hikinghounds

Rectal valium (diazepam) is the liquid form and it's just given with a syringe (no needle) and lubricant in the bum. I use it to stop Zephyr's seizures, it's a common use of it. It actually has an effect almost immediately. The neurologist told me it would be fast, but I was surprised and happy to see how fast, within a minute, sometimes only a few seconds. Apparently it is absorbed very fast by the rectal tissue. I read that it is the second fastest way to get valium into the system, IV is fastest.

Can't help with the zonisamide, but I'm so glad Avril is doing better and I hope she continues to get better! Do they have any idea about what caused the infection?

I'm glad you found out what is causing this, but I sure know how scared you are feeling right now. I hope the neurologist will be able to help more too. Are they thinking Avril's encephalitis is from infection? I hope they are able to find the cause and treat it. If it turns out it's not infectious make sure to find out about chemotherapy treatment. It saved Zephyr and dogs handle chemotherapy much better than people, a lot less side effects. Zephyr's encephalitis was through his brain too, the Dr. said at least 30% of his brain was effected. Is Avril able to eat anything? Zephyr was at the hospital for a week and for a few days Zephyr couldn't eat and we start feeding him a blended meat, canned food, and wet kibble mush that was squirted on his tongue. That seemed to really help him and his urine and blood really improved after. I forgot to mention that he was completely blind for two days and he had nystagmus also. This all improved as in the next 1 -2 weeks and he has had no permanent damage to his functioning that I can tell. They did tell me they had seen dogs that it took longer to go away. After the first 2 days and he started to wake up and improve he would get very upset sometimes. The Dr. and techs said, and I agree based on what I saw, that this is often because they are confused and can't control their body like they want to. Zephyr would also get upset when I had to leave, which killed me, but the techs were nice with helping with that. I just thought I'd let you know those things in case Avril is doing similar things. I am still amazed at what he went through and what they are able to do with treatments. I'm sending lots of healing love and keeping Avril and you in my thoughts and prayers. Zephyr sends love too!

Hi, I saw someone from GreyTalk had visited and then saw this post. I'm so sorry Avril is going through this. I'm Zephyr's mom, http://hikinghounds.blogspot.com , Caron. Zephyr had a lot of similar symptoms to Avril, circling, ataxia, very anxious, I could tell his head was hurting. I got him to a neurologist and had an MRI done which showed encephalitis of a non-infectious origin. He started having seizures the next morning at the neurologists and they lasted 24 hours. They gave him all the drugs too, but the seizures kept coming. It was from the inflammation and swelling in his brain. He could not stand for three days after and it took over a week, for him to recover from the inflammation, swelling, and seizures and walk normal again, actually I didn't say 100% for 2 -3 weeks,. So, the things you are seeing in Avril could definitely go away as she improves. Since Zephyr's encephalitis was non-infections, I had every possible test run for ticks, fungus, etc., it's thought to be a bad auto-immune response. The treatment for this is steroids and in cases chemotherapy. Since he was seizing so bad and nothing at all indicated infection we gave chemotherapy about 12 hours after the seizures started. The chemotherapy treatment is only given when the cause is not infectious because it lowers the bodies ability to fight infection. I saw that Avril has the elevated white blood cells that could be from infection, so the chemo might not be for her. It has worked wonderfully for Zephyr. The MRI was crucial to his diagnoses. They weren't able to do the spinal fluid (CFS) when he first came in because the inflammation and swelling was too bad, but if you can do that it gives more and even better info. Zephyr just had his follow up work and he is really close to normal now, but we're doing another dose of chemo, etc. to be safe. He was on phenobarbital when he came home, then off for about a month, and then has had to start some again because he's had a few seizures that could be from scar tissue or maybe the small amount of possible remaining inflammation. This all started in March, it's been 4 months now. I couldn't read all your posts but if you haven't been to a neurologist I would really get her in to one. I know Zephyr wouldn't be here had I not been able to get him to the neurologist. I wish you and Avril all the best. It really sounds like she is a special girl having been through so much with you.

I'm so sorry this happened and you lost Tone! So very sad. It's not your fault. Remember that Tone loves you and knows that you did your best, and he would not want you to feel like it was your fault. Sending lots of love. Caron

That dose sounds really high. My 85 lb boy was taking 60 mg twice a day and that was really knocking him out, tired and loopy. As I reduced it got better. Greyhounds can be more sensitive to medicines and might need lower doses than other dogs. But 125 still sounds too high. You might want to see a neurologist, they might be able to better diagnose what's going on. I hope things improve!

The Help Em Up Harness is great. I had to use one for my big boy, 80+ pounds, a few weeks ago, and I'm a small person. I was able to get him up and down stairs by myself. Good Luck, I'll be thinking of you.