Search And Seizure

My puppy Bayliss — by ‘puppy’ I mean ‘11-year old dog’ (and by ‘my’ I mean ‘Michelle’s’) — is not feeling so great lately.

Thursday of last week, Michelle and I were sitting around in the living room talking about her work, and Bayliss was relaxing on the marble fireplace (as any dog is wont to do). The living room was a wreck, strewn with the kid’s toys, from where they’d been playing before they went off to sleep.

Without any sort of warning, Bayliss leaped to his feet and started growling, then started to run, apparently chasing a fly. He ran around the big toy chest a few times, snapping at the air, before falling over on his side and convulsing.

He was having a seizure, his first ever.

He snapped out of it in about two minutes, having emptied his bladder and bowels, and it took him another five-ten minutes to get full control over his hind legs. Michelle was obviously distraught — Bayliss has been her constant companion through thick and thin for over a decade — and we resolved to make an appointment with the vet post haste.

Bayliss seemed to recover nicely, and some research indicated that while serious, seizures are usually a symptom of an underlying cause and not something that will harm the animal by itself. We watched him pretty closely and set up an appointment for Saturday.

On Friday, at approximately the same time, he had another seizure, this time running in a clockwise circle. Afterwards, he was blind for about ten minutes, but still recovered nicely.

The vet did lots of bloodwork and found no immediate cause, although he did note a severe ear infection. Some of the results are still pending, and they didn’t screen for brain cancer. He gave us meds to treat the infection and Phenobarbitol for the seizures, should they recur.

Unfortunately this is a story whose ending has not yet been written. He hasn’t had a seizure since then — at least not one we’ve been present for — and we’re continuing to treat the ear infection. We’re holding off on the Phenobarbitol until we’re sure that he needs it.

It’s strange that this should happen so soon after reading about Scott Kurtz’s beagle Kirby. Hopefully Kirby will feel better soon, and hopefully Bayliss will too.