# Possible Seizures



## Larry Krohn (Nov 18, 2010)

For the past few months my mal has shown what looks like possible seizures after bitework. He gets very distressed and legs get wobbly and arches his back shaking. Looks like he doesn't know where he is. First time it happened he slipped off of a bite pretty hard. I thought he hurt himself but now I think that could have been a seizure. Just had another one and it only lasts a minute or two. Had his hips and back legs xrayed but showed no injury. Anyone experience this?


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Larry Krohn said:


> Anyone experience this?


Not after bite work, but yes.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

I had a terrier/Poodle mix that would start to walk around stiff legged like an old dog and looked like he was staring into nothing. This only lasted a few mins but he would be very nervous for the next few hours. 

It was usually a stressful situation that brought this on.


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## Larry Krohn (Nov 18, 2010)

Bob Scott said:


> I had a terrier/Poodle mix that would start to walk around stiff legged like an old dog and looked like he was staring into nothing. This only lasted a few mins but he would be very nervous for the next few hours.
> 
> It was usually a stressful situation that brought this on.


That's exactly how my mal gets Bob


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## Rob Kringel (Aug 2, 2011)

Larry Krohn said:


> For the past few months my mal has shown what looks like possible seizures after bitework. He gets very distressed and legs get wobbly and arches his back shaking. Looks like he doesn't know where he is. First time it happened he slipped off of a bite pretty hard. I thought he hurt himself but now I think that could have been a seizure. Just had another one and it only lasts a minute or two. Had his hips and back legs xrayed but showed no injury. Anyone experience this?


 Yes. I have a female GSD that will have seizures when she gets worked up. I had a long conversation with a vet about this. This vet told me that she used to work with military K9s and she said bite work caused seizures in some dogs. With research they found that the dogs temperature would drastically spike during bite work and then come right down after bite work. She siad that most dogs can handle it but not all. Some dogs would have seizures because of the extreme temperature spikes. My own female GSD never had seizures during bite work until after she became ill with a high temperature that caused bad seizures. After that she started having seizures during bitework and I had to retire her for her her own safety.


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## Dave Colborn (Mar 25, 2009)

I had an old pet that would seize up when excited. She lived to 16-17 with seizures for the last 2-3 years. Old boxer is doing it a little but has thyroid issues now.


I have been around a couple with seizures.during and after bitework. I cant remember specifics but will see what i can remember or run down.


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## Kadi Thingvall (Jan 22, 2007)

Larry Krohn said:


> For the past few months my mal has shown what looks like possible seizures after bitework. He gets very distressed and legs get wobbly and arches his back shaking. Looks like he doesn't know where he is. First time it happened he slipped off of a bite pretty hard. I thought he hurt himself but now I think that could have been a seizure. Just had another one and it only lasts a minute or two. Had his hips and back legs xrayed but showed no injury. Anyone experience this?


Except for the "looks like he doesn't know where he is" part, I had a dog that did this years ago. Turned out to be low potassium, he was having a "Charlie horse" in his back. Would arch his back, walk around funny, and shake from the pain of the muscle cramps. Started giving him some potassium (bananas) on a regular basis and the issue went away. 

But he was always aware of where he was and what was going on around him. That mental check out sounds like a seizure of some sort.


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## Larry Krohn (Nov 18, 2010)

Kadi Thingvall said:


> Except for the "looks like he doesn't know where he is" part, I had a dog that did this years ago. Turned out to be low potassium, he was having a "Charlie horse" in his back. Would arch his back, walk around funny, and shake from the pain of the muscle cramps. Started giving him some potassium (bananas) on a regular basis and the issue went away.
> 
> But he was always aware of where he was and what was going on around him. That mental check out sounds like a seizure of some sort.


Wow thanks Kadi. That is definitely a possibility. Sounds very similar. Ill try some bananas


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## Larry Krohn (Nov 18, 2010)

Rob Kringel said:


> Yes. I have a female GSD that will have seizures when she gets worked up. I had a long conversation with a vet about this. This vet told me that she used to work with military K9s and she said bite work caused seizures in some dogs. With research they found that the dogs temperature would drastically spike during bite work and then come right down after bite work. She siad that most dogs can handle it but not all. Some dogs would have seizures because of the extreme temperature spikes. My own female GSD never had seizures during bite work until after she became ill with a high temperature that caused bad seizures. After that she started having seizures during bitework and I had to retire her for her her own safety.


Thanks Rob, I will be looking into all of this


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## Larry Krohn (Nov 18, 2010)

It's been a long time since this post but after another incident it looks like it is Exertional Rhabdomyolysis


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Larry Krohn said:


> It's been a long time since this post but after another incident it looks like it is Exertional Rhabdomyolysis



Explanation please Larry.

Treatable? Controllable?


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

Larry
- sorry to read this....doesn't sound good
- did you get well documented vids ?
- was the behavior confirmed as seizures ?

would also like to hear specifics. never heard of it in canines
- was this diagnosed because of symptoms showing relative to seasonal changes ?

what kind of workups ?
what kind of vet (GP, Diplomate?)
what is your treatment protocol gonna be ?


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## Larry Krohn (Nov 18, 2010)

I video taped it several months ago. Normally it goes away after a few minutes. It happened again Monday night but after just doing positional stuff, sit stand down look touch place with a ball placed on the ground as an indirect reward. Very mild stuff not physically demanding. He gets pretty intense no matter what we do so that doesn't help. When it happened this time it was not as intense, fairly mild, but did not go away. He is still a little messed up and it can kill him. Most common in horses and greyhounds but in some working dogs also. Waiting on all the blood work to come back to see if there is any damage. Have to just watch him and rest him now. Running hard does not cause it because the body gets the blood flowing which is needed. It's the less strenuous work that actually causes the problem. I'll keep you all posted. It's not common so most vets don't see it. It's why I'm updating. Just in case someone else sees this issue and thinks it's a seizure.


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Larry that sounds serious. That being the case, what are your options for him now? I mean, do you need to lay off working with him and let him be in a more natural drive state? I've seen him work, he's impressive and definitely seems to gravitate towards working in hyperdrive, which is why I asked. I wasn't sure where one goes from here.

You mentioned you videoed it. Since it's often missed and not seizures maybe you'd be inclined to start a fresh post on this with the video of the experience. I'd swear someone else described something like this about 5-6 years ago but did not have an answer for what was going on. I have a feeling it might be a little more common especially because it's easy for people to write off weird behavior in high drive dogs as a byproduct of that.


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## Larry Krohn (Nov 18, 2010)

Nicole Stark said:


> Larry that sounds serious. That being the case, what are your options for him now? I mean, do you need to lay off working with him and let him be in a more natural drive state? I've seen him work, he's impressive and definitely seems to gravitate towards working in hyperdrive, which is why I asked. I wasn't sure where one goes from here.
> 
> You mentioned you videoed it. Since it's often missed and not seizures maybe you'd be inclined to start a fresh post on this with the video of the experience. I'd swear someone else described something like this about 5-6 years ago but did not have an answer for what was going on. I have a feeling it might be a little more common especially because it's easy for people to write off weird behavior in high drive dogs as a byproduct of that.


I will post it Nicole. Not sure what the outcome will be. I am lucky I did not lose him.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Fingers, eyes and toes crossed Larry.

Hang in there!


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