Elton’s Seizures

On February 8, 2018, Elton had his first grand mal seizure at exactly 7am. We just didn’t realize it.

Paul and I were both fast asleep, but we heard Elton “dreaming”. Elton sleeps in a crate at the end of our bed so I can hear him, but can’t see him very well. I heard his feet moving, as if he were running in his sleep. I didn’t think anything about it, then I found the puddle of drool in Elton’s crate. Elton seemed unusually sedate the rest of the morning, but nothing that would have prompted concern.

Three days later, at the exact same time in the morning, we heard and witnessed the second seizure. If you’ve never seen a person or animal seizure, it is unsettling to say the least. Elton was on his side, front legs extended, body contorted, feet paddling, and eyes dilated and wide open. The convulsing seemed to last a lot longer than the two minutes we calculated. Elton had a puddle of drool around his mouth and a puddle a urine this time too. After several minutes, he was able to stand up and wanted to go out in the yard to pee and poo. He came in, had a huge drink of water and again was subdued.

I called our vet, Dr. Matthew Croskery at Oakpark Pet Hospital, and we scheduled to take Elton in that morning. Everything came back within normal ranges, bloodwork, vitals, urinalysis, and a basic neurological exam. Due to Elton’s age and breed type, Dr. Matt felt that Elton needed more testing and a full neurological consultation at MOVEH specialty hospital. The first available appointment was February 22nd.

On February 14th, at 7am, Elton had another seizure. And three days after that, another at 7am. They were all similar in length and intensity. And we started keeping videos of each seizure as a reference for the neurologist.

This is a video of Elton’s seizures #2, #3, and #4. This is a warning that this video could be disturbing for some people. We missed most of seizure #2 just getting our cell phone out to record it. And #4 is unusual in that Elton had his muzzle pressed up against the crate so hard that it was disrupting his breathing. I got in the crate to reposition him. We really had no idea what we were dealing with.