Seizure or died

[Plexi]

I had an experience today, since I use to work at a Vet I had seen alot of dogs with seizures. Today I had a 15yr. poodle that I have done for years in a LIPS sling and just trimmed the top of his feet, when he started to scream bloody murder. I know I didn't cut him cause I just started and didn't really do anything yet.
I took him down out of the sling and I picked him up and he was limp as a rag. I thought for sure he was dead. I laid him down on the table and gently massaged him and that is when he twitched and peed all over. So only then did I even think he was having a seizure. Scared me to death!!
After about 10min he was his old old self again.

[diamienono]

That would have been the end of that grooming. OMG, that would make me pee my pants.

[hairdevil]

I've had that happen too..its horrible to watch! glad he's okay. makes you feel like you're going to have a stroke too doesn't it? lol I've never had one to die while being groomed, knock on wood!

[workingchihuahua]

seizure. make sure you tell the owner.

[Minou]

Absolutely make sure you tell the owner, I totally agree on that!

Have you thought of taking a Pet CPR & First Aid course. The American Red Cross gives one - fairly inexpensive and only 4 hrs. You can buy the book if there is no Chapter in your area that gives the course. I feel good to have this knowledge in case it ever happens.

My little sister who is a mobile groomer saved the life of a little Pom last year because she knew Pet CPR. Scared the hell out of her!!!

It's something very scary, so I can just imagine how you felt. Happy to hear the dog is Ok )

[Dexy]

I have a 12 year old mini that siezures. Usually under stress situations. A local grooming school borrowed him for training - he stands on the table four square and rock solid - and this was before he had his first ever siezure and guess when and where he had it, yep.

Scared the student(s) to death but the instructor handled it and after calming all the students down told me privately that she thought that it was a good learning experience for the class. They may one day experience another dog that seizures and now know what to do and not to panic.

[Pixie]

I was grooming a poodle x way back when I was learning and he had a seizure except he didn't go limp. He just screamed and peed and pooped all over himself. My boss told me to give him a little sugar and he soon came out of it and was ok after about 10-15 min. Told the owners and they were aware of it, he had done it before. I guess I was the only one that didn't know he had seizures, scared me to death just about. I was able to finish him up after a bit. He was fine for rest of the groom, he was about done anyway when he had the seizure.

[SpikeyTheYorkie]

Oh my gosh!!! If that had happened to me I would have thought the dog was DEAD! When a dog dies, they let go of their bladder and bowel, so I would have thought it had ended its life on my table. Oh, I pray that never happens to me! I'm sorry you had to deal with that.

Tammy in Utah

[winterroo]

I once had a dog that seizured for 45, yes 45 minutes in and out. It was horrible. I called the owner to come get the dog because I didn't think it was a good idea to keep working on her (after she finally came out of it), and she tells me to go ahead and finish her, she does this all the time. I said no, come get her and she finally did, but never came back again. This was a dog that had been in several times before too. Oh well, I was never sorry about the decision to send her home...

[petstylist]

Before I started on opening my own shop I worked at a vet and had several dogs that had seizures, some stress related, some not. Some I swear did it just to scare the [email protected] out of me! They were all nerve racking to work on!

Although I had my first "trial by fire" you could say while I was in grooming school over 15 years ago. I had a dog drop dead while I was bathing him. It is something I will never forget. I had only been in school for three weeks when this happened. He was a extremely obese Keeshond (one of those that gets so fat you can see his skin through his fur, because its just not thick enough to cover that much skin, if you know what I mean), to the point it took three of us to pick him up into the tub. The day he passed away he had been brought into the school for his normal bath and brush out (he was a reg. customer) and while I was bathing he collapsed. One of the instructors helped me pull him from the tub and we started CPR but he never came back. The owners came and took his body for an autopsy and told the school owners that he had an apointment with their vet because he had not been acting like he felt well. Well in the three days it took to get the report back I didnt go to school, I just cried all day thinking I had somehow killed these people's beloved pet, then the school owners called and told me that it was not my fault, the dog had had a major blood clot in the artery leading into his liver, which caused the artery to rupture and he literaly bleed to death internally. The owners even sent me a note thanking me and the instructor for trying to safe his life. I went back to school a few days later and still to this day am paranoid about grooming obese dogs.
Tammy

[Jadenlea]

could have been a seizure, also could have been a heart thing. I groom a little poodle who is in heart failure. she does FINE with me. I do her on my very quiet saturdays and do her quickly and get her right out but one day when I brought her out to her mom she got to excited to see her. she started dancing around, then suddenly went limp...passed out and after a couple seconds peed all over her nice new groomign and woke back up.

I was stunned and paniced but her owner was fairly calm and said that it happens at home if she gets excited about anything.

For anyone wondering why I still groom her.. well.. being a groomer at a vet, where else is she going to go? And she really does need grooming. Also.. she has been grooming with me every 4-6 weeks for over 10 years and doesnt really get stressed or upset there. She is at more risk at home if someone knocks on their door. hehe.

[KarlaSnyder]

Yes, Jadenlea, I think this is definately a heart thing. It happened to me once with a little Maltese-scared me to death. The owner said that this happens-would've been nice if she'd told me when the dog came in, tho.

Then, I adopted Candi-a little Shih Tzu that after being a bi-weekly client for 9 years, the owner wanted to find this 12 year old dog a new home. Always said I would keep her-she was a sweetie-so one day, in came Candi and I took her home. Think the new BF was abusing her, but that/s another story. Candi started the screaming thing, and it progressed to passing out. The first time it happened, I really did think she had died. She was in heart failure. The eppisodes became more frequent and I sent her on her final journey 2 years later. RIP little one. I think the dogs panic when they can't get oxygen, and that's why they scream-it really is a pain/panic type scream. Or maybe they have extreme chest pain?