vjgrey

We live in Wichita, too.

Your boys are both beautiful!

She's gorgeous!

How horrible. I'm so, so sorry for your loss.

My apartment complex in Norman has its own dog park/pen, but I only use it when it's empty. Neither of my dogs is small-dog safe, and neither has done well with non-greys. Gabe is more likely to just ignore them, but Diamond is TERRIFIED of them, which eventually turns to barking and growling, which, in turn, gets Gabe all riled up. When they're alone, Diamond LOVES to run laps, and Gabe likes to walk around and pee on everything.

My two hounds and I live in Kansas.

Mine never bug us for dinner, although we do try not to be late with it. Breakfast is a totally different story - if we try to sleep even half an hour past breakfast time (6:30), Gabe will bark and whine and cold-nose us until we get up.

Welcome!

Welcome!

She looks wonderful! I'm so relieved.

How is Brody doing? Any news on this precious boy?

Thank you SO much for this, Lindsay. It's a huge relief to know that I'm not the only one going through this. If you'd like, I'd be happy to pass on the information I've found on REM Behavior Disorder and to let you know what the neurologist thinks after we've seen him.

No advice. Just hugs I hope you get it figured out soon.

Welcome! Can't wait to see the pics.

Eww! No drips here, thank goodness.

How terrifying. I'm glad Grace is feeling better and hope she's back in roaching shape soon.

Thank you both SO much! I haven't had a chance to read too in-depth (I have an Evidence final tomorrow - ugh!!) but what I have read sounds more like what we've experienced than anything else so far. I'll definitely ask our vet about this. You've given me hope that we might actually figure this thing out.

Although we haven't yet visited Kansas State, our vet has been in touch with the vets there. He's also posted our case on behavioral and internal medicine listserves, to see whether anyone has any ideas. Lots of minds are working on it - we just don't have any answers yet.

I'm so sorry.

We have homes in Kansas and Oklahoma, since I attend law school at OU Monday-Wednesday. Our vet has been in touch with a neurologist at Kansas State, who says he would do the MRI for roughly $1,000, not including any blood work that they'd need to do beforehand and not including the fees for any meeting with us. Less expensive than some places, I'm sure, but still a lot of money. We're perfectly willing to spend it if it will help Gabe, but our vet seems to think it won't show anything. If the cause were a brain tumor, we would've likely seen other signs by now. Your post did remind me, however, that I should try Oklahoma State University, in Stillwater. It's an agricultural school and almost certainly has someone specializing in veterinary neurology.

Gabe had another "episode" this morning. I was fully awake for this one (and he was muzzled and across the room from me and Diamond - thank goodness) but it still left me shaking afterward. Oddly, it happened at about the same time of day as the attack last month - just before 9am. I was in bed, surfing the internet, when I heard him start to growl. Nothing seemed to have provoked it - he was by himself on his bed, near the foot of my bed. Diamond was on her bed, to the right of mine. I sat up, and the growling and snarling got louder. It wasn't the low, irritated growl we usually associate with his sleep aggression - it was really throaty and vicious-sounding (the Old Yeller rabies scenes come to mind), and he was showing his teeth. He had a glazed look but seemed to be fully awake - eyes open, sitting up, moving (at one point, he turned his head to look at Diamond). He didn't respond at all to his name. The really spooky part was that he did this for a LONG time. I'd estimate a minute to a minute and a half. Long enough that I had time to debate whether I should try to get Diamond out of the room (she was still sleeping). I ultimately decided that any movement on my part or hers was a bad idea at that point. It all stopped just as suddenly as it started. Gabe kind of blinked, yawned, and stretched and nestled to make himself more comfortable in his bed. He was very suddenly my sweet boy again, as if it hadn't happened. He went to sleep almost immediately and started to bark and "woof" in his sleep - something I'm very familiar with. He woke up an hour or so later, his old, sweet self - no signs of aggression whatsoever. I'd been very hesitant to put him on phenobarbital without any real evidence of temporal lobe seizures (since I was asleep when the last incident started) but this sure looked like something like that to me. It was like something in his brain went off-track and then corrected itself. I keep him muzzled when we're sleeping and when we're not here, but it seems like something that could happen at any time, and that REALLY worries me. I guess we'll have to medicate him and see what happens. My poor, sweet boy.

He's looking SO much better! He's going to be such a stunning looking hound when he's all healed up.

They would be looking for a brain tumor or for any physiological signs of a seizure disorder. If it's a brain tumor, there would be no real treatment options, except to try to assess how long we could maintain a good quality of life for him. If we did the MRI, it would be primarily to attempt a definite diagnosis of seizures, although our vet thinks its unlikely that non-convulsive seizures would show that type of physiological signs. We're probably not going to put him through the MRI. We're pretty desperate for answers at this point, but I don't really think an MRI is going to provide them. Our vet is going to call Kansas State this week to see whether they think it would be helpful.

We had our second vet visit tonight, and even the vet admits that we're left with a lot of questions and few answers. Gabe's numbers on the thyroid panel were a little low, but after consulting with a vet at Kansas State and another who handles a lot of sighthounds, our vet says he feels comfortable ruling out hypothyroidism. He's also ruled out an adrenal disorder - Gabe's blood work is perfect. Other possibilities include a brain tumor or a seizure disorder. If it's a brain tumor, it's at a very early stage, because Gabe isn't displaying any signs of damage to his nervous system - no difficulty walking, blindness, facial paralysis, etc... Our vet says that he can't rule out temporal lobe epilepsy, but he says this type of epilepsy often doesn't show obvious physical symptoms, so it's difficult to diagnose. He said that while nothing medical obviously fits, it also (after considering it further) doesn't strike him as a behavioral problem. Gabe is a sweet, affectionate, obedient dog. He sits (often even without the command) and waits for permission before eating his food. He sits at the door and waits for us to put his leash on and waits for us to go through the door first (and has done this since the day we brought him home). He doesn't pull on the leash, isn't aggressive to strange dogs we meet, isn't aggressive with us or with Diamond. (In fact, he's extremely patient with Diamond, who has a bad habit of play 'biting' his head). These are the options our vet has recommended we consider: 1) Telephone consult with a behaviorist to see whether this sounds remotely behavioral 2) MRI to rule out a brain tumor 3) A trial of phenobarbital The MRI would cost approximately $1,200. Well worth it if it would help Gabe but not money we can really spare if it wouldn't. (After all of his foot and stomach problems, Gabe's vet bills are at around $3,000 for the four months we've had him). He'd also have to be put under anesthesia, which always makes me nervous. The phenobarbital may or may not help, but how are we to know if his "episodes" happen so infrequently? After six months with no aggression, we couldn't be sure whether the medication was working or whether Gabe had just been a very good boy. Also, there's a real possibility that the meds could cause kidney or liver problems later down the road. I really don't know what we should do.

Gabe's thyroid screen came back at the low end of normal, so the vet is now running a full panel (which, yes, he should've done to begin with ). He said he doesn't suspect hypothyroidism, because normally that would also result in other numbers being high (e.g. cholesterol), and Gabe's are all fine, but we really need to rule out anything medical. If his thyroid is normal, we'll investigate a possible seizure disorder. In the meantime, he's banned from all furniture, muzzled at night, and is "earning" his treats, food, and walks. It's hard to tell whether any of it is effective (well, except the muzzle) since he only becomes violent once in a blue moon, but with all this, plus the medical investigations, at least we don't feel totally helpless.