[Owned by Socket]

A little history: my beagle Socket is 4 y.o. and was diagnosed with hypothyroidism a little over 2 years ago following a series of seizures that he had. He's on thyroxin 2x a day to compensate for his own body's low production.

Moving on, he's had 2 instances in the last month of full on emptying his bladder onto my brother's bed in the middle of the night, followed by vomiting. We take Socket out for the last time at night around 11pm and he's up again around 6am typically and he's been solid on holding it throughout the night since he was approx 1 year old.

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this one. We thought it was odd the first time it happened, but kind of wrote it off. Now, the second time happened 3 days ago.

Off to the vet we went, naturally. He was due for an annual exam, vaccinations, etc. The vet kind of wrote it off as a "well maybe he sleeps soundly and has vivid dreams." Um, okay... not really what I was thinking. We discussed the possibility of him having seizures in the middle of the night, but the vet wasn't so sure about that one.

I'm puzzled, so I thought I'd throw this one out there and see what you all thought.

Good thing we have lots of Nature's Miracle on hand thanks to Lia, my lab puppy! That was a nasty mess!

 

[Owned by Socket]

Oops, forgot to add... he does not have a UTI. I took a urine sample in with us to the vet, just in case.

 

[Murphys Dad]

I have to say that my first thought was "seizures". Does your vet have a lot of experience with seizure pups? As hard as it might be to ask, you need to do that. You also might want to have Socket checked out by a specialist. When it was thought that my Maggie was having seizures, I took her to a veterinary neurologist. It turned out she wasn't having seizures but visit was well worth it. You also might want to take a look at this website:

http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/site_map.htm

It's a wonderful group and the website has a wealth of info. Maggie has had, and still has, lots of health issues and I have learned, often the hard way, that we, as pet owners, have to be pro-active in getting the right answers, just the same way we are with our own health. Please be sure to keep us updated.

 

[Murphys Dad]

You know your beagle better than anyone. If something's different, and you feel it's something that needs following up, be firm about what you want.

Something's bothering Socket, and it does sound like it could be seizure related. Our Spook has never lost bladder control during a seizure, but he has vomited when having one.

Good luck, and do keep us posted.

 

[kgh]

I am in the seizure column. I have had two beagles that has seizures. Nefee had seizures that sometimes involved loss of bladder control. After we got the seizure somewhat controlled, she had better bladder control. Austin's seizures come on so rapidly they almost always take me completely by surprise. One minute he is on his feet, the next second is on the floor stiff as a board. The last one involved throwing up. The references that were mentioned are excellent. The more you know, the better care-giver you can be for you beagle. I have a large selection of waterproof pads which have been a great help when I have a sick dog. Megan had leg surgery last Jan. and did not take kindly to confinement or anything that cramped her style. I did not want her wandering around or bumping into anything at night. So, we put her up on our bed between us with a waterproof pad, just in case. She had a leash on that allowed her to get up, turn around and settle back down, but did not allow her anywhere near the edge of the bed. We did not have any problems, but that is probably because we were prepared. I hope you can find out what is going on with Socket. Here's hoping for dry bedding!

 

[Owned by Socket]

Honestly, I'm in the seizure column myself. I did want to throw the situation out there to basically verify that I'm not going nuts overthinking what could have been a simple night accident. It just seemed too odd to have happened twice now, especially since he's still relatively young.

Socket had 5 seizures before he was dx with hypothyroidism. He hasn't had one (that we've seen!) since he started the thyroxin. He had complete loss of bowels/bladder when he had his seizures, would drool excessively, as well as inability to control his own movements. Grand mal, basically. He would fall off of the couch (his favorite spot) when they would strike him.

The only thing that makes me hesitate to say seizures are the likely cause 100% for sure right now is that we haven't physically SEEN what happens when he has the accidents/vomits. My brother is a sound sleeper, so he is never woken up by whatever is happening with Socket. He usually wakes up to the smell of urine/vomit in the morning. (What a lovely way to wake up. Ugh!) He says that Socket does usually dream quite vividly- complete with running motions, twitching and full out barking! So, if anything did happen out of the ordinary in that regard, he wouldn't know for sure.

The vet we take Socket to is acutally one of the well known vets in our city, but honestly, I am wanting to pursue a second opinion. Something just doesn't feel right to me with all of this. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif

And, lord knows, I hate seeing my poor pups feeling badly. Socket put his head down in a pout like he did something wrong when we found the accident in the AM. Can't really rationalize with a dog in that regard- not his fault really.

 

[Genie]

Poor Socket!! Bless his heart, he must really be feeling bad. (And poor brother! ukey: ) I hope you're able to find a solution to his problem soon.

 

[Murphys Dad]

My first thought were seizures as well. Do you have a video camera that you could set up at night while sleeping to see what Socket is doing? Then you'd see if he was having a seizure of if he was just dreaming too deeply.

As for the vet situation, it seems that he's not taking your health concerns regarding Socket seriously. I'd look into getting a second opinion. Call around and see if you can find a vet in your area who has had a lot of experience dealing with dogs and seizures. That's my thought on the situation.

 

[Murphys Dad]

Murphy has had seizures most of his life, but only once did he loose bowel and bladder control during the seizure. Almost all have been considered mild.

If seizures have been witnessed in the recent past and often (more than 1 every 3 months) please get Socket to a nuerologist. Seizures may be controled simply by putting him on Phonebarbitol or Potassium Bromide. BTW: neither drug is expensive. Murphy is on a low dosage that seems to keep them under control. If left uncontrolled, they can lead to brain damage and death. So please take Socket to a specialist. If its not seizures, then at least you know what it isn't.