Epilepsy

[ElizabethGPAPS]

I've got an adopter whose boy just had a first grand mal seizure and a second one about 12 hours later. They have a new baby in the house and are hinting broadly that they'd rather return the dog than deal with it. Nice, huh?

 

Every Greyhound I've known over the years who was diagnosed with epilepsy lived a short, vet-heavy, drugged life until finally being euthanized (usually at the e-vet since episodes tend to happen at night) for cluster seizures that couldn't be stopped even with valium suppositories. Does anyone have any more positive experiences? I really need some hope here.

Edited January 10, 2008 by ElizabethGPAPS

[Guest Peanut]

YES!! many pups live long and healthy lives with epilepsy under control. Some are not so lucky....

[Guest EmilyAnne]

Henry used to have grand mal clusters, it has been a long time since he had clusters! (I have to look at his notebook, but I think the last cluster was in March)When I first adopted him, he went 47 days seizure free with the addtion of kbr. When he developed a severe urinary tract infection, it triggered a seizure, fortunately he did not cluster. The last seizure was over a month ago. Henry is being weaned off pheno and kept on Kbr. I really think the Kbr is the magic bullet for Henry. There is some trial and error in figuring out the right meds. Henry is on the high end of the therapuetic range for kbr and does not seem drugged out at all. He did when he was on both a high dose of pheno plus kbr. There is most definately hope! Henry's epilepsy really does not affect his quality of life. I am more diligent with his food and meds than I would be with a non epileptic dog, (making sure I feed on schedule and being careful what I feed him) but other than that there really is no difference between him and a dog that does not have epilepsy now that we are well on our way to establishing good seizure control.

[scullysmum]

My bridgekid Scully started having seizures at five years old, he had grand mal seizires, one of them lasted a full 15 minutes (I thought it would kill him ) There was a full year between his first and second seizure but after that they came at fairly regular intervals and he was put on a combination of Pheno and K/Br, he lived for another 4 1/2 years and never had another seizure....and his death was not seizure related. The drugs did not affect him much either, they made him drink more and therefore pee more, but he peed a lot anyway and he never seemed "drugged up" although it should be said he was pretty "spaced" even before he went on them

 

It's different with every dog, but I hope this gives you some hope

[Trudy]

I've never had a dog that clustered.

Growing up we had a Border Collie with seizures controlled with Pb (he'd have a breakthrough now and then, but very rarely).

Now I have Ryan who is on KBr and PB, but he doesn't cluster. Without meds he'd have a very bad and rather lengthy grand mal followed by another a week later. He's better with meds, but still has breakthroughs every now and again.

[LBass]

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

 

 

[TheFullHouse]

If there were ever a successful story it's Saint. Saint came into the adoption having horrible grand mal seizures. His were so bad he actually collapsed a crate on top of himself cutting his head and legs. Since our family has lots of experience with seizures we decided that he was probably not going to be adopted so we took him home.

 

We had to get him on meds before he could even undergo his surgery to have him neutered and have his teeth cleaned. Even at that, two days after bringing him home he went into clusters. We thought for sure he wasn't going to live, but with the help of our wonderful vet, who worked with us tirelessly, we finally got Saint to where he was having two seizures a week instead of every day. We knew we could do better so we kept raising his Phenobarbital until we couldn't give him any more. At this point our vet suggested adding Potassium Bromide which we did. Poor Saint, he was like a drunken sailor for about 4 weeks but then all of a sudden his body finally adjusted to the meds. We were so happy when the first month went by and no seizures!!! Little did we know that we had finally hit the magic combination and dose of medication to relieve him of all his seizures. He has now been seizure free for 3 years and 2 months!!!!

 

The key is to have a vet who is willing to go the extra mile and work hard with you to give your pup as much relief as possible. Saint is our blessing baby. He's a happy go lucky hound who brings us so much joy every day. When we took him home that day not knowing how long we would have him, whether it be a week or a year, we wanted him to have a happy home, he deserved that. We had no idea how happy he could be though!

 

I give credit to our vet who stuck with us and didn't just settle for having 1 or 2 seizures a week. He gave me his home phone number in case of an emergency and every time Saint seized, he would call me right away and work with me on the meds. He checks Saints blood work every six months to make sure that the meds are not having any affect on his liver, which they're not and asks about Saint every time we have one of the other pups in for a check up. With diligence and good vet care, I think most seizure pups can live a normal, healthy and happy life.

[Tallgreydogmom]

As an adoption person I would somehow get the greyhound returned. Trying to keep good faith with both the adoption group and the family. It appears that at this time this is not the right greyhound for them.

 

 

[ElizabethGPAPS]

As an adoption person I would somehow get the greyhound returned. Trying to keep good faith with both the adoption group and the family. It appears that at this time this is not the right greyhound for them.

 

Hmm. As the adoption group that placed the dog in 2005, I would like to see them at least TRY to do right by their dog. This all just happened a few days ago, the dog's not even on meds yet. By dumping him off they're just shifting the burden - now it'll have to be a volunteer to live with him, take him to the vet, deal with the drugs and their side effects, supervise his seizures and clean up after them (and apparently he's aggressive during the post-seizure aura as well), take him for middle-of-the-night e-vet visits, and possibly/probably witness his early death. The foster parent will have to separate him from other dogs when not there to watch...I know from experience that mine will attack a seizuring dog. And of course the adoption group will have to bear the ongoing expense. And let's not forget all of the other dogs that will die so that this one can take up a foster home in perpetuity. But yes, it'll be much more convenient for his current owners.

 

 

 

[patricia]

I have had many non greys who have clustered. All of my babes did well once the right med and the right dose was achieved...Cody Angelo being one of them. I hope someone will be able to help this babe so that he can lead a normal and happy life...and it can happen! Sending my prayers and hope.

[Batmom]

The thing that strikes me about this case is, the dog HASN'T been diagnosed with epilepsy yet. He could in fact have epilepsy. Or he could have a thyroid problem or some other type of easily treatable imbalance, blood sugar problem, etc. etc. etc.

 

 

[Guest JudiK]

I hear your frustration... but I suspect that you are just going to stress yourself out if you try to guilt these people into keeping this dog. When people have babies, that is often all they care about. The dog may very well have been on shaky ground before the seizure. If they want to dump this dog, they will and if you make it hard to return him - he'll wind up at the SPCA or with a friend of a friend who wanted him, maybe tied out behind a shed somewhere. I adopted a cluster-seizure dog over the summer - there are people out there who will take this dog and do right by him. It just takes a while to find them. You are absolutely right that other dogs will die while your foster home is tied up with this dog... but the group made a commitment to this dog three years ago. This work is just so heartbreaking - whenever one is returned, another one doesn't make it into a home. A life for a life. It's not fair, my heart breaks for you and everyone else who has to make these decisions.

[Guest bugsmom]

I had two seizure dogs. The first one really responded to a change in the protein and fat content in her food. When we change her food to a high protein, high fat food (30/20) and put her on B1 and Valarian root, her seizures really slowed up. She had grand mal seizures and had about 1 every two weeks before we changed food and meds, after we changed she would have 1 about every 3 to 4 months. She was your normal everyday greyhound in between seizures as far as the activity level when we had her on the valarian root. She passed away when she was 10 from an unrelated problem.

 

We did the same thing as far as valarian root and food for the second one and it seemed to back off her seizures too. She ended up clustering and passed away from the seizure, she was 9 when that happened.

 

Any greyhound has the capacity to go after a seizing dog, we were constantly on watch with our other greyhounds, even tho everyone was best of buddies and got along great all the time- all bets are off when a seizure starts.

[Guest EmilyAnne]

I haven't found it to be a problem that there is a risk our other dog could attack Henry during a seizure. I simply dont leave them alone together. Henry is gated in our bedroom when we go out. Our other dog gets the run of the house. They can visit each other through the gate when we are gone, yet they are safe. If either of my dogs were gate jumpers, I'd just double gate. Really not a problem.

 

By the way, we adopted Henry fully aware of his epilepsy. His epilepsy honestly did not deter us at all. He is our second dog with epilepsy. We would have no qualms whatsoever in adopting another dog in the future with epilepsy. There are other people out there like us who also would have no qualms in adopting a dog with epilepsy.