Seizure after collision

[RWright]

I have a healthy 2-1/2 year old B.C. that has never before had a seizure that I'm aware of. Last night we were playing in the park and he had a head-on collision with another dog. He had some blood in his mouth after the collision, but I was unable to find a cut and it did not continue to bleed. He seemed perfectly fine immediately after the incident and so we continued to play frisbee. About 10 or 15 minutes later on the way home in my vehicle, he had a seizure that lasted about 3 minutes. During the seizure he seemed somewhat aware of what was happening around him - I could tell that he was listening to me as I made him lay as still as possible and tried to calm him down. After the seizure he seemed perfectly fine and since he's been acting perfectly normal and as playful as ever, including a healthy appetite. I spoke with one vet office and they told me to keep a close eye on him and bring him in if there's another seizure. Another vet office told me to bring him in for a physical exam and some possible bloodwork. It seems to me that the collision is probably what brought this seizure on - has anyone seen this before or is it likely that there's another underlying problem?

[Laurae]

When Sophie was about 18 months old, she ran after a cat in the dark and collided head first into the bow (nose) of a pointy wooden sea kayak. The point of the kayak hit her right above her left eye. The impact was violent enough to dislodge the eye from its socket. We rushed her to the emergency vet, and they were able to save her eye. To do so, they had to cut the eye opening just a little and her eyeball is permanently pointed a teeny bit to the left and up. It's not very noticeable (you can see it's just a bit bigger than her right eye in my sig pic), but this was clearly a serious head injury. She appears to have very limited or no sight in that eye any longer, but no other lasting effects from the collision.

 

About a year and a half later, she was at a herding lesson and the trainer, in an attempt to get her to widen out off the sheep, threw her leash at her. Her leash was made of cotton, with a large, heavy clip on the end. The clip hit her in the head. She stopped immediately, and seconds later went into a seizure (the first and only seizure she has ever had). Although the impact of the leash clip hitting her was presumably not very severe, I learned that her previous head injury made her very susceptable to future seizures if she is ever hit in the head again. The clip hitting her was enough to induce a seizure. I am now obviously very careful to try to make sure she is never hit in the head again, but really they both were kind of freak accidents. (Well, the training method whereby someone throws things at my dog was avoidable, but the trainer didn't mean to hit her. That doesn't excuse his actions, in my book, as he knew she had very limited sight in that eye and he took absolutely no responsibility for his role in her seizure, despite the fact that it happened about four seconds after he hit her. He claimed it must be epilepsy. Yeah, right. But I digress.) The point is that head injuries can indeed cause seizures. If I were you, I'd get your boy to the second vet pronto to have him thoroughly checked out.

[Sue R]

Sorry to hear about this worry for you and your dog (and Welcome! to the boards).

 

Our Megan got bopped in the head with just a tennis ball, no real velocity, and it left her with uneven pupils for most of an hour. Blows to the head can result in problems but I hope your boy will get over this with no ill or lasting effects. If I were you, I would have the vet give a complete exam so you know what you might be dealing with.

 

Best wishes!

[Shetlander]

I would also want a vet to look at my dog in this type of situation. Just to have an expert who might know to look for symptoms or issues I'd never think of. If he hit his head hard enough to seize, then I'd consider it an injury in need of veterinary attention.