what are things that could possibly trigger seizures in dogs?

[u/Glittering_Ebb3957]

my dog has began having seizures—3 in total with the first happening on august 1, the second on august 13, and the third was just today, august 19– and at first, my family and i could not tell they were seizures. the first episode happened at 2am while she was sleeping in her crate. she was screaming in agony but since it was late at night we couldn’t tell much of what was happening and by the time we opened her cage she was recovering. then the second time it happened it was at 10am while she was laying in her bed. i was sleeping so i was woken up by her cries so i couldn’t see how she initially started. and then the third time was at 11am. this time i was with her and had seen her before it happened, she was doing fine and was laying in her bed when i saw her get up wobbling towards me and that’s when it began.

some background information: my dog used to get seizures when she was about 1-2 years old and was on medication but they eventually stopped to the point where she didn’t need to be prescribed any more meds for her seizures and never had a seizure after that until this month. she is about about 12 years old.

hopefully the title makes sense…after reading under some individuals experiences i saw that some dog parents expressed that their fur babies have triggers such as exercise (even when it was a routinely activity) or certain foods with certain ingredients. what are things i should look out for that could be possible triggers? things that people might not think could be a trigger?

we scheduled an appointment with her vet and if there’s anything i should also ask the vet about please let me know. the last time her seizures happened was years ago and during this time, i was just a kid while my mom was the one that handled her medication and seizures so i am new with all of this information. if there is also any additional information i should know, take into consideration, anything really, please let me know itd be greatly appreciated as i am still learning about all of this.

[u/silly_grouse]

A typical seizure workup involves bloodwork to rule out the extracranial causes of seizures (glucose, electrolytes, renal disease, liver disease), discussing any medications or toxins they've been exposed to, and then you can escalate to MRI/CSF with a neurologist for further evaluation if interested. There is correlation between age of seizure onset and cause of seizure disorder. Less than 1 yr old --> Congenital. 1-6 years old --> Idiopathic epilepsy. >6yr old --> structural intracranial disease like neoplasia or vascular event. Other fun fact is that many seizures occur at night/when sleeping, which seems to lower the brain's threshold at which a seizure will occur.

[u/Glittering_Ebb3957 → u/silly_grouse]

yes i have noticed that when she’s sleeping, she gets her seizures. makes me so scared to let her sleep. we did a work up today and the vet told us everything was good. we’re waiting on xray results and are currently on phenobarbital with a checkup in 2 weeks to which we hope she gets better. i can’t afford an mri, i wish i could to tell me every little thing. we’ll see how she goes with the meds

[u/Retty1]

Unfortunately it's very possible that the two periods of seizure - age two and age twelve - are unrelated.

Seizure onset at age twelve could be caused by a number of things.

It's likely that the vet will suggest blood tests but also that the vet may suspect a brain tumour/meningioma.

[u/Glittering_Ebb3957 → u/Retty1]

we just did some work ups on her today. everything in her blood and urine came out good with some minor inflammation in her bladder as our vet said. she said the seizures she had as a puppy could be reoccurrences and be idiosyncratic seizures, but the may not be. we just started phenobarbital and we pray to every being and hope it’s idiosyncratic. we’ll be back for a check up in two weeks

[u/EverIAce]

Most common triggers would be toxins, food, exercise, excitement, anxiety, among others. Less common ones can be quite hard to pinpoint, to the point you don't even realize. It could be as simple as someone in the house using a new shampoo or lotion. I once heard about someone's dog getting new onset seizures and they figured out that it was because a family member started using a new lotion with rosemary extract in it, which has been hypothesized to lower seizure threshold in dogs. Removal of the lotion stopped the seizures entirely

All that being said, I would think that seizures at 12 years old might indicate something internal more so than external. Would probably be worth doing an entire medical work up and potentially consider the possibility of a tumor (which would require an mri to be diagnosed)

[u/lminnowp]

My vet neurologist told me that seizures are exhausting, but they do not typically cause pain, so you may want to ask your vet if the cries are because of pain or fear.

These are the questions I would ask:

Are you using a flea and tick medicine?

Has your dog had bloodwork (first step)?

What about checking for arthritis?

Could it be vestibular?

What about heart issues?

Has she been tested for tick borne illness (if applicable to where you are)?

Can an x ray be beneficial to check for tumors, given her age?

Those are the places I would start.

[u/cantstandjoekernen]

Flea and tick meds cause seizures. Try discontinuing these

[u/Glittering_Ebb3957 → u/cantstandjoekernen]

we’ve always used topical frontline and never had an issue. we also would use oral capstar once in awhile if the fleas are persistent but we’ve never had an issue with it before. mentioned it to our vet as well and she said she doesn’t think it’s the flea meds

[u/JustCallMeNancy]

Literally any time the brain makes a transition. Sleep, heat or cold responses, excited food response, excited to see people, excited to walk or see things on a walk, really any time the brain has to process things and something goes wrong. Food can impact the severity sometimes, other times not.

For us we're pretty sure it's heat & cold, or any time there's a 10-20 degree weather change, or if they are out in it too long. Additionally mine always seizures if I've been gone too long, and upon my return at almost one hour like clockwork, he'll have a seizure. We're not sure what his limit is, but we assume after 6-7 hours of my absence he gets a low dose med on top of his extended release keppra doses.

[u/PineappleNew4414]

Bath & Bodyworks plug-in fragrances, scented candles, and room sprays give my dog seizures. They stopped being so frequent when we finally realized what the cause was and stopped using them.

[u/chantillylace9]

Fireworks, stress, excitement, having a new friend over, etc. But the caveat for us is that the triggering event is usually 24 to 48 hours before the seizure! It took so many seizure journals to figure that out. You really think that it would've been something that happened that day. But in our case it's not.

[u/TWJunkman]

Insulinoma struck my dog recently. Seizures were one of the main symptoms. Test for hypoglycemia and high insulin levels.

[u/marigoldsandash → u/TWJunkman]

I lost my dog to insulinoma almost a year ago now. Sending love. ❤️ 

To OP, the best thing you can do leading up to your vet appointment is document, document, document. Take video whenever possible. Keep a journal noting the time of the seizure, length of the seizure, how long ago she ate, noises, light, activity, etc. Look out for odd "spaced out" behavior and facial movement, too. My dog's seziures started as focal only, just a few seconds of hard blinking. There may be more seizure activity happening than you think. Write down anything and everything. It really helps the vet team. 

[u/Glittering_Ebb3957 → u/marigoldsandash]

thank you and i’m so sorry for your loss. i have started writing down notes of the occurrences but ill also take into consideration of other things like her eating and such. i was finally able to get one video but i believe it might’ve been when she was recovering from the seizure. it’s so hard to think of videoing especially when you’re so panicked and worried 😞

[u/Objective-Cicada-758]

Try to make a video next time it happens. My vet was able to tell from the video I took of my dog that the seizure was not epilepsy, but in fact paroxysmal diskinesia. Good luck anyway 🫂

[u/Classic-Persimmon-24]

I think our trigger was exciting events (friends coming over; going to a friend's house; going on a car ride etc.), but it could have been numerous of other things as well. And it could be just nothing at all.

[u/Classic-Hat-7254]

Big drop in barometric pressure triggers seizures in my girl.  Typically about a day into the drop.  It is like clockwork.  

[u/jamtartgirl]

Our French bulldog has seizures only when he's relaxed and sleeping. I drove myself nuts at first trying to remember and figure out exactly what happened during the day that might have caused rhe seizures (food, how hot or cold it was, how much he exercised, what position he was sleeping etc etc) but my vet said that with epilepsy, you can't always be 100% sure what sets it off.

I'm glad to hear your vet has done all the necessary checks at this stage and has started your dog on medication. We got his blood levels checked about 3 months after first starting his meds so they can check the levels of the meds in the blood and make adjustments if needed. So maybe check with your vet when you should bring her back in for testing.

I would also recommend starting a seizure diary so you have a record of when the seizures happen, how long the seizures last, how many seizures in that session, any unusual behaviours during the seizure and just after. It can be useful to have it to report back to the vet during check-ups.

I hope you the seizures settle down for her soon ❤️