No. 41 (2020) , Original Article
No. 41 (2020) | Original Article | Published 2020-11-24

Vomit, Sialorrhea and Regurgitation as Clinical Signs of Focal Autonomic Seizures in Three Dogs

Silvia Feijoo
Universidad de Buenos Aires
María Cecilia Ricart
Universidad de Buenos Aires
Laura Marina
Universidad de Buenos Aires
María Carina Passeri
Universidad de Buenos Aires
Adriana Patricia Suraniti
Universidad de Buenos Aires

Abstract

<p>Focal seizures originate in a focal location of the brain with abnormal electric discharges due to different causes and may occur in a low percentage of animals and their signs are different from the typical tonic-clonic myoclony. This work aims to disclose some clinical cases of dogs with vomit, sialorrhea and regurgitation as clinical signs of focal seizures. In addition to these digestive signs, the dogs did not show any noteworthy alteration in the laboratory test results, neither in the complementary imaging methods included in the study. Due to the scant therapeutic response and as the dogs got worse (a serious loss of weight), having ruling out any peripheral cause of vomit and/or regurgitation, the possibility of a central cause was considered. The dogs underwent an electroencephalogram (EEG) and in all cases the EEG results showed anomalies. Due to the described clinical conditions, a phenobarbital treatment was administered and the three cases clinical cases evolved positively. Dogs with focal autonomic seizures may show various clinical symptoms depending on the damaged brain regions they come from. Therefore, it is important to consider a central cause —focal autonomic epilepsy— for the differential clinical signs such as the vomit, mostly when there is not a clearly diagnosed cause</p>
PDF (Spanish)

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Keywords

focal seizures
electroencephalogram
autonomic signs