Frank had a seizure – what happened?

On Tuesday, August 4, 2020 I was woken by my mum calling me down the stairs and could hear the panic in her voice.

I rushed downstairs and found Frank sat upright with his head trembling and fear in his face.

I knew instantly that it was some form of seizure or tremor, but he was fully aware of his surroundings and it wasn’t really convulsions. But the fact he could understand what was going on but couldn’t stop it was devastating to watch.

We gave him some space, and I took a few short videos of his shaking to send to the vet. I also sent it to a few friends including a dog specialist, a veterinary nurse, a dog walker and a friend whose dog has epilepsy, to get some experienced opinions.

Frank’s head was shaking rapidly and uncontrollably in a ‘no’ movement, each lasting about five minutes. He was easily distracted out of his shakes if you offered him a treat, or asked him to follow you.

Trigger Warning: some viewers may find the video in the below Tweet distressing

Worried about my little boy today
When we woke up, Frank was suffering with head tremors for the first time – he’s never done this before and was super confused at what as happening
He’s had some blood tests at the vets, and hopefully we’ll get some answers about this seizure 💔 pic.twitter.com/pctd0c3jrh

— beffshuff (@beffshuff) August 4, 2020

“He was fully aware it was happening, but clearly confused, frightened and frustrated.”

It was incredibly difficult to watch, especially as he was fully aware it was happening, but clearly confused, frightened and frustrated.

Frank had desperately wanted to continue his morning snooze, placing his paws onto his head to try and stop the shakes so he could nap. But as soon as he got comfortable, they’d begin again.

His seizures had started at around 6.45am, and continued roughly every 15 minutes until 10.15am, which we recorded the time and length of. 

Speculating, I think that the bigger tremor he had at around 7am was a ‘seizure’, with smaller shakes following being ‘after tremors’.

Vet Trip and Blood Tests

After an 8.30am phone call with our vets, they managed to squeeze Frank in on an emergency appointment for examination and blood tests.

Due to Covid-19, we weren’t allowed in the vets with him, much to Frank’s distress. He had to be carried into the vets by my mum before being handed over to nurses.

He had his temperature taken and blood tests for calcium and glucose, which would rule out any organ failures or tumours.

Frank didn’t have any further seizures after 10.15am.

His blood test results came back 48 hours later with no remarkable findings – and the vets not much wiser on a diagnosis or cause. Our vet suggested A-Typical seizures, which would be very similar to Idiopathic Head Tremors, but still wasn’t certain. Frank was the first case he’d ever seen with these symptoms.

So, what caused it?

A year on, in 2021, we still aren’t 100% sure what caused Frank’s seizure.

He’d been on steroids for an ear infection the previous month and thought it could be linked to this, but the vet said it was unlikely.

We were made aware that one of Frank’s littermates had a similar episode back in January, where she had a 30 second head tremor which never happened again.

One common cause of tremors is toxicity. Our most plausible cause was that Frank stole some compost out of the vegetable boxes whilst mum and dad were gardening the day before. As your waste decomposes, it produces mould and toxic chemicals which can result in tremors and seizures in as little as 30 minutes. Frank’s seizure was over 12 hours later, but we’re still pretty sure this was the cause – but we can’t be 100% sure.

We are fairly certain that it’s not a neurological condition, and are hopeful that it was a one off event that will never happen again. 

The most important thing is that he’s back to his usual, silly self – albeit a little clingy.