Worried about Merrick

[Zatara and Merrick's Mom]

Worried about Merrick - UPDATE (NOT GOOD NEWS)

This evening I awoke to a pounding sound and thought someone might be knocking on the door. As soon as I was alert enough to realize what woke me up, the sound stopped, so I'm not exactly sure what I heard. The hubby went downstairs to investigate and he found Merrick lying down on the kitchen floor (which is where he always sleeps at night) and it seemed that Merrick could not get up. Furthermore, Merrick's face and chest were covered in a foaming, viscuous drool. He called me downstairs and by the time I got downstairs, Merrick was standing up and jumping around like normal.

There were signs of the drool smeared around the kitchen floor. And there was a strong, sharp, metallic odor in the air. This is an odor we realized we have smelled before and have been stumped as to its origin.

The hubby thinks Merrick may have had an epileptic seizure -- that might explain the thumping sound that we heard and be consistent with the excessive drooling. Because of the familiarity of the unusual odor, we are wondering if this has happened before and we just didn't realize it.

I was worried about bloat and had him lie on his back so I could feel his tummy area -- it seemed soft and pliable. He seemed completely normal by then and drank some water.

I called the emergency vet and they seemed to think this was something to report to the vet in the morning but that it wasn't necessarily an emergency.

I will call the vet in the morning for sure (and will contact his breeder too), but I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions/advice. I am worried about my baby.

 

[Charlie'sMom]

I have never had a dog that has seizures, but my cat has frequent epileptic seizures. They are grand mal seizures, and are often associated with loss of bladder control, rhythmic movements, and drooling. These seizures are triggered by being startled out of sleep, and by exposure to cold. It can be treated with medication, however my cat refuses to take the medication (and by refuses I mean I have been shredded trying to get him to take it) so we live with the seizures. We do our best to limit his triggers (ie confinehis to a room alone at night, and he is never allowed outside). He is a happy and otherwise healthy cat though, and has had these seizures since he was a baby (he is now 3). Good luck though, and I hope this is a transient or one time thing for you.

 

[Jeannie]

Sounds to me like you might be right. Seizures can be controlled. If this is what he has PM me and I'll give you some contact info for people who had Newfs with seizures

 

[sarnewfie]

a good check up is in order, hopefully he can be controlled with meds as jeannie stated, some do not do well becouse they have grand mal seizures wich are much more severe. hopefully this is not the case for merrick.

 

[noblenewf]

So sorry Merrick has to be going through this! And you! I think you are right too...seizures. Did you figure out what the metallic smell was? Gabe has had that before when he's very nervous or was frightened about something and I think (not sure but I'm taking a guess) that it might be a release of anal gland contents. When he heard fireworks last July 4th he came running up to me on the deck and the odor was there...so I'm thinking when they get nervous or scared something happens with the glands. This is just my theory...I am by no means an expert! But...it's a very foul, strong, metallic odor like the one you described. Maybe if Merrick seized that is what happened. I know that seizures can definitely be treated. I have several friends that have Labs with seizure disorders and they all are on medication for it and doing well. Hope this helps and let us know what you find out!

 

[jane]

So sorry to hear about Merrick. My sister's bichon used to have seizures. He was on phenobarbital, did very well, and eventually was taken off it. So far he is seizure free. Keep us posted...

 

[Lisa@Caeles Hills]

Oh how scary! My cat had seizures and what you describe sounds probable. My cat also could not seem to move for up to 15 minutes after the seizure. My cat was 18 years when they started and they got so bad (about every 20 minutes) I had to put him to sleep but it sounds like meds would be able to help you. Poor sweet baby boy!

 

[Sailorgirl]

I think you might be onto something too. Although what's not adding up is that you said he was "standing up and jumping around like usual." Granted I only have experience with one epileptic dog (thank goodness) but he would be good and wobbly for half an hour or more after a seizure and would almost always lose his bladder. However, that may very well be an individual dog thing. You're doing the right thing by getting him to the vet. Good luck.

 

[charityd]

I'm so sorry to hear about Merrick. I will keep you guys in my thoughts. I hope you find some good guidance from your vet.

 

[Honey Bear]

Poor guy. I sure hope that he checks out fine. I am an eeg tech (brain waves.) With humans, after a grand mal seizure, they usually have a period of confusion and lethargy for a while after the episode. Not sure if it's the same for dogs though. Good luck with Merrick. Please let us know.

 

[lola]

Our prayers are going out for the poor boy, hopefully the diagnosis comes soon and the problem resolves or is treated quickly!

 

[ozzysma]

poor merrick!! please keep us updated!!

 

[Murphy]

That must have been very frightening. Hope everything turns out ok for your boy.

 

[Diana]

How scary for you all. No advice from here but I hope you get a some answers and solutions from your vet.

 

[Sue M.]

Hope he is alright!!

 

[Lori]

Hi, I know the sound well, I had a newf with epilepsy. She would have grand mal seizures. There are lots of medications to use, phenobarbital and potassium bromide are ones we used. Diet can play a big part now I've learned. There is a list just like newf-l just for epi-dogs, not saying Merrick is. Some dogs just have one seizure and never have another. Hopefully that will be the case. It's a hard disease to diagnose, they have to usually rule out others first. Good luck with the vet visit and if you have any questions, just let me know.

 

[Zatara and Merrick's Mom]

Thank you all for your replies!

Merrick has just returned from the vet. A full blood panel was ordered and we should have the results tomorrow morning. The doctor agreed that the symptoms we described could fit a petit mal seizure and that Merrick is right around the age that epilepsy symptoms first manifest. The pounding noise could have been caused by him paddling his feet. As a couple of you have already said, if it was a grand mal it would most likely have been accompanied by a loss of bladder control and a longer period of disorientation.

And the doctor said she could smell some anal gland odor on him, so that smell that was so strong last night was probably from his anal glands (as noblenewf guessed). Now that we know what to look for, we can monitor the symptoms more closely.

The doctor said if the blood test results show no abnormalities that we should keep a calendar to mark seizures. She normally prescribes phenobarbitol if the seizures occur more often then one month apart.

She also said newfs are right around 10th on the list of breeds most likely to be afflicted with epilepsy. I had never heard that before and wondered if anyone else has heard of that.

Lori, I am very interested in learning how to join the epi-dog list. If you have any info, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[blstarke]

Prayers being sent for Merrick

 

[Zatara and Merrick's Mom]

Merrick's blood test results are in and nothing abnormal showed up. So now we are in diary mode in case it is idiopathic epilepsy.

 

[Zatara and Merrick's Mom]

Merrick had a seizure tonight. This time it happened right in front of me. In spite of having read about what to expect, I was not at all prepared for it. I think this seizure would be considered a grand mal.

Merrick was lying next to me in the living room when I noticed him convulsing and shaking all over. He was lying on his side when this happened and did not budge from that position during the shaking. He was drooling excessively (very viscous) and he peed himself. I think the shaking lasted about 15-30 seconds, but I'm not sure. After the shaking stopped, he stayed on his side for a couple of minutes and didn't seem to be aware of my presence. Then he got up and I conducted him to the kitchen. He was pacing restlessly and didn't seem like himself. I thought this was the end of the seizure, but a few minutes later I noticed him doing something strange with his mouth. At first it looked like he was trying desperately to cough something up or dislodge something from the back of his throat, but then he started shaking his head back and forth very rapidly. Again, there was a lot of drool and it almost seemed to spurt out in large blobs. This didn't last very long, maybe another 15 seconds or so and then I thought it was over again. However he still seemed to be pacing. As I was cleaning up the messes, he started the shaking and drool-spurting thing again.

At this point I called the emergency vet because I wasn't sure if this really fit the description of a seizure. As I was talking to the vet, I noticed that Merrick had pooped in the kitchen (and it was a messy one and not contained in one place). I put Merrick outside so I could keep him out of the mess while I cleaned it up. I don't know if he had any more episodes while I was cleaning. He is inside now and seems back to normal except that he is whining because I've confined him to the kitchen until I can bathe him.

Another strange thing. Zatara was no where to be seen while this was happening. I assumed he was just out of visual range until I let Merrick outside and saw that Zatara was already outside. He had let himself out (the outer door opens easily when the inner door is open) -- Zatara loves to be inside with his people and I have never known him just to let himself out like that unless I was outside and he was trying to join me. I got the impression that Zatara was freaked out by what was happening to Merrick and I wonder if he even knew it was happening before I noticed it or even before it started. Does anyone know if dogs can sense impending seizures in other dogs? There have been a couple of other times where I had gotten the impression Zatara was giving Merrick a wide berth and I kind of wondered about it at the time but shrugged it off as him wanting space. Now I'm wondering if Zatara is spooked by Merrick.

This seizure came 8 days after the previous incident, which I am now virtually certain was a seizure too. Based on what my vet told me last week, she will recommend putting him on meds.

Thanks for listening and for any advice you can lend.