seizure direction and help

[Daniel Scioscia]

Hello everyone,

What a great forum I am just mad it took me 4 years to  find it !

Our guy Boomer is 4 yr old, and he has had a total of three  seizures. The time between seems to be getting shorter but hard to tell if that  is a trend. Sadly, the last two have occured 6 weeks apart, and the 1st was  about a year ago. Blood work and vets have found nothing on the first two, and  this last happened just yesterday.

We are seeking direction and advice.  He is otherwise a healty dog. My biggest concern is .. if and when to start him  on medications. The side effects have me concerned, but the seizures are  horrible ( each has only lasted 2.5 mins, and he comes around in about 1 hour,  but the next day he is drained )

So...

1) when do you start meds,  or don't you at this point?  ( side effects have me scared)

2) any suggestions on how to limit them ?

3) any  suggestion on what medical test should be performed ? general comments greatly  appreciated..

This dog means everything to me, just want to make sure I  am doing everything possible to help him in any way I can !

Kindly

Dan

[Rebecca Orum]

I'm not sure i can be of any help other than my humble opinion. Our Doodle, Love, is 2 1/2 and just recently started having seizures. She went through mostly blood test to check her kidneys and liver. She also had an MRI to rule out brain tumor. When everything came back normal, our vet said he ruled out everything. So we started meds. It was difficult, she is our baby, but I refuse to see her go through another seizure. I just keep praying that the dose is working and she will not have anymore. Good luck with Boomer, only you can make these decisions. They say the meds can shorten their lives, but so can having seizures. I feel I did the right thing for her. Take care and there are a lot of nice people on this site that can help you.

[John Scipione]

Dan,

My wife and I shared your concern about the side effects of the medications.  Yet our Dooley's seizures were trending to be closer together and we felt the need to do something.  We started him on phenobarb and he has done well.  He has probably been on the meds for about 2 years now.  He did have a small seizure recently and we had a level drawn.  It was low, so his dose was increased.  Your vet should have a recommendation too about how often to check levels and well as blood tests to check liver function.

The long term side effects we noticed in our dog are increased appetite and some weight gain in his backside.  We don't give him many treats at all and walk him almost daily as we want to keep his hips strong.  Other than that he is a healthy happy boy!

Good luck to you and Boomer!

[Dawn Ross]

Oh my goodness. Poor Boomer. Luckily, Pierson's are short and his recovery is quick. His entire episode, including recovery, is less than 5 minutes. And he's only had a few several months apart. So I have opted not to try meds. Even though my vet said meds aren't needed unless the seizures last more than five minutes and if they have more frequently than weekly, I think I would be strongly leaning towards using meds if Pierson's were as bad a Boomer's. That is just my opinion, though. A couple of suggestions on possibly limiting the seizures... Take a look at his food. Certain preservative chemicals in some dog foods are thought to trigger seizures. Also, talk to your vet about the possibility of his vaccines and preventative meds like Frontline or Heartgard causing seizures.

[Tammy McIver]

Hi- our Bella is 5 and had her first seizure at about 3 yrs old. We have since witnessed 3 more.  The last 2 came within about 6 weeks of each other.  We saw the vet last week to get her opinion.  Bella seems otherwise very healthy and happy.  We were told we could start meds if we wanted (Potassium bromide would be docs first choice) or we could wait and see if another comes quick.  My main hesitation w starting her on it is that from what I read it really doesn't guarantee her not having seizures, and there are side effects that I am not sure we want to risk at this point.  

As far as some of your questions- i wish there was a way to limit them - I guess the only thing is trying meds but as I said that scares me too.....

It is very scary, but I have to say, her seizures (as awful as they are) don't seem as bad as some that I read about. So for now we are watching and waiting and hoping that this doesn't continue.  I totally understand, my girl is everything to me too.

Best of luck to you 

[Daniel Scioscia]

Thanks to everyone for the tremendous infomation and support!   WOW,  it is awesome how much folks car around these parts..

 

One of the suggestion thus far has been acupuncture for seizures..  I was wondering if anyone has tried this as a treatment in their own best friends and what the results night have been...    Under the credo, " do no harm " it seems like this might be worth a try, but wanted to put it to the forum.. 

 

Any experiences would be helpful, and thanks for the kind words of support from all... sincerely,

 

Dan

[Kristi Trimble]

I would start him on meds. Our doodle had his first two seizures a year ago right before he turned 4.  He was started on Phenobarb after the second.  He went 7 months until this past fall when they escalated.  The worst was early January when he had 3 in one day.  He is now on phenobarb and potassium bromide.  21/2 minutes is a long time.  You don't want the seizures to be lasting longer.  Good luck with this,  It is a long road of adjusting medications.  I would recommend it though.  You don't want him to go into status.

Kristi

[Kristi Trimble]

Also go into the Almond Blossom Doodle group.  Debbie who has Toby and myself have discussed all of this a lot as we both have doodles with worsening seizures.  You will be able to see what we have been through with our pups.

Kristi

[Kathy Sheehan]

Hi Everyone

My 2 yr old GD started having seizures in June (he turned 2 in May). I came across this website and an so grateful for all the information I have read! I have literally been on this site for hours!

I have learned to keep a journal so I will do that next. But I have a question about Coopers food. I adopted him when he was 3 months old and he was eating IAMS Proactive Health Smart Puppy Food for large breed dogs. I kept him on that until he was almost 2.. Then I slowly mixed IAMS Proactive Health for Large Breed dogs until the puppy food was gone. I hadn't really given it much thought until reading this forum, but could his dog food be causing his seizures?

Here is a brief summary of his seizures:

 In June he started having seizures. He had 2 within 14 hrs and the vet put him on Zonisamide, 200mg twice daily for 10 days. He wanted to see if he would have anymore seizures after the 10 days were up. Well on the 6th day after stopping his meds, Cooper had another seizure. Now he needs to be on seizure meds the rest of his life. When he had the first seizure the vet ran a whole battery of blood tests all which came out good. He wasn't introduced to any thing new, and hadn't had any recent vaccinations. Heat stroke was ruled out since he is an inside dog. Has anyone else had similar issues with their Doodle? 

Thanks for the help and advice!

Kathy

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Hi Kathy,

I am far from an expert on seizure disorders, but i am something of an expert on dog food, and the iams is trulty an awful food. I doubt that it caused his seizures, but it could sure be contributing to them. It contains some ingredients that are believed to lower the seizure threshold, like rosemary, and lots of other ingredients that are just plain old garbage (corn, by-products, etc0. It's also very high in carbohydrates and low in protein. I'd say that a better food with more natural ingredients and less filler would certainly be better for him. If you are not a member of the Food Group here, please join us, and check out our list of recommended brands. 

[Kathy Sheehan]

Thank you so much fro your help! My groomer had told me the same thing about Iams dog food, so I am going to switch his food. I will go and join the food group.

[Kathy Sheehan]

Update: Cooper has been seizure free for 3.5 wks now! He went back to his vet on Friday and everything is good! We will keep him on zonisamide for 3 more months and then he will go back for a re-check at that time. Thanks for your advice and help!

Kathy

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Thank you for the update! Very good news!