Josie had another seizure :(

[slleipnir]

Not sure if I mentioned this before, but Josie seems to have mild epilepsy. The vets say she doesn't get seizures enough to have meds for it...Anyway, it's the most painful thing to watch. You can't do -anything- for them but watch. I hate it so much. I'd rather I had the seizures then her. Josie has been sick since she was a pup..The place I got her from is horrible. She use to throw up many times a day for alteast a week. Then she'd seem to get better, then start up again. One of the vets I took her to said it's just the puppy flu....Yeah ok, whatever. The other place did some tests and gave us lots of pills to give her..4-5 different bottles for everyday. Never found out what it was, but she stopped throwing up..Now she has these seizures. It's so awful..I hate it so much. She's my baby and the most important thing to me...I couldn't live without her. Does anyone elses dogs have epilepsy? How is it for you and how often to they get them?

[primabella]

I am so sorry about Josie's seizures. :( I was at my friends' house one day when her dog had a seizure. I wasn't sure what was going on but my friend was going crazy. It was awful.

I'll be keeping Josie in my thoughts.

[Pam]

I had a poodle who developed seizures after what was felt to be a head injury. After having several in one week the vet started her on medication. The seizures totally stopped. I had to give her a pill in the morning and one in the evening and it was quite inexpensive. We also had to go periodically for blood work to check the level of medication in her system. The downside of the medication is that it is very hard on the liver. Even so my Ashley lived to be 14, even after being on this medication for about half of her life. (((Hugs))) to you and Josie. Please keep us updated.

Edit: By the way, even though it is awful to witness, the vet assured me that they are feeling no pain when they are seizing.

[DogLover9501]

My black lab used to have seizures, it never effected him much, I mean he was always normal after them, and wasnt put on medication either, he never got stupid or anything, some people said he would because it effects the brain but he was always the same!

[wolfsoul]

My friend's dog, Koda, gets siezures, but like Josie, not often enough to be on meds. They connected her seizures with eating oily foods, and the vet said that oily foods can start up a siezure, so to stay away from them (I was there one time when she had a seizure. It was a terible, frightening thing to witness. It was just after they had given her a small piece of chicken).

I'll search the net and see if I can find anything that might help you. :)

[Tonya]

My dog, Christy that I grew up with had seizures for about the last 5 years of her life. They became more and more frequent with age. I know how you feel, you feel so helpless. According to the vet, they really aren't in pain or remember them. Even though Christy had epilepsy, she had a pretty healthy final years.

Christy (timber wolf-malmute) and Scooter (llapso alpso-poodle)
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid87/p49ef26114a11b2b25a60394c885f1f7c/faa49a26.jpg

[wolfsoul]

Here are some quotes that I got from sites:

http://www.alternativepethealth.com/seizures.html


Seizures can be caused by epilepsy, of course (which usually starts in middle-aged dogs rather than in very young or old ones). But it can also be caused by other things, such as:

poisoning of some kind (including overexposure to many household cleaners, hair spray, air fresheners, paint fumes, exposure to dryer-sheet-scented fabrics, etc. - you and your pet need good ventilation!; flea control products and heartworm medication might also cause seizures; also lead and other heavy metal poisoning, chocolate, and more obvious things like rat poison, slug bait, and botulism)
kidney or liver problems
blood sugar problems (diabetes or hypoglycemia)
lack of oxygen
overheating
hypothyroidism
viruses (like the flu, distemper, Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever)
severe parasite infestation (releasing toxins that adversely affect the brain)
head trauma
vaccinations (which can sometimes produce an allergic encephalitis inflammation of the brain)
a congenital condition (lissencephaly, resulting in a smooth cerebralcortex)
brain tumors...
And seeds in the ears!
Here's some good info too http://www.gcci.org/ciah/articles/seizures.html :


If this has happened more than once, a comprehensive workup should be performed including blood tests, x-rays and whatever else may be needed, even electroencephalograms occasionally. Certainly there are many causes besides hereditary epilepsy. These include poisonings, low blood sugars, liver and kidney disease, tumors, and sometimes even something as simple as food allergies. Some food allergies are not just to foods but rather to chemicals, preservatives, flavors etc. in certain foods. Food allergies are not that uncommon in many dogs these days and should be ruled out if suspicious.

Once you have a diagnosis and it is not something that you can cure and you realize that you and your buddy may have to live with and manage these seizures, one now can look at a number of different options including nutritional supplements, acupuncture, homeopathy and herbs as well as conventional medications.

The first step is to consider a more natural diet. In my opinion, nothing beats a home-made balanced natural diet! I stress balanced, because an unbalanced diet can be just as bad as a poor quality processed food. The purpose is to try to remove any possibility of chemical sensitivities to different food additives, preservatives or other chemicals. I have seen dogs with occasional seizures completely resolve with a home made natural balanced diet.

The next step is to try to remove as many other toxins from our furry friends environment. Innocently, we try to help our pets remain free of parasites such as fleas, ticks and heartworms and inadvertently end up putting multiple toxins in their body. No one knows what many of these different chemicals may do when combined in the body. These studies have simply not been done! Some veterinary neurologists suggest that certain heartworm medications and flea prevention products may lower the seizure threshold of dogs and may make seizures more difficult to control. By all means, i suggest avoiding all organophosphate insecticides which tend to be neurotoxic anyway. Dr. Roger Clemmons at the University of Florida veterinary school suggests that interceptor and filaribits appear to be safer heart worm preventatives for dogs that are prone to seizures. He also feels that Frontline may be a safer flea and tick repellant for seizure prone dogs.

Some holistically oriented veterinarians feel that overvaccination with yearly vaccines may also predispose pets to epilepsy. Though there have not been any definitive studies concerning this matter, there has been sufficient evidence suggesting that we need not vaccinate our pets annually anyway. Check with a well respected holistically oriented veterinarian in regards to this matter.

As far as supplements go, one can use a number of supplements that appear to decrease the incidence of seizures. I suggest an antioxidant combination of Vitamin C, E, selenium along with B-6. For a 50 lb. dog, one would start with 500mg. Vit. C. 2x/day, 400 I.U. 1 x/day and 50mg. B-6 per day. Consult with your veterinarian on appropriate dosage for your pet. Other supplements that appear to help prevent seizures include DMG or dimethyl glycine which you can get from many veterinarians as well as magnesium.

Acupuncture is another excellent option that I have used numerous times to successfully control seizures. There are three different approaches that I use with acupuncture. I usually begin by using an ear acupuncture tack in the dogs ears. This simply requires one office visit and I have seen many dogs stop seizuring completely with just this simple acupuncture technique. If that doesn't control the seizures, then i consider implanting gold implants in different locations under the skin in acupuncture points on the dogs head. This is based on a study conducted by Dr. Klide at the University of Pennsylvania veterinary school. If this too doesn't help sufficiently, then Iwill do traditional chinese acupuncture once a week for four to six weeks and then taper off treatments to once every month or two. This too can have excellent results. I have had dogs who seizured despite all conventional medications and stop completely for years with periodic acupuncture and they were able to lower their drug dosages as well. It is an excellent option.

The next step is to try to minimize stress in your pets life. It is not uncommon for a client to tell me that a particularly stressful event occurred just prior to there pets seizures. Try to avoid sudden loud noises, stressful situations and sudden changes in their environment. Herbs that may be beneficial as sedatives or antianxiolytic include valerian root, skullcap, oatstraw and kava. One may need to lower the dosage of other anticonvulsants when using herbs and supplements.

[joycenalex]

both of my dogs, alex the wonder dog and angel duke have/had epilepsy. duke was an infrequent seizer, only 4 times in the 18 months i had him. however, he'd lose his bowel and bladder control, his was a bit messier, but a bath and floor mop and it was fine again. duke was on once daily meds.
alex on the other paw is much more difficult. he's on 3 meds, phenobarbitol and potassium bromide for the epilepsy and on thyroid meds for his low thyroid (which might be from the phenobarb or be the cause of the seizures...there is no real way to tell at this point) twice a day. alex is soon to be 8, and has had seizures since he was 13 months old. i thought i would lose him when he was 2 years old. the most helpful web resource for epi- dogs is www.canine-epilepsy.com, come join us. the support and knowledge i've gained there has kept my sweet puppy alive.
epilepsy is not a death sentence, just a medical condition.

[aly]

At the shelter I used to work at, I cared for an epileptic Chihuahua and held him through many seizures. The vet looked at his teeth and said he most likely had distemper when he was a puppy and that is why he is having seizures.

I have a friend who rescues epileptic dogs and knows A LOT about seizures. If you have any questions, I can ask her.

[slleipnir]

Wow, thanks for the info wolfsoul. Thats helpful :D Thanks to everyone else too for pointing stuff out...:)

[dukedogsmom]

Poor Josie. I hope there's something you can find to help her instead of having to watch her suffer. I know it must be very hard.

[ramanth]

I'm so sorry that Josie and you are going thru that. :(

It only happened once, but seeing Kia have a seizure was terrifying, so I do know how you feel.

I hope she gets better real soon. *hugs*