Seizure? or dog stiffening up?

Question
I have an Olde english Bullgogge, he is very healthy, happy and active. But sometimes when he gets overly excited mainly, he will stiffen up and his neck will go sideways and his eyes will go big and blank and he wont move for about 1-2 minutes. It used to be about 30 seconds and now hes up to 3 minutes. Afterwards he is fine and back to playing like nothing happened. He doesnt drool or lose his bowels.. Yesterday was the first time I got it on video tape so I will take that to the vet with me but is there anything like this you have seen? Thank you

Answer

Hi Tasha,

It's entirely possible that your dog is having seizures. There are different kinds of seizure activity, the milder variety (called Petit Mal) can be as subtle as momentarily staring into space, or upward eye movement, without the dog falling over, drooling, or loss  of bladder or bowel control.

If your dog has seizure that lasts for longer than 5 minutes, or if they occur multiple times a day it would be considered a medical emergency. You should seek immediate treatment from a vet. Untreated, seizure activity can cause brain damage or even death. Many dogs experience mild seizures infrequently, and do not require medication. Other dogs need daily medication to control their seizures. Your vet needs to examine your dog to ensure she gets the proper treatment for her particular seizure activity.

Seizures are also one of the symptoms of hypothyroidism, so that's something your vet may want to test for.

If you see your dog having another seizure before you can have him examined, take note of the duration of the seizure, and how often they seem to be occurring. Your vet needs to know this. You can read more about seizure disorders in dogs, here:

http://www.sniksnak.com/doghealth/seizures.html

I hope I've been a help.
Best of luck,
Patti