Seizure Vocabulary

Seizure - A seizure is sudden, involuntary, uncontrolled muscle activity with or without loss of consciousness. A seizure has 3 parts; the aura, the ictal period and the post ictal period. 

Aura - This is the first manifestation of a seizure. It can be minutes to hours long. The pet may pace, whine, lick lips, vomit, seek attention, salivate, hide or exhibit some other unusual behavior.

Ictal - This is the actual seizure and can look different in each animal. There may be disorientation, lack of bowel or bladder control, involuntary tremors, stiffness, shaking, vocalization, unconsciousness, falling over or difficulty walking. This part of a seizure should be timed by looking at a clock.

Post Ictal - This is the recovery time. The pet may still be a bit disoriented, may pant, show some weakness and have increased or decreased appetite or thirst. This phase can last for a few minutes or several hours.

Medical Causes

There are many medical problems that can cause seizures. A high fever, general illness, problems with glucose (sugar) metabolism, liver disease, kidney disease, hormonal diseases or exposure to a toxic compound are a few medical possibilities.

Treating the underlying causes in these situations may stop the seizures.

Brain diseases - These are usually medical problems like tumors, head trauma, strokes and infections of the brain tissue or fluids. Anti-seizure medication and treatment of the underlying brain disease is necessary to control the seizures in most of these cases. 

Idiopathic Epilepsy -This means that the cause of the seizure is unknown (the seizures are not due to a medical problem or brain disease). This is the most common diagnosis for dogs and cats that have seizures. Anti-seizure medication is all that is usually needed to treat this category of seizures.

Getting the Diagnosis

This usually starts with a physical examination, a thorough history and blood work to look for further signs of disease. Other tests may be needed and can include; a urinalysis, sampling fluid around the spinal cord, a CT or MRI exam of the brain or EEG of brain activity.

Seizure Treatment

The first thing to remember is that seizure medications do not stop or cure seizures!  The goal of a seizure medication is to reduce the number of seizures, to make the seizures less severe and to make recovery from the seizures quicker and easier.

Seizure medication is usually needed for a pet’s entire life. This medication must be given daily. If one or more doses of medication are missed it can make the pet suddenly begin having more seizures. If multiple family members give medication it should be recorded on a calendar or notebook so doses are not missed.

Most medications used for seizure control require occasional blood tests to monitor levels of the drug in the blood stream.

Your pet may be more sleepy or may have a change in its appetite or thirst when first starting a new anti-seizure medication. This should only last for 4-5 days.

What To Do During A Seizure

• The first thing to do is to keep the environment quiet. Excess noise and stimulation can make the seizure worse.

• Keep hands away from the animal’s mouth. Animals don’t “swallow their tongue” and a severe bite can occur when an unaware animal clamps down on hands or fingers.

• Keep the pet away from sharp obstacles that they could bang against or stairways. Many people crate their dogs when they are away from home or block off stairways. Cats with seizures should not go outside unattended.

• It is very important to time the seizure. All family member should be able to record the length of the seizure and the date the seizure occurred in a notebook or on a calendar. You should report to your veterinarian if the seizures start to occur more frequently or are lasting longer.

• Dangerous situations are an ictal phase of a seizure lasting 10-15 minutes or seizures that occur back to back with no recovery time between them. This is a static seizure and is called status epilepticus. Emergency treatment may be necessary and your veterinarian needs to be called.

Most dogs and cats with epileptic seizures live long and normal lives. Only in rare instances are seizures life threatening. The most important points to remember are to give the medication regularly, as directed by your veterinarian and to call your veterinarian if you have any questions or problems.