Staffordshire(?) terrier with seizures and sudden aggression

[sparklett]

Hi,

My friend has a type of terrier- it looks like a Staffordshire, but I'm not quite sure exactly what breed it is. Since March, the dog has been having seizures and now she has started growling and actually snipped at my friend today. The behavior changes have started over the past week. She was diagnosed hypothyroid a few weeks ago, and the vet thought she might also have epilepsy. My friend is treating the thyroid issue with Thyroxine and is using veterinary-prescribed homeopathic treatments for the seizures, with very mixed results.

Before all of this, the dog was even tempered and very friendly. The hypothyroid diagnosis makes sense, as she had gained a lot of weight and has some skin problems.

The sudden aggression is scary. Is this typical of epileptic dogs, or is something else going on? I am concerned for my friend and her two young children (ages 1 and 2 1/2 years). The dog weighs over 100 pounds, and the sudden growling and aggression is obviously not good.

Any advice that I could pass on to my friend would be appreciated.

[Astrogirl]

My cocker spaniel had that as well - all of a sudden aggressive and massive shaking.

It turned out that she had a ruptured disk in her spine and she was in extreme pain. I never would have guess it was her back. She did recover, thank god, but was in the hospital for a while under induced paralysis to heal.

[Ola_]

I would guess it has more to do with the thyroid issues - agression is a fairly common symptom. I know it can take a lot of adjusting and testing to get thyroid meds at the correct level so perhaps that's what it is?

[mom0810]

My first thought was brain tumor. I had a dog with these same things that came up suddenly, and it was a brain tumor.

[phatchristy]

Originally Posted by mom0810

My first thought was brain tumor. I had a dog with these same things that came up suddenly, and it was a brain tumor.

Someone I know had a dog that developed aggression suddenly as well as seizures and was eventually diagnosed with syrangomyelia (probably butcherd the d'x). The did try treatment, but didn't improve enough and dog had to be euthanized. Definitely sounds like something could be neurological!

[mom0810]

Yes, my first thought was the dog might have to be euthanized. Sounds like there is a lot of pain going on, and that the aggression might be kind of involuntary, as part of the seizure.

If there is a veterinary neurologist in the area, I would try that. That's what I ended up doing and although the diagnosis was a sad one, it was good knowing what it was and that I had tried everything I could before we had to euthanize her.

Also, my advice would be stop trying to treat the seizures with homeopathy. This is an instance where Western medicine could possibly help, and they need to STOP the seizures to see if they are related to the growling and biting. My advice is also that if this does not come under control FAST... they need to consider the worst.

[betsyj]

Hypothyroidism can cause aggression and other neurological issues. I would of course keep the dog and kids separate but would not assume a brain tumor or other terrible disease until seeing if the aggression goes away once the thyroid issue is under control..