Shakes, tremors

[jackijam64]

Hi, My out of town son's 3.5 year old Mastiff/Great Dane, Sasha, suddenly began shaking, having all-over muscle spasms and does not want to move. This has been going on for about two hours. I got her outside to go to the bathroom but she just sat down in the grass. She seems to now be asleep next to me and I do not notice the spasms anymore but I am worried. I was out for about an hour this morning and when I came back, she was in the state I mentioned. Any suggestions would be great. I have made a vet appointment for her for tonight. Should I take her to the hospital?

[Ari_RR]

If she is stable now, I would probably wait for the vet's appt.

We've had two similar instances this summer.
Our 2 year old boy wakes up, nothing out of the ordinary, we go out for a morning walk (still nothing strange), come back, and he gets on the sofa, shaking (not violently, but very noticeable)... when it stops - he is lethargic for the rest of the day, doesn't eat, doesn't move, sleeps mostly.. By the end of the day we manage to feed him some chicken/rice.. He barely moves to go out for a toilet break,them stumbles back inside and remains lethargic.. Next day - he is back to his own self, hungry as hell and full of energy.

So, we had this twice over the summer. First time - panic, vet, etc. Nothing found, stool samples and all - all clear. Second time we just let him get over this on his own.

The conclusion we came to - he got into some grass on the morning walk which was very recently sprayed with some stuff to kill weeds, or ticks, or something... And either ate this stuff, or sniffed it in, or somehow got exposed, and that's what caused this reaction. So now we are just more careful where we walk, and try to keep an eye on the landscaping crew's schedule for spraying deadly stuff on the lawns.

This is just to share own experience, yours may be a completely different case. Trust your gut feel though.. If worried - go to emergency vet, nothing to loose other than a few hours and a few dollars, in the big schema of things - better safe than sorry. Good luck.

[Suzette]

It's impossible to say what you should do since we can't see the dog and don't know his history, but my feeling is that if you trust your vet and he/she felt (after you explained to them all of the dog's symptoms) that it was okay to wait until tonight for the appointment, then you are most likely on the safe side to wait. A good vet practice will always fit you in if they feel the situation is urgent or an emergency situation or else they'll refer you to an emergency facility if they just can't.

Having said all that, in the end, go with your gut. Mine rarely leads me wrong.

[JudyN]

I'm far from an expert, but poisoning springs to mind. Did you describe the symptoms to the vet when you made the appointment? If not, I'd be tempted to go straight down there to be on the safe side.

[jackijam64]

Hello, thank each of you so much for posting. I ended up taking Sasha to the hospital as her owner (my son - out of town) asked me to. The vet, as my son mentioned to me may be the issue, was concerned she had Bloat which will be fatal if not treated. An x-ray ruled this out thank goodness. However, the x-ray showed Sasha suffers from spondylosis (boney build-up on the spine) and hip dysplasia which would be causing her pain. Next, blood work was done which came back normal. ALSO, and this is a BIG one, Sasha is almost fifty pounds overweight the Doctor tells me. She is 160 lbs. and should be 110. Sasha eats appx. 6 cups of Kibbles and Bits Original with wet food mixed in. This was started by my Mother who has her at her home. She also has been given peanut butter in a chew toy everyday. Around 2-3 tbs. She does get walked by me and my fiance about 5 days a week. Well, after $800 it seems Sasha is in pain from having been allowed to get way to big.

[Erica]

Changing to a high-quality kibble - or better yet, raw feeding - as well as reducing the amount of food should help. My 80-pound dog eats 2 cups a day, so it shouldn't be much more than that for a 110 pound dog (though K&B is full of additives, so she would have to eat more of that than a higher quality kind). I understand that she isn't your dog, so you can only offer suggestions, but raw feeding is much better for dogs than kibble. If Sasha's owner is interested, we can offer raw feeding resources - there's a great big thread here somewhere. If they insist on sticking with kibble, you could try advising them to check out dogfoodadvisor.com and particularly look at the 5-star foods there. Glad to hear she's safe for the moment! Hopefully she can drop those extra pounds! Good luck to you all.

[jackijam64]

Thank yo so much for your reply. Can you suggest a food for Sasha now that she needs to lose a lot of weight? Any help would be so appreciated.

[jackijam64]

I apologize for my ignorance. What is "raw feeding?"

[dontpugme]

I apologize for my ignorance. What is "raw feeding?"

It is a diet consisting of raw meat and bone and other things that a dog was designed to eat. We have many thread about it that you should read around if you are curious.

If you give us an idea of where you live, we can recommend some brands available in your area. Just stay away from heavily advertised junk.

[Erica]

Here is our giant thread on raw feeding. It's got tons of information useful for starting a raw diet!

[JudyN]

I'd second the recommendation of raw feeding

However, did your vet give you any information about helping her to lose weight? It would be unhealthy to put her on a crash diet and even cutting her right back to what is recommended for her idea weight might not be the best for her right now.

[jackijam64]

Hello, Sasha lives in Wilmington, DE. She is still the same. She is in pain. She is getting her pain meds and she just sleeps or just seem sedated now. We have a Petco and Petsmart near us. Thank you all! PS I must admit, I have arthritis and the past two days have been tough for me with my hands throbbing. I guess it is the weather. Maybe this is affecting my girl Sasha too!