Stress induced seizures - Has anyone heard of this?

[Amy]

My goldendoodle, Moseley, has had what I believe to be "stress induced seizures" on three occasions. The first time was when we walked into the vets office in Feb. 2009. He was 4 yrs at the time. The second incident occurred in when I took him to the groomer - he'd seen her in between his first seizure without incident and had been there countless times in the last two years. The third seizure occurred when we went to my in-laws on Christmas day also in 2009. We walked in and he started seizing. The common factor with all three incidents was he was walking into environments where other dogs have been or are present and he isn't familiar with them.

Prior to the first seizure, Moseley had two incidents where he'd shown signs of pre-seizure activity, however, he recovered without incident. The first time was when I dropped him off at a friends house to stay for the weekend. They had two dogs and once we walked in he started foaming at the mouth and shaking his head. The second time was when I was arriving at my in-laws house and he got out of the car and started swatting and acting like something was in his mouth (his lips were curled back) - I thought a bug had flown in his mouth. We we went inside he was foaming at the mouth, but calmed down after about 10 minutes.

The reason I believe these indents are related to him being stress or uncomfortable with his surrounding is because he doesn't have seizure at any other time. For example, he is fine to visit homes he's unfamiliar with where there are no dogs present. He is also fine to visit homes he is very familiar with where other dogs are present.

I haven't had luck with my vet in figuring out if "stress induced seizures" is something that exists. Also, I haven't found information online which addresses this type of seizure activity. It's hard for me to think he has epilepsy because of the consistent triggers that have been present each time he's had a seizure. My thought is this is some sort of behavioral/socialization problem. If this is a behavioral/socialization problem my struggle is I'm not sure how to help him to be more comfortable in unfamiliar situations without him having seizure after seizure - which as I'm sure you all know, would be terrible for his health and could be deadly if severe enough.

I appreciate and look forward to your feedback and suggestions.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm sorry you & Moseley are going through this. The Canine Epilepsy Guardian Angels website does address stress triggers. I don't know if any of this will be helpful, but here's one link:
http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/SeizureTriggers.htm

[Amy]

Thank you for your response and the link. I will definitely check it out.

[Amanda and Quinn]

I think it's absolutely possible and I think it would be worth seeing a specialist if it keeps happening. My dog has epilepsy and though he would probably have had occasional seizures anyway, he has definitely had some that were triggered by extremely long car rides. (He hates the car.) Quinn needs to be medicated all the time because they were happening at other times also, but Moseley's case sounds like it could be helped by liquid Valium or something similar.

I can't recommend a specialist highly enough, if you have one in your area - our general vet is good, but seizures are tricky and most general vets don't know that much about them.

[Rae]

I completely agree with Amanda that a specialist should be seen and I also know that stress triggers are very real. We must be extremely careful with Bella's stress level not only because of the seizures but because she also has Addison's Disease. We've seen what stress can do to her - including causing mild seizures, Please keep us updated on what you find out. Best of luck and hugs to Moseley.

[Kirsy & Jasper]

I believe anxiety/ stress can induce seizures. My dog had 8 seizures in 7 months. I am doing a seizure diary. 3 seizures happened, while my husband and I were away, which doesn't happen a lot. He sees us packing the bags, his tail goes down, he is not happy! He stays with my Mum, who he loves too. She said, that Jasper saw a car, looking like ours. Tried to run after it AND had a seizure within a minute on the road!
But apparently there are 500 causes for seizures. So that's just ONE of them. We are not going on any more overseas holidays now. Love my Dog too much!!! Kirsy, Jasper's Mum

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

The foaming of the mouth is definitely part of the seizure. Mariners original seizures were of this type, and usually that is how his seizures start.

You have been given good advise here. Take a look at some of the older posts.