Canine Epilepsy

72Rockcruiser

72Rockcruiser

LETS GO BRANDON!
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Location
Charlotte, NC
My wife and I have been introduced to this hard and fast recently. We are looking for any and all advice someone may have here. Real world experience only please.
Our Black Lab mix, Berkeley, (7yrs old) started having seizures about 5-6 weeks ago. We were told to ignore the first one by the vet, she said they only start treatment if start having them within three weeks apart.
Well, long story short, after some very rough (and very, very expensive) procedures for her, MRI, spinal tap, blood work, etc.... everything they suggested, we did. She is now having her seizures more often then when she started. She has had 6 seizures now since early June..... 2 of which were on Friday, and one about 30 minutes ago, when I went home for lunch. These are 100% Grand Mal seizures, we calle dthe Vet and they said we should just try increasing the dosage of her medicine. She is currently on 300mg of Zonisimide, and they want to increase the dosage to 400mg. I am fine with that, but, I dont want to waste anymore time in making sure she is OK. Is there other things we can do? The Vet says no. Only med changes, etc. ??
 

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I know this will sound ultra crazy...but have they checked her ears?
Went through a similar scare about 5 years ago, only to learn that a spider had taken up residence in our labs ear canal. Apparntly it would throw off the inner ear balance and when it bit him it would trigger seizures...thats the description we got anyhow.

Afte it was discovered (an expensive journey) it was an easy fix...hoping for the best for Berkeley.
 
Ron said:
I know this will sound ultra crazy...but have they checked her ears?
Went through a similar scare about 5 years ago, only to learn that a spider had taken up residence in our labs ear canal. Apparntly it would throw off the inner ear balance and when it bit him it would trigger seizures...thats the description we got anyhow.
Afte it was discovered (an expensive journey) it was an easy fix...hoping for the best for Berkeley.
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Will do soon as I get back home. Thanks!
 
My lab started having seizures about 5 years ago. it's a common condition for labs. The vet told me the same thing. luckily, mine has an obvious trigger and we have been able to work around it without medication.

He has a very good sense of where his "property" is. his property line, may not coincide with the deedbook, but he knows when he has ventured past his line. This gets him ultra excited, and he works himself into a seizure.

Keeping him at home has been the key. It's been hard because until then he went everywhere with me. Taking him for a ride in a car requires lots of petting, and gentle talking to keep him calm. Ive been told to give him...i think it was a xanax before a drive but have managed not to have to do that yet.

introducing a new dog is out of the question, that also sends his heartrate through the roof...which in turn = seizures. and no...its not heart worms, he's been checked...ate the whole bottle of heartworm medicine when the Vet wasnt looking, lol. he can run and play in his own yard as hard and as long as he likes. but step outside and he seizes in a matter of minutes. we can see it coming.
 
Reid said:
My lab started having seizures about 5 years ago. it's a common condition for labs. The vet told me the same thing. luckily, mine has an obvious trigger and we have been able to work around it without medication.
He has a very good sense of where his "property" is. his property line, may not coincide with the deedbook, but he knows when he has ventured past his line. This gets him ultra excited, and he works himself into a seizure.
Keeping him at home has been the key. It's been hard because until then he went everywhere with me. Taking him for a ride in a car requires lots of petting, and gentle talking to keep him calm. Ive been told to give him...i think it was a xanax before a drive but have managed not to have to do that yet.
introducing a new dog is out of the question, that also sends his heartrate through the roof...which in turn = seizures. and no...its not heart worms, he's been checked...ate the whole bottle of heartworm medicine when the Vet wasnt looking, lol. he can run and play in his own yard as hard and as long as he likes. but step outside and he seizes in a matter of minutes. we can see it coming.
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This is def not the case. She has ridden in the car since day one, 7 years ago. She is 100% my best friend and if I'm not going to work, she is in the car with me, my car reeks like dog ass. She comes to the store, to friends/relatives houses. 100% part of the family.

we know her (especially me, I've had her since before my wife) very well, its not stress related( we think?) even the fireworks Monday did not triggure a seizure, well if it did it diddnt come till today.

I still appreciate the input, I am open to what the F ever fixes this. It has been really rough for us.

Thanks!
 
My lab has epilepsy as well. He has seizures about once every few months. Started at about age 6, he is 12 now, and they have stayed consistent without increasing (luckily).

The vet talked about meds but said it wasn't necessary until the seizures were much more consistent. Other than the meds you described, the vet said there wasn't much to do. Problem with the meds is that it destroys the liver or kidneys and to limit the dosage unless it was absolutely necessary.

Thats about all the experience I know with epilepsy. Have you received 2nd or 3rd opinions? Vets are just like doctors for people, each one has their own opinion. My lab had to have knee surgery; my vet said it was his hip and wanted to do surgery. We got 4 or 5 opinions and all were different. We went to a specialist and finally found out it was his knee. So, be sure to at least get your dog checked out by multiple vets or go to a specialists.

We hope all turns out well in the end for you and your lab!
 
My brothers Golden had these. It lived to the age of 13 but it was sad to watch him suffer thru these. Be careful! My brother bent over to comfort the dog one day during one and the dog took and large chunk out of his face. I had to meet him at the ER. Vet told him just to let them pass then comfort him.
 
has anything changed in your house or where the dogs stays?

mine had seizures and to my surprise it was caused by aerosol spray in a bathroom..
my old roommate bought some spray and after he crapped he sprayed it and she would have a seizure within minutes of him spraying it and her walking into bathroom ( her water bowl was in there )

after taking her vet etc.. vet asked what has changed and after much thought we found only thing was spray.. well to my surprise vet said spray it and see what happens and sure as heck she had another one.. since that day I have never had spray in my house at all.
 
Unfortuantely I've been dealing w/ this as well since 7/09. My dog is a 10 year old Border Collie (which are well know for this)...

Basically my first one on 7/27/09 @ 0615 scared me pretty bad... but like you the vet said let it go.. we didn't go to the expense that you did (actually at our vets recommendation)... we just ran blood work and all was normal.

They went away for awhile and struck on 2/10/10, 2/26/10, and 5/26/10... since that last one they have been a pretty much monthly occurance.

We started her on Pheonobarbital (1gr / day) after the 2/26/10 seizure.. That was now to look back a bad idea. She continued having seizures monthly (almost to the day) up until 2/30/11. At that time my very fit Border Collie had gained 25lbs. ate nonstop, was so restless at night that we could hardly sleep.... I said F it.

I gradually worked her off the pills and had her completely off by 4/1/11. Her weight is dropping off.. shes much happier, but still have seizures between 30 - 45 days a part. We've just accepted it and plan to live with it.

Her seizures typically last 60 seconds with a 3-4 minute recovery time.. she empties her bladder and typically bites her tongue a little... It's a mess sometimes... less others...

My advice... Start a journal (or I email myself after each one).. state the date, time, length of seizure, recovery time... It's been helpful for me..

It sucks and as of now no cure...


EDIT: our case seems more typicaly canine epilespy with short seizures not triggered by anything special... Hopefully they dont get longer but we have friends who's Lab worked her way up to almost 20 minute episodes untill they finally put her to sleep.

EDIT #2: Since the first in 09' she has had 18 seizures w/ the last being 6/27/11 at 0330.. exactly 30 days since the one before...
 
I have been working with animals for about 12 years. Vet Tech turned Animal Control Officer. I am not familiar with the medication your dog is on. From my expirience Phenobarb, or Potassium Bromide, or a combination of both is a great medication for seizures. My father in law has a boxer who has had seizures for about 7 years. Its all trial and error. Seizures are tricky to control. Not enough medication they will have seizures, too much they will be very sleepy/drunk acting. Its a fine line to find which one is effective. Each medications affect each dog differently. If the medication you are using now isnt working well, then ask your vet to switch to Potassuim Bromide, or Phenobarb. It can even be a mixture of both. Its going to be alot of trying different medications, upping and lowering doses to find the best combination that fits your dog and to control the seizures the best. Your dog will still have seizures every once in a while, they will never go away completely. But your dog has to be comfortale nontheless. If you need anymore advice just ask. Good luck!!
 
man that sucks. I don't have much useful info to add, just that we dealt with this in our black lab mutt until it just totally went away. She would have one seizure every month or so for a few years, maybe beginning at age 2. Talked with the vet, and the frequency was just low enough where the vet wasnt terribly concerned, she offered up expensive meds, but said they may not be effective. It was weird, they just stopped occurring. She is now 14 years old, been seizure-free for about 10 years or so. Good luck.
 
I had a single one time instance with my lab. Went camping up in the mountains and took a (new to me) bronco. The tranny (C-6 auto) was 2 steps above toast and slipped pretty bad by the time I reached Boone heading into TN. I now know a bad C-6 for the clutches stink an unusual smell. After I parked, let the dogs out and set up camp I went to put the lab back in the bronco to make a cold ration run. The smell inside that cab was very noticable and the lab went into a seizure as soon as I put him in the front seat for what I'm almost positive was the strange smell that triggered it. Being we were like on a mountain side, the dog couldn't stand up and was rolling. I had to catch him and baby sit until like a full 3-5 minutes later when he came to. He looked at me with the "what the hell was that" look from then on and never left my side the entire weekend.
I researched and found it to be common on some breeds such as lab (as mentioned) and that it was usual for them to urinate uncontrollable when a seizure came on. But the dog to date has never had another event since (going on 4 years now). And the bronco got parked waiting on another tranny.
 
Kyle, sorry to hear about Berkeley. Will's been kind of keeping me up to date. My folks had a dog that started having seizures and they gave him phenobarbital. It didn't completely stop the seizures, but it made them occur less often and they were less severe too. I'm not sure what the doseage was, but maybe you should try switching.
 
Phenobarbital does work at controlling the seizures... the issues I have with it are:

1. you have to keep perdocially upping the dosage because your dog will develop tolerances. (routine bloodwork every 6mo). IF a high dose is required now then think about 2 - 3 years down the road.

2. it has a very short half-life and needs to be given every 12-hours pretty much like clockwork to be effective.

3. will make your dog HUNGRY and thirsty and very restless. If you dog is overweight now, you'll need to change food (or probably will want to anyway) to a weight control forumla... We went w/ Innova Evo Weight Management...

4. known to make your dog's hind legs weak (did w/ mine)

5. potential for liver damage (but cases are few and far between)
 
Happy to update, we are 12 days seizure free. I am thinking its the all-natural food more than the 100mg more medicine she is taking. She has had good energy, seems happier, etc. more and more every day. I am honestly considering eating a little better myself. :eek:

Thanks to all for the input!!! ..and I have some funny pics/videos of her to upload for the dog(and cat) lovers. Will link here in a sec.
 
This is her cracked out right after the spinal tap/MRI. She wanted to eat that biscuit so bad, she just held it in her mouth, looked like she had Bubba teeth. :lol:
 

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One more bubba teeth shot, she held that bone in her mouth for almost an hour. :lol:
 

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Bless her heart, glad she seems to be doing better!
 
Well, we had a couple more siezures since the last post, but before last Sunday, her last one was in Oct!! After figuring out the correct meds/dosage, etc. She now takes 15(!) pills a day, and it def. effects her energy, coordination, etc. But she has adjusted to it well, and it has held off the siezures for 7 months....That is untill this Sunday, she had a wicked one, called a breakthrough siezure, and it was just as frickin scary as the first...NOT fun to watch...but 7 months apart is great compared to where we were, I guess.
 
I have completely stopped giving my Border any medicine... I could tell NO differences besides the amout it affected her body in a negative way. She still had seizures... At least now she's happy and feels good.

I know when one is coming so at that time I give her (2) pills and after a seizure I give her (1) more... seems to be working for us. She's been off the med's since February and has only had (1) seizure since.

Her's are grand-mal but typically only last for 1 minute...
 
72Rockcruiser said:
Happy to update, we are 12 days seizure free. I am thinking its the all-natural food more than the 100mg more medicine she is taking. She has had good energy, seems happier, etc. more and more every day. I am honestly considering eating a little better myself. :eek:

Thanks to all for the input!!! ..and I have some funny pics/videos of her to upload for the dog(and cat) lovers. Will link here in a sec.
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Not that I have first hand experience with canine seizures, but I have to comment on the all natural food deal. This is one of the best things you can do for a dog. I had mine on Iams for about 7 months when I first got her, and she wouldn't really eat it, her coat wasn't really that great, and she wasn't what I would call super happy (content, but not happy). I switched her to Inova and saw a HUGE improvement to all of that, and now have her on Taste of the Wild and she couldn't be happier. Her coat feels like she's fresh out of a bath every day too.
 
We used to dog sit a black lab that had these. He would get them when he got too worked up. He loved frisbee/ball/etc but could only play for a few minutes before you had to let him rest. He had a couple when we were watching him, really scary. One time we took him to the park and he took off running across the field after a rabbit or something. Couldn't stop him. He got about 3/4 across the field when he started getting all drunk like and fell over and skidded on his side and had a seizure. Really weird.

Glad to hear you may have found a solution!
 
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