Seizures

[brunosmommy]

Hi, I have been reading all the difficulties people have been having with seizures. Let me tell Bruno's story. Bruno is an English Retriever, he has been with me since he was 6 weeks old he is now 5 yrs old. My poor baby had stomach issues right from the start, the lady I received him from gave me a gallon of tap water from her house and told me he could have issues switching over to my tap water, so it was best to do 50/ 50. He had extreme diarrhea for the first few months of his life. No sleep, outside ever hour, lucky for me I had my motherinlaw taking care of the kids while I was at work! With that, he was not a crate dog so I spent my nights on the couch and he would wake me to go potty, never in the house. Finally after months of trying everything, and no sleep, my vet put him on Hills Prescription Diet, ID, for digestive problems. He has been fine since with only fruits and vegetables as snack. Then when he was 3 yrs old he had his first seizure. Very scary, but I knew right away because I had seen it before.  Doctor suggested watching him and keep track of them before we started medication. He had several within a span of 2 yrs. Then 2 months ago I had brought him to the groomers, and he had 3 within 20 minutes. My vet put him on Phenobarbital that day, 100 mg every 12 hours.For the first 2 weeks he was clumsy, something my doctor said to know. Now he is thirsty all the time, which concerned me because I had a dog with diabetes. He is also hungry all the time which is heart breaking, but my vet said not to overfeed him :( Kinda hard when you look into those beautiful brown eyes! I have not had any blood tests which concerns me because I do not want him on any more medication then he needs. He is 90 lbs.  I'm also concerned about his organs being affected by the medication. My vet told me we could try it for a year and if he no longer has any then we can take him off of it. My belief is that stress brought on those 3 seizures within 20 minutes, he hates going to the groomers because he is in a crate for several hours, and all the barking that goes on. I now am having a groomer come to my house, I also have cameras set up so I can see if he has a seizures, none yet. I would like to take him off it sooner and watch him, change things that stress him, and go from there. I believe it could work, and go back if need be. What do you think?

[Shirley5300]

Hi!!  It makes me feel so much better to read all the other seizure stories!!!  My Boston Terrier is 15 y.o and has been having seizures for the past 18 months.  She has also been pacing and barking every few hours throughout the night for the past 18 months.  Since she has been on PB she has a seizure every 6 weeks, but the pacing and barking are exhausting us all.  She gets Valium twice a day to reduce the barking and pacing, but I really don't know that it helps.

I started using Bach's Pet Rescue Remedy for her pacing/"dementia" symptoms.  It doesn't stop the pacing completely but she doesn't get as barky and falls to sleep sooner.  We went to the vet for her check up and was prescribed Keppra to go with the PB, replacing the valium with the Keppra.  I am hoping that this combo will do the trick...the vet said that the downside is that the Keppra must be given every eight hours and I would have to get up at night.  Hello, I'm up four times a night now...once would be a blessing!!!

I will keep everyone posted with our progress!!!

Scruffy -- Boston Terrier
Age 15 years
PB -- 7 mg every 12 hours
Keppra 3/4 of a 250 mg tab every 8 hours
Milk Thistle (for the liver)

Signed,  Shirley, Scruffie's mom

[tonyb286]

Blood testing is essential. Without a comprehensive blood test and urinalysis, you will have no idea what is happening. This may be epilepsy or the seizures could be due to a primary illness, such as kidney failure. Get the tests done, please.

Tony