If my vet were to say "just one of those things" to a situation I knew was not right, I would find another vet.

I suggest you do the same. This is not an acceptable diagnosis. Is vet going to say the same thing if the situation becomes more serious?

You need to know why specifically this is going on. Younger pups are completely different from that of older dogs. Minor issues can quickly grow into major ones.

SG

I agree, the dog may have secures, If its mild its a doable, but if it hampers quality of life, you may have to make a difficult decision.

Is she having these episodes after eating or at any other particular time or correlated with any other activity? Seizures/neurological issues in an animal that young are usually due to a congenital defect of some kind. With the kind of history your dog has, if the episodes occur after eating, I would be highly suspicious of a portosystemic shunt (liver shunt). These can be fixed surgically but of course they need to be diagnosed first.

OTOH, it could be just one of those things. I had a client rush a puppy to the vet for the hiccoughs- she was SURE the puppy was dying of convulsions. I get muscle twitches at times and I don't have a problem with it; I'm sure animals get them too.

If you have a way to video the episodes, that may help the vet understand exactly what you are talking about. Animals rarely have their episodes at the vet office, and as much as you try to describe what is happening it may not trigger the right thought process in the vet.

"If my vet were to say "just one of those things" to a situation I knew was not right, I would find another vet. "
I could not agree more.

Carla

Thank you all for your replies. Just after we got the puppies my son was looking after them for a couple of days. He saw the shaking/twitching and took her to the vet. That was when she said it was one of those things. I will watch her carefully over the next few days and see if it is at the same time every day or after certain things have happened - walking, eating etc. I will also try to video the episodes. I'll let you know how things go.

I am in agreement with Meghane. Your vet should have asked you to be more specific. Puppy do have lots of weird motor behaviors while they are growing..heck my dog stopped running for a couple of weeks, because of growth spurts - he got so clumsy because he could not count on his feet being in the same place from Monday to Friday!! Vidoe taping your pups behavior is a great idea. I would be concerned about seizures because of the breeds mixed in the blood of your pup...

The vet did some blood work, which was normal. Yesterday I was outside with the dogs and Emma just fell to the floor and turned on her side and started 'paddling' and jerking. It lasted for about a minute and then she seemed very disoriented and weak/tired. Took her to the vet. More blood work done. Results came back normal today. Vet left me a voicemail to say she thought it was epilepsy. If she has three or more seizures a year then they would recommend medication. Not sure what to do. I thought epilepsy was determined through brain scans? Anyone else had anything else like this happen to their dog?

Time to put your dog on anti seizure meds. Sorry to hear you are experiencing this so early in your dogs life, good to know you also caught it early, most seizure episodes are treatable, but your dog needs to be on meds.

Below is a link that can help you to understand what may be going on with your dog. Read it, and than discuss what you have learned with your Vet.

Here is a link that might be useful: understanding seizures

Epilepsy is a diagnosis of elimination- you rule out all the other possible causes of seizures and end up with epilepsy. With normal lab work, many causes are eliminated, however I would not be satisfied with just routine blood work in such a young dog. Idiopathic epilepsy tends to occur in dogs 2-6 years old at age of onset, not at 20 weeks.

Routine blood work may be normal with portosystemic shunts. Your dog is just the "right" age to be affected by this congenital disease. I'd HIGHLY recommend a bile acids pre and post prandial test to rule out PSS. This is a condition that can be fixed, but only if it is diagnosed. If your vet already did a bile acids test, then I would be searching for other causes. It is VERY unusual for a dog that young to have idiopathic epilepsy. The process of getting a diagnosis may be difficult and expensive. It can include CSF taps, CT or MRI of the brain, tick serology, titers for distemper, and other things. But because of her age, I would strongly recommend pursuing diagnostics because some causes can be treated- if diagnosed.

The other thing I am concerned about is the timing of the seizures. In dogs with epilepsy, the seizures generally occur when the dog is tired- when getting ready for sleep or just as they wake up. It is very unusual for a dog to be playing outside and have a seizure with epilepsy. I suspect there is a disease process going on that needs to be diagnosed.

Another remote possibility is a heart problem. Because she is part Boxer, she could have arrhythmagenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (aka Boxer cardiomyopathy). This can sometimes look like seizures, but what actually happens is the heart starts pumping VERY quickly- so quickly that the ventricles cannot fill up with blood. This leads to less blood being pumped to the brain, and the dog passes out due to lack of oxygenated blood to the brain. Sometimes they don't pass out completely and try to get up which can be mistaken for paddling as with a seizure. If the arrhythmia continues, they can act dazed and confused even though they are now standing. This disease is harder to diagnose because you have to be present when the arrhythmia occurs, which doesn't happen all the time. Most dogs are placed on a Holter monitor, which is a 24-hour ECG, for a diagnosis. Sometimes careful auscultation of the heart or getting lucky at the hospital with an ECG can also help a diagnosis. If she wasn't part Boxer I wouldn't mention this as a possibility, but many a Boxer has died because they were being treated for seizures when they were actually having syncopal (fainting) episodes due to cardiomyopathy. Cardiomyopathy doesn't explain the tremors she had, though. I've had several clients with Boxers on seizure medications from other vets who were misdiagnosed- the meds weren't helping. But because the dogs were having episodes when active and not when sleepy, it made me think of this heart problem and not seizures. It's a remote possibility, but one that should be looked into, just in case.

spoke with the vet on Friday, who basically told me I was 'seeing too much into the incident' and that she was certain it was epilepsy. So what to do now? This is not easy. My husband and I were laid off in August of last year, so money is tight at the moment and I just don't have the extra money to spend of tests. I feel so bad. Do I just take each day as it comes, do I put Emma out of her maybe misery? I just don't know what to do.

Has Emma had any more seizures or twitching episodes? Is she completely normal between seizures and twitching episodes?

Thank you for responding meghane, I was hoping that you would! Emma appears to be 'normal' no seizures and only slight twitching from time to time when she is sleeping (all of the dogs I have had have done this!) She will be one is May (how time flies!) and is such a sweet girls. She is the laid back one of the two dogs we rescued. Scout is on the go nearly 24/7 - I swear she has ADHD. So, what do I do about Emma? If I thought she was in any pain or discomfort I could not live with that.