Dog question

Question
Hello,
I have a 5 yr. old Labrador Retriever that has been having some episodes of staggering and then laying on the floor for about 2-4 minutes while his body shakes. He seems to be alert when I call his name and pet him.  This has happened 3x's in the last month.  The first time it appeared that his tongue was far back in his throat, however, he was still breathing every time. The third time happened about an hour ago, and his front left leg lifted off the ground about 2 times, and then he layed on the floor, began shaking and I could not get his mouth open (It appeared that it was clenched shut).  He seemed aware of his surroundings, just scared.  This lasted about 4 minutes and then he came out of it and went back to his old self.  Every time this has happened, he has an episode, and then he appears normal.  I took him to 2 different vets who did a Neurological exam on him and did blood work.  These were both normal. They do not think he had a seizure. Do you have any suggestions of what I should have done at the Vet when I bring him in, or do you have any ideas as to what may be causing this?  Thank you for your time!
Val Taylor

Answer
Apologies for the delayed response, as I have been fighting off a virus the last couple days.

The episodes that you describe do sound like seizures to me, and possibly did to the veterinarians you have seen hence them doing the neurological exams and bloodwork. While there are some exact causes of seizures that can be traces (toxins, brain tumors, etc) many more cases fall into the category of Idiopathic Epilepsy, where a specific cause cannot be pinpointed.

While more testing could be done, over 90 of epileptic dogs tend to have normal test values during non seizure times.  You mentioned that they did not think he had a seizure.  Did they indicate why they thought this?  I am thus assuming that they have not put him on any anti-seizure medication.  This may be worth looking into further as a treatment option, but again I am not sure of what they may have found that made them deny believing the seizures.

In regards to the actual episodes, it is not advisable to try to grasp his tongue as often is taught with humans.  It is actually unlikely that you will be able to open his jaws and dogs do not usually tend to have the problem of "swallowing the tongue".