Sadie had another seizure :( (dog)

And it was BAD.

Sadie has had epilepsy since she was about 4-5 months old, she started with petit mal seizures for about a year, then they started getting more frequent and more severe. Eventually, they were happening often enough to put her on medication. She was tapered off the medication after about 6 months and we were doing well controlling her seizures without it. She would go months without having one, so the medication would have done more damage to her body than it was worth. She had been seizure free for almost a year this time.

We went to the dog park this afternoon so they could run a bit and let off some steam. The dog park is where she gets the most over stimulated, which leads to seizures, so normally I carry her around for a bit until she calms down and she's fine. There were no dogs there when we go there so I figured it would be ok to just put her down and let her go. She peed, she pooped, then she started to have a seizure.

It started as a petit mal, she chomped and foamed at the mouth a bit (think rabid dog). She came out of it quickly (15 seconds ish) but then went right back and had a very long grand mal (I say a minute and a half, Mike thinks it was closer to 3 minutes). Right when she started having the first one some people came in, so we made sure to keep their dogs away from Sadie on the ground and it was fine. I was just petting her and talking to her, telling her that it was ok. About a minute later a few more people came in and one dog would not stop coming into my comfort zone with her (about 5 feet), it's owner wasn't doing anything about it so I had to pick her up and let her finish on top of a picnic table. She did not poop or pee herself, but she had also just gone.

Right when she started to go into the grand mal one she was standing and ran in a small circle very quickly and then started to bolt straight ahead. I grabbed her though and laid her down - the last thing I needed was a dog that was having a seizure to be running around a dog park. She has never done that before when she's had a seizure.

Her last one was nearly a year ago, she had three grand mal seizures in a row, the total thing lasted maybe a minute and a half. This one, total time was about 2 minutes - so they are getting worse, although less frequent. She is not on meds anymore for it, and honestly, I'm not comfortable putting her on them when she's only having one a year and we can control them for the most part without them. She came out of it and I carried her around for quite some time while Fynn finished up there, then we came home. She was very tired and confused for a long time, that's also unusual for her - usually she's back to herself within a minute of a seizure. We came home and took a nap together, now she's back to her usual self.

Of course, Fynn didn't want to be outdone by Sadie, so when we had to stop on the way home to pick something up he found a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie in my car somewhere (I don't even remember having one in the last 6 months, and I'm pretty sure I ate it). Anyways he ate about half of that. We've been monitoring him for the last 5 hours and will continue to do so until 3 in the morning (12 hours from when it happened). If he starts displaying any of the signs of macadamia nut poisoning then we'll get him to the emergency vet but I don't think he even had a total of half a nut.

I'm going to call the vet on Monday and see if I can get a prescription for valium to keep in the car incase this happens again, since it only seems to happen when we're out.

For the record, we go to the dog park almost every day in the summer and quite a bit during the spring and fall, so our method of calming her before she goes in is working. If we didn't, she'd have a seizure every time.

One thing I did notice - her breath stunk before the seizure. I didn't think anything of it because she likes to sneak treats from the litterbox but after her seizure it didn't seem to smell as bad. Her bloodwork has never shown anything abnormal (I have copies of the last two years in PDF if anyone wants to see them), but she's due again in the next 2-3 months for a full blood panel and we have an excellent new vet, so I will definitely bring it up to her.

Anyways, if you could all keep her in your thoughts for the next little bit we'd greatly appreciate it. She's my baby, I bought her from a BYB before I knew any better and she's been my inspiration to become a breeder - so that no one else has to go through what we've been through.

Hey there,

I'm SO sorry to hear about Saide's seizure! I do know how super scary and difficult it is to watch our beloveds go through that.

I'm surprised they tapered Sadie off the meds - is it Phenobarbitol? My cat is on Pheno for life because of her seizures per my vet. No tapering. I wonder if this might be a necessity for Sadie as well? I'd ask your vet. (And only about $9.99 for 300 at Coscto, although I'm guessing Sadie would get more mg. than my little Squint, but still very inexpensive).

It's a great idea to keep that Valium around to slow down the seizure, too! I have an extra oral syringe of it on hand as well (they said it has to go up the... you-know-what).

I'll certainly keep Sadie in my prayers. I'd definitely ask the vet about putting Sadie back on her medicine. Like any seizure/epileptic medicine, if you go off of it, even taper off of it, chances are higher that the seizures/epilepsy will come back.

Hugs and prayers to you and Sadie!!

Warmly,

Julie O'Connell
(Red-Cross certified in Dog and Cat emergency First Aid)

We tapered down and took her off her meds because her seizures were just on the threshold of where her seizures were frequent enough that the damage from the medicine was better than the damage from the seizures (1 or more within 6 weeks).

Her dosage for her pheno was 30mg twice a day for the first few months, then down to 30mg once a day. She didn't have a seizure while we were on them, but she was also not herself on them. Since she was on that threshold, we decided to wean her off and see if we could try more natural therapies instead of the medicine. We were successful in being able to calm her down enough before a social situation to the point where she wouldn't have a seizure.

Her seizure last year was a case of me not calming her enough before I put her down, it was the same with this case and in between that time she didn't have any seizures. At this point, the frequency of the seizures doesn't warrant any medication and the medication could do more damage to her body than the seizures she has.

A friend gave me the name of a neurology specialist so we're going to get a referral to them within the next few months.

Ah, that's great, the neurologist will surely be able to give you much more proper advice than I have. I've only studied the medicinal aspect through red cross and prep before taking to emergency if bad (as the neurons in the brain are actually burning up), so I put cool, not cold, wash cloths on my cat's head, back and paws to cool her down and keep doing that (or did when she was having siezures).

For my cat, she has a lowered immune system from the time she was born (no upper eyelids, so had major double eye surgery (late, because original foster wasn't getting her in, I was fighting to get her - she has permanent damage, but did get surgery done), she has Symblepheron, corneal ulcers, feline esthesia that, even though we are a very mellow group and all the cats love her, she continues to overgroom. She's really kinda my hero.

I pray for great things to come out of your appointment with the neurologist! JUST the doctor to go to! Get some x-rays goin' - that will tell what's really going on in the brain where the seizures occur and I'm sure he'll have an excellent remedy!! )

Warmly,

Julie O'

Originally Posted by nerdrock

We tapered down and took her off her meds because her seizures were just on the threshold of where her seizures were frequent enough that the damage from the medicine was better than the damage from the seizures (1 or more within 6 weeks).

Her dosage for her pheno was 30mg twice a day for the first few months, then down to 30mg once a day. She didn't have a seizure while we were on them, but she was also not herself on them. Since she was on that threshold, we decided to wean her off and see if we could try more natural therapies instead of the medicine. We were successful in being able to calm her down enough before a social situation to the point where she wouldn't have a seizure.

Her seizure last year was a case of me not calming her enough before I put her down, it was the same with this case and in between that time she didn't have any seizures. At this point, the frequency of the seizures doesn't warrant any medication and the medication could do more damage to her body than the seizures she has.

A friend gave me the name of a neurology specialist so we're going to get a referral to them within the next few months.

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p.s. "Squint-Delicious", my seizure cat, has not been the same since being on Phenobarbitol, either. She hasn't purred but a couple times in the last 1.5 years (she used to rumble), and even though she is still super loving to all, she doesn't climb up on my chin anymore at night and lick my chin (she licks everything anyways, but this was an endearing thing she did in the middle of the night)

BUT, the Pheno is keeping her alive, so I am very, very grateful for it. The one seizure she had she lost consciousness twice on the way to emergency (had someone drive me) and her head fell back twice, she had no air, gave her CPR - twice and she thankfully came to.

Thank GOD for the red cross courses! Highly recommend them if you have a special needs member of the family! )

Ju

We are looking to have a small gold ball inserted into her ear to stimulate a part of the brain that helps control seizures.

Sadie's seizures are definitely better when she's on a homemade raw diet as well, which I found interesting.

We're also going to see if the vet minds if we skip her next vaccinations and do titers instead. I'm concerned with doing that though because both dogs are used for hunting so there's no telling what they might come in contact with.

Wow,

I've never heard of the gold ball thing - it sounds fabulous! Is this something new or is it just for dogs? (I wonder if they have this for cats as well?)
Yeah, why not have something to completely stop the seizures without having to live on meds the rest of their lives! That makes perfect sense!!

Oh, please keep me updated when it happens, or if you choose that method or another. I'm very interested (and, er, shucks; already care about Sadie...)

Little squint sends lots of licks to Sadie! (Having Hyperesthesia, she needs to have herself or someone or something to lick at all times). I'm researching a non-med way to treat that as well. She's had a lot of medical trauma in her life, although we live in a very laid back stress-free home (okay, apt.), so I'm trying to figure out a way she can ease up this compulsion. (She has no hair loss at all, thank God).

Me 'n the puddies will be thinkin' about Sadie!!

Warmly,

Julie O'

You know what, Sadie has to be licking quite a bit as well. We actually call her licky puppy because she is so insistant on licking us. She doesn't lick other things very much, just us, but it's almost obsessive.

If I recall, I read about the ball thing in an accupressure book for pets in general, not just dogs. I'll see if I can find the book or an article online about it.

Originally Posted by nerdrock

You know what, Sadie has to be licking quite a bit as well. We actually call her licky puppy because she is so insistant on licking us. She doesn't lick other things very much, just us, but it's almost obsessive.

If I recall, I read about the ball thing in an accupressure book for pets in general, not just dogs. I'll see if I can find the book or an article online about it.

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Oh, that would be awesome!! But of course, after Sadie is all taken care of!
)))) Can't wait to hear the outcome, I know it will be great!

Warmly,

Julie O'

I just found these sites, I'm looking them over quickly so they might not be the same thing, but I think they are.

http://lochvale.freeservers.com/Durkes.html

http://www.himmlisch.com/goldbeads.htm

http://www.holisticpetcare101.com/co...-and-epilepsy/

OMG!

It sounds just like what you were talking about (I looked each over very quickly). I saved all the sites in my "Cat Health" folder and will look them over tomorrow. Wonder if any of my small town vets are familiar with this? None had seen a live Radial Hypoplasia cat before.

I have 2 different vets in different places, and then the emergency vet and the very special specialists 2.5 hours away; and only the specialist opthomologist had done an eyelid agenesis surgery before, but because Animal Services was paying 1/2 and I was paying 1/2 and after I paid $1,300 towards pre-surgery to the opthomologist, then her (jerk) husband said they don't take invoices from Animal Services anymore, my one vet said he could do it. She went through tons of meds before the procedure. Ack! Sorry, talking about my cat again.

THANKS for all this information! I do look forward to knowing if Sadie has this put in and how it's working if so! I do love accupuncture, it's helped me a lot when I herniated my lower lumbar years ago and with chronic pain since.

Thank you, thank you!

Warmly,

Julie O'

I'm going to definitely ask my vet about it, if she doesn't know anything about it I'll see if she can contact the Dr that did the surgery on the collie in the first article. If she can, and we can get her in there, then I'll fly her down to my friend there, she'll have the surgery and I'll drive down to get her and bring her home. Of course, that all depends on cost... but I doubt that it's cheaper here and since he's the expert in the field I'd love for her to go to him.

As an example, when Sadie had to have her bladder surgery, it was just over $1000. To fly her down to my friend and have them do it at the clinic they work at, then fly her back, we would have saved almost $200! If we would have driven her down for it, we would have saved even more (but I couldn't get the time off work).

I do hope that we can get someone here, I'm going to ask a few friends that have had acupuncture on their dogs if they know anyone in the area that does it... those doctors might know someone that does the surgery.

Is Sadie spayed? My vet suggested that intact pets can have seizure issues when going into heat. I think it's something still being studied, but I just thought I'd throw that out there because it's about all I can add. Lola has seizures & has to be on Pheno for life.

You have an excellent plan!!!

I know we have an animal accupuncturist here (not a huge town, so having the pet accupuncturist and pet opthomologist is a really big deal here - tourist town, y'know?), but I don't know about the gold ball thing with the accupuncturist, but I've only heard great things about her accupuncture work, especially for pain from the people I know who have used her. :-D

Can't wait to hear hwo Sadie does!! :-D

Julie O'

Originally Posted by nerdrock

I'm going to definitely ask my vet about it, if she doesn't know anything about it I'll see if she can contact the Dr that did the surgery on the collie in the first article. If she can, and we can get her in there, then I'll fly her down to my friend there, she'll have the surgery and I'll drive down to get her and bring her home. Of course, that all depends on cost... but I doubt that it's cheaper here and since he's the expert in the field I'd love for her to go to him.

As an example, when Sadie had to have her bladder surgery, it was just over $1000. To fly her down to my friend and have them do it at the clinic they work at, then fly her back, we would have saved almost $200! If we would have driven her down for it, we would have saved even more (but I couldn't get the time off work).

I do hope that we can get someone here, I'm going to ask a few friends that have had acupuncture on their dogs if they know anyone in the area that does it... those doctors might know someone that does the surgery.

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Sadie's been spayed since just after her first recognized seizure (about 5-6 months old). She had had seizures before then, but they were so small that we thought she had just eaten something and was trying to spit it out.

I have a small update

I was able to find a vet that has done gold bead therapy (surgery) in dogs with arthritis and other ailments, they're about 3 1/2 hours from me, so not too far. I figure worst case scenario, we could have her evaluated when we go to Mike's parents place this summer as it's on the way.

Anyways, I've sent her an email to see if she has any experience with dogs with epilepsy and this procedure, or if she even thinks that it would benefit Sadie. From their website, this clinic look VERY good. I also asked her how much a surgery like that costs, crossing fingers that it's not a huge amount, although I think it will be... perhaps I need to get my fundraising hat on. After her surgery in October on her bladder out emergency pet fund was pretty much wiped out. We have a few hundred dollars in it, but nothing else.

I also got an email back from a friend of mine that used to work at a vet clinic. He knows someone that used to have acupuncture done on their dog a few years ago, so he's going to contact them and see if they still have the contact info, or at least a name.

Hopefully the doctor from the clinic will email me tomorrow and we'll go from there. My main concern is that her seizures are not close enough in between to warrant the surgery, although the only reason that they are so far apart is because we've found a way of sort of managing them. If we didn't know how to do that, then she would have them much more frequently. She is definitely an interesting case, that's for sure.

When we get her bloodwork done we're going to send it to the University of Missouri (I think, lol) for their canine epilepsy study. They're trying to identify the gene that causes canine epilepsy and because I have access to one of her sisters, I can also get her blood drawn for it. Her sister's will have to wait, since I will be paying for it, but at least we can get Sadie's in there.

Unfortunately, this has caused a bit of arguing between Mike and I, but I did expect that. He loves the dogs dearly and while he does believe in eastern medicinal practices for humans, he just doesn't understand that it can also work wonders on pets. We had a similar argument before we had her surgery in October done, but since that he has been fine with it and has commented on how much better she is now.

Hopefully another update within the next few days.

Originally Posted by Naps With Cats

Thank GOD for the red cross courses! Highly recommend them if you have a special needs member of the family! )

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Even for those without having a special needs member at that time, I highly recommend as well.

Originally Posted by nerdrock

When we get her bloodwork done we're going to send it to the University of Missouri (I think, lol) for their canine epilepsy study. They're trying to identify the gene that causes canine epilepsy and because I have access to one of her sisters, I can also get her blood drawn for it.
He loves the dogs dearly and while he does believe in eastern medicinal practices for humans, he just doesn't understand that it can also work wonders on pets.
Hopefully another update within the next few days.

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Thank you for helping with research. I hope there is a good update in the next few days. You are wise to consider other routes beside just Western.
Best wishes to your much loved Sadie dog!

I have another friend that I'm chatting with right now that knows the breed inside and out (she's actually on the cusp of releasing a series of extremely detailed books regarding every aspect of dachshunds). Anyways, she more or less thinks that things like acupuncture provide more of a placebo effect for both owner and animal, the way she explained it made sense. However, if it provides useful for Sadie, regardless of placebo or not, we'll get it done.

I will definitely keep everyone posted.

I wish you and Sadie lots of good luck!