Dog Seizures

Hello On 21st April 2024 - After a walk. Took him through the house, into the conservatory where is stays. As my dog entered the conservatory, he pushed back and there, a seizure for 1 min. I took my dog to the VETS on the 22nd April 2024, and they did a blood test. Results attached. They said everything is fine. On 13th May 2024 - Same thing, after a walk, took him through the house and into the conservatory, and another seizure. 14 days apart. Twice now, after a walk, and in that space. The conservatory is not cold and not hot, it is around 18 degrees with doors and windows open. from my view, it is like when he enters the conservatory which has light all over, sun beam through, it is effecting him. I thought it is epilepsy, but the vet said not likely. But the pattern is the same... Spoke to my VETs, and they said i need to be referred to a neurologist. any advice?   Thank you!

Hello - I think that you and your vet may have needed to talk in more detail.  Some vets (indeed, some people) answer questions on a simple level; they want to get the main points  / information across, and acheive the thing that needs to be acheived.  You seem to have come out of this consultation having wanted to understand things in more detail than the vet gave you; perhaps what they said didn't tally with your experience / expectations so you want to know why they said it.   It may be that you needed to ask them.   I don't know enough about your dogs' case to make a judgement, but here are some things I'd be thinking about.....

1. Some breeds / families of dog are prone to a genetic / inherited epilepsy. However, if your dogs' breed / age / manner of onset isn't typical, your vet may be wondering about other conditions.
2. Fitting can be caused by inflammation or pressure on the brain-cells within the head; there are infinite reasons for this.  Low blood sugar can be one, Addisons disease another, the ingestion of toxins another.  You may hear the term 'space-occupying-lesion' meaning something that takes up space within the skull.  The skull is a closed box, so something added to its interior puts pressure on everything else.  These 'somethings' added can be tumours, cysts, fluid, inflammatory cells, bleeds etc.  Sometimes a neurological examination gives your vet more information about this.
3. In general, good questions for your vet are:  What could still be causing these fits?  (it may be a long list).  Is there anything that you think is particulary likely?  What will happen if we go for referral (always ask about cost etc)?  What will happen if we don't?  How much time delay is involved in this and is there anything we need to do in the meantime?

I hope that something there helps.

(Ooops - my apologies, technical error.  Just to clarify:  Some fitting is caused by an increase of pressure in the brain.  Space occupying lesions (of which I give lots of examples) are examples of this.  Other fits are caused by chemical changes affecting neurons:  Addisons and low blood sugar (and also lack of Oxygen to the brain, toxicity) are examples of that.