What are the causes of dog seizures?

Answer 1

There are many medical conditions which can cause dogs to have seizures. A dog can suffer seizures if they have a brain tumor or injury. They can also occur should they have episodes of high or low blood sugars or even epilepsy.

Answer 2

Seizures can occur in dogs for many different reasons. A seizure occurs when the cerebral cortex, a part of the brain, functions in an abnormal way. The cause of this malfunction may be a result of an abnormality located within the brain itself or a result of a disease that starts in another part of the body but still is able to affect the brain.

Extra cranial causes of seizures are the causes that originate elsewhere in the body but are still able to affect the dog's brain and cause seizure activity. The seizure occurs because either the metabolism or the electrophysiology of the brain is changed by the disease.

In most extra cranial cases of seizures, the entire cerebral cortex is affected resulting in a generalized seizure rather than a focal or partial seizure.

The most common extracranial causes of canine seizures are:

• hypoglycemia (low blood sugar level)
• liver disease (also termed hepatic encephalopathy)
• kidney disease
• hypocalcemia (low blood calcium level)
• hypothyroidism (disease of the thyroid gland that causes abnormally low thyroid hormone production)
• poisons, including organophosphates, chocolate (theobromine), caffeine, strychnine and others
• hyperthermia (elevated body temperature, "heat exhaustion")
• veterinary parasites, such as fleas and hookworms

Answer 3

Some dogs with birth defects can have seizures, and also some dogs with brain problems could have seizures. I think dogs with asma can have seizures too.

Answer 4

Many different things can cause a sudden onset of seizures in dogs. These include low calcium after birthing puppies or a sudden drop in blood sugar.