Exercise Induced Collapse

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Hi all, I'm new here so bear with me :)

My lovely chocolate labrador is 2 and a half and very hyperactive with tons of energy. We have played fetch with her since she was old enough for longer bursts of exercise, and she has always loved it. In fact she gets very excited about it! The other day we were walking her, not a very long walk maybe only 45 mins, and took the ball with us to play fetch. The weather wasn't hot, there was a chilly breeze and she had a big drink before we set off. She had plenty of rest on the walk just carrying the ball. On the way back to the car her back legs started going and she was walking like she was what I can only describe as drunk. She walked a few steps in this dazed manner, staggering and struggling to keep her back legs up before collapsing on the floor panting for about 30 seconds and repeating this all the way down the hill. We stopped at the gate so DP could go get the car and carry her to it. DP carried her into the house when we got home and about 20 mins later she was back to normal as if nothing had happened.

Took her to the vets the following day and he thinks it could be something called Exercise Induced Collapse, which if it is then it is really sad for her as she can't play fetch or do anything too exciting when she absolutely loves running around like a nutter!

Just wondering if anyone has come across this before? If so how did they deal with it.

Bump.

I expect the vet listened to her heart for a murmur? You will have to reduce her length of time doing high energy if it happens again.
She is young still and very excitable. As she gets older this will abate somewhat and may not happen then.

EIC is an inherited disease - were both her parents tested for it? Both parents have to carry the gene for the puppies to be affected by it. If just one parent carries it, then some pups will be clear and some carriers.

Who were her parents? Their health test results will be listed on the kennel club website.

Your dog can also be easily tested to establish whether it is EIC or not. See here for example.

If it is EIC, all dogs are affected differently and have different triggers. It's not the easiest thing in the world to manage sometimes, but there is a lot of advice available if you need it.

DaisyDot, that video is exactly what happened, in fact that could quite easily be a video of her! Actually, it isn't tested for in the UK, it isn't something they usually test for. I can't remember what her mums name was, and I've misplaced the papers, but her dads KC name was "Wonderful Milktray man" it has happened again since, when she was running around with another dog in the field.

For years I've thought my black lab has had epilepsy as he will collapse after too much exercise and also have seizures. Then I found out about exercise induced collapse and as he is getting worse, I went to vet last week. Vet watched videos of him and took bloods. Vet rang me last night and said he thinks my dog has myotonia. I have to take him back in a couple of weeks as he wants to perform a test on him. I haven't been letting him off the lead in the park at all after his episode last week although he was chasing ball in garden earlier and went a bit wobbly but recovered after laying down for a while. I'm scared to let him run around at all now although vet said all you can do is manage the condition and not over exercise him.

Cookie - it is tested for in the UK by good breeders. I test, and so do all the breeders I know. There is one lab which has the testing licence here.

It is a condition mostly found in trial bred Labradors and needs careful management.

It is vital to stop exercise at the first hint of collapse to give the dog a change to recover and head off a worsening of the collapse. It is possible for a dog to die of this if you don't.

I am not trying to scaremonger, but it needs to be taken seriously. The effects do tend to reduce as the dog ages and becomes less excitable.

She's not trial bread though which is why it's so strange. Her kc papers had a list of all the tests her parents had but I don't know where the papers are (prob in the loft as its not essential we have them to hand as we are not breeding, she is speyed and were not showing her either) she is simply a house pet. I know what her kc name is though.

The vet wants us to video her next episode, which luckily are few and far between since not allowing her to play ball.