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3 year old yorkie may be having seizures

20 11:38:00

Question
My 3 year old male yorkie had what i think was a seizure last night.  This was the 3rd one in about a years time.  I looked up all the causes of seizures in yorkies and the symptoms and none of them seem fit anything going on here.  He hasn't had diarrhea, vomiting, and his urine is the same as it has always been.  I was wondering if this could have been an onset from the 3 year rabies shot since the seemed to start soon after he got it?

Answer
Victoria,

Unfortunatly, Yorkies can still have seizures without having any of the causes you listed.  Small dogs are more prone to seizures than large dogs and often times there is no explaination as to why they are having them.  I had a female that suffered from seizures for most of her life.  They were always terrifying and I felt so bad for her.  She always knew when one was about to start and no matter where I was she would come and find me. Her eyes would look like a deer in the headlights and she would shake all over.  As the seizure progressed her poor little body would contort into unnatural positions and she would drool all over herself.  She would pant and you could feel her heart beating really fast.

Her seizures were severe.  Your Yorkie may be having seizures but they may be milder that the ones my Yorkie had.  My females seizures happened only occassionally in the beginning, but as she got older they became more frequent and increased in severity.  She had to be on medication all of her life.  What they gave me was phoenal barbitol tablets.  I would give her one everyday.  They did not stop the seizures but they did help to make the seizures less frequent. I also had tranquilizers that I could give her as soon as I knew she was having a seizure.  They would slow the heart rate down which helped to prevent her from having a heart attack.

Since this is the third time I think it is time to make a trip to the vet.  If a seizure is bad enough the increased heart rate can kill them.  I am not sure if the rabies shot is the reason for the seizures. If you take her to the vet and they cannot find anything wrong with her then she will probably be one of those Yorkies that has seizures for unexplained reasons.  You may have to accept that you will never really know what is causing the seizures.

When mine was having a seizure I would get a towel and wrap her up in it and hold her until the seizure was finished. The towel gave her a sense of security and also helped keep her from drooling all over herself and me. I would whisper to her that everything was going to be all right and that she was a good dog.  Speaking in a quiet tone and not letting her know I was scared to death was the best way I could help her through it.  It seemed to calm her to know I was right there with her.  I think the seizures scared her as much as they did me because she would always come and find me when she felt one was coming on.

My baby girl died in my arms when she was eleven years old.  She had a bad seizure and after years of strain on her heart from the seizures her heart just couldn't take another one.  This happened about six years ago so hopefully they have made some strides in treating seizures and your baby will be better off than mine was.  It breaks my heart thinking about you and your baby having to go through this.  If you think of it let me know what the vet had to say and if they have better treatments now than in the past.  

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