Dear Dr. John,
Our family has two Shih Tzus, one male and one female. The female, who is almost five, recently freaked us out with some odd behavior. We were at home and suddenly she started drooling heavily, defecated, and seemed out of sorts for a few minutes. We quickly called our vet who had us bring her in. The vet checked her out and found nothing to be out of sorts. We took her home and overall, she seemed to be quiet for the rest of the day. We were told that she probably had an episode of epilepsy, that she would likely be fine, and to keep an eye on her. Should we be concerned and what next? Is her breed prone to epilepsy and should we worry about our other dog? They are not littermates but from the same breeder. C.P.
Dear C.P.,
There are quite a few dog breeds that are prone to epilepsy but the Shih Tzu is not one of those. Despite that, idiopathic epilepsy, which means there is no specific cause, can happen in any dog breed. Most epileptic seizures in dogs are characterized by various clinical signs including, drooling, falling over and paddling with their feet, urinating, defecating, disorientation and more. Most of these seizures last only one or two minutes. It can then take up to 10 minutes for the dog to appear normal again.
Drooling accompanied by a seizure can also occur after ingesting something toxic and vomiting may also occur. I am sure that your veterinarian was very specific in asking about the possibility of the dog ingesting anything unusual. Bloodwork might have been in order, but I defer to the veterinarian who saw the dog. I do not believe that you need to be too concerned at this time, but I would suggest you start a log to record day, time, and length of this past episode and any more that might come along. Should seizures start to occur with some increased frequency and regularity, then bloodwork would be done, and the dog started on any one or combination of various anti-seizure drugs. Should any seizure last more than a brief amount of time or repeatedly one should always get that dog into an emergency facility. I doubt that your other dog is at any risk, but one never knows for sure. Hopefully, all will be fine.
Dr. John de Jong owns and operates the Boston Mobile Veterinary Clinic. He can be reached at 781-899-9994
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