[ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: Epileptic Dog and Treatment
- From: Steve Reierstad <wmj1944@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Showgsd-l <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 21:26:38 -0700 (PDT)
I am currently fostering a Rescue GSD who has seizures. She has not been
diagnosed with Epilepsy. She was picked up as a Stray and she was rescued
from a Shelter in GA. They knew she had seizures, but they had no history on
her, so we can't point to any event that might have triggered her first
Seizure. They estimated her to about 3 years old when they picked her up,
based on an examination of her teeth.
Once I got her home, I found that many of her Seizures followed an encounter
with one of the Cats. She would try to dominate them, and when they
resisted, she would get extremely worked up and a Seizure occurred within 2 to
3 minutes of the incident.  However, Correlation is not the same as
Causation, proven by the fact that she would sometimes have Seizures for no
apparent reason; the latest one being 3 days ago when I brought her in from her
pre-bedtime Out Time. Also I am keeping her strictly away from the cats. She
is otherwise healthy. We found out that she was strongly HW+ when she had her
first Vet visit right after she arrived here, but that was cured, and she is on
HW preventative. Her last HW exam proved Negative.
She is on Pheno, 60 mg per day. She started with 60 mg twice a day, but it
didn't seem to have any effect. At one point, the Vet suggested giving her 30
mg midway between the 2 60 mg doses. This resulted in her becoming lethargic
and "zoned out" so I cut the dose back to the original. Even after 2 days
back on the original Dose, she was still sleepy and lethargic, so I reduced it
to 1 60mg tab per day, and she is back to normal. Compared to the frequency
of Seizures when she first got here, I'd say there has been a decrease in the
number of seizures. They also seem to be less violent and she is recovering
faster from each one. This spring the Vet is going to run a test to check her
Pheno level, and depending on what she finds, possibly put her on Potassium
Bromide. Based on her experience with the Pheno Dose, I'm not too wild about
changing Medication. We shall see.
I am also holding her and talking gently to her while she is having a Seizure.Â
I want to make sure that she does not get up too soon after it ends, to
prevent her falling and possibly getting hurt. I was somewhat puzzled by your
Vet's suggestion that a Spinal Injury resulting from the fall through the Ice
may have caused the Problem. Don't Seizures all originate in the Brain?Â
Also, I understand that a dog can have Seizures at any age, whether from
Epilepsy, a Brain Tumour, or an unknown cause. Hope this helps.
Steve Reierstad.
Subject: Epileptic Dog and Treatment
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 16:51:41 -0500
Hi all,
This post is a little bit long windedâ¦.sorry.
Thought I would ask a question to the list about a young
epileptic dog that I have:
The dog was a little more than 20 months old when he fell
through the ice on a pond this past winter.
Up to this point, he had not had any known seizures.
He and his brother had been outside to potty for 20 to 30
minutes and I was calling them to bring them back inside.
His brother returned and he did not.
I went outside ( in gym shorts in 20 degree weather btw) to
go around the side of the house to call him.
I heard whimpering and moaning in the distance and I went to
the source of the sound.
I found him half in and half out of the ice with his rear in
the cold icy water.
His head and shoulders appeared to dry and well above the
ice, so I do not think he was banging his head on the ice.
I do not know how long the dog was actually stuck.
When I saw him, I panicked to get him out of the icy water.
I proceeded to walk out into the pond, breaking the 1 to 2
inch ice ahead of me.
All this while I was still in gym shorts - and yes I did cut
my leg on the iceâ¦
I reached the dog while I was in waist deep water and got
him unstuck.
Rapidly got him inside the house and into the booster bath
to run warm water over the wet part of his body.
Three days later, he had his first seizure.
All of his seizures have been similar.
He has been laying down at the time (he has not fallen
down).
He appears to be running in place with a zoned out look in
his eyes, and drooling.
He does NOT fling his head about, so he is not bumping it.
I talk to him and rub him to try to regain his senses while
he is seizing.
This lasts from 1 to 3 minutes, then he starts to recover.
He will lay there for several minutes before he finally gets
up and staggers around.
This staggering takes place for the next 20 to 30 minutes as
he slowly gets back to normal.
The next time he seized was about 10 days later. He had a
cluster of 3 in a 24 hour period.
He was taken to the vet where he was treated for about every
worm
(vet was of the assumption, that some seizures maybe
triggered by parasites),
and he was put on phenobarbital ½ tablet 1-2 times per day
(54.8mg / 100#).
That was a little over two months ago.
Well, I am not sure this has helped.
He still has the same type of symptoms.
He still has the seizures, on average every 10-14 days.
The seizures maybe singles or clusters of 3 over 24 hours.
I have heard that acupuncture may help with the seizures.
When I asked a local vet that practices acupuncture, she
said that the distress of flailing
about in the icy water may have caused a spine injury or
some spinal pressure that causes the seizures.
And that phenobarbital will not help this.
He has not yet had any acupuncture.
I was just wanting to know if any of you on the list has had
an epileptic dog and how you handled it.
I also understand that is unusual for a dog this young to
have seizures.
Thanx in advance.
/steve d.
Â
Board Member Last Hope Safe Haven for German Shepherds
Visit us online at http://www.lhsh.org/. New Website as of 6/5/12
"It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making Decisions
than by putting those Decisions in the Hands of People who pay no Price for
being wrong."Â Â Dr. Thomas Sowell
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