Status Epilepticus After Electrocution Injury in a Dog

To describe a case of status epilepticus secondary to electrocution injury associated with an electric fence.

A 1.5-year-old male Kangal Shepherd Dog mix was presented to the emergency service after being entangled in an agricultural electric fence for 1-2 h. On presentation, the dog was recumbent, was unable to stand or walk, and showed severe hypersalivation, panting, and tachycardia. No electrical burn injuries were observed, and the remaining physical and neurologic examination parameters were normal. ECG and thoracic radiographs showed no abnormalities. During further assessment and stabilization of the patient, generalized tonic-clonic seizures occurred. Initial treatment with antiseizure medications had no effect, and antiseizure therapy was escalated in response to the refractory seizure activity. With escalation of the antiseizure therapy, the dog became unable to sufficiently ventilate, requiring initiation of mechanical ventilation. Given the rapid deterioration and refractory seizure activity, a 24-h electroencephalogram (EEG) was performed to guide further treatment and provide prognostic information. EEG monitoring revealed physiologic background activity, and the dog was successfully weaned after a total of 30 h of mechanical ventilation. Antiseizure therapy was slowly tapered throughout the remaining hospital stay, and the dog made a full neurologic and clinical recovery and was discharged with oral phenobarbital after 7 days. Four weeks after discontinuation of phenobarbital, the dog experienced a recurrence of seizure activity, and medication was reinitiated.

To the authors' knowledge, this is the first case describing the successful management, including ventilation and EEG monitoring, of a dog with status epilepticus secondary to electrocution injury associated with an electric fence.