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HoneyBadger
YourWorstNightmare.
Member since 10/06 15979 total posts
Name:
BahBahBlackJeep
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Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
Long story short...
Unfortunately, my sweet boy, Arnold (known to some on this board as the Pupinator  ) was diagnosed this summer with epilepsy...
He was doing well on the meds (Phenobarbital) but just yesterday he had a really bad day and had nine seizures over a 24 hour span. Needless to say we took him to the vet but all they can do is up the dosage of the Pheno.
The problem with this is that Pheno is very detrimental to the liver and on his original dosage his enzyme levels were elevated.
So basically we're damned if we do, damned if we don't b/c the cure is pretty much as damaging as the disease.
I'm not sure what my question really is...I guess I'm just wondering if anyone out there has had or has a dog with epilepsy and if so how is he/she being treated and is it effective?
Thanks everyone...
Message edited 9/8/2010 12:33:38 AM.
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Posted 9/8/10 12:33 AM  |
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Long Island Weddings
Long Island's Largest Bridal Resource |
thewinterone
You make me happy
Member since 5/05 2474 total posts
Name:
cause you are gray.
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
No experience but  .
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| Posted 9/8/10 2:36 AM |
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delakris
LIF Infant
Member since 6/10 123 total posts
Name:
Kris
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
 's poor pup
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| Posted 9/8/10 8:57 AM |
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janet
WITH LOVE MY ANGEL MISS YOU!!!
Member since 5/05 12823 total posts
Name:
janet
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
crystal has them 1 to 2 times a year . i give her no meds after i found out if was flea medicine was causing them. so i have to be very careful in treating my other animals when she is around. as long as she does not come in contact with them for 48 hours after treatment she is fine. i dont care what the vets say after every flea treatment given to her she had multiples. During them i just hold her and rub her legs and chest. hold the head up and make sure she is breathing ok. sometimes i blow in her nose if it looks like she is having difficulty breathing. fm me if you want more tricks to help out with calming the dog while he is seizures.
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| Posted 9/8/10 9:22 AM |
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snowprincess
My happy babies
Member since 3/06 3428 total posts
Name:
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
my mom's dog has been on phenobarbitol for 6 years - he is eight and had his first seizure when he was about 18 months old
he also has has hyper thyroid which when out of whack can bring on seizures
the pheno makes them very thristy so keep tons of water around
my mom's dog is a 100 lb golden retreiver he know takes 4 pills at 8 am and 4 pills at 8 pm - he has slowly gone up and we go up a half pill at a time but does better on whole doses - also keep times exact - he gets seizures when we screw up times
we have learned that when my mom goes away and comes back he has more seuzres - anxiety/stress bring it on also
one homopathetic thing that seems to work is giving the dog honey on days he may be stressed
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| Posted 9/8/10 9:55 AM |
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lucyloo
nope
Member since 1/06 9758 total posts
Name:
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
No advice but I'm so sorry to hear about Arnold!
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| Posted 9/8/10 9:58 AM |
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MrsSchwags
Soccer Baseball Lax Mom
Member since 10/05 11240 total posts
Name:
Jennifer
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
We had a golden retreiver that got them all the time. We had to give him medicine every day.
As he got sick, they become longer and more frequent.
I usually just tried to comfort him, move things away that he could bump into. When he came out of it, I always rubbed him and talked to him.
It's a scary thing to see.
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| Posted 9/8/10 12:02 PM |
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wo0shply
LIF Adult
Member since 11/08 2702 total posts
Name:
Tass
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
Buddy was has seizures. He was on a whole cocktail of medicines. He was on phenobarb, with keppra. You should ask your doctor if there is supplemental medication you can give your dog.
Buddy's seizures were so bad we had to rush him to the hospital (33 within one hour) and we were lucky they emergency animal hospital had a neurologist who was able to work with us.
If its possible I would contact a neurologist and see if they can help you. If its possible see if you can get an MRI since the seizures are so frequent.
Our neurologist told us it takes time for the phenobarbital to work about 2 weeks. So if you're just starting just hang tight and I was told you should give the medicine right on the dot.
I hope that helps. Please FM me if you have any questions.
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| Posted 9/8/10 1:05 PM |
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wo0shply
LIF Adult
Member since 11/08 2702 total posts
Name:
Tass
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
Posted by janet
crystal has them 1 to 2 times a year . i give her no meds after i found out if was flea medicine was causing them. so i have to be very careful in treating my other animals when she is around. as long as she does not come in contact with them for 48 hours after treatment she is fine. i dont care what the vets say after every flea treatment given to her she had multiples. During them i just hold her and rub her legs and chest. hold the head up and make sure she is breathing ok. sometimes i blow in her nose if it looks like she is having difficulty breathing. fm me if you want more tricks to help out with calming the dog while he is seizures.
What kind of flea medication did you give your dog?
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| Posted 9/8/10 1:06 PM |
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LItoRI923
LIF Infant
Member since 1/07 208 total posts
Name:
C
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
Our beagle is diagnosed with a mild form of epilepsy. He would only have a couple of seizures a year at first. Then he had a ton of small seizures in an hour 2 years ago and they would not stop. After that happened, the vet decided he needed to have medicine daily since the seizures were more severe. We give him Potassium Bromide everyday and since we started that 2 years ago, he has only had 1 small seizure. The medicine does make him more hungry and thirsty then he used to be but it's worth it to not see him in distress like during the seizures.
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| Posted 9/8/10 2:38 PM |
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nraboni
Uggh...
Member since 10/09 6905 total posts
Name:
Nicole
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
My golden has idiopathic epilepsy and is on pheno. The only other medicine I have read about is Potassium Bromide. I would look into switching your dog to that as long as it doesn't have any affects on the liver.
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| Posted 9/8/10 4:11 PM |
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CallaLily
Thank you, Saint Gerard!
Member since 10/07 4937 total posts
Name:
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
No advice but  for your pup.
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| Posted 9/8/10 4:59 PM |
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CurlyQ
Member since 6/07 2024 total posts
Name:
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
We had a golden on pheno and sodium bromide. He had them about once a month but would have 2-3 at a time. We noticed that they seemed to correlate a day or two after we would put frontline on him. Never proven, but just a suspicion. It took a very long time to find the dosage that worked for him, and once we did find the right one it seemed to be too late for our guy. One thing we learned was to stay away from the sodium bromide, and the straight phemo worked best for him. He got his bloods taken a lot to make his liver was okay.
GL I know how hard it is to watch.
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| Posted 9/8/10 6:47 PM |
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MissJones
I need a nap!
Member since 5/05 22136 total posts
Name:
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
No, but hugs to Arnold! I remember when you got him. 
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| Posted 9/9/10 7:06 AM |
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wo0shply
LIF Adult
Member since 11/08 2702 total posts
Name:
Tass
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
Any updates?
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| Posted 9/13/10 11:31 AM |
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bettybcafe
Big brother in the making
Member since 7/07 8611 total posts
Name:
M
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
My toy poodle, 5 years old has seizures. He has not been diagnosed with epilepsy but due to something else, I think high liver enzymes. Come to think about it, I never really got a true diagnosis. Anyway, it use to happen every month on the dot! Would last for abou 1-2mins but was a pretty mild seizure. He is on potassium bromide at 0.5mls once a day. He has gone 3mths of being sizure free but unfortunately had another last week  I honestly dont know what to do because I dont want to keep just increasing his meds. Its making him thirsty, wobbly and sometimes lethargic. Im sorry, I guess Im not much help but I can relate to your situation. I have heard that phenob. is a good med but unfortunatley has bad side effects on the liver
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| Posted 9/13/10 11:58 AM |
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bettybcafe
Big brother in the making
Member since 7/07 8611 total posts
Name:
M
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
Posted by CurlyQ
We had a golden on pheno and sodium bromide. He had them about once a month but would have 2-3 at a time. We noticed that they seemed to correlate a day or two after we would put frontline on him. Never proven, but just a suspicion. It took a very long time to find the dosage that worked for him, and once we did find the right one it seemed to be too late for our guy. One thing we learned was to stay away from the sodium bromide, and the straight phemo worked best for him. He got his bloods taken a lot to make his liver was okay.
GL I know how hard it is to watch.
Why would you say to stay away from the sodium bromide?
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| Posted 9/13/10 11:59 AM |
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HoneyBadger
YourWorstNightmare.
Member since 10/06 15979 total posts
Name:
BahBahBlackJeep
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
Posted by wo0shply
Any updates?
No real updates to report. He's been seizure free since Monday, Labor Day. It seems like it's par for the course though. He has a bad day like that and then he's good for a few weeks.
His first day having a seizure was July 24th. We took him to the e-vet that night and then his regular vet the 25th. He then had multiple seizures that day - Off hand I can't remember the exact number but it was around 11-13. Sunday he was seizure free and didn't have another one until Monday, the 6th (Labor Day).
So seemingly there's no rhyme or reason.
Thanks for asking
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| Posted 9/13/10 12:46 PM |
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wo0shply
LIF Adult
Member since 11/08 2702 total posts
Name:
Tass
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
did you ask your vet about upping the dosage or adding another medication with the pheno?
keep us updated please. wishing you the best. If you have any question feel free to FM me.
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| Posted 9/13/10 7:30 PM |
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HoneyBadger
YourWorstNightmare.
Member since 10/06 15979 total posts
Name:
BahBahBlackJeep
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
sorry for the lack of updates..
he seized again tuesday into wednesday...went to the vet. had a bad one around 4pm yesterday. then he seized again all last night, it was bad.
he's at the vet now. they've got him on a valium IV and are trying to induce him into sleep to see if that triggers the seizures b/c it seems as soon as he dozes he seizes.
i'm besides myself right now. i dont know what's going to happen.
thank you all
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| Posted 9/16/10 9:54 AM |
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wo0shply
LIF Adult
Member since 11/08 2702 total posts
Name:
Tass
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
Did your vet suggest an MRI?
keep us updated on your pup! sending all my love to him!
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| Posted 9/16/10 2:54 PM |
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HoneyBadger
YourWorstNightmare.
Member since 10/06 15979 total posts
Name:
BahBahBlackJeep
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
Posted by wo0shply
Did your vet suggest an MRI?
keep us updated on your pup! sending all my love to him!
he mentioned it the first time we went through this but said that all the blood tests seemed to indicate that it wouldn't really be necessary.
he's home now. they've upped his dose of pheno and now we're considering potassium bromide.
unfortunately, he never seized at the vet but they didn't do the IV of valium either. we think he didn't seize b/c he never calmed down enough to sleep. he was at the vet, i'm sure he was a little anxious and so he never got a chance to really relax.
it's just so frustrating...i hate seeing him go through the seizures and it seems the more meds he gets the worse he gets.
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| Posted 9/16/10 4:47 PM |
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wo0shply
LIF Adult
Member since 11/08 2702 total posts
Name:
Tass
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Re: Seizures in Dogs: Does Anyone Have Experience With This?
maybe you can ask your vet for some xanex. we gave buddy some to calm down. Buddy didnt do well with potassium bromide, he would throw up so they gave him kepra with his pheno barb.
crossing my fingers that the meds work! keep us posted!
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| Posted 9/16/10 11:26 PM |
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