kamsmom

Thank god for the internet so no one sees me totally breaking down in the vets offices My eyes are blood shot and my face is totally broken out from the stress. I haven't showered and look like death warmed over, thank goodness for hats. But, thanks for being so sweet I learned a very valuable lesson today tho, when picking up your dog from the ER or anywhere, be sure they have used the bathroom before getting in the back seat and peeing on the leather seats It was soooo much that I thought he was going to start swimming in it. I called the bmw dealership and they are going to detail wash it for me tomorrow. They have me on the schedule for morning and will loan me a car for about two hours.

Alright. We are at home and I am running to Costco for meds. They gave him another Valium injection before leaving just for my "comfort". I asked for what we could do conservatively now. So, we are now on keppra 750mg three times a day and zonisamide 300 mg two times a day. We are also adding in doxy for one month just to cover all bases. Doxy is 200 mg twice per day. The vet also said as many of you have that if he seizes to go ahead and give him a full dose of both the keppra and zonisamide. Thanks everyone. I'm off to get meds and maybe some liquor for me and then a nap.

The pheno had bad side effects. He had major behavioral changes. The keppra isn't even half as expensive as the zoni. I hate being here. The room next door is having a hard time and I can hear them crying too I just told them no to the MRI and said I wanted to just go with meds. Now I feel like crud.

We are at the neuro and they are wanting to do so much. Problem is I can't afford everything. They just quoted me $3000. That would be an MRI and CT and tick panel. The er vet was $800 last night. Im sitting here in tears as I don't want to compromise his care based on money. I'm thinking we get the tick panel and go from there? They want to keep him on the zonisamide and add in keppra. Does that sound right?

I'm headed to pick up Steak and take him over to the neuro vets office right now.

It's 2:15am and I'm climbing into bed. Steak is staying the night at the evet. His temp was 106 and he would/ couldn't stand on his own. He has Valium on board and is also getting some fluids. I pick him up in the morning and they have already been in touch with a different neurologist and she is expecting him in the morning.

I'm at the vet. They started a drip but I keep hearing him and its tearing me up inside. . I had to leave the kids alone and my oldest is in tears. She keeps texting and is just as upset as I am. I just want him to be ok.

And he just had another... I'm going to just take him up to the ER vet. It's just too many. I just don't think I'm doing it right. This one was different too, he arched his neck and back and actually screamed a bit before going stiff and shaking His feet are all cut up from kicking himself.

I've been reading and searching everything. This is the hardest thing I've ever experienced. I love him so much but am so flipping frustrated. I feel like I am doing everything wrong After the valium this morning he had a good afternoon and evening, mostly just slept. I had to encourage him to eat but he did eat and then we sat outside in the grass for about 30 minutes. At 10:20 this evening he seized again. He is back to dragging his back feet on the ground and even drug or curled under his front feet a few times. He had a harder time walking this time too. He is now still panting and I am just petting him. I really like my vet but I am hearing you all loud and clear that as much as I like my vet and as nice as he is maybe he just doesn't have the experience needed in this situation. I'm so tired. He is tired and I just am panicked about going to work tomorrow.

We are home again. He got a valium bolus and is sound asleep now. He even calmed down enough to roach in the back seat of my car When we went in he was dragging his back feet, the toes would curl under and he was scraping his nails on the ground He kept backing away from me and the vet as well. My oldest daughter, Kaitlyn, was with me and she was so very sad. The vet said he didn't think he needed to be kept at the office since I am so close. (I live 5 minutes from the office) But did have me go ahead and double the zonisamide today. Hopefully the valium will help him get over the hump today. Thank you all for you thoughts and support. I can't imagine going through this without friends who have been there before. So, thank you.

WE are leaving for the vets now. Steak just seized again and it was much, much more violent than the others. This is less than an hour since the last one. I'm in tears and he is tired.

He just had another one We will be going back in to the vets office this morning. That will be #6 in 24 hours time. I am keeping a log. The seizures are all different times. They last about the same amount of time but the only thing I have been able to narrow down is that it is every two weeks. It stormed this morning and so Steak did his usual hiding in the bathroom. I checked in on him at 6am and he was good. I still keep wondering if the sudden and drastic weather change is what has thrown him into this.

Steak is 6 years old. He has had the seizures every two weeks on the dot for the last 6 months regardless of meds. This is the first clustering though. Only one other time did he have two in one day but they were about 12 hours apart. At that time was when we weaned the pheno and started Keppra. We had stopped the bromide before the Keppra as well. The only thing he is on is the Keppra and I was told to stop the Keppra at the time we started the Zonisamide. He has had one other seizure after the Zonisamide which was two weeks ago. I knew and was expecting a seizure this week but never thought there would be more than one. Valium, that is the stuff. Yes, we do have a script for rectal valium and he did get a shot of valium in the office today. That is the med he mentioned on the phone as well. The MRI showed nothing abnormal. We have been going with the thinking that it is epilepsy. But then today my vet started to wonder aloud if we weren't dealing with a tumor or lesion that may have been missed. In talking to the neuro vet they decided that the treatment was going to be the same regardless of the diagnosis. I guess I was just thinking maybe I "needed" the diagnosis. We have tested for TBD in February and it was negative. I am totally open to going an antibiotic route. At this point I am willing to try anything. The only thing I miss the most is that "fun" dog he used to be. The meds or seizures have zapped his personality. He is still a very affectionate dog but he is scared all the time. It's as if he is waiting for the seizures to happen again. The image you give of the mastiff is what we sometimes see with Steak. Urine usually goes everywhere and he will at times flip over. He has had seizures on the couch and falled off of it onto the floor. I am in constant worry mode that he will hurt himself badly during a seizure when I am not home. This morning he was near the entertainment center and caught his foot, tearing the webbing on one of his front paws. Thank you for chiming in. I am more than willing to try anything for him. We are on Zonisamide, 3 pills per day, can't remember the dosage right at this moment. We were just doing two pills per day and the vet said that we "could" go up to 4 pills per day if needed. He wants to give the dosage a solid two weeks to see if there is any change...

Keppra, that is another that we have tried and even tried to increase the dosage. I did ask about infection today and the vet did run a urine cs but said he was fine. I was thinking his urine seems too concentrated but the vet feels that Steak is a bit dehydrated so has me adding some water to his food and also just being sure that the kids are checking the water bowls more often when I am not home. I may re ask about antibiotics again tomorrow.

The girls have seen the seizures. They have all been as violent as the one shown in the video. The girls are really good about it and know the routine now. They know to just wait and make sure the other dogs are ok and that to just let Steak wake up on his own and then take him outside. They then give him a spoonful of peanut butter. It used to really shake me up when he seized and now I know what to expect with it. When it is just one than I do ok, but today has really got me down. I've cried a few times. The vet is a really great guy and he knows how much I love Steak. He is always just so nice and comforting. He likes Steak. (at least he makes me think so ) He got a bit choked up when I cried at the office today. I don't know... I just don't know if I am doing the right thing anymore. The one thing that the vet keeps reminding me is that Steak has no neuro deficits after these seizures. His personality has become more subdued but all his neuro senses are still intact.

The only thing I keep thinking about today is that for the last couple of months the weather has been very hot, 100 degrees hot. Then today it started out hot, got very windy and looked and smelled like it was going to rain but then never did. The temp did drop almost 15 degrees in about 10 minutes time. I know that weather has affected him before but nothing this bad. Just thinking and trying to make sense of it.

WARNING! This video is not pretty, not funny, not for everyone. But, I thought just maybe it might be educational. Steak has been having seizures every two weeks since December 2010. We started off the traditional route with phenobarb and progressively increased the dosage until we could no longer increase it. We then tried potassium bromide with the pheno and it also did not stave off the seizures. Most recently we did switch to zonisamide at the urging of members here. That was three weeks ago. Today, Steak seized at 5am and 10am. During the second one was when I was able to video. At that time I loaded him up and we went to the vet. We sat at the vet all day long. He seized again at 2pm and again at 4pm. We then came home as the vet does not have overnight care and he again seized at 7:30pm. I can't remember the name of the med that he was given at the vet but I also called again this evening and if he seizes again tonight I am to take him to the ER. The vet mentioned that if he was to go in he would be placed on an IV but I can't remember the name of the med that he said it would be. My brain is mush right now. I'm tired, frustrated, sad... I'm just trying to do what's best for him but I keep thinking I am doing something wrong. My vet and the neuro vet spoke a few times today. He reviewed the MRI that we had done several months ago and now wants to do another one, but the treatment won't change, it would just give us a better understanding of what is going on... I just don't know what to do. I don't want to sound as if his care is dependant on cost but it is coming to that since each vet visit has averaged about $200- $300. Then add on the cost of meds and the cost of another MRI is just scaring the crud out of me . Anyway, I don't really know what I am wanting to do or what I should be doing but for some reason I just thought maybe the video may help others or maybe help someone to help me.

Wonderful tribute to an exceptional person.

Mike reached out as well and talked about Zonisamide so that is really pushing me to talk to my vet about it in the morning. Steak isn't a zombie, but he isn't the fun, goofy, silly boy he used to be. I can afford the meds. I don't mind paying for it if it helps him.

I've been reading up on the Canine Epilepsy Forum and Zonisamide is being mentioned more and more. I will be mentioning this to my vet tomorrow. We had been on Pheno and then recently changed to Keppra. Steak still seizes about every two weeks. They are full on Gran Mal seizures. I quit writing about them all the time because it just got depressing. It's hard to continue to say, "he had another one" and not be able to stop them or to just "fix" him. Good luck to you and your girl.

Welcome from Plano I work for HCA in the Dallas area. There are several greyhound adoption groups and all of them would love to have you adopt. You will be surprised how many people you will meet with greyhounds in the uptown area Greyhounds Unlimited and Greyhound Adoption League of Texas are two large groups in the area. GU has been around for 20 years and GALT has been around for 10 years. Both excellent groups

You have gotten great advice on the harness, I used the spook harness by Majestic with Madi for about a year. She has now been with me for 3 years and is still shy and spooky but is much better than she was. It seems she gets a little bit better all the time but no where near the confident dogs my others are. She may never be and that is ok by me.

Judy gave you some great advice. I too have a JRT who "thinks" she runs the house. She can think it but I am the one who has to keep everyone in line. You have only had your dog for two days, I would say that if she want's to retreat to her crate to allow her to. She also needs time to adjust to her new surroundings. I wouldn't force her out at all right now. In fact for about a week to two I would just let her be. Some things are best worked out on their own. When she will come out just sit quietly and not ask anything of her. You could get some treats, hotdogs are a big commodity here, and just sit on the floor not looking at her and as she gets closer reward her with a hot dog piece. If your JRT gets too much in the way you will have to either crate, or leash him and continue treating Cyber. Good luck

Pam, if I could I would. Let me know which weekend you are looking at. Otherwise, I think asking the vet tech or a pet sitter is the best. Who is going to watch the others?

Now that is a what a Happy dog looks like So happy she is doing better and home with you Judy