Epilepsy Question (& Brief Update On Joe)

[Guest Bob32392]

Hi All,

We are the owners of Joe, the space aggressive, epileptic, anxious, but still totally wonderful hound from this thread. We have not re-homed him and he is still living with us; although separated from our young son. I don't know whether we will be able to (or should) keep him, but we are hanging on as long as we feel we can keep everyone safe.

 

This question is about his seizures. Joe is on what we believe is the ideal dose of Zonisamide. As far as we can tell, he hasn't had any seizures since we've found the ideal dosage, with one... maybe two... exceptions. First, when a water metal bottle fell by our bed and made a loud, surprising noise, it triggered a mild seizure. We also suspect that during the last (horrible, awful) thunderstorm he had seizures because we came home and found that he had released his bowels all over the living room, which is 100% out of character for him. (For the first couple years we had him he was fine during storms, but after his seizures started he's just been more anxious all-around, even on anti-anxiety meds.) When he is off his meds or on the wrong dose, he would have maybe 1-2 seizures a week; they were either totally random or at times appeared to be stressed induced.

 

I'd like to hear from others about their experience with seizure dogs having stress-induced seizures even though - for all intents and purposes - the seizures are controlled by meds. How common is this? Does this mean his dosage is not, in fact, correct?

 

We will, of course, be consulting with his neurologist. But I'm interested in hearing about the experience of others.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Edit: I hope I have this in the right forum. I think it could go either way, i.e. health/medical vs. behavioral. My inclination was to put it here, in part because I've gotten such great responses on the seizure issue and b/c of the stress link/Joe's behavioral history, etc.. However, if the moderators think it should be moved, I understand.

Edited July 5, 2012 by Bob32392

[TheFullHouse]

Saint was my seizure dog. I lost him at the age of 10 years and 11 months in January to something totally unrelated to his seizures. He was a hound who had seizures almost every day when we got him. We were finally able to get him totally controlled with a combination of phenobarbital and potassium bromide. He was seizure free once we got his medication level right for almost 7 years. We are a seizure family, myself and both my children have epilepsy and I'm one that if you can accomplish it, that like to have everyone completely controlled. I didn't stop changing meds or dosages until I found the right combination to get Saint seizure free.

 

Some vets consider 1 to 2 seizures a month okay. If you're satisfied with that then by all means don't mess with anything If you want your pup to have more control than that you might ask the vet about raising the dose of your boy's medication or even adding another medication to it to see if you can't achieve total control for him.

 

The only side effects my boy had from the meds was a little rear end weakness which didn't stop him from running and playing in the yard. I wish you the best of luck and thank you for giving your boy every chance.

 

edited to add: just went back and refreshed myself on your boys story. Have his space issues improved at all with the medication?

Edited July 5, 2012 by JillysFullHouse

[Guest Bob32392]

Hi Jilly,

Thanks for your feedback. We aren't satisfied with 1-2 a month. I don't think we can go higher on the zonisimide b/c it affected his kidney function. At the same time, the thought of trying a whole other round of meds is a little overwhelming, especially since we suspect the seizures may contribute to his overall anxiety, and therefore his aggression. We will probably try something different though; we would like him to be seizure-free.

 

We really don't know if his space issues have improved because we leave him alone at all times while he is lying down anywhere (not one pat, even when he looks like he's asking for it). It's so hard, but we know it's what makes him happiest. (If someone inadvertantly goes near him when he is lying down we still see him tense and give all the classic signs of anxiety such as yawning, lip-licking, staring, etc.). This is not to say he hasn't improved, because he has. Things that used to make him crazy (like us leaving for periods of time, the vacuum cleaner, etc.) barely bother him. That's where the meds have helped.

 

Ultimately, he is so good and we love him so much. But when he's not good, which is like .0001% of the time, the results could be devastating for all involved. Especially since during the times I've seen him snap he doesn't just snap and pull away,.... he lunges and keeps moving forward until, in the case of the bite on my parent's dog, he was right on top of him. I can't imagine if that happened to our son. They are never in the same room now and everyone is 100% safe, but we don't know if this can be sustained as he (my son) grows older and starts walking.

 

As you can see we're still struggling with this a bit.

[JJNg]

I don't think you mentioned how long of an interval he's gone without seizures? When did the 2 more recent stress-induced seizures happen, and when was his last seizure prior to that? If it's been a significant length of time since the last seizure (for a dog who used to have 1-2 seizures weekly, I'd consider a couple months pretty good), and the only seizures have been the 2 stress-induced ones, I probably wouldn't change anything yet. Based on reports from my clients, I don't think it's uncommon for stress to trigger seizures, but it's a case-by-case determination on how that relates to medication and seizure control - based on how frequently it happens, what types of stress trigger it, etc.

 

My frustrating cases have been the ones that seizure at fairly regular intervals (ie. a seizure or a cluster every 2-3 weeks), especially when meds don't seem to have much of an effect. Under the guidance of a neurologist, we've had cases like this on combos of 3-5 different anticonvulsant meds at the same time, and it doesn't always help. If Joe is fairly well controlled on a single medication, simply adding a second drug may help a lot. I'd definitely check with his neurologist on which drug they'd suggest as the 2nd med to use with zonisamide.

 

Just wanted to add that I applaud you for your dedication to Joe. I hope you're able to find a long term solution that works, but it would be totally understandable if it gets to the point where you are unable to keep him, especially as your son grows and starts to become more mobile.

Edited July 5, 2012 by JJNg

[MaryJane]

My Lucy is on zoni also - she gets 400mg a day. She tends to go about 6 weeks maybe more (it's 8 now) before another seizure. The neurologist is fine with having the seizures at this level although if she starts seizing more, we will likely increase the zoni to 600mg a day.

 

Lucy also has her "biting problems" and I have to watch that the other dogs don't crowd her when she is on the bed or when she is eating. So far she doesn't bite to hurt, she bites and hangs on but doesn't apply pressure.

 

Stress can cause her to seize and I'm very careful with detergents and other cleaning materials that I keep in the house because it can supposedly cause seizures. he does not get flea treatments because of the issue with it possibly causing seizures. I try and keep her routines pretty much the same and it seems to keep her calmer.

 

One thing I do is after a seizure I give her vanilla ice cream - it cools her down and it helps to stabilize her blood sugar (not too much, just a tablespoon or two).

 

Preservatives in dog food can also cause issues with seizure dogs - so the less stuff in the food the better. I feed home-made anyway because one of my dogs has kidney issues and he needs a special diet.

[greysmom]

If she doesn't post here in this thread, you also might contact GTer LindsaySF. She has a seizure dog and has done a ton of research into meds and various treatments.

 

Is Joe only on zonisamide or does he have other meds too? I read a study some years ago that vets in the UK were having some success with adding xanax to the mix for seizure dogs. You might investigate this, since he has trouble with stress/anxiety.

[RaineysMom]

do you have a Costco nearby? Rainey got her Zonisamide from there and it was far cheaper than any other place.

 

sorry your boy is going through all of this (and you all too!) -- seizures SUCK. Rainey's were due to some brain tumor or issue (she was almost 10 when they first started).