Causes of Fits in Dogs: A Comprehensive Overview
Dec 26,2024 | puaintapets
Seizures, also known as "fits," in dogs can be a distressing and frightening experience for pet owners. A seizure occurs when there is a sudden, abnormal surge of electrical activity in the brain, leading to temporary disruptions in the dog’s motor control, behavior, or consciousness. Understanding the causes of seizures in dogs is crucial to identifying potential underlying health conditions and seeking proper treatment.
In this article, we will explore the different causes of seizures in dogs, how to identify them, and what steps you should take if your dog experiences a seizure.
Types of Seizures in Dogs
Before delving into the causes, it's important to distinguish between different types of seizures that dogs may experience:
1.Generalized Seizures (Grand Mal Seizures)
The most common type of seizure, involving the entire body. The dog may collapse, paddle their limbs, drool excessively, and lose control over bladder or bowels.
2.Focal Seizures (Partial Seizures)
These affect only part of the dog’s body, typically on one side. Symptoms may include twitching, jerking, or involuntary movements in a specific area such as the face or limbs.
Also Read: Reasons and Treatment Options Of Hind Leg Weakness in Dogs
3.Absence Seizures (Petite Mal Seizures)
These are less common and involve brief lapses in consciousness, during which the dog may appear to "zone out" for a few seconds. There are usually no obvious physical symptoms.
Symptoms of Epilepsy in Dogs
Symptoms of epilepsy in dogs can be categorised into three stages: pre-seizure, seizure and post-seizure.
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Pre-seizure symptoms
Prior to a seizure, a dog may exhibit some abnormal behaviour such as anxiety, irritability, dizziness, weakness and mood changes. These symptoms may appear long before the onset of the seizure, sometimes even days before.
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Symptoms during a seizure
Generalised Seizure: This type of seizure involves the entire body, the dog may lose consciousness, fall, limbs may tremble, twitch, or stiffen and stretch, or they may stop breathing. after 10-30 seconds, the dog may paddle with its legs, chew hard on its jaw, become incontinent in defecation or urination, salivate, bark, wail, or otherwise vocalise, and its pupils may be dilated. If the seizure is mild, there may be no loss of consciousness and there may be very little limb stretching or paddling. The whole process may last a total of 30-90 seconds, and although recovery is sometimes immediate, it may take up to 24 hours.
Partial Seizures: Symptoms are limited to one part of the body, such as muscle twitching, limb movements, turning the head or bending the trunk to one side, and facial twitching. Partial seizures can progress to tonic clonic epilepsy, and partial seizures are usually associated with secondary epilepsy.
Complex Partial Seizures: The dog may stare motionlessly and then experience a period of abnormal or strange behaviour such as aggression, hysterical running, cowering, chewing and gnashing of teeth, as well as salivation, biting of the flanks, abdominal discomfort manifesting as vomiting and diarrhoea, vocalisations (barking, snarling, whimpering/groaning), and an abnormal appetite and thirst, before the onset of a generalised seizure. Dogs may not be completely unconscious from this type of seizure, but may appear dazed or unaware of what they are doing. Their unusual symptoms and behaviour may last from a few minutes to a few hours.
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Post-seizure symptoms
After the seizure, the dog may feel confused, disorientated, restless or unresponsive, and there is a possibility of transient blindness. At this stage, the dog is conscious, just not able to control his behavioural actions through his conscious mind.
If your dog is experiencing any of these symptoms, it is advisable to take him to the vet promptly for a detailed examination and diagnosis.
What Causes of Epilepsy in Dogs?
The causes of epilepsy in dogs are varied and include the following main categories.
1. Genetic factors
Certain dog breeds have a high genetic predisposition to epilepsy, such as Border Collies, Labrador Retrievers, and German Shepherds. These breeds may carry mutated genes associated with epilepsy in their genes, making them more prone to epilepsy.
2. Brain diseases
Brain tumours: when a tumour grows in the brain, it can compress the surrounding brain tissue, disrupting the normal neural structure and interfering with the normal electrical activity of the neurons in the brain, which can trigger seizures.
Brain infections: Viruses, bacteria or parasites that infect the brain tissue cause an inflammatory response that stimulates neurons and causes them to lose their normal rhythm of electrical activity, leading to seizures. For example, a canine distemper virus infection of the brain can lead to seizure symptoms in dogs.
3. Metabolic disorders
Hypoglycaemia: more common in small dogs or puppies. If a dog has not eaten for an extended period of time, especially a small dog, blood sugar levels can drop rapidly as they have low energy reserves. Hypoglycaemia affects the energy supply to the brain, causing the brain's neurons to function abnormally and triggering seizures.
Liver disease: The liver is an important organ for detoxification and metabolism. When liver function is impaired, such as when suffering from hepatitis or cirrhosis, toxins in the body cannot be metabolised and removed effectively and will accumulate in the bloodstream, and these toxins may affect the normal functioning of neurons in the brain, leading to seizures.
4. Poisoning
Dogs accidentally eat some toxic substances may trigger epilepsy. Chocolate, for example, contains theobromine which is toxic to dogs. When a dog ingests a certain amount of chocolate, theobromine affects the central nervous system, leading to abnormal neuron discharges and then seizures. Rodenticides are also common poisons, and when accidentally ingested by dogs, the chemicals in them can interfere with the dog's blood coagulation system, and may also affect the nervous system, triggering serious symptoms such as epilepsy.
5. Trauma
Accidents such as car accidents and falls can lead to brain injuries in dogs, which in turn can trigger epilepsy. Trauma may lead to bleeding, oedema or tissue necrosis in the brain, which can adversely affect the nervous system and lead to seizures.
6. Other Factors
Nutritional problems: for example, vitamin B1 deficiency, a vitamin that is essential for maintaining normal functioning of the nervous system, may lead to seizures when deficient.
Environmental factors: Prolonged exposure to irritating environments such as noise and bright lights, or sudden and drastic changes in your living environment can be a trigger for seizures.
Parasitic infections: Certain parasites, such as the brain worm, may trigger seizures when they parasitise the brain.
What to Do if Your Dog Has a Seizure?
The main treatments for epilepsy in dogs include medication, dietary management, environmental modifications and surgery.
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Medication
Medication is the main method of controlling seizures in dogs. Commonly used antiepileptic drugs can reduce the frequency and severity of seizures by regulating the excitability of neurons in the brain. Medication needs to be tailored to your dog's specific situation, including the type of medication, dosage, and frequency of administration. When using antiepileptic drugs, you need to be aware of the side effects of the drugs, such as lethargy, loss of appetite, and liver function impairment.
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Dietary management
Dietary management is also important for controlling seizures in dogs. Some studies suggest that a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet (ketogenic diet) may help reduce the frequency of seizures. In addition, avoiding feeding your dog foods that may cause allergies or toxicity, such as chocolate and onions, is also important in preventing seizures.
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Environmental Adjustments
Environmental adjustments can help reduce the triggers of seizures in dogs. This includes providing a quiet, comfortable resting environment, avoiding overexcited or stressful situations, and regular environmental adaptations and play to help reduce stress and anxiety in your dog.
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Surgery
In some cases, surgical treatment may be an option if your dog's epilepsy is caused by a tumour, cyst or other structural lesion in the brain. Surgery can remove the diseased tissue that is causing the seizures, which can lead to seizure control. However, surgical treatment carries a high level of risk and needs to be performed under the guidance of a professional veterinarian.
It is important to note that the treatment of epilepsy in dogs is a long-term process that requires the joint efforts of both the owner and the veterinarian. During the course of treatment, the dog's symptoms and drug effects should be monitored regularly and the treatment plan should be adjusted as needed. Meanwhile, owners should provide good care and living environment to help their dogs control seizures.
FAQs
How long can a dog live with fits?
However, in the case of severe brain diseases, such as brain tumours that cannot be removed surgically, and irreversible brain damage caused by severe brain infections such as canine distemper virus, the survival time of the dog may be shorter. It can range from a few months to a year or two, depending on how quickly the disease progresses and the overall health of the dog.
In the case of congenital epilepsy, if the frequency of seizures is better controlled by medication, the dog may also live a normal life for many years; however, if the seizures are frequent and difficult to control, the life expectancy may be compromised by accidents during the seizures such as falls and injuries, apnoea, etc., or by the decline in physical functions caused by prolonged seizures, and survival time may fluctuate over a period of several years.
Will a dog be ok after a seizure?
However, if the seizure is more severe, such as a generalised grand mal seizure lasting for a long time, it may cause damage such as lack of oxygen to the brain. In this case, the dog may not fully return to its pre-seizure state and may show behavioural changes such as becoming more timid and aggressive, motor dysfunction such as unsteady walking, or cognitive deficits such as reduced learning ability.
For dogs with frequent seizures, each seizure causes some degree of cumulative damage to the body and brain, and even if the seizure appears to recover, it can affect the dog's health and quality of life in the long term, and the degree of recovery may gradually decrease as the number of seizures increases.
Can something trigger a seizure in a dog?
Toxic food: Theobromine, contained in chocolate, is a toxic substance for dogs, which may induce seizures after a certain amount of intake. Onions contain n-propyl disulphide and other ingredients that can cause haemolysis in dogs, and in severe cases can trigger epilepsy and other neurological symptoms. Grapes and sultanas may also cause damage to the dog's kidneys and other organs, which in turn affects the nervous system and risks inducing epilepsy.
Nutritional deficiencies: a lack of vitamin B1 can affect the normal functioning of your dog's nervous system and may induce seizures.
Brain diseases: Brain tumours can compress the surrounding brain tissue, destroying the neural structure and interfering with the normal electrical activity of neurons thus inducing epilepsy; brain infections, such as Canine Distemper Virus and Toxoplasma gondii infecting the brain tissues, cause inflammatory reactions to stimulate the neurons, which may trigger epileptic seizures.
Metabolic disorders: when hypoglycaemia occurs, the energy supply to the brain is insufficient, which affects neuronal function and is prone to induce epilepsy; liver disease leads to toxins in the body that cannot be effectively metabolised and eliminated, and toxins accumulating in the bloodstream affect the normal functioning of neurons in the brain, which may also induce epilepsy.
Conclusion
Seizures in dogs can be caused by a variety of factors, from genetics to underlying health conditions or environmental factors like toxins. It’s important to work with your veterinarian to determine the cause of your dog’s seizures and develop an appropriate treatment plan. With proper care, many dogs with seizures can live a long and healthy life, but timely intervention and management are key to ensuring their well-being.
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