QUESTION

We have a yellow Lab puppy who has these small tremors or seizures that last a few seconds (it's only his head that shakes quickly) like a quick 5 - 6 nods). They always occur when he's calm and relaxed, usually just before he falls asleep. In between he's a normal, happy, smart, rambunctious puppy. We've taken him to a neurologist, blood work is normal, we have him on an antibiotic to see if it helps. A ct-scan and spinal tap are recommended if it worsens, but the neurologist has no idea what he has. Have you heard of this condition occurring in puppies - Lab puppies in particular?

Amy

ANSWER

Dear Amy,
Having these sort of petitie epileptiform episodes is something that I would make a note about but then ignore in most cases. You can spend an abosulte fortune in trying to sort them out but not get to the bottom of the problem. Yes I have seen similar before and the antibiotics would be trying to treat something called Neospora canis which is a disease than can cause epilepsy, especially in the young but is usually a progressive condition.

The other things that can cause problems are liver problems where you get partial bypassing of the liver in the venous blood supply back from the intestines (portosytemic shunt), food imbalances or allergies (I have seen at least once case that changing its diet onto a better food solved the problem) and vitamin deficiencies, although this is more associated with taurine deficiency in the cat.

As long as the condition is not affecting the dog and not becoming progressively worse I would be tempted to allow the dog to develop and see if the problem gets worse or not before spending too much more on diagnostics as they can sometimes resolve. . .

Paul Wilson