Seizures

[Abby and Raya]

Hi Everyone. I just joined doodle kisses and currently have a healthy doodle (fingers crossed). I did lose my first doodle to severe epilepsy. If anyone is dealing with seizures in their doodles and looking for support and someone to talk to, please email. I have been there and understand what you are going through!

[Kirsy & Jasper]

Thank you soo much Amanda & Quinn,
Very helpfull this website. Did you try holistic BEFORE you started Quinn on medication? I am doing so much research on what is best.
Phenobarbitol has side effects on the liver, but ZONASIDIMISE doesn't affect the liver.
Jasper vomitted again at 3am this morning, but this time he didn't seizure afterwards. It is so confusing, trying to find out a trigger.
Might start on bloodtests to rule out certain things.

[Amanda and Quinn]

We have not tried holistic methods. If had to do it over again, I might go that route first, after getting an MRI and ruling out any other issues besides epilepsy. At this point he's doped up and still having seizures, so I really have no idea if we're putting him at risk for something that's not actually helping. We will be having his liver tested every 6 months while he's on these meds, but I worry about it a lot. Quinn is very young too; he'll be 2 in May. Of course, there is always the chance that without the meds it would be worse. We just don't know at this point.

[Abby and Raya]

Hi,
I had tried zonisamide with my Lila and the side effects were awful. She was so drowsy, yawning all the time. She would sleep all the time and was very wobbly on the stairs. After a month of this, we took her off of it. Again, every dog is different, but just to let you know our experiences. I would agree and check into the valium to have on hand for your dogs. I am sure that by having it, saved my baby numerous times. I had tried the suppositories as well as injecting the liquid anally. It's worth checking into.
Hope eveyone has a great night!

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

Mariner had another multiple seizure day. This morning around 9:30 am he had major seizure. Sharon saw it start. It lasted about 2 minutes. Started with foaming of his mouth and facial distortions - it appeared as his left eye was bulging. It continued to involuntary body movements. During seizure we applied ice to his back and immediate afterwards gave him vanilla ice cream and his medication. He was fine just being clingy.

About 1:30 he went out to pee - I was watching him. He peed and I saw him hesitantly walking back in. Something was not right. I opened the door and saw he was foaming of the mouth - I picked him up to get him in. He almost immediately went into another full seizure. We repeated everything we did in the morning.

It was obviouse that he knew he was starting to have a seizure and was trying to get into the house before he went into a full seizure.

Fortunately after the seizures he is fine. Right now he on the couch sleeping next to Boomer.

Our thoughts are that these seizure are getting triggered by the cold. The other thing is that this morning before the seizure Sharon noticed that he had a different smell.

My question is if we can predict the seizures is there anything we can do to prevent it?

Thanks in advance for your input.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Andy & Sharon, I have no advice, but I am sorry to hear that Mariner is having problems again. I know how upsetting this is for you all. Hoping you can get some answers, and that Mariner has a peaceful weekend. Hugs from Jack & me.

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

I think that it is harder on us than on Mariner. The only after effect is that he is very clingy to Sharon. We may just have to reconcile to the fact that we are not going to eliminate the seizures. One of the other things that I am going to look at is that there may be a correlation between the moon phases and his seizures. There is a reference to this on one of the websites I was looking at. (It was from a vet school)

[Nicole Helmantoler]

Hi Everyone,
I am sorry to hear about Mariner seizures today - I will keep him in my thoughts. Good news to report on Brody - he's been on the phenobarbital for two full weeks and hasn't had any more seizures. The initial side effects are mostly gone, except for the excessive hunger. Our vet suggested green beans (of all things) to feed him in addition to his food - low calories but very filling and healthy. His leg weakness is gone and his energy is back in full swing! We had his blood tested this week and his levels were right on target so he'll stay on his original dose for now. We'll be back for another round of blood tests in 6 months.

Thanks to everyone for their advice and kind words. I'll keep everyone posted on Brody and keep the other special doodles in my thoughts.

Nicole

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

Glad to hear Brody is doing well. Besides being a low caloric food the green beans will also help Brody naturally espress his anal glands. We have also added green beans to Mariner's diet.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Nicole, I'm so glad to hear that Brody is doing well!

[2hpulka53c8pt]

Andy and Sharon....I have read that if you suspect a seizure coming on that you can give the dog rescue remedy. You can get a bottle at GNC store. Look on the angels website for the dosage (if you can't find it email me and I will look for it. I know I have it saved somewhere). The other thing (I'd try to rescue remedy first) is to talk to your vet about the valium protocol. I am sorry to hear Mariner had a rough weekend.

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

I recently read that melatonin may help in controlling seizures. Does any one have any experience with it. I have some because it was suggested for my daughter when she was having trouble sleeping.

Mariner had another multiple seizure day on Saturday. It was exactly the same as the prior week (the seizures were almost at the exact same time and he was in the same locations).

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Andy, forgive me if this is a stupid question, but could this possibly have anything at all to do with the signals from Mariner's collar?