Shelite Panting & Trembling 12yrs old

garyp609

Hello,
My 12 Year old Sheltie is acting very strange the past few months. About every week or two almost like clockwork he has an incident. The incident begins with either a pee or poop in the house and then he begins to tremble and shake for about an hour. Last night after taking him out before bed just a couple hours later he took a pee in the hallway and came over to the bed panting and shaking. I took him out instantly and he had a very loose stool. I took him to the vet when this started months ago and the vet said he had collitis. I switched his food to Venison and just recently am mixing Duck with the Venison to see if it changes anything. Blood work was done by the vet and all was ok. The vet took x-rays and said everything looked ok in the hind quarters. After these incidents he acts like a puppy just a couple hours later like nothing happened. He runs and jumps and barks like normal. The incidents repeat exactly the same every week or two. If anyone has any suggestions I would super appreciate a reply.

Tess

This is very interesting indeed. I think you are right to want to track this down further. I would interpret his coming to you at these times as him saying "I don't feel right... please help me!" The shaking is a significant symptom of something. The question is what is it. Dogs will shake when they hurt, as in if they have an upset gut, or for other reasons of pain. The fact these episodes end so quickly makes it seem like its not painful hips or back etc. If these episodes are accompanied by house soiling accidents it does point to something wrong with the digestion. But I don't think that is the only possibility. For example, its possible he's having some sort of mild seizure. Loss of bowel control is often part of a seizure. Does he seem less aware of his surroundings or less able to focus on how you interact with him?

If I were in your shoes, I would keep very careful control over what he eats, making sure he gets no treats or table scraps, just to eliminate any variables that this is caused by stomach problems. Then I would keep a detailed diary of what you feed him, how much, what time of day, and anything worth noting about his potty habits. Also keep track of anything unusual that happens in his routine. You could do this for several weeks and see if you can figure out any factor associated with these episodes.

Also, I would seek a second opinion from a veterinary specialist. Which specialist is the question. If this is digestive, you want an internal medicine doc, but if this is something like seizures, you want a neurologist. In any case, gather as much data as you can so you can help your veterinarian(s) to figure out what is going on. I think you are right to be concerned. Following up aggressively to seek the true cause is the way to go.

mindy10

Hi first of all how does she know its colitis? She would have to take some tests to diagnose that. I don't think blood work can diagnose it. Was he checked for a urinary track infection? Usually when they pant and shake they are in pain or they are anxious. I would think it would be some kind of upset stomach whereas he seems to be ok after he has a bowel movement. Hopefully you can figure it out soon. Mindy

pawzaddict

It sounds like it could be a type of seizure episode. Urinated and defecating during these is common. Did your vet say anything about it being seizures?

mindy10

People keep saying seizures but I had a dog with seizures. Thats not what it sounds like. WIth seizures the dog colapse on the ground and shakes like a jerking motion and then they can poop and urinate after the seizure not before. Mindy

pawzaddict

There are more than 1 type of seizure My dog had the beginning signs of seizures where he would tremble and try to hide. A dog that used to come into my old work would just stand there salivating and sometimes would pee during it, not after it. Just because the dog comes up to the owner after it goes inside trembling does not mean that it started after it went.

Anywho, to the OP, if your vet did not bring up seizures I would ask them what they think of that.

kmes

Ditto paws! There are more different types of seizures.
Grand mal or generalized seizures are when the entire dog's body convulses, and is what people think of when they hear the word "seizure".
Petite mal/focal/partial seizues are much different. In this type of seizure only part of the brain is affected, which can result in some very strange behavior.

Personally I have experienced both types of seizures, and it does sounds as if seizure activity should be considered as an explaination.
This is a great site with everything you could want to know about canine epilepsy.
Canine Epilepsy and Dog Seizures Table of Contents - Canine Epilepsy Guardian Angels
Please check out the articles on the different types of seizures, in particular "Partial or Focal Seizures (Petie Mal)."

I highly recommend that you begin a journal for your dog. Record anything out of the norm on a day to day basis. When he does have an episode record everything.
Date, time, symptoms, length of episode, strange behavior earlier in the day, behavior afterwards, weather, and anything else that you can think of!
You may even want to try and record it with a cam corder so that your vet can actually see what is happening.
Last thing! If you do not see any improvement or find any answers, you may want to get a second opinion and possibly seek out the help of a specialist.

Tess

Ditto Pawz and Kmes... there are several types of seizures. The full grand mal seizure you have seen before is not the only type.

One symptom of seizures is the animal feeling anxious before the seizure occurs. That anxiety can lead the dog to go to you for comfort. Another symptom is everything being totally normal once the episode passes. Your dog's symptoms do align with this type of seizure, so I would definitely pursue that line of inquiry aggressively.

I would also second the idea of taking video of the behaviors/event. A vet will be able to recognize what is going on by a video so much better than just by a description. There really is no substitute for seeing it.

garyp609

The vet did mention seizures but I have witnessed the pee and he seems to be just walking around from place to place then pees and starts the tremble and panting. It starts with just shaking for about 5 minutes then he starts panting heavily for about 20 minutes then about 10 minutes later he stops panting then within 10 more minutes stop shaking then he snaps out of it. He does seem a little clumsy after the episode. As far as the colitis goes the vet diagnosed that because he had blood in his stool and was straining when pooping. The vet recommended a change of food so we went to venison and rice. I am going to take him back to the vet. When he has the episode I took him right away to the vet and by the time I got there he was acting normally. I want to help him but don't want to rush him to the vet every week during the episode.

Tess

It sounds like he is anxious as he paces about. Anxiety often precedes a seizure. Urinating can also happen due to anxiety. Panting and shaking, then snapping out of it totally, again the more you describe it, the more closely this aligns with seizures. Clumsy behavior is very much a neurologic symptom as well.

I would make it a goal to video record a full "event" then bring the recording to a veterinary neurologist (or your vet first). This does not seem like colitis, although he may have (or had) colitis also. But what you describe are not symptoms of colitis really. Having a loose stool after/during one of these events might not be about colitis at all, but simply be because dogs have loose stools if they have been anxious or upset.

There are several reasons a dog at his age can be having seizures.