My sisters dog used to have them quite often. She took him in and the vet gave her a med that they had to give the dog twice a day. In their case they took him in cause he had more than one, not sure what it was though.

there are meds that they give for seizures but hang on to your wallet.

My chocolate lab is on phenobarbital tiwce a day for the rest of his life.  Started Two years ago when he turned 4.  Sounds like the same type of seizures your describing. Not real expensive either, 100 pills for 10 dollars or something like that.

would something like this possibly happen from heat stroke?  We were outside at night by a bonfire and I was throwing her ball for about an hour.  She came in and ate and drank a bunch of water.  about 45 minutes later is when this all took place?

A couple of years ago this happened to a buddy of mine's dog and they took him in and found out that he had a form of diabetes i believe.  The way you described everything is what we saw also.  He had a black lab and was probably around that 3-4 years of age.

My pointer/setter drop dog was hypoglycemic.  I needed to carry honey and biscuits to give her an energy shock throughout the day when temps were warm.  Having a dog convulse in the field is an unforgettable, helpless experience.  I was able to circumvent the possibilities with a good breakfast, plenty of water and honey. 

I have a 7 yr old black lab that has had seizures like you desrcibed for the last 3-4 yrs.  Scared the heck out of us the first time it happened one night just like your dog. Vet put her on the phenobarbital but we took her off it after a while because it made her drink so much and pee all over the place.  Vet warned us that could happen.  She's not on anything and still has seizures every so often (month to 6 months apart) but the vet said we shouldn't worry unless she starts having multiple one in a short time or if she starts having ones that last more than 5 minutes.

ive seen this before and i would recommend taking her into the vet and tell them what occured.If it was a seizure the pills are not real expensive and will help her.None the  less id take her in.

I have a chocolate lab that this would happen to2 or 3 times a year. Vet put her on a special diet and no problems so far. The "special" food isn't cheap though. They way my wife explained it, it has something to do with kidney function. Plus the dog is 10 years old.

My 6 year old chocolate lab has been on phenobarbital for four years because of seizures.  He was diagnosed with epylepse and had seizure often.  The phenobarbital took care of it but it can be hard on their liver.  After having gone through this whole process of trying different meds to avoid the phenobarbital the vet told us to monitor the seizures and note how often they happen.  If it starts to happen often then take him to the vet.  Generally a vet will try and avoid putting your dog on phenobarbital.  The pills are not expensive but the yearly blood work to check out levels in the dogs system runs around $80.

I would not worry too much about one but say three in a month I would be going to the vet.

My last golden had them,little more to the seizure tho,alot of trembing,tightness,foaming at the mouth,sometimes alot of gas~ Vet said seizures are common with most breeds however most folks are not with their animal 24/7 to see them,in my case I recorded seizures when they occured,spring and fall were the worst until the vet put him on 5mg of predizone 3 times a week,problem solved ,he was fine during winter and summer months.

I think your pup has another issue,I'd get to the vet for a check up.

got a 12 year old springer that had 3 of them from july to december of last year.  figured it was old age.  but, started thinking about the circumstances/events surrounding each siezure and the only common thread was.... get this.... milkbone treats.... we never used to have them at our house.  but, the wife's family feeds them to their dogs religiously.  we just so happened to have been w/ them at the time or just before the first 2 siezures occurred and she had been getting treats along w/ their dogs.  and i had just purchased a big box and given her 3 of the darn things the night of her 3rd siezure.  i switched her diet to diamond naturals dog food and threw the milkbones out.  its been 7-8 months now w/o a single siezure.  could be coincidence.  but, it can't hurt to review the last few days before your lab had her siezure and make sure she didn't eat anything out of the ordinary before you go fork over a few hundred to a vet.  good luck.  sure is a helpless feeling.  each time i was convinced i was "saying goodbye" to her.

Interesting observation Espringers!  Sure looks suspicious to me, though the only way to test your theory would be to put the pooch back on milkbones.  I doubty you'd want to try that!   The guard at Menards always give my dog milkbones when I'm going through the gate, but she won't eat them.  Maybe just as well.   
Wasn't there a bunch of dog food imported from China about a year ago  that was contaminated by some pretty nasty stuff?  

The milkbone story reminded me of the first time my wife witnessed the dog having a seizure. She called me at work and had me rush home because she thought the dog was dieing. When I got home the dog was acting as some of you described. Drooling, hind legs not working, convulsing etc... Well, I didn't know what to do but try and comfort the dog. A few minutes later, the dog barfs up about 3-4lbs of red garnet field beans.  The landlord had been combining and storing on my farm in the quonset. I would have never thought a dog would have a taste of raw beans, but she is a glutton that will eat damn near anything. Anyway after the dog finished horking up the beans everything was back to normal. Now that I think about it, that may have been the first time she had a seizure. She hasn't had one since last January when the Doc put her on her "special diet". $50 for a 20lb bag. She hasn't lost any weight though. She still looks like a whiskey barrel on four legs.

Lots of good information here. You can try the diet suggestions and see if they help prevent recurrence.

My two cents it is probably worth a vet visit or discussion by telephone if your vet does such things, especially considering the stated conditions that may have contributed to Speedmaker's  dog's first seizure.  It would likely take a vet's aid to help determine if blood sugar has anything to do with it.  Our male yellow lab is about 5 years now and has had seizures that we are aware of for about 2 years or so, ranging from just appearing uncoordinated to acting as if blind or vomiting (very rare) or defecating (rarely), and thrashing/flopping, never lasting more than a few minutes.  One link I observed is that usually when they (seizure) were observed, he had just been suddenly woke up from sleep.  They can be genetic or from head injury, so I am told.  Our dog did fall from a pick-up bed when not quite full grown (another reason not to let a dog ride in an open  pick-up bed no matter how much they seem to like it, I did have the dog on a homestyle 'bungee' set-up that I thought would prevent falling out but did not), dog was not knocked out or anything but could conceivably had a head injury at time, and the first noticed seizure was not for 1-2 years afterwards.  Dog has been on minimal phenobarbital daily dose for a year or so and has been generally seizure free that we know of.  His behavior has not changed, though I have heard of dogs requiring such a large dose/frequency they basically just lay there and do nothing, not a pretty sight either.  Some possible side effects of phenobarb have already been mentioned.

espringers Said:

like i said... my silly story could just be coincidence.  however, it turns out some folks seem to think diets can and do play a role in siezures w/ some dogs.  given the crap they put in some of the dog foods out there, i won't discount the possibility.  and tis probably better to just take her into the vet and make sure it isn't caused by something that can be easily diagnosed and treated.  good luck. 

I don't think the diet idea is a silly one at all.  When the vet diagnosed my dog that is one of the first things we looked at.  I wish it would have been that easy.

Your dog could have possibly gotten into something that night that you don't know of.  Just one possibility.