Reason for seizures?
DJ DeMier
Hello,
I was hoping to get other's opinions or experiences regarding an
apparent seizure or severe dizziness that my chin had last night.
Mocha is a nine month old female dark pastel with beautiful ruby eyes.
Last night she and her cage mate Kiki came out to play as they usually
do. They were out for about two hours, and I would go play with them
and then leave to do other things and check in on them again. When I
checked the last time, I noticed Mocha just sitting there quietly on the
carpet. She wasn't running around quickly as she usually does. I was
concerned and was able to pick her right up without so much as a squirm
from her. Though she's a very tame and sweet chin, this was unusual. I
set her back down and noticed she was having difficulties moving- hoping
very slowly, almost more like walking, and was wobbling around. She
actually ran into a cabinet door and a chair as if she couldn't see
them. My husband held her while I called the vet and told me her right
side seemed to be most affected. Her right ear was flat against her
head while the other one was still standing normally. She was shaking
and had a frightened look in her eyes.
The vet who was on call did not have any experience with chins. She said
it could be a genetic problem but that it would most likely have shown
up earlier, or it could be a liver problem or something like an
epileptic attack, though she wasn't at all sure and would have to do
some research. After getting off the phone, we put Mocha back in her
cage where she seemed to be returning to normal again, even eating
pellets and hay. I gave her several raisins which she accepted as well.
I called Tammy Hart whom I'd adopted Mocha from who quickly gave me Lani
Ritchey's phone number whom I called immediately. She offered me much
advice and was very generous with her time and my many questions.
I believe it was her opinion that dark pastels have a greater chance of
having neurological problems associated with the lethal factor. I
understand in dog breeds that many breeds are at risk for various
genetic problems due to breeding i.e., large breeds with hip displaysia
(sp?) back problems or seizures in Dachshunds, etc and it makes sense
that it is the same in chins, due to color mutations. I was wondering
of all the people who've written in with their chins having some sort of
seizures, if they were beiges or dark pastels or not? Just curious.
Pretty much ruled out poisoning, she's been on a good diet with Alice's
supplement but I did run out of that a week ago....
Again, I am very grateful for all of Tammy and Lani's help as I was very
concerned and worried about losing my little sweetie last night. She
seems to be doing just fine today, and Tammy was sweet enough to e-mail
me some archives regarding seizures/dizziness.
If anyone would like to comment, I would be interested to hear from you.
Thanks,
Kirsten and
Mocha, Kiki, Mr. Biggles, Tundra and Kelsey
Zuma
Weird to see a seizure, the funny thing is they dissapear and everything
is normal again. I once saw a seizure in chin of a friend of mine (a
sapphire). Seizures could have something to do with the genes but I
doubt that it's linked to beige. With sapphires it's suspected to be
some genetic problems, as far as I know there is no suspicion with beige
color types.
Just for the statistics: I've two pastels (1 light, 1 dark) and no
seizures seen...
Sander
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Mandy Kot
Hi,
One of my standard did that too. Once.
Best Wishes
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Chinchilla Planet
http://members.tripod.com/~chinland
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Really From: "AST Preferred Customer" <Maxwell<at>seacove.net>
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I remeber reading on chinmail one time that chins sometimes have seizures if
they are not getting enough caluim.
Is that true? If it is that could be a factor.
Becky,
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To: chin...@buffnet4.buffnet.net <chin...@buffnet4.buffnet.net>
Date: Tuesday, June 30, 1998 8:14 AM
Subject: Reason for seizures?
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Really From: "MHC Towboat" <mhctow<at>nternet.net>This sounds very much like the way Chi acted when I let the house get too
hot during run time. Sometimes, like children she seems just to over-exert
herself. It has happened a couple times with Chi. Sometimes during play
she just bounces around the house and other times she is zooming in and out
of everyplace she can go. Once I took her to the vet 45 miles away during
an episode and when I got her out of her cage she jumped up and ran around
the room. (My face was red)
I hope it is nothing serious.
----------
> From: Zuma <zuma.is...@PAS.DU.SPAMwxs.nl>
> To: chin...@buffnet4.buffnet.net
> Subject: Re: Reason for seizures?
> Date: Tuesday, June 30, 1998 4:36 AM
>
> -- Message Sent via ChinMail ---
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> Weird to see a seizure, the funny thing is they dissapear and everything
> is normal again. I once saw a seizure in chin of a friend of mine (a
> sapphire). Seizures could have something to do with the genes but I
> doubt that it's linked to beige. With sapphires it's suspected to be
> some genetic problems, as far as I know there is no suspicion with beige
> color types.
>
> Just for the statistics: I've two pastels (1 light, 1 dark) and no
> seizures seen...
>
> Sander
>
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> For replying: Please remove "PAS.DU.SPAM" in the address
>
>
> DJ DeMier wrote:
> >
NoSpam
Really From: Zuma <zuma.is.surfing<at>PAS.DU.SPAMwxs.nl>Yep, incomplete paralyses at the back COULD indicate a calcium
deficiency. But common crammps could also indicate Calcium deficiency.
But if a seizure doesn't reappear in a shorttime span, it certainly
ain't a deficiency...
Just my thoughts,
Sander
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AST Preferred Customer wrote:
>
> -- Message Sent via ChinMail ---
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> I remeber reading on chinmail one time that chins sometimes have seizures if
> they are not getting enough caluim.
> Is that true? If it is that could be a factor.
>
> Becky,
> -----Original Message-----
> From: DJ DeMier <d...@Humboldt1.com>
> Newsgroups: alt.chinchilla
> To: chin...@buffnet4.buffnet.net <chin...@buffnet4.buffnet.net>
> Date: Tuesday, June 30, 1998 8:14 AM
> Subject: Reason for seizures?
>
> >-- Message Sent via ChinMail ---
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Betti Cogswell
Seizures happen for various reasons, and what looks like a seizure might be
something else.
check my web page for discussions of seizures; but here are some thoughts.
1. tetany, arching and cramping type seizures are usually from calcium
deficiency.
2. tilting and falling or circling to one side is frequently taken for a
seizure and is usually an inner ear infection on that side.
3. zoning or whatever, could very well be a seizure, where a chin seems to
just zone out, rarely life threatening and could be linked to something or
not. It may be due to neurolocial damage; falling, hitting head, trauma of
some sort, or of another type of defecit secondary to disease. Whatever,
as long as it does not continually repeat [at that time] it rarely causes
further damage. however the more often these types and #4 happen in
succession the greater the damage to the chin.
4. full blown full body jerking motions followed by drowsiness is true
seizure patterns based upon neurological "shorts" and is what we call
ideopathic tonic/clonic seizure activity, causes brain damage, and
frequently is lethal. If the animal does not die from repeated types of
this seizure activity then it can be considered a problem if it happens
again and continuously.
5. we have observed true seizures like the ones above from rye hay
allergies, and some mold allergies, and when the product is removed, the
animal did not seize again. In fact the particular animal I am thinking of
is doing just fine [thank you] has gained weight, and is a frisky happy
critter.
DJ DeMier wrote:
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http://home.earthlink.net/~chinmom
Job 19:15
Matthew 24:44
Acts 1:11
Revelation 19:11-17
Silly Person
One of my first chinchillas, Chester (rest his soul) got sick
one day the same way you described. I tried to give him a raisin and
he just dropped it, and that's when I knew something was wrong. I
broght him directly to the vet, where he began having seizures and
twisting about making pained little noises. It turned out he was
anemic and went off of his food and water.
In any case, he died, sad to say, while the vet was trying to
re-hydrate him. Some animals are just anemic by nature, perhaps again
the colorr factor, though Chester was a standard grey.
The way to check for possible anemia is to look at the chin's
gums and the membrane around the eyes - it should be a healthy pink
color. If the gums and eyes are a pale whitish or grey color, though,
you should bring your chin to a specialist immediately. This may not
be the case in your situation, but I figured I would contribute.
- Daughter of Marge
L & E Forsyth
One of mine has seizures too, seems to be associated with the sound of the
hoover in the room. She's been like this since I got her - I was wanting to
buy a young beige female, I found her, but in very poor condition, to the
extent that I couldn't leave her with her then owners (if I had, I would
have phoned the Animal Cruelty!), I bought her, hopefully to give her a few
months of "good life" before she would die. (She also had malocclusion, and
was half the weight she should have been). I've still got her, nearly two
years on, still a bit undersize, but given how I found her, she's doing
well!
By the way, she's one of 8 chinchillas who share my house, with hopefully
more soon.
Lyn