Could the quivering be a seizure?

[Debbie and Toby]

Last night Toby's coordination seemed a little off, and this morning he was quivering for about an hour. His seizures have almost always been grand mals, but now I wonder if the quivering is some kind of seizure. This has happened before but never for this long.  His meds were just increased about a month ago because he was having more frequent seizures, and clusters again, even on the meds and valium... Is it possible with the increase in meds it prevented him from going into a full blown seizure, and maybe the quivering is a seizure? This is very difficult, and breaks my heart watching him go through this.... The vet has said they don't want to change his meds at this time...

Update at 9:13 am EST  I also want to add that Toby is very wobbly now, losing his balance and has fallen over several times this morning from his legs giving out, He usually has weakness in his hind end after a seizure and after a few doses of valium, but he has only had one dose this morning.... I am waiting for a call back from the vet. Any thoughts on why this might be happening? Does this sound like a different kind of seizure that he is experiencing?

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

 

Seizures can have many different looks.  From his behaviour after the "incident" it does appear he had a seizure.  I understand hy the vet doesn't want to change the meds, as some of them can take over 6 weeks to reach their new stable blood levels.

 

Let us know what the vet says.

[Debbie and Toby]

Thank you, I thought it may be some kind of seizure, but wasn't sure....I was worried about the time frame to get to therapeutic levels again if the meds were changed, so I was somewhat relieved when the vet said he did not want to change the meds yet, but I am really concerned as to why he is having frequent seizures lately. He is having seizures every 1 -3 weeks now, and the vet was doing blood labs every 3 -6 months  until they reached a comfortable therapeutic level of phenobarb. Will keep you posted.

[Debbie and Toby]

Vet says for now we just continue to monitor, feels that with the frequency of seizures now would be risky changing his meds, he was still a little wobbly this morning, we stopped the valium at 11:00pm last night. No clue as to why seizures are getting worse rather than better.... :-(  He also seems to be having much more side effects from the seizures now, more weakness in legs, more agression after seizures....

[Christy O'Connor]

My dog, McCoy, was started on Pheonbarb at three years of age after having seizures for about a year that were getting progressively longer and closer together.  McCoy was seizure free after starting the phenobarb.  I recall when he first started it, about a few days later, he had a partial seizure as you had described above where he couldn't seem to get his balance and was very wobbly and quivering in his hind quarters (this lasted for about thirty minutes).  The vet felt it may be that the Phenobarb prevented a grand mal seizure but at the time, the phenobarb had not yet reached therapeutic levels in his blood to completely prevent seizure activity.  Phenobarb when effective, should reduce seizure activity and in many fortunate dogs such as mine, eliminate the seizures all together.  However, having said that, my dog was on Pheno for three years and then out of nowhere developed liver failure and I had to take him off the Pheno.  Pheno can damage the liver so please make sure to monitor his pheno levels at least every six months. Additionally, and I do not claim to be an expert, only a dog owner, I would suggest getting his liver enzymes tested as well.  My dog's pheno levels were always within the therapeutic range which suggests that his liver was tolerating the medication well. However, and maybe this was an unusual circumstance, he developed chronic active hepatitis which I believe was due to the phenobarb, and therefore had to be quickly weaned off of it. And after becoming very ill, his liver enzymes were tested and they were sky high while his pheno levels still stayed within therapeutic range.  This is just something that I would monitor and be aware of.  My dog is now off all seizure meds and unfortunately, the seizures have returned and I continue to monitor him.  The school of thought is that if the seizures are more frequent than once a month, a dog should probably be medicated to prevent them.  McCoy has been off his meds since June and had two seizures within 24-hours in June and then a partial seizure in July.  Then he had two within 24 hours in early September and was then seizure free until last week... almost three months!  But then just had another one this morning which makes two seizures just one week apart.  Deciding to medicate is a very scary decision for me as every seizure med comes with risks.  My vet has suggested Potassium Bromide for McCoy which does not affect the liver, but has been known in some dogs to cause damage to the kidneys and then I just keep thinking... great, here we go again...  So for now, I am going to just wait and see how he does.. if he starts having them more frequently then I will have to medicate him but I am hoping he may just go a few months seizure free.  But as for the Potassium Bromide, I do know that it takes much longer than Phenobarb to reach therapeutic levels ( I think up to something like three months) and this may be why your Dr. is hesitant to switch meds.  However, my understanding is that you can keep your dog on the Phenobarb and add the Potassium Bromide as well.  If the Phenobarb is not working, I would definitely suggest trying an alternative seizure medication and if your vet is opposed, I would seek a second opinion.  My questions to you are:  How long has he been on the Pheno for?  How often was he having seizures before you started him on the pheno and at what age and for how long was he having seizures before you decided to medicate him?

Also, Potassium Bromide and Pheno are the two most common seizure meds but new research has been occurring where they have now found other medications to be beneficial in canine epilepsy so these may not be your only options, but they probably are the most common and least expensive options.