2 grand mal seizures in a row....

[thebritt]

Horsejody - funny you should mention low thyroid - Althea is on medication for that, and has been for at least 6 months. I haven't researched the connection between low thyroid and seizures...However, Althea had the seizures before that diagnosis, as well as during use of the medication (thyroxine, I think).

 

[Majestic Lane Poultry]

I just wanted to add that we too had a dog with seizures. He was my love.

His episodes were long in the fact that it took hours if not days to recover. Often when he had one, he would have several within hours.

The pheno helped as did changing everything he ate gradually.

We lost him as he died in the car on the way to the emergency clinic one night. He was on seizure #21 meaning he had 21 seizures in about 4-5 hours.

He was a brilliant, loyal, and loving dog. As time passed, the brain damage caused by the seizures were obvious.

My thoughts are with you and your dog during this journey.

I don't know if I could go through it again. Hurts too much.

Tammy

 

[thebritt]

I just wanted to add that we too had a dog with seizures. He was my love.

His episodes were long in the fact that it took hours if not days to recover. Often when he had one, he would have several within hours.

The pheno helped as did changing everything he ate gradually.

We lost him as he died in the car on the way to the emergency clinic one night. He was on seizure #21 meaning he had 21 seizures in about 4-5 hours.

He was a brilliant, loyal, and loving dog. As time passed, the brain damage caused by the seizures were obvious.

My thoughts are with you and your dog during this journey.

I don't know if I could go through it again. Hurts too much.
Quote:

 

[horsejody]

Quote:
There are many causes for epilepsy. Epilepsy is more of a symptom than a disease. Having epilepsy just means you have seizures. Epilepsy from unknown causes is called ideopathic epilepsy. If people really want to donate to canine epilepsy research there is a website. These people are awesome.


http://www.canine-epilepsy.com/Resources.html

I bought 2 sweatshirts from them. They were very high quality. I kept one and gave one as a present to a friend that had an epileptic dog last Christmas.

 

[Majestic Lane Poultry]

You are right, Parker started having his when he was 1. Our family loved him and would have done anything possible for him.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Growing up, I had a 1/2 Border Collie named Tippy. She was diagnosed with epilepsy at around 1 year of age. We were told they are fairly common in collie and shepherd breeds. She was a border collie x german shepherd. We had to put her on phenobarbitol.

She was on it for 15 years. She had to go in (it seems like once or twice a year) to get bloodwork to make sure it wasn't hurting her liver. It was also the human kind...

We did notice that certain foods would trigger the seizures--especially treats or dog foods with red dye? Also, canned food was a no-no.

Other than that, she'd go a long time without having an episode.

Stress was another factor. When we had birthday parties or holidays and a lot of people around, she'd usually have a seizure. They did vary in length from a minute or two to almost 10 minutes. Towards the end, they got worse in severity and recovery time. The worst was when she was older & her hips got bad and would go out on her when the seizures started...but she did live to be just one month shy of her 16th birthday (we had her put down right before (stressful) Christmas when she was really bad off)which is pretty good for a 94lb dog...

 

[Silverduck]

I am so glad I found this thread. Our chihuahua has had 2, she is almost 12, the first one was during the night when I woke up I was wet and the bed was wet(she sleeps with me) this was about 3 months ago, this morning before daylight she had another one, she was whinning like she was in pain, rigid to the touch, and again peed all over the bed. I called the vet, he wants to do blood work, to rule out diabeties, we are taking her tomorrow. She has been acting like she is starving late in the evening, she eats about 4:00 and she will bark and want to go out and bark wanting something to eat. It is so flustarating we know she isn't hungry. She will drive you crazy acting like this. My niece talked with a lady, whose dog had almost died from eating Beneful, the dye that are used in it were causing the problem. That is what we feed Penny, I have tried other kinds, but she won't eat it. I am now worried about this being Penny's problem. The vet said he hadn't heard of this with the Beneful. Have any of you heard of this? Sandy

 

[Wifezilla]

Look at the ingredients. If is is full of corn, wheat or soy, that can be your problem. Dogs did not evolve to eat processed grains. It spikes their blood sugar and insulin levels. This promotes excess hunger among other things.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
See my post about red dye...we had Tippy on purina dog chow and once tried kibbles & bits...BAD mistake...

 

[BarkerChickens]

It is common for Border Collies to have Epilepsy as a genetic disorder. It is one of the things that many BC breeders watch out for because it is so common. My mom raises BCs and one of her males started having petit mal seizures after a year old. She was unaware that that is what was happening until he had a grand mal around 3 yrs old. The doctor is the one who realized the teeth chatter while staring that the dog would do was petit mals. Anyway, he has been on phenobarbitol ever since. I don't understand why Althea wasn't put in phenobarbitol right away.

Wynn, the epileptic BC, has been doing well ever since. While side effects are a concern, the disorder is fatal if untreated. I wish the best to you and Althea.