We couldn’t believe that Tasha, our beloved Llaso-Apso, who was a purebred that we rescued from a Philadelphia shelter, had been given up for adoption. She already came with tricks. If you whistled, she would come over to your side. She knew her left paw from her right, shaking paw to hand. If you said “roll over,” she immediately would comply.
About a few days later, we knew why she was given up–she had uncommonly and frequent seizures that lasted for 3 to 5 minutes each time. Maybe her previous owner couldn’t afford the veterinary bills. We’ll never know.
As soon as the seizure passed, she would always seek comfort from the living room sofa, dazed and confused, not always returning to her normal, playful self until the next day.
Her last seizure was during the day when everybody left for school or work. My son, returning from middle school, found her dead, because that was one seizure too many, I imagine.
I think about Tasha every so often, less than before and usually around holiday time, where everybody would make a fuss over her. She had her own brand of eloquence and dignity, with very short legs as she pranced along.
Pets can experience brain injuries, like seizures, just like people. Brain injuries in animals, specifically in cats and dogs, are usually caused by trauma, like a fall, a car accident, or even a fight with another animal.
Other causes seizures in animals:
- Liver disease
- Liver shunts (abnormal blood vessels that affect the liver)
- Low or high blood sugar
- Kidney disease
- Infectious diseases like rabies and distemper
- Anemia
- Encephalitis
- Strokes
- Brain cancer
Here’s how to know if your pet has suffered a brain injury:
- Repeated seizures (as in Tasha’s case)
- Loss of balance or unsteady gait (also in Tasha’s case)
- Unusual or decreased activity
- Disorientation or confusion
- Changes in pupil size or eye movement
- Aggression or fearfulness
- Loss of appetite
Household products if ingested and considered toxins that cause your animals to have seizures:
- Alcoholic beverages
- Raw bread dough
- Rubbing alcohol
- Varnishes, paints, shellacs, windshield washer fluids
- Antifreeze
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, due to smoke inhalation, is a toxin that can cause cats and dogs to have seizures.
Household foods known to be potential toxins that cause cats and dogs’ seizures:
- Caffeine or dark chocolate
- Excessive seawater, table salt or Play-Dough ingestion
- Artificial sweetener
Toxic metals that have the possibility of causing cats and dogs to have seizures like lead-based paint.
Illicit drugs that can bring on toxic seizures in your pets:
- Amphetamines
- Opiates
- Methamphetamines
- Cocaine
- Marijuana
Common human medications that are potential toxins that cause cats and dogs to seizure:
- Analgesics (Aspirin and Ibuprofen)
- Antidepressants (SSRIs and TCAs)
- Asthma medication (Theophylline)
- Antihistamine
- Cancer medication
- Beta-Blockers (Cardiac medication)
- Decongestants (Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine)
- Muscle Relaxants (Baclofen, Carisoprodol, Methocarbamol, Tizanidine and Cyclobenzaprine)
Pesticide toxins that can cause seizures in your animal:
- Rodenticide (Bromethalin)
- Snail bait (Metaldehyde)
- Weed killers (Organophosphates and Carbamates)
- Pyrethrines and phyrethroids
- Strychnine
- Mole bait (Zinc Phosphate)
Another common group of toxins that can bring on seizures in pets are plants including:
- Aloe Vera
- Ivy
- Jade
- Dumb Cane
- Philodendron
- Pathos
- ZZ Plant
- Elephant Ear
- Corn Plant
- Asparagus Plant
- Desert Rose
- Bird of Paradise
- Peace Lily
- Chinese Evergreen
- Sago Palm
Pets can sometimes recover well from mild brain injuries, like seizures, especially with proper care. However, severe brain injuries may result in long-term effects or require ongoing care. Like humans, animals can benefit from plenty of rest, a calm environment, and sometimes physical therapy to help in recovery.
Seizures can take many different forms, ranging from mild facial tics to whole-body shaking. Among the possible symptoms are:
- Unusual barking or meowing
- A dazed look
- Staring into space
- Twitching that can affect just a few muscles or their whole body
- Drooling
- Chomping
- Stumbling
- Falling
- Tongue chewing (dogs)
- Foaming at the mouth
- Paddling motions with their legs
- Uncontrollable peeing or pooping
- Loss of consciousness
Before a seizure, some cats and dogs, seeming to know, may appear nervous and restless and whine, shake, or drool. Afterward, your animal may be disoriented, wobbly, or temporarily blind. They may walk in circles and bump into things. They might have a lot of drool on their chin.
Veterinarians divide seizures into several types for cats and dogs, including:
- Generalized Seizures is the most common kind, also called a grand mal seizure. It’s caused by abnormal electrical activity throughout the brain. Your animal can lose consciousness and convulse. Generalized seizures usually last from a few seconds to a few minutes.
- With a Focal Seizure, the abnormal electrical activity happens in only part of the brain. Focal seizures can cause unusual movements in one limb or one side of the body. Sometimes they last only a couple of seconds. Seizures may start as focal and then become generalized.
- Psychomotor Seizures involve strange behavior that only lasts a couple of minutes. Your animal may suddenly start attacking an imaginary object or chasing their tail.
- With Idiopathic Epilepsy, sometimes also called temporal lobe seizures, they usually occur between 6 months and 6 years of age. For dogs, although any dog can have a seizure, idiopathic epilepsy is more common in border collies, Australian shepherds, Labrador retrievers, beagles, Belgian Tervurens, collies, and German shepherds.
If your animal has a seizure, here are some suggestions of what you should do:
Try to stay calm. If your animal is near something that could hurt them, like a piece of furniture or the stairs, slide them away by gently pulling on a hind leg. You could also place a blanket or towel around them and use that to slide them.
Stay away from your animals’s mouth and head because they could bite you. Don’t put anything in their mouth. If you can, time it. You might also ask someone to video the seizure to show to your vet.
If the seizure lasts more than a couple of minutes, your animal is at a risk of overheating. Turn a fan on your cat or dog and put cold water on their paws to cool them down.
Talk to your animal softly to reassure them. Avoid touching them. They may unknowingly bite. Call your vet when the seizure ends.
After your animal has a seizure, your vet will do a thorough physical exam. They’ll ask you about your pet’s health, including whether your pet was injured recently or ate or drank anything unusual. They may do blood and pee tests and possibly do an EKG to look for problems with their heart, liver, kidney, blood sugar, or electrolyte levels.
In some cases, your pet may have diagnostic imaging like a CT scan or MRI to help detect brain lesions. Or the vet could take a sample of the fluid surrounding your dog or cat’s brain and spinal cord to look for any abnormalities.
If your doctor finds that a toxic substance or other medical condition caused the seizure, they’ll treat your animal for that substance. If your pet has idiopathic epilepsy, your vet may prescribe medicines to control the seizures.
If your animal only has seizures once in a while and they’re not serious, they may not need any treatment. Your pet may need anti-seizure medications if they:
- Have more than one seizure a month (like Tasha did)
- Have very violent seizures
- Have seizures that last 5 minutes or longer
- Levetiracetam
- Phenobarbital
- Potassium bromide (K-BroVet)
- Zonisamide (Zonegran)
Seizures look different in various breeds. Your pet might freeze and stare into space for a moment or bark or meow repeatedly for no reason. They may drool, make paddling motions with their legs, or foam at the mouth. Or they may have full body muscle tremors (as with Tasha) and lose consciousness.
