LBass

Sending prayers and healing thoughts to you and your sweet Halle.

Many, many dogs with epilepsy live long, happy lives! Many dogs take meds, get good seizure control and that's about the end of the story. The first tier anti-epileptic drugs are cheap (~$20/month if you shop around)and the most significant ongoing cost is getting good labs every 4-6 months to make sure that all is well and that liver function has not been damaged by the anti-epileptic drugs (the labs aren't cheap). Those are not the dogs you read about on web boards or email lists. Unfortunately, for some dogs and their people, epilepsy can be a hard disease/illness to manage. Without meds Piper was having cluster seizures once or twice a week. Horrible for both of us. With meds he has seizure episodes about every 6-8 weeks. Usually he has one seizure, sometimes he clusters badly and requires an e-vet visit. They bring out the big guns, Pentobarbitol and Propofol, and, so far, they have always been able to end the episodes. He has had some significant problems with side effects from the seizure meds and I have had to work with my vet and with a neurologist to try to get the best balance of seizure control and side effects. Piper is a great dog and I feel lucky to have him, but in all honesty, his epilepsy makes for a tough road at times. I do spend more every year at the vet with him because of it and that isn't going to change. I watch and worry and think and log and research--draining and time-consuming. My schedule revolves around his rigid pill times 24/7/365. It is not always easy at all. At this point, no one knows where on the severity, trouble and expense spectra this dog will fall--whether his epilepsy will be easy or hard to manage. No one even has an idea of what may be causing the seizures--there are many possible causes. Living with canine epilepsy, I know that it can be done, but I also know that it can be tough financially and emotionally. I don't find myself too ready to fault those who choose to opt out. Here are some good web sites with canine eiplepsy info: www.canine-epilepsy.com www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com www.canine-epilepsy.net

Healing thoughts and prayers for Cody Angelo.

RE: Sodium Bromide (NaBr) and Potassium Bromide (KBr)...the bromide is the active ingredient that treats seizures. You can get it in chemical solution with either sodium or potassium. For some reason, most vets turn to Potassium Bromide first. Sodium Bromide is usually brought into play for dogs who have lots of tummy upset from taking Potassium Bromide. Sodium Bromide tends to be easier on the tum. I think that the dosing is a little different for the 2 meds but it is all about getting the same therapeutic level of Bromide on board to treat the seizures. Lucy

There are many different things that can cause seizures--allergies, tick diseases, cancer, reactions to vaccinations, Cushings, encephalitis, etc. A thorough physical including detailed labs will help you and your vet decide whether there is any underlying health issue causing the seizures that needs to be treated. Many times, as in the case of my Piper, everything on the exams and labs looks fine but the seizures persist. That leaves the dx of idiopathic epilepsy--seizures of unknown cause. Keep a log of your dog's seizures--date, time, description, anything unusual in the last 48 hours? This can help you keep track over time and notice any patterns that may help in understanding your dog's seizures. Here are some great web sites with a wealth of good information about seizures and about helping your dog when a seizure occurs: www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com www.canine-epilepsy.com Has a great email list for support. www.canine-epilepsy.net Link to good overview info Lucy

I'm so very sorry that you are facing this shocking and heartbreaking loss. Please accept my heartfelt condolences and know that you will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Maybe the vet's has a flavoring added? Piper's is unflavored and clear.

Frontline for ticks/fleas and Interceptor for heart worms. Just a thought...my guess is that he'll need to be on heart worm preventive while in Florida. That may be something you'll want to talk to your vet about if you haven't yet. In the south east heart worm treatment is a 12 month a year necessity.

I too had been going to suggest a towel under her tummy. Lift up and that will pretty much give you control of the rear and you may be able to sort of "frog march" her right on in. Poor thing. Piper too sometimes gets to the point where he's just had enough of vet visit and blood draws.

I don't think Piper's meds have had an effect on the color of his urine. Lucy

There is a huge variation from place to place in the charges for medications. FWIW, I've had great luck getting Piper's liquid KBr via mail. Even with the postage, it was quite inexpensive. I use the pharmacy of the pharmacist who volunteers on our Epil-K9 email list. If you are interested, let me know and I'll PM you the contact info. Also, there is a list of pharmacies that supply KBr reasonably on this web site List of good compounding pharmacies. Remember that the dose is affected by 2 factors for liquid KBr--the amount you give and the strength of the solution of medication. Piper's KBr is a solution of 400 mg of KBr per ml of fluid. If I give 1 ml of liquid as his dose he gets 400 mg of KBr. If I give 1/2 a ml, he gets 200 mg of KBr. Check the solution's strength on the bottle--it may be that they changed that and adjusted the dose accordingly. I do think that is way too much to pay. There are less expensive sources for that med, for sure.

I would recommend giving the vet a call in the morning to let him/her know of the diarrhea and that Henry seems to be feeling bad. The vet may make a change in the meds or suggest something that will help.

I would think that it would be well worth trying medications to see if they can help with the seizures. You are very right, though--the first step is a vet visit and a really good physical. With Dallas' known neurological problems being the most likely cause of his seizures, you might want to get a neurologist involved. You may have done that already but, if not, www.acvim.org is a site that you can use to find neurologists in your area. Seizures are rather terrifying and the goal is to minimize the number of seizures that occur. Having said that, many dogs continue to have some seizures even when taking medications. Often meds can help but it is common for some seizure activity to occur even with meds. The fact that Dallas is having only single seizures rather than clusters of several seizures is good news. The fact that they last a couple of minutes--a pretty standard length--is good news. Having a couple of weeks between seizures is not too bad. One goal to shoot for might be no more than one a month. Here are the best web sites on seizures--and their many causes and treatments--that I have found: www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com www.canine-epilepsy.com www.canine-epilepsy.net Keep us posted because we'll be thinking of you and Dallas. Lucy and Piper (13 days seizure free)

Bless your heart and Henry's too. As Judy (JillysFullHouse) said, I've been there and done that too. Grand Mal seizures are so frightening in the beginning. It really does get better later--you develop a routine for handling seizures and swing into that routine when the seizure starts. Since Henry looses bowel and bladder control during his seizures you might want to have a stack of old towels handy to shove under his rear to make cleanup a bit easier. If your yard is fenced, you might try letting him do his pacing outdoors. Different things help for different dogs, so I'd encourage you to try lots of things to see what works for Henry after seizures. I discovered that giving Piper a small meal helped him settle down afterward. Some dogs are helped by Rescue Remedy. Sometimes there is just some of that post-ictal pacing that you have to ride out. My vet's office has some kind of spray "dry shampoo" stuff that they use after expressing anal glands--ask at your vet or a groomers about what that magic stuff is and where you can get some. After you get the poop off Henry, it will help with the final cleaning and aroma. With Piper, Phenobarbital gave him a longer span of time between seizures and then the addition of Potassium Bromide helped limit the number of seizures he had at an episode. Do remember that with Potassium Bromide, it takes 3-4 months to get stable in his system so don't get give up on it too quickly. Getting decent seizure control is generally a trial and error process--almost as much art as science--and it can take some time to find the right combination of things that work for your particular dog. Various medication combinations, food, supplements, acupuncture, and on and on. There are many, many hopeful options out there. Piper's seizures have always seemed pretty severe to me but I have wondered how bad they were, compared to other dogs' seizures. He finally had a full blown grand mal seizure at my vets office when they were keeping an eye on him. They were very impressed. Several months later, he had 2 seizures at the emergency clinic. The ER vet was quite impressed too. She described to me what happened and I just kept nodding--"yeah, yeah, thats his "normal" seizure". Her eyes just kept getting bigger and bigger--she was impressed that I'd handled 10 of 'em over the previous day. It's not a bit of fun, but Piper and I manage together and that is an odd source of pride. Look for the humor in it...there really is some humor to find. I can laugh now about Piper's first grand mal (horrible at the time), which involved his flailing paws catching the vanity, then the commode, then the wall, then the vanity...he was spinning on the slick bathroom floor, break dancing. Laughter helps you weather the stress.

Patricia, I'm so very sorry for your loss. Lacey Laine touched the hearts of so many people, yours most of all. Lucy

I've not had experience with fly biting but am all too familiar with grand mal seizures. Please don't panic too much about the possibility of brain tumors. That is certainly one possible cause of seizures but there are many, many other possible causes, too. Here are the sites that seem to have the best information about canine seizures... link1 link2 link3

DeVon, that is a very handsome trio. Glad the news for Riley is good.

DeVon, I'm sending prayers for your poor "little" guy. That picture of him relaxing in the counter is precious. I hope he'll be feeling much better soon and that he can avoid surgery.

Sending prayers and good thoughts for Mia Bella and her worried, loving people.

Sending prayers for the whole family.

How frightening. Sending good thoughts to Princess and to you. You got her to the right place to get the treatment she needs and the answers you want.

No advice but very sincerely offered sympathy. I hope that Kiowa has many more happy days ahead of him with you. When the difficult decisions have to be made...well, I know from experience that nothing will make it much easier.

I so sorry that things for your Lacey and for Fred are not good right now. You and your loved ones are in my thoughts and prayers.

I hope your daughter will take the change she's been given to visit Raven. Raven is a lucky girl to have your loving care. I'm so sorry that you're facing the heartache of watching her go downhill. The hard part of loving them, without a doubt.

I'm so very sorry for your loss. The very best tribute you could ever give is the love in your heart for Peatie, and that is and will always be perfectly beautiful.