Seizures In Doodles

[Marsha Wood]

Our precious little Pearl, began having seizures about 2 1/2 months ago at 8 months of age. The first one was ferocious. We have been through cancers, hip replacements, knee replacements, bone cancer surgeries...none of those can compare with what we have witnessed with h Pearl. Our golden, Lilly, lays beside Pearl prostrate, during these episodes. Her first one was the worst, timing out at just under 5 minutes. We have the best vet in the world and also took her to have a complete neurological workup with a specialist...MRI, CT Scan, blood work, organ function, toxicology, lead levels, etc...you name it, she's had it. She seems to be stabilized - finally-- with her therapeutic level of phenobarbital. We have been seizure free for about a month, although we still walk on eggshells. I worry about administering Heartguard and Frontline, not sure if there will be a reaction between the drugs. Pearl is an F1, with no history of seizures in either parent. The end result in all this was essentially epilepsy. Anyone else experienced this with their goldendoodle? Thanks for listening.

[Marsha Wood]

You are so right....you will never forget your beautiful doodle having a seizure. Pearl's seizure activity has calmed and is handling her meds well, although she has days where she is clearly struggling with something. I do have loaded syringes of vallium in the event she has another particularly severe seizure or they repeat one after another ( I can't imagine that). She tolerates Heartguard fine, but Frontline leaves her barely moving for a few days after treatment. I put off giving her anything until I saw fleas. My other dog, a golden, is terribly allergic to fleas and she just can't tolerate them and what they do to her. I have used all kinds of other natural deterrents and repellents, but Frontline eventually had to be used. She has had her blood tested regularly, to make sure there's no liver damage going on. She has been fine. She has another big workup in MArch...her 1 year anniversary of all this. I'm anxious for that. Where she started seizures at such a young age, the question is out there as to whether she might outgrow them. Our dogs have always been the center of our lives. We have always had goldens and this is our first doodle. We'll never be the same. As a matter of fact a book was just written about one of our goldens, Daisy, and her struggle with cancer and her relationship with an animal communicator. The book is Days With Daisy by Nancy Hohmann.
Hope this helps some...my heart is always in my throat no matter what Pearl is doing. And her wonderful golden sister, Lilly, takes such good, good care of her. They are amazing.

[LG & Sadie]

Thanks for the feedback! Glad there are others out there as in love with their pet(s) as I am~Glad Pearl is doing well....so far so good with Sadie too and her bloodwork is fine so her liver is tolerating the medicine well. I imagine in time I will learn to relax my "protect her from everything" instinct and let her be herself! Fingers crossed! :-)