What do you think this is? Another issue #11 *sigh*

[Taz_Zoee]

Thanks Casey and Ginger Moms.
I did get some sleep and I can only hope she did too. She has not started acting like a seizure is coming on again, so I'm assuming the shot worked.
She is still here on the floor in the office, not in the "exact" same spot, lol.
I certainly hope we can make it through the night this way.

[chocolatepuppy]

I'm sorry to hear Zoee's having problems. I hope she doesn't have more seizures.

[kallisto4529]

Oh my poor Zoee and Cindy!!!!! I so wish I was there, I hate being so far away. Are they going to put her on meds for the epilepsy??? please give her hugs and kisses from me. I know you must be worried sick. I am so sorry I pray she will continue to be ok and not have any more seizures.

[Giselle]

OMG Zoee!!! I never would have *dreamed* of seizures! Ohhhh, we are praying for you two. Stop worrying your mom, Zoee!!

[wolf_Q]

I hope everything will be ok with Zoee! Our RB Smokey had seizures and it was very frightening when he had them...luckily they weren't every often.

[Taz_Zoee]

Marti, we are not putting her on any meds at this time because the seizures are not happening very frequently (Thank God). They said we could put her on Phenobarb, but that it is hard to get them off it. So I said let's not do that unless we absolutely have to.

Sophie, Thank you. Yeah, I didn't want to believe they were seizures either. Bruce was in denial up until today about it too.

Amy, luckily her seizures are not too bad. It's just stressful because I want to help her and there's nothing I can do for her. The second doc we saw today said I could ask my regular vet for Valium but that since her attacks are so far apart it'd probably expire before I need it again.

So for now I'm just hoping the attacks will not become more frequent.
Thank you all for your kind words, they mean a lot to me.

[Denyce]

Marti, we are not putting her on any meds at this time because the seizures are not happening very frequently (Thank God). They said we could put her on Phenobarb, but that it is hard to get them off it. So I said let's not do that unless we absolutely have to.

Sophie, Thank you. Yeah, I didn't want to believe they were seizures either. Bruce was in denial up until today about it too.

Amy, luckily her seizures are not too bad. It's just stressful because I want to help her and there's nothing I can do for her. The second doc we saw today said I could ask my regular vet for Valium but that since her attacks are so far apart it'd probably expire before I need it again.

So for now I'm just hoping the attacks will not become more frequent.
Thank you all for your kind words, they mean a lot to me.

I have gone through the exact same thing with our husky Sequoia. She started having seizures and was diagnosed with epilepsy but we too decided not to put her on meds. She was having seizures about every 2-3 months and the one she had last March lasted almost 45 minutes. They were starting to get a bit worse.

Then the whole dog food thing happened. You remember the recall and the gluten and all that crap. I decided that I wanted her off of anything with glutens in it. I read what others were doing and did some research. We ended up putting her on Innova Red Meat. She started that last April.

She was doing fine on it but her coat started to get crappy and she was putting on weight. But by the beginning of August she hadn't had a seizure at all. Then about late August she had a very small seizure that lasted only a minute. By the time we figured out what was going on it was over.

But I still didn't like what her coat was doing. It was starting to lose the color and get greasy feeling. It dawned on me one day that she was showing signs of low thyroid. I took her in for a blood test and sure enough she was borderline. So we put her on medication for low thyroid.

So here it is almost a year since we put her on the Innova and 7 months since she was diagnosed low thyroid and now her coat is wonderful and she lost 6 pounds and she is doing GREAT! She still has not had another seizure since that very small one in August. So we went from long severe seizures every 2 months or so for a couple of years to ONE in the last year that only lasted a minute.

I don't know for absolute certain whether it was the diet or the low thyroid that made the major change in the seizures. Since she went for almost 5 months without a seizure just from changing her diet I am tending to lean towards that. But it could have even been a combination of the two.

But if I were you I would explore other diets. I am blaming the glutens in the Nutros Natural she was on before for the seizures. I don't think they CAUSED the epilepsy but I think that they trigger the seizures.

It is certainly worth checking into further because seizures are terrifying. It is so hard to remain calm when they are looking you in the eye for help and all you can do is wipe up the drool and tell them how much you love them and try to keep them from hurting themselves more.

Denyce

[pitc9]

Oh No!
I'm so sorry this is happening to her (and you)
{{{HUGS}}}
Prayers sent!

[Taz_Zoee]

Denyce, should I be more concerned even though the episodes are spread apart by many months? The last one I can remember was Dec of 06. She might have had one in 07, but I honestly can't even remember.
I think I'm calling my regular vet today and talk to her about the whole situation.
I'm not sure if I mentioned that the vet thought that maybe the benedryl caused this seizure. So now she is still itching like crazy. My poor baby girl.

Thank you pitc9 and chocolatepuppy(I missed yours before).

[Denyce]

The concern is more in the severity and the length of the seizure than in the amount of time in between although that is a concern also. At any time a seizure can go to the point of brain damage. It could be their first seizure even. The body temperature rises dramatically during a seizure and this is where the danger comes in. Also noises and lights can keep a seizure going so when your dog is seizing you need to be calm and talk softly and just try to keep them from hitting their head or falling off of something.

What we did was keep phenobarbitol in a dosage that was higher which we would give her at the VERY FIRST sign of a seizure. She always alerted us to what was happening by looking right at me and whining in a different manner. I would see her eyes dilate and we would get the phenobarbitol in her before she was unable to swallow. But it takes 45 minutes to work. What that would do is keep her from seizing again and again. It was just a one time dose, not a maintenance dosage. We also kept liqued valium which would be given anally just in case the seizure was so severe we were going to lose her. We never had to use that

What are you feeding Zoee now? Because itching skin can also be caused by food allergies. I am not saying what you are feeding her isn't a good food because I don't even know what it is but it might not be working for her right now.

Also, how old is Zoee? Sequoia was about 3.5 when we started with the seizures. We had fed her the Nutros for a year before she stared seizing and for several years after until the dog food recall. It was only by chance that we changed the food.

[Taz_Zoee]

This is what we feed her and have been feeding her since she got off puppy food.

Zoee turned 3 years old back in January. Could she become allergic to things as she gets older? I guess humans can, so why not dogs too?
Any suggestions on what kind of food to switch her to? We cannot do a raw diet, it's just not possible, unfortunately.

I completely understand what you are saying about the seizures. But honestly they are not that severe. I mean the vet said they are petit mal. The only symptoms are panting, drooling, shivering and then she did get a slight head twitch. I actually took video to show the doctor. Also, she was still twitching the head a tiny bit at the vet and they took her temp and she was normal.
Ugh, I'm just so confused!! I, of course, want to do the best for her. Am I in denial thinking it's not that bad of a case?
This is just so stressful! I don't know what is right!!!

[Denyce]

We also fed Sequoia the Nutros Natural but it was the different green bag. It wasn't lamb and rice.

I do not feed raw I feed Innova's Red Meat formula. You can find it here..

http://www.naturapet.com/brands/evo.asp

It is just kind of a coincidence. Sequoia's started at about the same age and started very mild like Zoee's. Then they started becoming more severe. At first there was almost 6 months between the first and second. Then they started every 3 months and then every 2. This was for about 3 years.

This is what we fed her.

I am honestly not trying to scare you. But should you take this seriously? Yes. Should you change what you are doing? I don't know. I am just saying that the coincidences are there and our dog's seizures have decreased DRAMATICALLY since switching to a different food. One without glutens and grains. But I can't swear to you that the food has made the difference. But usually epilepsy doesn't just go away. Since she went from seizures every 2 months and the last one being 45 minutes long and with a lot of paddling, drooling and muscle contractions to one that is less severe than what you have described Zoee having 5 months later. And now it has been another 7 months and she still has not had a seizure. The only other change we made was the low thyroid meds at the 5 month mark.

Denyce

[Taz_Zoee]

Thank you so much for all your suggestions and information Denyce. I am not taking this lightly and will be researching ALL of this. I've already emailed myself a link to look at regarding K9 epilepsy. I will also discuss the food change with my vet. She is not in until tomorrow afternoon, but I will be calling her.
Changing food would be a simple solution and worth a shot in comparison to her being on drugs all the time.

I just talked to Bruce and she is doing great this morning. I almost thought she was having another attack, but she didn't...whew!

Here is another reason why I can't live without PT! Everyone cares so much for people and their pets that they've never even met. I love it!

[Denyce]

You are welcome and I KNOW you are worried about your beloved pup. I hope our experience can help somewhat. I know how grateful I am that Sequoia isn't having seizures now. But I also know they could come back so I watch her carefully still. Please keep us all updated on how your puppers is doing.