Ask DS - EIC

[randywallace]

I am somewhat familiar with EIC. In every situation where I have heard of it, the dog went down in its rear end basically like it was paralized.

This weekend, I had my lab (2 year old male) out to do his business early in the morning. To say my lab is high strung is an understatement. Anyway, he had been running around with other dogs at the camp for about 15 minutes wide open and appeared to have what I would call a seizure that affected his front end. His front legs literally split out to the side with his chest on the ground and he was frantically pulling himself backward with his hind legs. I ran over to stop him so he could calm down and not hurt himself. His eyes are bulging and he was breathing heavy. After a few minutes of holding him, he calmed down, eyes went back to normal and he has been fine since. This has never happened before.

I am gonna get him checked out by the vet this week, but anyone have any ideas of what happened?

[tprice aka cowboy]

It sounds more like a seizure what you are describing , but definitely get him looked at, and good luck.

[donia]

that's what i thought when i read it...we had a cocker that had 1 a year (give or take). she did the same you described, front legs went out to the side and if we didn't hold her head she'd bang her chin over and over. we kept seizure meds on hand to help with recovery. she lived to 14yo and it wasn't related to, or a complication of, the seizures.
i hope all goes well w/vet visit.

[BrettG]

I had a male that developed seizures at around age 3. No physical problem just went into epileptic seizures when stressed. We put him on phenobarbital for a while to help control them also carried a syringe of Valium just in case of a severe one. He passed 2 weeks ago at the age of 14. We learned how to manage him and got him off the drugs and he lived a long healthy life.