Update on Seizuring dog

[CrazyK9]

Well, Thursday evening at about 4:30pm, Kat had another seizure. :(

I was laying on the couch and heard a bang on the coffee table in front of me. I looked down and Kat was shaking. She was facing down with her mouth wide open against the ground. It was much more intense this time (it looked as if she was going to break her legs, they were extending so fast and hard) but also a lot shorter... maybe 30 seconds?

We took her to the vet immediately.

So, to those we tried to make me feel guilty --and even gave me negative reputation points-- for not taking her in the first time around, guess what. The blood test results came up normal, like I said would probably happen. Going to the vet did nothing to help and was indeed a waste of money. The vet (a different one than we talked to the first time) said that she probably has epilepsy and it was nothing to worry about. If she keeps having them this frequently, we may have to put her on phenobarbital (sp?) but she would advise against it at this point because long term use can lead to serious health problems (as with most medicine).

Thanks to those of you who offered advice and comfort. :) I started a seizure log and now have a better idea of what to do when this happens. I just need to remember next time to get a watch so I can time it ...although I'll still hoping this won't happen again, or at least not any time soon!

[DryCreek]

Sorry to hear that CrazyK9.

There are so many levels of epilepsy and many things that can promote seizures. Stress is a good trigger for me LOL. It may also help if you can include in your log what Kat was doing when the seizure started. It may not show anything but it's worth it if you end up noticing a trend.

Talk calmy to Kat if she has another seizure. Make sure you move anything she can hurt herself on.

Best of luck to you and Kat. :)

[Fedor23]

sorry to hear that, hope she everything comes out okay.

[Michele]

Sorry Crazy. Keeping the log is a good idea....and what DryCreek said is good too

[FearlessKnight]

Well, while I am sorry to hear that it happened again....here a coupls of sites that might interest you, if you have not already found them..

http://www.canine-epilepsy.com/Resources.html

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1828&articleid=433

http://www.epilepsy-cf.org/seizure_dogs.htm

http://www.purelypets.com/articles/epilepsyarticle.htm

This one I think you will find interesting:
http://www.k9web.com/dog-faqs/medical/epilepsy.html

Good luck to you and Kat!

[CrazyK9]

Thanks for the links, Fearless. I think I have visited all of those pages (except for the seizure detecting dog info, lol... guessing that was a mistake?) but I'll read through them again. :)

Drycreek, she has always been sleeping when it happens, so if that is a trend, God help her because she sleeps 20 hours a day LOL.

A few questions maybe you can help me out with:
-Last time I really thought she might break her legs so I held them still. Should I even be concerned and can I actually be doing more harm than good by holding her legs down?
-Also, I have been keeping away from her mouth but I'm worried. No, not about her swallowing her tongue, lol, but biting it. She is already leaving scars on her bottom lip... is there anything I can do about that?



Thanks again y'all and please, please keep praying that this won't happen so frequently anymore.

[Suki]

sorry to be reading this.

ABK=GREAT advice in that last thread. wiithout question keep your hands away from her mouth to avoid getting bitten.
there is not any real harm to hold her legs somewhat still while a seizure is occurring to help her avoid any possible injury to herslf during it.
seizures can be a fluke thing, due to blood sugars dropping, environmental issues=changing air sprays, cleaning solutions, etc, or even a thyroid that is off. (low). the causes are many....

yeah, a vet can run some diagnositc tests to detirmine possible causes, however in some cases there are no known reasons, and yes, a vet may tell you to monitor your dog at home, in the event another one may occur. (I am actually at work right now, "monitoring" a 12 year old srpringer spaniel who had a seizure today. his first one, and i am simply watching, "monitoring" his behavior".... so that advice is NOT all that uncommon....

there are some things you an do in the meantime tho, switch to a food that has little or no preservatives, yes, keep a log, as you're doing to possibly help you see find a "common thread". use chemical free=environmentally safe products around your house. see if your dog can get the 3yr vaccines as opposed to the one year, as vaccines can lower a dog's resistance to seizures and possibly even create more.
i'll try to write more, @ work now and gutta get some things done.
and imo, you did not deserve the neg points...
the vet who is on right now, that i am working with that she would treat a seizure if it lasted longer than 2 minutes, was a cluster, ...
yours being neither would have warranted the "monitor her at home" remark, in her opinion...best to catch it in the act, but in most cases, that's not possible.

[Justif3ed Ang3l]

im so sorry to hear about ur dog.....my 12 week old puppy was haveing seizurse 4 times a week sometimes 3 in a day real bad foaming at the mouth ,temp blindness muscles just so tense that he looked dead his body just couldnt handle it...its a nasty thing i know first hand and when its with a puppy its horrible cuz they got ther whole life ahead of them.....but i went to a vet right away tests came back negitive for everything.....in the end his brain was to big for his tiney scull.....so they gave me the mixture of....PHENOBARBITAL to even the levels in his blood....and PREDNISONE to unswell his brain....at first they thought it was epilepsy and i wasted my money on diffrent stuff that did not help but lucky me i found a wounderful vet thank god.....he said that it was ASEPHALITIS..and the combination of the med helped alot it too 3 weeks to kick into his blood stream.....this is his first month without haveing a seizure.....ask around about it talk to vets about it....i know it may not be for you dog but u never know....i wouldnt stop giveing up i knew it couldnt be epilepsy there was something more going on......so i found out....hope ur dog and u are okay and soon one day....NO MORE SEIZURE

[AKPit]

Hi There,

I am very sorry to hear about your baby :( I definetly know the concerns you are going thru, and I hope that you and your vet can work out a treatment plan that will work...sometimes it takes a while to get a dog w/ epilepsy stabilized with medications or changing lifestyle ways....but it's worth it all to try anything to work it out.

I wrote the following paragraph in the "disorders" section too...feel free to email me or pm me if you want to talk...we have been living with epilepsy for about 3 years now, although each case is different, it is always nice to have someone to talk to that has gone thru some of the same concerns as you.....Sending Hugs to you and your epil baby.....

Colleen & Tawodi

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We have a 4.5 year old UKC APBT girl here that started having seizures @ 1.5 years old. It really was hard at first, but now that we have her seizures SOMEWHAT under control it is more livable. She usually seizes every 2-3 weeks...normally with a full moon stage. She gets Pheno, KBr, Proin, and Taurine for her seizure/issue drugs...everyday twice a day for her. She has Gran Mal seizures every time and also clusters....usually when all is said and done it is about 8 seizures or so in a 24 hour period. We have been working on a new protcol to stop her cluster seizuring, with promising results...
All I think is that each day she is with us and happy (almost all of the time lol) are the best days....she is an awesome dog and such a blessing!
Our girl's idiopathic epilepsy is hereditary. A good number of the other pups from her litter also had epilepsy. I believe she is the only one living now. It is a hard disorder to deal with but our girl is WELL worth the work...
My heart goes out to anyone else who has to deal with this disease. Would love to see if there are other Purebred/Registered APBT owners out there that have had dogs who have had/have epilepsy. Interested in seeing the lines that other people have that have this disease.
Please feel free to PM me with questions or comments :)
Thanks!
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