Yorkie Seizures: Symptoms, Causes and Treatment
Here we are going to talk about Yorkie seizures.
Just like humans dogs might have seizures, too. So do Yorskhire terriers specifically.
It is natural to get stressed and shocked seeing your 4-leg friend to suddenly collapse and lose conscious, but you need to know that you need to calm down and do the right thing, respectively treatment afterwards.
Instead of getting into pointless panic!
Here is why we are writing this material for you, dear Yorkie owners.
Table of Contents
How to recognize seizures in Yorkies?
There is no chance for you to miss it – a sudden seizure in a Yorkie.
As a matter of fact, there is nothing so special about a seizure in a Yorkie in comparison to such a syndrome in the rest of the dog breeds that might have it.
Speaking of which, almost all dogs might have seizures.
Actually, seizures are the most common neurological problems in dogs. They might be caused by several different reasons.
However, in all cases they look like this:
your Yorkie suddenly flops to the floor. And even though the fact the dog has already lost its consciousness, it looks like its treading water, regardless, there’s no water.
If you see all of these signs in your Yorkie, prepare to act immediately.
The sooner you overtake the necessary measures for your pet’s health, the better. And the more possible it would be for your Yorkie to live a normal life, even though after having seizures.
Top symptoms for Yorkie seizures
Besides flopping to the floor and treading non-existing water, here are the top symptoms in Yorkie seizures to be careful for, when you are suspicious your fellow hasn’t been ok recently:
Collapses
Jerking
Twitching the muscles
Drooling
Stiffening,
Tongue chewing
Flood of mouth foam
and etc.
Also, like most small dogs, Yorkies that have seizures usually show strange paddling motions with their small legs. Pooping and peeing during a seizure is also a very common symptom.
What causes seizures to Yorkies
The most common reason for your Yorkie to have seizure is the so called epilepsy disease.
Yes, unfortunately, not only humans, but animals, including dogs like Yorkie terriers can have it.
There are three types of epilepsy conditions that might cause Yorkie seizures. Let’s talk about each of them to be prepared:
Idiopathic epilepsy
Usually does not have an identifiable underlying cause. Mainly, it is typical for its brain lesions.The idiopathic epilepsy is basically a male syndrome, but sometimes female dogs can have it, too.
If seizures are left untreated, they may become more frequent and severe. What cases the idiopathic epilepsy are old age or genetic predisposition. If a mother of father has it, there’s a big chance for the Yorkie child to get it, too.
Symptomatic epilepsy
It is basically the primary epilepsy.It ends with damage to the brain’s structure and it starts with seizures in most cases. So diagnosing it as soon as possible is crucial in this case.
Environment can be a very typical reason for your Yorkie to eventually acquire such a form of epilepsy.
Cluster seizure
Describes each situation where a dog has more than one seizure in а 24-hour period (a day and night). Dogs with epilepsy might have cluster seizures at certain intervals of one to four weeks.This usually happen in large-breed dogs.
The cluster epilepsy seizure is sometimes mistaken with Status epilepticus. The difference, though, is that the Status syndrome has an active and a passive period.
The most common cause of a Yorkie seizure is the idiopathic epilepsy. The information below will refer to this form of epilepsy. However, most of this information is related to the other epilepsy forms, too.
How the idiopathic epilepsy is diagnoses?
The first thing you need to do is to take your Yorkie to the doctor.
What he would ask you the very first moment during the check is your pet’s age and how often the seizures are.
If your Yorkshire terrier has three or more seizures within the first week of onset, the veterinarian will probably consider other diagnosis than idiopathic epilepsy.
If the dog is six months old or less or older than five years, seizures might be metabolic or intracranial (within the skull) in origin. In this case, we will talk about hypoglycemia in older dogs, which is also a reason to get an epilepsy seizure.
Mainly, a lab test is run to confirm your dog’s condition. Besides the blood sugar test, your dog will be also examined for any kidney and liver failures and anomalies, as well as for the level of fats in the body.
The medical history of your pet should be also taken under considerations since the availability of old, but serious or current chronic diseases predispose the epilepsy condition, too.
Yorkies seizure and epilepsy treatment
Of course, as an owner of a Yorkie, who has recently had seizures, what matters mostly for you is the treatment. What we can say about epilepsy treatment in dogs is that it is in most cases outpatient.
Here is what you need to know about the healthy lifestyle and the specific treatment acts you can do for your Yorkie with epilepsy and seizures:
- Avoid swimming classes
- Be careful for incidents, because all of them are risky for a seizure to appear
- Make sure to keep the dog’s diet balanced, because Yorkies with long-term epilepsy history tend to put too much weight, which is another risky health factor for the animal.
- Surgery is a very rare, but yet possible treatment. The thing is that some Yorkies with epilepsy and recent seizures might need a tumor in their body to be removed.
- The usage of specific drugs is ok not to prevent or forever stop the seizures, but at least to reduce their number.
Attention: don’t prescribe your dog any medical products yourself, but stick to your vet’s pieces of advice. He knows what your Yorkie needs best. - Be careful for your regular checks with the vet. Thus, you will avoid worsening of the situation.
- If you keep your Yorkie’s lifestyle healthy, it might live with the epilepsy yet happy and with few limits only.
Seizures are indeed scary, when happening to your little Yorkie.
However, once you meet and understand the disease that causes them in details, you’ll see you can properly handle the situation.
Eventually, you will be able to control your Yorkie’s health and take care of it finely and with a lot of love and joy!
