My poor dog!

[Jennasis]

Anyone else have an epileptic dog? Dh and I are taking our young greyhound to the vet today after having TWO seizures in the middle of the night last night. That makes 3 seizures this month (there was one other one about 2 weeks ago), plus she had one while we were away at WDW in October, and another right after we came back. She's only 3 and has never had them before. Initial blood tests seemed to indicate some "liver trauma" as well. I am worried that she may have permanent damage or worse...

I'm also really worried, since the meds may be more expensive than we can afford...but we'll have to find a way.

 

[Sandy V.]

We have friends whose miniature schnauzer has epilepsy since he was a puppy. He's 6 now, and doing very well. He gets a daily dose of phenobarbital and hasn't had a seizure since his initial ones. I don't know about the cost. he's a really nice little dog; very sweet and gentle.

The only side effect is that Wiley (the schnauzer) gets "the munchies" all the time. They have to make sure that the dog food is securely put away after he's been given his portion, or else he will eat the whole bag in a single setting. I also know that his system can't tolerate table scraps, but I don't know if that's a result of the epilepsy or something else.

Good luck, and I hope things turn out well for you and your dog.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I just had my dd in recently for seizures. From what was explained to me medication is a last resort, since the meds have side effects.

It was explained that if seizures are occassional it is better to be unmedicated. Now of course if it becomes regular then of course you would medicate.

Now I don't know anything about dogs and seizures but I thought I would share that with you since I found it very surprising for a neurologist to tell me this. It wasn't what I expected.

 

[hiwaygal]

Just want to add that the meds can be very inexpensive...I had to get them once for my dog (his seizures were not epilepsy related) and they were about $5 for about 30 of them (give or take)...and if you use an on-line pet pharmacy, you might find them even cheaper.

But...I'm sorry to hear about your furbaby...and I hope everything goes well!!

 

[Chicago526]

My Missy has seziures, but they are so infrequent that I don't medicate. It's very scary when they have one! I do find that stress seems to trigger them in Missy. Her last one was on Halloween, she was upset at all the kids coming to the door! Before that, she hadn't had one in about 6 months.

Good luck to you and your fur baby!

 

[Marseeya]

I had an epileptic dog. His seizures were pretty bad, so we medicated him. I don't recall the medicine being all that expensive... maybe $20 for a several month supply. He ended up living a good, long life.

 

[Dan Murphy]

No ideas, Jen, but sure wishing your pooch well.

 

[minkydog]

My Standard Poodle developed epilepsy when he was 3yo a month after my DS, then 8yo. Everytime DS would have a seizure, Minky would have a seizure. If DS had a severe seizure, then Minky would seize all weekend. We ended up putting Minky on phenobarb, which was inexpensive but made him hungry all the time. He would still have a breakthrough seizure when DS had one.

The trick has been, believe it or not, getting DS seizures under control! Once we found the right level for him, Minky's seizures got better and we eventually weaned him off his med. He still has a seizure occasionally, but we can live with it.

Some breeds are more prone to epilepsy than others. Poodles are. Discuss it with your vet and know that epilepsy isn't really going to change anything--you're pup will still adore you, no matter what!

Cathy--wife to Kitt(seizure disorder)/mom to John(seizure disorder),Christian(seizure disorder), and Eleni("Mom when do I get my seizures?" )
1 poodle and 2 gerbilswith seizures

"Come on down, the Tegretol's fine!"

 

[ckret01]

Sorry to cut in.....I think my dog had one the otehr day . She is a golden retreiver and she just started shaking and trembling. We think that was a seizure.....were we right?

 

[minkydog]

Sorry to cut in.....I think my dog had one the otehr day . She is a golden retreiver and she just started shaking and trembling. We think that was a seizure.....were we right?

Could be. Keep an eye out. My dog get all uncoordinated and starts drooling. Sometmes he can stop it by vomiting. If it continues he goes blind and starts biting at the air( it looks like he has rabies, actually), so we lay him down and hold him steady until it passes so he doesn't accidentally hurt one of the kids. The whole episode lasts about 2minutes, then he's kinda woozy & clingy afterward. The kids have seen their brother do this too, so they're pretty cool about it.

 

[patsvette]

I knew what it was like to have a sick dog and it was very costly for us over $10000 in 8 1/2 years,but i wouldve spent 20000 more if i could still have her with us.Just do what you can in your means for your dog,youll know when its time.Good luck

 

[VSL]

No advice.. poor thing

 

[Marseeya]

Sorry to cut in.....I think my dog had one the otehr day . She is a golden retreiver and she just started shaking and trembling. We think that was a seizure.....were we right?

I don't know, but it doesn't sound like what happened with my dog. He would actually fall to the floor on his side and his whole body would go rigid and his eyes would roll to the back of his head. His legs would kick and he'd sort of push himself around the floor, so we'd have to hold him in one place so he didn't get hurt. It was an awful sight to see!

Was your golden aware of what was going on around her? That sounds so strange.

 

[TerriP]

Our Beagle has epilepsy...this site has been a BLESSING for us...maybe they can help you, too:

http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/

 

[MerryPoppins]

We had an epileptic poodle that we medicated. She would fall down, drool, eyes roll back and her feet would paddle like she was swimming. Sometimes she would also lose control of her bladder. She did very well on her medication and her seizures were few and far between. Often we could tell when she was getting ready to have one. She'd sometimes whimper and act a little nervous.

I'm telling this story so maybe Colette's death will help someone else. One morning she went outside. She'd been acting completely normal. While she was out there she had a seizure and fell in our shallow fish pond. The pond had never worried me, because the dogs could stand up in it and jump out. I never once dreamed she'd have a seizure and fall in the pond. Anyway, I found her too late. I never talk about this because to this day I feel so much guilt. I should have been watching her or filled in the pond when we found out she was sick. I know she forgives me, but I'm not sure I'll ever be able to forgive myself. I know exactly how a parent feels when they pull a child's body out of a swimming pool. It's horrible and I still have bad dreams about that day. So if your dog has seizures, please watch them closely, especially if there is anything that could hurt them outside.

 

[goofyforlife]

My 9yo lab has had seizures since age 2. The first one scared the bijeezers out of me cause it happened in the middle of the night, in winter, when my husband was away. Our vet called me right back though and reassured me... When she first had them she would maybe get 2 together and then nothing for months.....

Right now we haven't seen one in awhile.....(knock on wood)

Your vet will want to see how frequent the seizures are (more than 2 per month needs to be medicated) However, the phenebabital (sp?) that they give will do slow damage to the liver so they try not to medicate if possible. Once they start meds you need to keep giving them for the rest of the dogs life too....

you need a today.......

(something that I think helps our dog come out of a seizure quicker is a little tsp of karo syrup in the mouth. Someone said the sugar can sometimes help. I haven't seen actual numbers but I think it helps our dog. We also know right away to grab paper towels and a larger towel for drooling and (other stuff that might come out the back end)

 

[ckret01]

OMG Merrypoppins I am so sorry you had to go through that. How heartbreaking for you.

It reminds me of what happened to my neighbors dogs about 8 years ago. He was always kept out on a "run" during the day and the dog had a seizure and fell down a small incline and the rope sort of hung him. My neighbor ran over and got us as she didn't know what to do but it was way to late. I still remember it to this day . It was one of the hardest and saddest things I ever witnessed.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Our 4yo lab cross has epilepsy. It seems to be pretty much under control right now. I track how often she has seizures and bring her in for twice yearly checks to see her blood levels and if the dosage of the medicine is good. The medicine itself is not real expensive, but the blood work is. I try not to even think about that part. We adopted her from my sister and it's a good thing because my sister would have had problems affording the vet bills. Little did we know what we were getting into!

Her seizures started almost 2 years ago.

 

[chyam]

Sorry to hear about your greyhound..........I had worked with greyhounds for several years and also did greyhound placement and this it he first greyhound I have heard of with epilepsy (maybe I was lucky) But if that is what it is, it is a fairly cheap medication and there may also be some other underlying cause to the seizures hopefully it will work out for you. Greyhounds are such wonderful dogs and usually very healthy, the only problem being their low body fat which sometimes means that their medication will have to be milder, hopefully your vet is familiar with greyhounds.....although I believe many more are now days since there are so many more as pets (thankfully!) Good luck.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Merry, I'm so sorry about your dog.

We tried to adopt a 5yo German Shepherd with a seizure disorder last year. One of the things they told us was how inexpensive the medications were and that as long as she stayed on her medication she rarely had any seizures. It fell through because my kids were too young for that particular organization to adopt to us, but I think it would have been fine had we gotten her.

Best wishes to anyone dealing with this problem in their animals. aw: