I recently learned about Rolandic epilepsy from a friend whose son has been diagnosed with it. It is a type of seizure that starts around the Rolandic fissure in the brain (hence the name) and typically occurs during non-rapid eye movement sleep, either at the onset of sleep or just before awakening, and typically occurs at night. Typically also only affects children between 3-13 years, after which they grow out of it. Typically a sleeping child having this seizure twitches at the mouth and salivates a lot. My friend said her son is always conscious when the seizure is happening (typical for this type of epilepsy) and that it terrifies him because he feels he can't breathe and feels his body is paralysed down one side. A Rolandic seizure can be followed by a regular seizure. I wondered if anyone knows if this type of seizure occurs in dogs? Snowie is epileptic and his seizures occur in the early hours of the morning (what looks like grand mal seizures). He also twitches a lot when he sleeps -- which we think is dreaming, lips twitch, paws do a tap-tap-tap, and sometimes he makes sounds -- squeaks, little barks, hrmphs. Dreaming or Rolandic seizures?
I had never heard of this type of epilepsy - info says that human children grow out of it around puberty on the whole. Sounds like dreaming but I guess the differences are kind of subtle - might need vocalisation to distinguish them.
I suppose I'm hoping that Snowie will grow out of it, too! That's why I was curious if dogs get Rolandic epilepsy -- but no way to know unless with an EEG, and those kinds of tests are not done on dogs (my pet medical aid would have a fit I am sure!). Snowie had another seizure yesterday morning, and of course we try to find all kinds of things might have caused it so that we can exclude those. This time we think it might be a reaction to a particular fish we've fed him -- the last seizure occurred also when he'd eaten this particular fish. Both times he vomited up stinky fishy stuff and both times he had diarrhea afterwards. But vomiting and diarrhea might also just be associated with the seizure itself and not the fish. Who's to know?! But that's it with the fish -- I donated all the frozen packs I had left over to an animal welfare organisation. I don't think there's anything wrong with the fish itself -- it comes from a reputable supplier.
Dogs tend to have seizures when relaxed, hence fits in the night or early morning. Have you joined the Phyllis Croft Foundation for Canine Epilepsy, they are extremely helpful and knowledgeable. I have had an epileptic dog, very difficult to live with when they are fitting but completely fine between times.
No, I didn't pursue it. But I am now convinced the seizures Snowie had last year were caused by a single dose of Bravecto. He has not had a seizure since. Granted he's on epilepsy meds. But ever since we stopped all flea/tick stuff, he's been fine. Long may that continue.
