Pit bull having tremors

pawzaddict · 03-18-2010, 11:44 PM

Glacier will be 1 in May. Today he suddenly started having shaking/tremor spells. It seemed like he was cold, but it was 77 in our house. He then started to pant heavily and it was almost as if he was trying to swallow air. As soon as our vet opened we took him in, you would never know something was wrong with him. Vet said his temp was perfect and his heart sounded great. She looked at his pupils and said they reacted perfect to the light as well. She also said he has no signs of pain in his abdomen and she felt nothing in it.

We took him home, she suggested benedryl in case he was bitten by something and it caused an allergic reaction. As soon as we got him home he acted excited to see the other dogs and within minutes his panting (less extreme tho) and shaking started again.

Spoke with the vet recently. She said it cant be neurological because he wouldn't have been able to overcome it the way he did at the vets office but to watch him overnight and if it continues tomorrow to bring him in...

So finally my question!
Any ideas?! Hypoglycemia? He did eat his dinner tonight like normal, has had no vomiting. Any other ideas? I am focusing strictly on him having tremors since his panting has ceased, and he is definitely not acting like himself, kind of lethargic until we get up and move then he is following us around everywhere.

MySoulmateEmmy · 03-19-2010, 03:34 PM

could be seizure activity, i know it doesn't LOOK like he is having a seizure, but I knew a pit bull at the vets office I worked at who sounded like your dog and he had to be put on first phenobarbital then was switched to potassium bromide to keep seizure activity under control.

~MSE

Mikey · 03-19-2010, 03:55 PM

Your vet should be running tests not guessing. Suggestion: try another vet. Seriously-it could be anything and just saying neurological and keeping you guessing is soooooo not good. Did the vet say what you should do when it happens? What to watch for? To keep track of them (duration, time of etc etc) for investigating?
If the vet says 'neurological' and wiped his/her hands like they were all done and nothing to worry about-find another vet-seriously now-this could be serious and to boot there could definitely be some interventions in place.

Keep us posted!!

pawzaddict · 03-19-2010, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MySoulmateEmmy

could be seizure activity, i know it doesn't LOOK like he is having a seizure, but I knew a pit bull at the vets office I worked at who sounded like your dog and he had to be put on first phenobarbital then was switched to potassium bromide to keep seizure activity under control.

~MSE

Ah, yes I was thinking this as well. He has overcome every problem and is 100% today. If it happens again the vet will be running blood work. I dont remember if seizure activity shows up on bloodwork, so if blood work comes back clean (if it happens again) I am sure that will be the next thing to treat/rule out. Also, I thought their eyes would react funny if they have strokes/seizures...is this a false statement? TY

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikey

Your vet should be running tests not guessing. Suggestion: try another vet. Seriously-it could be anything and just saying neurological and keeping you guessing is soooooo not good. Did the vet say what you should do when it happens? What to watch for? To keep track of them (duration, time of etc etc) for investigating?
If the vet says 'neurological' and wiped his/her hands like they were all done and nothing to worry about-find another vet-seriously now-this could be serious and to boot there could definitely be some interventions in place.

Keep us posted!!

Sorry I probably made it sound like she had no idea what to do. She suggested watching him overnight because of the complete 180 turn about in his behavior the second we got to the vets office. He was fine until we got home. She told us to bring him back in today if he was still acting funny or still trembling, which luckily he is not. She said if this occurs ever again that blood work will be needed for sure, but feels something may have happened that spooked him.

She said it was NOT neurological

once she saw him acting perfectly normal in the office and after checking his eyes.

**fawkese1** · 03-19-2010, 11:59 PM

hi pawz!

i'm sorry to hear about glacier... i wish that i had an answer of some sort for you... the only think i could think of was some sort of low level seizure as MSE said...
i think tracking when it occurs, just in case you can identify some pattern is a good idea tho...

welcome back

Mikey · 03-20-2010, 04:14 AM

Quote:

Sorry I probably made it sound like she had no idea what to do. She suggested watching him overnight because of the complete 180 turn about in his behavior the second we got to the vets office. He was fine until we got home. She told us to bring him back in today if he was still acting funny or still trembling, which luckily he is not. She said if this occurs ever again that blood work will be needed for sure, but feels something may have happened that spooked him.

No biggie-sounded like your vet left you stranded there

so what does the vet think it is? What tests have the vet run?

MySoulmateEmmy · 03-20-2010, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Ah, yes I was thinking this as well. He has overcome every problem and is 100% today. If it happens again the vet will be running blood work. I dont remember if seizure activity shows up on bloodwork, so if blood work comes back clean (if it happens again) I am sure that will be the next thing to treat/rule out. Also, I thought their eyes would react funny if they have strokes/seizures...is this a false statement? TY

Your vet would have to run a separate blood test to test to test for seizure levels.

And if he is showing results of it, and your vet puts you on meds. until you get a accurate dose, you would test levels again and again. then just occasionally test to make sure you are on an accurate maintenence level. also, some dogs cope fine with seizures on a med. the vet might sell called DMG tablets (which also helps benefit other immune responses and even hypoglycemia).

Occasionally after a seizure they might be wobbly, groggy or lethargic and it is reccomended to keep them away from stairs for a bit cus their balance might be off or slightly blurry, vision, I would think kinda like if you spun around really fast, you are dizzy and can't see quite right. A lot of times, they are aware of people and other things during and episode, so we would always reccomend to clients to pet/reassure the animal during an episode.

But the 1st thing to do of course is find out EXACTLY what is causing the tremors :P

I hope the tremors, were just a one time thing, but if not, I hope you find out whats going on. Good luck!

~MSE

**Criosphynx** · 03-20-2010, 03:39 PM

Hi pawz

My first thought was seizures as well.

pawzaddict · 03-20-2010, 08:40 PM

Ty for the welcome backs and the responses. We did some research and think it is possibly seizures, found a website that talks about 3 different components...the Aura stage describe a lot of what happened, but he has not falling into a full out seizure episode so fingers crossed it doesnt happen. he occasionally falls into this weird stage so next step is calling the vet Monday and having blood work ran. Going to do a full panel and anything to test for seizures to rule out everything possible and hopefully find our answer.

Mikey · 03-21-2010, 07:09 AM

Keep us posted!