Watching your dog’s body jerking and suffering from seizure is such a traumatizing experience. This is even more terrifying if this is the first time that this has ever happened to your beloved dog.

You probably don’t know much yet about dog seizures so here are some of the things that you might want to know in case this happens to your dog.

A seizure happens when the cerebral cortex of the brain suffers from an abnormality. Genetic irregularities, brain tumors, and trauma are among the many possible causes of seizure.

You may notice some of the following symptoms while your dog is having seizure:

  • Changes in his consciousness level or becoming totally unconscious.
  • Muscle tone alterations such as stiffening legs and neck.
  • Jerking of the muscles and/or paddling of the legs.
  • Involuntary facial muscle movement resulting to twitching eyelids or violent closing and/or opening of the mouth.
  • Loss of bodily function’s control, making your dog excessively drool, urinate, or even defecate.

There are times when a dog recognizes that he’s soon to have a seizure. This is known as prodromal period. During this time, there may have some recognizable changes in your dog’s behavior that may serve as a warning to an impending seizure. The most noticeable change is seeing him act nervous and/or restless. He may even seek his owner’s attention or withdraw and just hide.

The final phase of the seizure is what you call post-ictal period. At this stage, most likely he’ll lay motionless for a certain amount of time. He may still be disoriented and, therefore, bump into things as he runs around the house. There are also dogs that get excessively famished and devour any food provided to him.

Although it’s very rare for them to be aggressive at this stage, it’s still important to be prepared, especially if you have a large dog and there are children around. The recovery may take a few hours, depending on your dog.

Here are the different types of dog seizures:

Generalized seizure

This is the most common type of seizure. It involves the entire cerebral cortex and is also known as “grand mal” seizure type.

Loss of consciousness, jerking, and muscle stiffness may be observed in this type of seizure. Although there can be many other causes, generalized seizure is usually observed in idiopathic epilepsy. The cause of seizure in this one is unknown.

Partial or focal seizure

This type of seizure starts in a localized part of the dog’s brain. You may notice your dog abnormally barking, howling, licking, chewing, jaw snapping, or being aggressive. Specific areas of the body may also twitch, body parts like one leg may become stiff, or sometimes your dog’s head may involuntarily turn.

Mixed seizure

This type of seizure may start as partial or focal seizure. Eventually, this becomes generalized.

Please note that, if you notice any abnormal behavior or medical condition on you precious little dog, it’s still best to consult your veterinarian and have your dog checked.

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