[M A]

I have a 12.5 year old rescue beagle that I have had for the past 3 years. I feed her Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Fiber Response due to food allergies/gastric issues. She has a long term history of seizures (tx’d with Potassium Bromide) and recently diagnosed with decreased renal function (tx’d with enalapril).
Friday night, 1 hour after eating, she dozed off, awoke suddenly with a whimper, started whining, jumped in my lap, and began frantically scratching at my chest/face area and licking my face (she licks a lot when stressed). I put her down and did not notice any seizure activity. She immediately jumped back into my lap. I took her outside. She walked around, again in a frantic like pace, urinated then defecated. Returned home, she went back to sleep and awoke with the same behavior. This happened 3xs in 45 minutes (last 2times without pee and stool). Went to vet. Unsure what’s going. Sister thought maybe night terrors.
Any thoughts? Thanks to all!

[Dori]

I’ve honestly never heard of this before. It must be so frightening for both of you. Does she appear to be in any pain? Are her urine and stools normal? Is she drinking enough water? Does she appear to be gassy? What does the vet say? As to her seizures are you making sure you don’t give her any food that has Rosemary of any sort? Rosemary can trigger seizures in some already pre disposed to have them.

[M A]

Hi Dori!
First, thanks so much for responding!
Urine and stools were normal. Did not appear to me in pain, just very frantic, almost panicky. She had just ate at 5pm (this happened at 610pm) and had her normal intake of water. Her food has no Rosemary. Now that you mention it, she was very, very gassy that night. More the usually to where we had to roll the windows down to get to the ER Vet.
The ER Vet thinks she was having a seizure but I have seen her seizures and am a nurse with 25+ yrs of experience and I don’t believe this was a seizure.
Waiting to discuss with her primary vet. She has an appt. This week full a panel of blood work since its time for a yearly exam and because we are monitoring her kidneys.
Dori, why did you ask about her being gassy? Luci had gastric bloat last April. Curious about what you are thinking!
Thanks Dori!!

[Dori]

My initial thoughts after reading your post was that she was in pain/discomfort. From years of experience with many many dogs and my own GI issues since I was a kid it sounded like gas pains to me. Add the fact that I think Beagle’s have had a history of having gas issues it all sort of clicked. When you have gas build up you are in either pain or massive discomfort. She was obviously running up to you and wanting to be with you for comfort and, of course, she didn’t know what was going on. Taking her out was good because moving and walking around would help with those issues. One thing that could help is, with your vets approval of course, is to keep on hand something like Gas-X which can safely be giving to dogs. You have to know the correct dosage for her. Also light soothing massages on her belly just to get things moving. I’m glad she’s due for her annual this week. Please discuss all the symptoms with your regular vet and mention whether it could have been gas. That would be my guess. Keep us posted please.

By the way, I too once had a seizure prone dog (that’s what he eventually died of) and what you are describing is not any seizure behavior that I ever witnessed and I witnessed them constantly as have you. Emergency vet probably just jumped to that guess as soon as you mentioned “seizures”.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by Dori.

[M A]

Hey Dori!
Gas has always been an issue with Luci. I know this is common with older dogs and was with my last senior beagle. However, Friday night was terrible! I did not even think about Luci having gas pains!! I guess I was worried about her being so frantic, which could be due to pain. DUH!!
Thank you so much! Will discuss with Jan, her vet, about the Gas-X and most definetly keep you posted!
Thanks again!

[Author]

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