seizures, so that's good.
He's a good boy.
BTW - He IS a 'Merle' too (i.e. one blue eye, one brown), so he meets that qualification.