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Canine Seizures
As we all ready know, seizures are different than most frequently seen neurological problems in most dogs today. Canine seizures, however, are not that different from human seizures. When trying to figure out what a canine seizure is, it is easiest to describe it as a convulsion. However, there are a few different things that can happen during canine seizures. First, usually your dog is going to have a loss of consciousness. Normally after that you are going to see a contraction of the muscles in that dogs body. Also, during a canine seizure you are likely to notice a change in the mental awareness of your dog, maybe even hallucinations. Sometimes your dog may even have involuntary urinations and things like that. However, it is important to keep in mind during this that the dog does not have control over its body. Thus, punishing your dog will do no good.
So that brings us to our next question. What are canine seizure causes, or in other words, what causes these seizures in the first place? Well the truth of the matter is, there are many things that can cause a canine seizure. However, we do know that there are three stages of canine seizures. First, there is the pre-ictal phase. This is the phase where the dog appears nervous or tries to hide. Unlike us, dogs are much more aware of what is about to happen, they can notice small changes and it scares them. After that comes the ictal phase or the canine seizure itself. Last, comes the post ictal phase where your dog is going to be confused about what just happened. That is because most of the time dogs black out during a canine seizure, and it will not remember what happened.
If you are a dog lover, then your next question is if the dog feels any pain. Well the good news is, despite the dramatic sings of a canine seizure, the dog will feel no pain. Unlike humans dogs can not swallow their tongues during a seizure. Thus, putting your finger into your dog's mouth during a seizure will have no benefit. Really you just run the chance of the dog biting you during the canine seizure. The only problem that you have to worry about is if the seizure goes on for a few minutes. If this happens, the body temperature of your dog will start to rise a lot. If the body temperature rises too high, then you may have some problems with your dog with secondary health problems, because of the seizure. However, for the most part there is no harm that can come from canine seizures.
Despite the dramatic signs of a seizure, the dog feels no pain, only bewilderment. Dogs do not swallow their tongues. If you put your fingers into its mouth, you will do no benefit to your pet and will run a high risk of being bitten very badly. The important thing is to keep the dog from falling and hurting itself. As long as it is on the floor or ground, there is little chance of harm occurring. If seizures continue for longer than a few minutes, the body temperature begins to rise. If hypothermia develops secondary to a seizure, another set of problems may have to be addressed.
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