Last night, around midnight, I thought everything was fine. But when I opened the back door to let Kelly inside after her last evening romp in the yard, I got a scare.
Kelly was panting heavily, and shaking. When I crouched down to pat her, she started to come to me, then turned and ran into the living room. She seemed disoriented. I sat on the floor next to her and pat her, feeling her entire body trembling. I thought something had frightened her outside. But she didn’t calm down.
She kept coming to me, then turning and hiding in the corner. She crouched behind our elliptical machine–a place she’d never spent any time before. I sat on the floor as close as I could get to her and stroked her, trying to soothe her. Her eyes were red and she kept looking up at the ceiling, as if she heard a strange noise. She didn’t want to come to me, but preferred to hide where she must have felt safe. I just sat there quietly and talked soothingly once in a while.
It took a half an hour for her to stop shaking. I finally got her to lie down beside me on the couch. After, I gave her some bits of cheese and she drank some water and then went to bed. This morning she seems fine.
About a year ago she had a seizure, and while she’d acted differently at that time (she kept stumbling and falling, but otherwise seemed alert), I’m guessing this might be another episode. The veterinarian had said to keep an eye on things, and to record in a notebook any time she had an episode. Nothing would be done about it unless the seizures got much closer together. One or two a year is not something my vet would medicate.
Today Kelly seems better, but it sure does worry me. It’s scary to see her so upset and not know exactly what is wrong. It’s still possible that something outside frightened her, but I thought she would have calmed down much sooner than a half hour later. She’s not usually a skittish girl. At least for now, she’s back to her old self.
Paws for Reflection: Wouldn’t it be nice if dogs could talk and tell us what they are thinking or feeling?
