This afternoon I had plans to go squeeze puppies. Little black and white fuzzy sausages that have just barely opened their eyes.
But Gio changed those plans for me last night when he had another seizure, possibly two. I know the one at about 5:30am was a seizure, it was his typical grand mal. But I'm not sure exactly what was going on 2 hours earlier at 3:30am. It was windy last night, and the house creaks a lot in the wind, so at first I thought he was just reacting to odd noises around or outside the house. Gio woke me up at about 3:30am growling his "I mean business" growl. I have only ever heard that growl twice before in his life, both times he was protecting me against some perceived threat. It is very distinctive from his play growl or his "I want food" growl. But none the less, he was laying on my bed this morning growling at the bedroom door. I assumed he had just heard something blowing around outside, so calmed him down and told him to go back to sleep, which he did after a couple of minutes.
I never thought anything of it until 2 hours later when he woke me with the beginnings of a grand mal seizure. After that, I began to wonder if the growling wasn't some sort of psychomotor seizure. Psychomotor seizures can manifest themselves in a number of ways, often frantic running without seeing what they are running into, or "fly snapping" behavior. I have heard tell that psychomotor seizures can sometimes manifest themselves in sudden aggression, and with Gio being the very non-aggressive dog that he is (to a fault), the "I mean business" growl is as close as I have seen to aggression with him. The kicker is that he was somewhat responsive during the growling session. From speaking to other people with experience with psychomotor seizures in their dogs, it doesn't sound as if the dogs are ever responsive during the seizures. So that one is still a mystery. A theory has been proposed to me that maybe he was just a little more on-edge because he could feel the seizure coming, so reacted with a growl to normal outside wind noises. That makes a bit of sense, at least.
Either way, there was a seizure this morning and with Gio's recent trend of having clusters of seizures, I thought it best to stay close to home today in case he had another attack. So no puppy squeazing for me this week. Hopefully I will be able to make it out for some puppy breath face time next Sunday.
This evening I did leave Gio for a short while to take Romeo to his scheduled therapy dog visit at Saskatoon City Hospital. Unfortunately, he was competing with the hockey game that was on at the time, so he got very little attention. The nurses do love to see him, though, and we always spend some time with them.
w00fs, do u pups no, Snickers and Butchy, she has seizures too...mite b good fur u all to compare notes on it..anyway could b kinda a support for each other when ur pups go threw it..My dog JoJO use to have them, but they werent to bad..he would hold up his right front paw kinda like it was drawing up then afterwards give u the "who r u look"..i could always tell by his eyes when he was getting one...he was a little guy and when they got worse, he had to sleep between me and hubby..or he would have one when we were asleep and fall off the bed..he didnt really go into them bad, sadly he got killed on the highway we live on..he was one of our special pups..we got him at 4 weeks, just a little guy..
ReplyDeleteb safe,
~rocky~
pps if u want butchy and snickers bloggie addy let me no...
I hope you get better soon Gio. Romeo, you'd better take good care of him and your Mom.
ReplyDeleteBolo
http://peiinthelife.blogspot.com/
Aw, I hope things get better for him soon!
ReplyDeleteI hope Gio is better soon. =)
ReplyDeletePoor Gio! I is so sorry for the seizures! This seizure monster is sure making the rounds this week! Hope woo all feel better!
ReplyDeleteMya Boo Boo
This is so sad. I just came from Snicker's blog because she has also been attacked by the seizure monster. Roxy too got attacked by it but I haven;'t visited her. Why does this monster attack such beautiful, innocent dogs such as yourselves? I wish it will go away soon. We'll be thinking of you too.
ReplyDeleteSmoochies,
Solid Gold Dancer + Puppies
Looks like between Snickers, you and I we're making quite a club. It was the weekend for seizures for us all.
ReplyDeleteRoxy had a very brief aggressive behaviour after one of her earlier seizures. It was over in a matter of seconds, but it is quite upsetting knowing that your loving friend can change uncontrollably into Mr(s) Hyde.
You just have to accept it's not their true nature and they'll be back to themselves without knowing how they've upset you. So don't let it weigh on you at all.
We're sending lots of healing Aire-zen for you, Gio! We hope that seizure monster leaves you alone!
ReplyDeleteAire-hugs,
Poppy, Penny & Patches
Get better soon Gio.
ReplyDeleteLove Ruby & Penny
Oh no- seizure monster GO AWAY!!!
ReplyDeleteOh no! Get better soon Gio!!
ReplyDeleteLove from Josh and Jess
You have been Awarded :o) Please take a look at my blog:
ReplyDeletehttp://cool-design-shelties.blogspot.com/2009/05/we-have-got-award.html
//Bente
Oh, Gio, I am so sorry that you have had another seizure. They are so hard on a pup, aren't they? We just learned today that our Tanner has had another seizure, too. Is something going around? Tell your momma to take really good care of you and that you need loads of snuggles and kisses.
ReplyDeleteHope the seizures occur less frequently or not at all. Hopefully, you will get to see the pupsters at a later date.
ReplyDeleteEssex & Deacon
We sure hope Gio is better real soon! We know all about those awful old seizures. They are no fun!
ReplyDeleteI had a chihuahua that had seizures. Spunky probably had one every 3 months or so. Not enough for medicine which we didn't really want to do because the doc said that it would change her personality and we didn't want that. Anyway, she knew when she was about to have one and would get as close to me as she could. At first she would bounce off the floor they were so strong. I would hold her down and massage her back and tell her to fight it. I did that everytime she had one until eventually she was able to just sit there and control it herself. Her poor little eyes would water up and I would tell her to blink those eyes and she would do what I told her to do.
ReplyDeleteSpunky lived to be 14 yrs old. She had those seizures from when she was a pup up until the end. She died from a brain tumor.
I still miss her and it has been 7 years.