Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

Joyce Whitehead — Sat, 07 Nov 2015 09:48:56 GMT

Thanks for the update, what an interesting case.

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

Anthony Dennison — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 15:33:16 GMT

Just an update on this case, as it turned out to be quite interesting. Dog was continued on phenobarbitone, but kept having small breakout seizures, usually 1-2 a week. She then progressed to occasional bouts of fly-catching and stupor.

Referred for a possible shunt search, but ammonia levels were once again normal. MRI showed corpus callosal hypoplasia with mild holoprosencephaly. MRI image is below - not a normal brain!

Dog is being switched on to Pexion by the referral neurologist due to the fact serum levels don't need checking as the dog grows, with a view to just monitor how the dog gets on, keeping the Pexion dose at 20mg/kg as the dog grows.

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

Anthony Dennison — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 16:21:30 GMT

Sorry, I'm afraid I've been distracted with life a little bit!

After discussion with a local referral centre, she was started on phenobarbitone, with a view to recheck bloods in a month and then slowly wean her off the meds after around 6 months. She was fine for her 2nd vacc, normal puppy. No further siezures at home. Weird, just weird! I'm seeing her back at 16wks of age for her parvo jab, so we'll recheck then.

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

janine redman — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 23:38:45 GMT

How was this case resolved?

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

Anthony Dennison — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 09:55:55 GMT

[quote user="Anthony Todd"]What no bloods, taps, tests etc.? Would shunts etc. get better with phenobarb?[/quote]

[quote user="Anthony Dennison"] Bloods show HCT of 30%, leukocytosis (20) and neutrophilia (16), doesn't look like a stress leukogram. NAD on biochem.[/quote]

Bloods were taken. Glucose was normal. Ammonia normal after a meal. BAST normal. Only abnormality was a persisten leukocytosis with a neutrophilia. No neck pain.

She was absolutely fine all Sunday and Sunday night, was discharged on Monday but was, according to the owner, screaming and runnign around the house, not settling, seemed in pain. She was re-admitted, but was fine with us. One small partial seizure monday night, but fine.

I saw her for her 1st vaccination earlier in the week, and clinical exam was unremarkable. She was wormed with milbemax so I don't think worm burden would be a cause.

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

Martin Atkinson — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 19:01:12 GMT

[quote user="Anthony Dennison"]She had a tendency to pick up leaves and flowers in the garden,[/quote]Might be worth considering if she has picked up weed in the house!

On a slightly more sensible note may be worth checking if they've given it pet shop flea/worm products and overdosed.

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

Virginia Campbell — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 19:00:13 GMT

Yes, a couple of years ago we were presented with a collie pup that had been sold out of a car boot at a horse fair and bought by a rescue group. It was all ribs and huge wormy belly and blocked. Took it to theatre and removed hordes of huge worms from the enterotomy incision- they were difficult to retrieve at first as they were so jammed in. many several inches long. The pup did well for the first few hours after surgery- we made sure body temp and blood glucose were checked regularly- but fitted and died that evening. We wondered if the sheer volume of the worm burden could have caused a larval migrans to the brain, not sure if it's possible for the laws of intermediate/definitive host to be overriden like this though. Can't remember if we checked electrolyte balance though, we didn't go mad with IVFT though but I suppose if it was severely deranged to start it could have been hyponatremic or something. I think the welfare group and animal welfare officer did secure a conviction against the vendor which was the only consolation. We were going to call him Noodle had he lived.

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

Catriona MacIntyre — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 17:16:10 GMT

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]

Do some of you people still see these enormous worm burdens, hundreds of the big fat b*****ds completely blocking the intestine?

[/quote]

It's probably 13 years ago now Evelyn, but I took a 5week old Collie pup home with me one night for hospitalisation. It screamed horrifically all night, and at 5 am (no idea why, sleep deprivation probably) I gave it a quarter of a piperazine tablet. By 8am it had pooped out an entire Pot Noodle! So... not an complete blockage but must have been very very close.

The volume of worms appeared to be about half that of the pup. Even as an experience vet I had no idea you could fit quite so many roundworms into such a small animal I kept them to horrify the owner into worming the rest of the litter :)

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

Anthony Todd — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 16:18:44 GMT

[quote user="Anthony Dennison"]Come the evening she was back to her normal self and seemed fine [/quote]

What no bloods, taps, tests etc.? Would shunts etc. get better with phenobarb?

Mind you a blood glucose sounds as if it might have been worth it??

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 16:11:41 GMT

[quote user="Bob Russell"]Is it an old wives tale that high roundworm burdens can trigger seizures?[/quote]

I think so. But the appalling convulsions of pain that a young puppy can go into with a heavy worm burden will look pretty much like seizures.

Do some of you people still see these enormous worm burdens, hundreds of the big fat b*****ds completely blocking the intestine?

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

Bob Russell — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 14:17:49 GMT

Is it an old wives tale that high roundworm burdens can trigger seizures?

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

Michael Woodhouse — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 14:14:56 GMT

You are in Scotland Gerry, you need your clinical justification.......

;)

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

Gerry Henry — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 13:59:30 GMT

I just dock the tail and dab the stump onto a glucose strip ..... joking

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

Michael Woodhouse — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 13:24:32 GMT

In puppies I just cut a claw short to check glucose.

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

Gerry Henry — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 13:22:34 GMT

We had a litter of fitting pups a while ago; long story short we checked the blood glucose which was tending to zero; been feeding a 'special' diet (woooo), only available from breeder, etc etc etc. Turned out 'special' diet was completely lacking in carbs or sugars. So, always check the blood glucose - or at least enquire about the diet.

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

Anthony Dennison — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 08:57:30 GMT

It wasn't typical for distemper either - sudden onset, no respiratory/GI signs previous.

I had a suspected distemper case abut 4 or 5 months ago. PCR was positive but then I did a serology which came back negative! Dog had it's 6 month health check this week and hasn't looked back, really healthy!

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

Silvia Maldonado — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 02:45:13 GMT

Thankfully it doesn't sound like distemper now. Most dogs, if they survive, have a long term neuronal damage (jaw twitching is very common)

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

Anthony Dennison — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 09:18:07 GMT

Well, after the phenobarb was given in the morning she slept all day. Every time she was checked she reacted like you would expect a puppy in a deep sleep to react.

Come the evening she was back to her normal self and seemed fine - no further seizure episodes and has been chewing her drip out. She had a tendency to pick up leaves and flowers in the garden, whether there was some sort of toxin.

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

Noweia — Sun, 16 Aug 2015 15:11:50 GMT

Had one dog with vaccine strain of distemper, chomping of jaws was one of the first signs noted by owner. Diarrhoea started maybe a week after the vacc and neuro signs about 12 weeks afterwards. Probably not the cause here but worth considering?

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

Michael Woodhouse — Sun, 16 Aug 2015 15:02:53 GMT

Hospital labs will often measure ammonia if asked nicely.

RE: Seizures in a 10 week old puppy

Catriona MacIntyre — Sun, 16 Aug 2015 12:41:02 GMT

Bile Acid Stimulation Test (or blood ammonia, but that's not easy unless you can do it on site).

Probably not the case, but I'd like to rule out portosystemic shunt in a puppy that age I think