Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs Dog had seizure hunting today

Our 7 year old PUDELPOINTER had a seizure while hunting pheasants today at a preserve in CT. She was in a transition as we were about to call it a morning after 2 1’2 hours or so. All of sudden she stiffend up, chomping and like diggng her paws and head into the ground. My son picked up on it quickly from past experiences with people (EMT). He quickly cleared her mouth of debris and picked her up, held tightly against his chest. She’s about 45-48 lbs. He eyes rolled back and looked scared as hell. The guide ran back to the lodge for the side by side. Within 20 minutes she was walking slowly but not quite normal.

After spending most of the afternoon at 2 different Vet’s clinics, her liver enzymes were elevated at the first vet’s and he sent her to an emergency clinic, did more tests and last tests showed enzyme levels were normal.

Anybody with similar experience and what may have caused it in their dog will be helpful.

Sounds like epilepsy! My first golden had it. She lived a long and good life. She was on a pill most of the time.

Really sorry to hear this happened, but definitely have been through the same. I had a 6 year old GSP I hunted over with no problems what so ever, and was out on a quail hunt in eastern TX and exact same thing happened - he didn’t look right, slow to react even to my call and then he just collapsed and went into seizure. Same type scenario you described, just awful to experience cause you simply can’t do anything but watch and wait. Took him straight to an emergency vet, no big issues with tests run - Vet diagnosed as hypoglycemia since he had no previous seizures, was 6 years old and in overall stellar health. At time of that seizure, Sawyer was as I mentioned 6 years old, about 80-85 pounds with not an ounce of fat on his body. While the vet informed at the time (mid-90’s) that Sawyer could still be out in the field, I should be cautious and ensure proper hydration well before a days hunt (Gatorade actually was a suggestion). I hunted over him one more season, he had another seizure - not as bad as the previous year - and that was enough for me. Never had seizures at home and only the 2 I have mentioned - he lived 4 more relatively healthy years till I had to put him down. I wish you all the best with your dog and hope this helps in some way.

Maggie, one of our labs had her first seizure around age 2. It happens. We had her put down in November just short of her 16th birthday. She had a good life but I did not swim her after that. As mentioned, work with your vet and it will likely be controllable.

Had a similar experience with a German Shorthair with a different outcome. Vet found no definitive cause for the seizure. Six months later another seizure resulting in paralysis in back legs. New vet said he had a disease where the blood was clotting in body and to get a blood transfusion at University of Minnesota. The reason he knew what it was because he just successfully treated his Mom's dog for the same thing. U of M vets would not do a transfusion, ignored my instructions but presented me with a $1000 bill for tests confirming the other vet's diagnosis. They did tell me to get a trolly for him. Had to put the dog down. About a year later went to my old vets clinic who sold his practice to the vet from U of M. She specializes in fish and reptiles.

My GSP had a seizure while eating dinner after hunting. He was 10 years old and according to the vet in perfect health. It happened a second time about a month later and I stopped hunting him as like everyone else didn't want a seizure to occur in the field. After some more discussion with the vet he asked about any supplements I maybe giving the dog. I was giving him an OTC pain pill that had white willow bark which contains salicin. A natural anti inflammatory that is usually safe. He said to discontinue and see if it occurred again. He is now 14 and has not had any other seizures. Still don't know if that had anything to do with it or not.

I have also had my Braque go down in the field but that was from low blood sugar. I know carry a small bottle of honey and some dog treats and on those early season warm hunts they get a drink of 50-50 Pedialyte and water about every 15 minutes and also get a few drops of honey. It was tough to train them but all three will take water from a water bottle. Still hard to real them in for a water break but definitely worth it.

Thank you for your stories, information and advice. Stool sample went to the vets today. After yesterday the conclusion was the dog had a seizure. Damn we knew that. She is an aggressive hunter and sometimes will not accept water when presented. A real hard head! She’s done for the season so likley we will take the suggestions noted above. My wife recommended coconut water.

I think she may need to rest and drink more frequently while hunting. We’re going to talk this week about the suggestions and experience each of you had. We tend to forget dogs are no different than us when it comes to drive. They don’t know when to stop where we as humans should but don’t at times. I like the idea of Gatorade, honey, coconut water. Before and during her run.
My wife swears by coconut water after she works out, Water during.

I don't know what physical condition your dog was in prior to the hunt, but if she wasn't in peak shape beforehand that might be something to look at. Dogs are pack animals and never want to show weakness in front of the rest of the pack (which mostly means humans these days) for fear of abandonment. Hunting dogs will push themselves way too hard even if they aren't ready for it just to show that they are still fit.

I don't know if that had anything to do with your dogs condition, but it is something I would consider if she could use more exercise. I don't know why, but I think sporting dogs thrive on Exertion and I refer to it as vitamin E for dogs.

Hello, I am a vet and have a GSP and a few pointing labs I chase birds with.
As all the stories show, seizures can have many causes and are often super frustrating for a vet to try to find the cause of. Lots of dogs have seizures and go on to live a normal life. In a bird dog while hunting, I would guess hypoglycemia or electrolyte imbalances being the cause. Think of it like an extreme version of a cramp. As others have said, make sure the dog is well hydrated on gatorade or some other sports drink prior to hunting. I usually mix it as a powder at 50% concentration so it dos not upset the stomach.
If the dog has another seizure, especially while not hunting (or exerting effort) the vet will almost certainly prescribe some sort of anti-seizure meds.

By any chance did you spray your dog with a tick repellent containing Permethrin? Years ago my Lab suffered a seizure while we were walking back to my vehicle after a day of pheasant hunting. She was very vocal. Screaming as if she was in terrible pain. A few weeks prior to this she started screaming while in her kennel when we were returning from another hunt. In that case she stopped screaming and returned to normal by the time i got pulled over on the side of the road and opened her kennel. At that time I thought she had somehow twisted a leg of something while in her kennel.

The second occurrence was much worse so once she settled down, I took her right to the vet. My vet checked her out but couldn't find anything. No blood work was done. It dawned on me later that I had used a Permethrin based tick spray on her both times. Prior to that I didn't use the spray. I never used that stuff again and she never had another seizure. She'll bd twelve in less that two months and is now retired from hunting.

I've seen low blood sugar cause seizure in several different breeds of hunting dogs when they're hunted hard.

I had a Lab who had seizures. He knew when it was coming on and would seek me out before it set in. There was little I could do but comfort him and make sure he was safe. Although sometimes very strong, they usually were over in a few minutes. I talked to an MD one time and he gave me a prescription for a restricted drug, don't recall the name. It helped, pretty much eliminated them IIRC. After a period of time I took him off the drug and the episodes never returned. He was a great dog and a wonderful retreiver. He outlived all of his litter mates.
I miss him so, along with all the others.

That restricted drug was probably phenol barbital. We see seizure prone dogs come into the kennel with that daily dose of drugs all the time.

Right you are. Good call, pal.

Our old heeled would have seizures. Doc said dogs don’t have epileptic seizures they are more of a nerve seizure. Changed his diet and it helped out a ton. Lived till he was 14 had them as early as a 6 month old pup. Don’t be afraid to change up the food.

I’ve only dealt with it in my own dogs, for hypoglycemia and elevated coccids in young dogs. It’s always good (IME) to carry a can of dog food for ‘pup fuel’ for a hard day of hunting. Even then they didn’t have true ‘seizures’, but blind/dizzy/vertigo type spells. Growing up working for my DVM Uncle, I saw a lot of different ‘seizures’ in patient dogs. I don’t recall there being a single, predominant causality….though I might not recall that, either.

Had it happen once with my old GSP.
Happened one time when he was about 10. Never happened again and he lived till 17!

I just recently lost one of mine to epilepsy. Watching seizures is a nightmare. She got pills for it twice a day and had her at a seizure about every three months. She lived till march 19, 2023. On March 25th she would have been 4 yrs old. first came down with them at 18 mos. Also had a shorthair many years ago had some and it was a food allergy. Got her food changed and she never had another!

Have seen this happen a couple times, once to a Brit and once to a Beagle. The common denominator both times appeared to be dogs that weren’t in condition for strenuous all day hunts and just over exerted themselves. Just my opinion…..

Just out of curiosity, what kind of testing for congenital predisposition was done on the parents of these dogs before breeding?

I was hunting cut corn for pheasant with my 2 yr old Golden Ret. He just kind of keeled over and I thought he was dying. Carried him back to the car and sat a moment and he seemed to recover a bit. That was on Sunday and headed for the vet Monday morning. He was diagnosed with "Ear Mites", given some meds and drops and we were sent home. I determined that he got the mites from a little runt yellow lab that my boys rescued to be his "buddy". All said and done, the rescue lab cost me more than 4 times what the golden ret. cost just due to vet bills owing to the conditions she was taken from.-Mike

I'd be looking for another vet.