The vet called with the results of the bloodwork. Everything looked normal except for an slight elevation regarding the dog’s pancreas. However, Pancreatitis would not cause a seizure. It would cause vomiting and diarrhea. So the vet said to watch for that. As I said yesterday he threw up right before the seizure, and he occasionally has diarrhea, but it’s always back to normal quickly. So I’m not sure about this. Reed definitely is not overweight, and he doesn’t eat a ton of fat, so I’m not sure what may have caused this. We’re going to check it again later after fasting him before the blood test.
They will not have the tick-panel results until Monday.
Must be a horrible situation to be going through. My two dogs, Weimaraners, are my life.
Now, to preface what I’m about to say, I am a human doctor, not an animal doctor…however…in terms of seizures, make sure your vet rules out all metabolic causes before they move to organic neurological causes. This is for many reasons, namely that they are the most common cause of sudden onset seizures (in humans, not sure about dogs), they are relatively easy to treat, and you won’t spend the money associated with neurology.
You may be surprised to learn pancreatitis can in fact cause seizures. The pancreas is an endocrine organ, producing insulin and glucagon, the blood sugar controlling hormones. This can cause mild hyperglycemia, capable of producing seizures.
In my experience, always check thyroid and blood sugar first!
Wish you the best!
By: Optimum Integrative on February 24, 2011
at 4:02 pm
Thanks for the comment. I will call the vet and ask her more about the pancreatic enzyme. I got the impression from her that it was not very high, so it was not likely to be causing problems. But I will double check with her and research this. If they don’t find anything with the tick panel and she says the pancreas is definitely not what caused the seizure, we are not going to investigate any further unless it happens again, and often. From my limited research with canine seizures, it seems like most of the time they just diagnose idiopathic epilepsy and leave it at that. In dogs, seizures do not cause as many side effects like they do in humans (like stroke, etc.) So they often don’t even medicate unless it’s severe.
Thanks again for your input.
By: Jessica on February 25, 2011
at 7:15 am
Also – how would seizures not be sudden onset? Do you mean they would have smaller less severe seizures before a large one in order to not be sudden onset? I would think something like this is always sudden… there is no/little warning.
By: Jessica on February 25, 2011
at 7:16 am
I can see your confusion, ‘sudden onset’ is not the best terminology to have used. Most epileptics are diagnosed early in life because they have a sudden seizure, due to a brain abnormality. When I said sudden onset I meant that it occurred in an individual who does not fit a typical seizure profile. It was seemingly out of nowhere without provocation.
Nonetheless, I wish both you and Reed the best!
By: Optimum Integrative on February 25, 2011
at 8:21 am
Thanks
By: Jessica on February 25, 2011
at 8:54 am
Talked to the vet again, she does not think he has pancreatitis because he has no other symptoms.
By: Jessica on February 26, 2011
at 2:39 pm