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Old January 28th, 2013, 03:05 PM
ckennedy ckennedy is offline
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Canine Epilepsy

We have a 2 1/2 year old Goldendoodle. 6 days ago he had what I believe to be his first seizure. It seemed to be a moderate grand mal seizure and lasted maybe 2 minutes. I took him into the vet and they took blood and came back to report that it was clean and they likely culprit was epilepsy but that he may not have another seizure. He had another one that evening, less severe, that lasted about 1 minute.

The next day I reported it to the vet who said it was very likely epilepsy and that he might have another seizure soon or maybe not for 6 months. (He has not had a seizure since.)

The vet suggested putting him on Phenobarbital and monitoring and then if necessary adding Pottasium Bromide.



She said we could do it now, or wait to see when he has his next seizure and decide to medicate then.
We are going away to Europe for two weeks in a month and need to board him at a kennel. While we would rather not medicate him before necessary, we also think we might be better to have him on a regimen before trying to board him at a kennel. Also, we leave him at home during the day and our 11 year old daughter comes home an hour before we do and we would prefer her not having to see/deal with a seizure if possible. In short we are torn as to the right course of action and would appreciate some guidance.
Thanks
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Old January 28th, 2013, 03:29 PM
Barkingdog Barkingdog is offline
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Did you ask your vet if they know of any kennels that know to care for dogs with epilepsy? This would be my main concern , what kind of care will your dog get if he has a seizure and what if he has one when everyone has gone home for the night at the kennel. It would be great if could you find a vet that a has kennel to board pets , this way if your dog has a seizure he would have the care it need right away. I am sorry to hear your dog has epilepsy , it has to be upsetting to see your have seizures.
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Old January 28th, 2013, 09:41 PM
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Rgeurts Rgeurts is offline
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I'm so sorry you're having to deal with seizures.. it's horrible
I would have a few concerns if he were my dog. One is that you're leaving so soon. Just the fact that his first experience with seizures was a cluster (2 or more in a 24 hour period) would concern me. When dogs cluster, it can become life-threatening, and can turn in to status epilepticus. For dogs prone to severe grand mal and clusters, you should have him on a valium protocol. What that means is that when he seizures, you would administer valium rectally. There are a few different protocols and one girl here uses the rectal, then an oral valium 20 minutes (if I remember right) later. We just use the rectal and it seems to work for us. What it does is interrupt the seizure activity and helps to stop additional seizures from happening. One thing I would do is the wait and see approach. The rule of thumb is when they seizure more than once every 4 weeks, on a consistent basis, you should have them on something to help control them. After knowing what I know and having been through this, Phenobarbital is not a drug I would use as a first choice, though unfortunately, that's what most vets will recommend. Pheno is very damaging to the liver and there are much better choices. The only thing the Pheno did for our boy was to make him like a zombie, eat everything in sight and damage his liver. His seizures weren't any better controlled than they are now with Traditional Chinese Herbs (we now see a holistic vet that saved his life). The other thing that would be concerning is boarding him. Even if you board him at a vet clinic, unless they have 24 hour staff, it's very dangerous, especially until you know what his seizure patterns/triggers are. If he happens to cluster in the middle of the night, or go into status, and there's no one there to pull him out of it, there's a good chance he wouldn't make it. Here are a few links to some good sites regarding canine epilepsy/seizures and potential causes. If all your vet did was a routine blood panel, they may be missing some common things that can cause seizures. One is a liver shunt and another is Hypothyroidism. A T4 test on a regular blood panel won't give an accurate reading. You would need to have a full thyroid panel completed along with a bile acid test for the liver shunt. If your boys thyroid is in the low normal, seizure activity is increased. Ok, enough for now... I don't want to overwhelm you

http://dogs.about.com/od/caninediseases/p/seizures.htm
http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/ (GREAT website with a lot of great info such as treatments, diets etc)

Please let us know how your boy is doing!

Robyn
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