Mariner Update

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

Since around Thanksgiving Mariner's problems with the seizures have been presenting more difficulties. After about 3 months being seizure free he started to have frequent seizures. This started after giving him the Heartgard Plus and Frontline Plus. We think that the Frontline may be lowering his seizure threshhold. But even as recently as this week he has had a seizure. They are becoming less frequent. We did all the medical workups and although there were some abnormalities right after the orginal seizures they resolved themselves. We are still hoping that it is the long acting effects of the Frontline that lowered his seizure threshhold, so we are discontinueing it and will see.

Mariner is a happy smart dog!! We have learned not to let his seizures control what we do or what he does. He is a confident - quite different from the scared BLIND puppy we brought home. Marineer is now 2 1/2.

A little background on Mariner:
At about 7 weeks old Mariner had an accident, he suffered a fractured skull. This left him blind and with a seizure disorder. At the time of the accident he was with the breeders. They gave him all the veterinary attention that was needed and cared for him after. He had to be retrained on how to do everything, from eating to peeing. The breeders were unable to keep Mariner for the long term. We became aware of Mariner's situation from Ann's Doodle Chat, the "unofficial" forum from the breeder. We started following Mariner's plight. Mariner and our older Doodle, Boomer (our first Doodle) are biological brothers. We decided to adopt Mariner when it became obvious that if he wasn't adopted soon there was not going to be a happy outcome.

Since we adopted he has gradually regained much of his eyesight, although he still has some difficulties. We have struggled to control his seizures. There are times when they are under control and then there are times that things go haywire.

The interaction of the three dogs has been amazing. There have been times that Boomer or Shayna (our female Doodle) have alerted us to Mariner's seizure. When Mariner could not see they would always stay close to him, keeping him out of trouble.

Mariner is the reason we started the "Special Needs", "Medical Issues" and "Seizure"  groups. The "Special Needs" group was original called "Doodle's with Disabilities" but we realized that the do NOT have disabilities they are just SPECIAL.

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

Mariner is on Phenobarb for the seizures and Synthroid(generic) because his thyroid panel was low.

[LG & Sadie]

My Sadie has a seizure disorder, so I am curious as to whether or not Mariner is on seizure meds? Maybe I should read more-you have probably mentioned it in previous posts. God Bless him~and you guys who love him!