Can my cat friends spare a prayer for a Labrador Retriever, please?

This is what I just posted in Dog Talk:

I'm not new to PT; I post a lot on Cat Talk but I have a serious issue that I'm hoping PTers can help me w/here. A friend of mine has a 6 yr. old female yellow lab, Bailey, who had a grand mal seizure on Sat. And she had them every 8 hrs. His vet was out of town and the office was closed and every vet we tried was either closed or booked solid. He finally got her in at an emergency clinic and they gave her phenobarbitol until his vet could see her. He's currently awaiting results from blood tests. He just called me again and I could hear Bailey crying in the background and she follows him around constantly, always underfoot. He was able to get ahold of his vet this time and he's on his way in now because Bailey had a nose bleed. I've never heard of such a thing! I've had dogs and cats all my life and never has that happened to any of them. Has anyone experienced this, especially w/this breed of dog? He's stressed to the max because he lost two labs already, both in the month of March and he's scared to death the worst is going to happen again. He takes excellent care of his dogs, coddles them even. Can anyone offer insight into this situation? Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

And then this:

Well, my friend just called me again and said that until the blood work comes back, his vet said that she's shooting in the dark. She cut the phenolbarbitol in half and said to give Bailey that plus half a valium. She's afraid that the phen. has caused immediate kidney damage. God, I hope not. And her nose is still bleeding. My friend is afraid that he's going to wake up tomorrow morning and find a dead dog. Please, friends, pray for Bailey. He loves that dog so much and to lose another Lab in the month of March would be too much!

I'm not sure if I'm breaking any rules by cross posting this way but I only had one response on Dog Talk and my friend and I are pretty upset right now about Bailey. If you would, please keep her in your prayers tonight.

Hi Mary -

So sorry to hear your friend and Bailey are going through this. And as always, the pets start when it is a weekend and the vet's away! I am very glad that Bailey went to the Emergency Vet, it sounds like that trip was needed.

I did a google search for dog epilepsy. (no quotes) A lot of sites come up. Here is just one:

http://www.k9web.com/dog-faqs/medical/epilepsy.html

This one seems to cover a lot - seizures start suddenly, can be several in one day or days apart. It say that they CAN be caused by hyperthyroid. This is likely one of many reasons that the vet wants to wait for the blood work to come through before starting any meds.

Further down, the site explains that there is no test FOR epilepsy, but the vet has to rule out everything else. It lists lots of the blood tests which Bailey has probably had blood drawn for.

For just this one site, and with no experience personally, it does sound like the vet is right, they have to wait it out for the blood work results.

I will keep Bailey in my prayers. Please post when you hear more!
Best
Sandra

I will definately pray for Bailey tonight. I don't really know all too much about dog health. But I love dogs and want to have one someday and care for them alot. I am going to pray very hard that Bailey will be alright.

Please keep us update on the doggy.

Prayers for Bailey and for her dad, too!! He must be so upset!!!

Oh that poor dog! She must be so confused! I will keep her and her owner in my thoughts and prayers. It's something I've never heard of happening either. We had dogs the whole time growing up, but I never had this happen. Please keep us updated with what happens.

Well, he got the blood work back this morning and in his words "Everything is normal". Now how can that be? The dog had 3 grand mal seizures w/in an 18 hr. period. His vet suggested a brain tumor test but she said it's very expensive and he's a landscaper who hasn't gone back to work yet so he can't exactly afford that. He hasn't spoken to his vet this morning because she will be in surgery all day. It was the vet tech who gave him the info. He's more stressed today than he was yesterday. But Bailey has remained calm, no more nosebleeds or seizures at this point. I honestly don't know what to think. The vet tech told him that she may never have another seizure but that's a chance that I wouldn't want to take. They started for a reason. I know Dr. Lee could get to the bottom of it but he's expensive and, as I said, his finances are very limited right now.

Thanx for your prayers and support, friends. If/when I hear any more news, I'll be sure to post.

:( I am so sorry for your friend's baby with illness.. Me & the girls send Lots of Huggss & Prayers..

Sending best thoughts to Bailey and your friend.

Thanx, friends. I love Bailey and his other lab Abby like they're my own. This man and I were an item for a few years and we've remained friends. He loves my cats and I love his dogs. I prayed last night that they both would get some rest. He slept w/his clothes on, shoes, keys and wallet by the door in case he had to go to the emergency clinic in a hurry. Poor Bailey just doesn't know what's happening and she has such a scared look in her eyes that I could cry. And I've never heard her cry like that before. She did it nonstop, he said, for over half an hour. So keep the prayers coming, if you would, and as soon as I hear something, I'll be sure to let you all know.

This is such a sad, scared thread from someone who has been kind to me so I just had to reply...(I lurk a lot... :rolleyes: )

Mary I will keep Bailey in my thoughts and prayers, this doesn't sound good at all. Could Bailey have eaten something outside - even some poison berries or did someone (neighbour) close by carelessly leave some chemicals about or something, like pesticides - she might have trod in then licked her paws? If that were the case then bloods would look normal wouldn't they, and it would be a one-off wouldn't it?

Perhaps I'm clutching at straws, but maybe it isn't the dog, maybe it's something in the environment?

Anyway keep us posted and very best of luck to Bailey and her Dad.

Love your picture by the way - nothing like I imagined!!! (long dark hair, homely, glasses...)

Funny that you should mention that. Bailey is just that kind of dog. She eats everything on the ground. He's tried everything he can to break her of that habit but so far no success. And here's the freaky part: last year I awoke from a dream w/the word "leptospirosis" ringing in my ear. I had never heard of that word, wasn't even sure it was a word. But when I looked it up, sure enough, it's a disease that animals can get from eating things like skunk feces, etc. And Bailey is a hunting dog and she does that (EW!) all the time. But I had forgotten about it until you just mentiioned her "eating habits" again. I'm going to call my friend right now and suggest that they run tests for it, if there are such tests. Thanx for reminding me. I love PT! I'll keep you posted.

P.S. The woman that you pictured in your mind is my evil twin. :p

I just spoke to my friend and his vet said that Bailey had been inoculated for leptospirosis. So that's ruled out. She recommended another vet that is partners w/my old vet and she's a specialist in internal medicine. She's in surgery all day (of course) but she'll call him back and let him know if she'll work out payment arrangements for Bailey so that she can get the proper testing done. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

That'll be nice if they can do payments.

However, IMOM is still a good option...and there is always a post on here when a PT furbaby(or friend of) is on IMOM looking for donations! :D

I'm not familiar w/that. What is IMOM?

Here's the link for IMOM


http://www.imom.org/

my pusscat has her pawsies crossed for Bailey

Thank you so much. I'll be sure to peruse it.

Bailey has been having petit mal seizures now, no grand mal again, thank goodness. My friend's vet gave him liquid valium to inject into Bailey's rectum should she start to have a grand mal. And he has an appt. w/an internal specialist tomorrow, so hopefully, she'll have something definitive to tell him and let's pray it's something he can deal with. I'll post when I know more.

IMOM is generally for surgery, but they can at least recommend another service.

There is also a credit service, where you pay no interest if you pay off the loan in three months. Let me know if this is of help. I can't recall the link at the moment.

My friend called me at work and said that all of Bailey's blood work came back normal again. She was at the vet's all day yesterday. The vet even had her fast, then tested her, then fed her, then tested her again. She ran all kinds of tests on her except an MRI. She even did another leptospirosis test just to be certain. Her educated guess is that Bailey has liver trouble but she's not sure exactly what kind. An MRI would tell more, I guess. My friend is short on funds right now, being a landscaper who is just now getting back to work for the season, so he doesn't have $1000 or more to spare. Bailey is back to her old self and hasn't had any seizures in a few days. But if she has another grand mal, then I think the MRI is called for. If I have to, I'll have him work off the loan by doing landscaping for me. I'll be needing a lawn treatment soon plus pruning, etc. But I'm hoping I won't have to do that. I like to keep a reserve in case one of my furkids gets sick. But more than that, I just don't want Bailey to get sick again. He'll get the lepto test results tomorrow and I'll post when I know more. Thanx for all your prayers. PTers are powerful!

Mary, I just saw this thread today. Prayers and good thoughts and happy feelings are being prayed, thought, and felt for Bailey and that she maintains her good health. Please keep us posted, especially if she ever has another seizure.

Hugs and Purrs,
Pat, Peony, Sydney, Priscilla, Poppy, and Elmer