What to write down after a seizure
Updated · CovePet editorial policy
Your vet almost never sees the seizure. What they get is your account of it, so the notes you make in the hour afterwards are most of the evidence.
Time it, and write the length down1, 2
Cornell’s Riney Canine Health Center says to time the seizure and keep a log. Length is the detail that decides what happens next, and it is the one memory distorts most. A seizure that felt like ten minutes may have been two.
Cornell says to go to the veterinary clinic immediately if a dog has been seizing for more than five minutes. The ACVIM consensus statement counts an event of five minutes or longer, or three or more generalised seizures in 24 hours, as status epilepticus. If you are past that, stop reading and go.
Write what you saw, not what you think it was3
The 2015 International Veterinary Epilepsy Task Force consensus says a clinician’s reading of the signs is restricted to the owner’s description, and often a poor quality video. Naming the event is your vet’s work. Describing it is yours.
- Which way the body went: on the side, stiff and rigid, legs paddling, jerking or twitching.
- Whether there was drooling, and whether urine or a stool was passed.
- Whether your pet responded to you at all.
- What was happening in the minutes before, including sleep, excitement, food, and any dose given.
The recovery is part of the record1, 3
The hour after the event is part of the record. Cornell describes the postictal phase as disorientation or confusion that can come out as aggression. The IVETF consensus lists repetitive vocalisation, walking into obstacles rather than around them, tiredness, unsteadiness, and unusual hunger or thirst.
Write down the time your pet seemed normal again. “Back to normal by 9:40” is a fact your vet can use. “Took a while” is not.
Film it if you can1
Cornell says to get a video of the event if you can, because your veterinarian has to decide whether it was a seizure at all. A phone propped against something is enough, and it does not need to be steady. Do not choose filming over getting help if the event is running long.
What to have ready for the appointment
- The date and time of each event, and how long each one lasted.
- How many there have been, and the gap between them.
- What you saw during it, and how the recovery went.
- Every medication with its dose and the date it started or changed.
- Any video or photos, on the phone you are bringing with you.
Sep 7, 9:12 PM. About 2 minutes.
On the side, legs paddling, jerking. Drooling. Did not respond to me.
Passed urine.
Up and walking by 9:20, walking into the door frame. Very thirsty.
Seemed normal again by about 9:40.
Second one this month. The last was Aug 24.
No medication. Nothing changed in the food.
Sources
- Managing seizures, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine
- 2015 ACVIM Small Animal Consensus Statement on Seizure Management in Dogs, Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine
- International veterinary epilepsy task force consensus report on epilepsy definition, classification and terminology in companion animals, BMC Veterinary Research
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