Epilepsy, at what age does it usually start?

meoklmrk91

Hi all,

Just wanted to get a bit of feed back from anyone who knows anything about epilepsy. I have a Boxer who will be two at the end of the September, a couple of things are sticking in my mind which I will be mentioning to the vet at his yearly check up but there isn't anything that points directly to it, just a couple of niggling things.

He has always been very sensitive to smoke, hates it and acts really wierd when he is around it, I no longer allow anyone to smoke cigarettes around him as he gets very uneasy, he paces and then his body tenses, he stretches his neck out as far as it will go and he breathes weirdly, one night I was having a smoke when he was in and he just sort of fell over, he got back up in the space of a seconds and was fine but he had peed a little, I rang the vet emergency service and he told me to monitor him and if it happened again to bring him in, but it only seems to happen when there is smoke around. It isn't just cigarette smoke, smoke from a chimney when we are out walking will also do the same thing but to a much lesser effect.

The other night he was snoozing in his bed, and all of a sudden he literally just lept up off the bed as though he was after getting a serious fright like somebody had hit him or something and he behaved quite strange afterwards.

Am I being overly paranoid here, I have mentioned the smoke thing to a couple of vets, my own a visit and they seemed to just shrug it off, another said they would have like to have gotten blood tests to see what the liver function was like right after the "fit", which is what I think it was but my vet doesn't seem to be very worried about it as it only happened once I am sure it would happen again if allowed people to smoke around him though!

Any ideas guys?

seamus

There's not really any usual age for seizures to start. It can be a common sign of an aging dog (older than 6 or 7 in the case of your boxer), but some dogs are prone to seizures all their life.

Hard to say what's happening in the case of your boxer. It may not be seizures, it could simply be a nervious reaction to smoke - some result of an early experience with smoke or fire. A dog doesn't always do the typical thing when they nervous; some dogs may freeze or collapse in abject terror and wetting themselves is also possible.

But on the other hand it may be a seizure of sorts, either way I would recommend getting it checked out. My suspicion is that since you've identified a very specific trigger factor then it's less likely to be epilepsy, but I could be wrong about that.

The second incident I would be less inclined to worry about. Dogs dream just like we do and sometimes an intense dream will fire the dog out of their bed, running around the place barking or otherwise acting very strange while they try to figure out what the hell just happened.

Irishchick

Fitting in a dog under the age of 3 is common sign of epilepsy however the fits would be fairly regular. The most recent one I have seen was a 3 yr old Bichon that was fitting every couple of hours.

It may still be epilepsy - that is triggered by smoke inhalation. If your dog continues to fit I would re visit a vet but if not the only solution would be to keep him away from smoke.

Monitor him over the next week or so and record any fits he has and how long they last. See if smoke is present at those times. If not then go back to the vet.

To answer your original question, contrary to opinion epilepsy is a condition of young dogs usually seen in dogs that are 3 or under. Fitting in an older dog is usually a sign of something more sinister such as a tumor on the brain or some form of brain damage.

meoklmrk91

Irishchick wrote: »

Fitting in a dog under the age of 3 is common sign of epilepsy however the fits would be fairly regular. The most recent one I have seen was a 3 yr old Bichon that was fitting every couple of hours.

It may still be epilepsy - that is triggered by smoke inhalation. If your dog continues to fit I would re visit a vet but if not the only solution would be to keep him away from smoke.

Monitor him over the next week or so and record any fits he has and how long they last. See if smoke is present at those times. If not then go back to the vet.

To answer your original question, contrary to opinion epilepsy is a condition of young dogs usually seen in dogs that are 3 or under. Fitting in an older dog is usually a sign of something more sinister such as a tumor on the brain or some form of brain damage.

The one and only fit he had was last year since then he has not been around smoke, especially people smoking but also if we gave just lit the fire, I also try to walk him at times when most people wouldn't have their fires lighting but this can be difficult. He hasn't had a fit since.

suziwalsh

My dog had his first seizure at about 1 year old but another dog I had in training was as young as 6 months.