Walter Had Another Seizure

[WalterWallerson]

This is the third one in the last year. This was the longest and involved him pooping, too.

 

I just read the article about ice on his back so I'll have that ready to go. He turned 9 in November.

[kamsmom]

I'm so sorry. is he on medication? It may be time to adjust his medications.

[heartdogs]

Talk to Judy( full house) she can give you very good advice. She helped me with Noelle. Sorry to see he's having trouble with the seizure monster but yes cool water on the back or tummy can help. Sending prayers for you & Walter as I know how hard it is.

[MaryJane]

Unless a dog is having seizures more than once a month or having clusters (more than 1 seizure in 24 hours), many neurologists will hold on starting medication. How long was the last seizure - if it was more than 5 minutes, then you should get back to the neuro and get his opinion. Even though your dog may not be at the point to be put on daily meds, you should get a "cluster buster" just in case your dog start seizing and doesn't stop or goes from one seizure to another with very little time in-between (Status Epilepticus). This would be used so that you at least have a chance to get to an Evet to get the full treatment protocol. Usually, rectal Valium (at the proper dose) works great for this.

 

Good luck

[gryhndsr4us]

So sorry to hear this. My angel Sneakers was epileptic, in the beginning his seizures were months apart. I kept a chart with date, time and length of the seizures. Also comments about loss of bowels or any other info. We eventually put him on Meds when he had 3 in one day two were only 10 minutes apart. The meds really helped he didn't stop but went back to months apart and very small short duration seizures.

A chart is very helpful. Also after seizures I gave him ice cream or yogurt with honey. The seizures can cause their sugar to drop. We also crated Sneakers for his safety when we left the house.

Good luck with your boy. Seizures are horrible but can be managed.

[SanTanSnuggles]

My HeartSweet would have them a couple of times a week. We knew about keeping their backs cool to keep their temp down till they can get to the vet if they are long.

Six months later she developed os, but I was told that was not the cause of her seizures. I kept her close to me. They never lasted long,

but were very active. I would have to lay across her so she would not bump into things. She was on medication almost immediately after they started.

She went to the rainbow bridge at five.

 

My Surprise had one about a year after we got him and it lasted for hours. He stayed at the ER for the day. Than he never had another one. Amen to that.

 

Hope you find the reason and just the right treatment. My son had them at birth for four years, than they just went away. He never had another one. There just

seems to be no rhyme or reason for them sometimes. My friends had a small dog who has had them forever. He is about 12 years old and does great. Meds control them just fine.

No other problems.

[WalterWallerson]

We went to the neurologist Tuesday, Dr Eagleson at VSEC in Levittown (PA). He said it could be a couple things but most likely seizures. We were given an internasal med (despite me asking for rectal valium) and I was shown how to use it. No daily meds since the episodes are so far apart. It is also unusual that he's having them - Wal is a little old to develop seizures, and Dr. E thinks he might have a weird brain. He also said the ice cream/blood sugar thing isn't that big of a deal. Dogs that have been seizing long enough for their blood sugar to drop typically do not make it. He wanted to do an MRI, I said no. He said I should consider the MRI if the seizures increase/become cluster or get longer.

 

He also said that if Wal had a brain tumor, he'd be gone by now and that kind of made me feel better. Basically I'm bracing for the next seizure, I have meds to slow/stop it and hopefully things don't escalate further. I posted back in September and I just wanted to say thanks for all the responses and feedback because it was really helpful to review before I went to see the neurologist.

[MaryJane]

That's too bad that they didn't give you rectal Valium although the nasal stuff is pretty new so that might help. Hopefully it is at a dose that gives you enough time to get to the ER if necessary. If the seizures happen again, you might want to ask for a med like generic Keppra that could be used as a cluster buster - a few people that I know have been using this for episodes when their dog has had clusters. You could give it for 2 or 3 days (3x a day) and then stop.

 

As to the sugar levels - if your dog has GMs - that activity will pull sugar out of storage as they are using so much energy and most times it is replenished (as your vet said) however, I have found that giving my dog about 1 to 2 tablespoons of vanilla ice cream (real stuff, no artificial sugars) really helps in the post period of a seizure - she just bounces back much quicker.

 

Good Luck

[RaineysMom]

with Rainey we found using an ice pack as soon as you can get it on their back when a seizure starts helped IMMENSELY. Here's a link: http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/icepack.htm

 

good luck with Walter. Sending hugs.

[WalterWallerson]

So things started to change with Walter on Friday night. He flopped into the slumber ball and hit the couch in the process just enough to wake me up. He was panting a lot and very trippy from his nose. I waited about a half hour and then I took both dogs out to go to the bathroom it was at this point that I noticed that the slumber ball had urine on it both guys went out and empty their bladder.

 

the next day he's clearly agitated most of the day I have waited giving him a Prozac because I wanted to see if he could relax and calm down. At 10 p.m. Walter ushered us into the bedroom to go to bed at 11:30 p.m. he woke me up panting in my face he was clearly very very agitated. I cut him and tried to calm him down a little bit and that midnight I went back to bed at 12:30 he woke me up again this happened again at 1:30 and at 2:30. each time I was able to calm him down and get him to fall back asleep and then I would return to my bed. My bed is only a few feet from his bed so it wasn't like I was in a different room or anything like that. At 2:30 a.m. I stop going back to my bed and slept with him on the floor until about 6:30 a.m.

Sunday he was pretty cranky, and yesterday we went to the vet to have blood and urine analysed his blood came back just fine and his urine had elevated levels of protein in it which the vet did not seem concerned about at all I will attempt to upload pictures of the blood work as I have the test results.

with Rainey we found using an ice pack as soon as you can get it on their back when a seizure starts helped IMMENSELY. Here's a link: http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/icepack.htm

 

good luck with Walter. Sending hugs.

 

The neurologist told me that this was an "old wives tale" along with ice cream after a seizure. Not too sure what to think now, to be perfectly honest.

[Batmom]

Hope you can get to the bottom of things so he and the rest of you can relax a bit.

[tbhounds]

Has Walter had a brain MRI? I also agree with the neuro vet- if the dogs sugar dropped that low during a seizure you have bigger problems.

Edited-wanted to add that there could be other diagnosis determined on an MRI besides a tumor.

Edited January 18, 2017 by tbhounds

[WalterWallerson]

No brain MRI, it's currently too expensive for my budget

[RaineysMom]

So things started to change with Walter on Friday night. He flopped into the slumber ball and hit the couch in the process just enough to wake me up. He was panting a lot and very trippy from his nose. I waited about a half hour and then I took both dogs out to go to the bathroom it was at this point that I noticed that the slumber ball had urine on it both guys went out and empty their bladder.

 

the next day he's clearly agitated most of the day I have waited giving him a Prozac because I wanted to see if he could relax and calm down. At 10 p.m. Walter ushered us into the bedroom to go to bed at 11:30 p.m. he woke me up panting in my face he was clearly very very agitated. I cut him and tried to calm him down a little bit and that midnight I went back to bed at 12:30 he woke me up again this happened again at 1:30 and at 2:30. each time I was able to calm him down and get him to fall back asleep and then I would return to my bed. My bed is only a few feet from his bed so it wasn't like I was in a different room or anything like that. At 2:30 a.m. I stop going back to my bed and slept with him on the floor until about 6:30 a.m.

Sunday he was pretty cranky, and yesterday we went to the vet to have blood and urine analysed his blood came back just fine and his urine had elevated levels of protein in it which the vet did not seem concerned about at all I will attempt to upload pictures of the blood work as I have the test results.

 

The neurologist told me that this was an "old wives tale" along with ice cream after a seizure. Not too sure what to think now, to be perfectly honest.

 

since there's no way to compare the outcome of the exact same seizure, there's no way to prove the ice pack works, but every time we used it they were 1/2 as long or less than without, and I literally have heard dozens of others with good results using it too. I won't hurt anything so I highly suggest trying it

 

I don't mean to sound terrible, but at Walter's age, it is most likely a brain tumor or issue :( the behavior you posted might be suggestive of that too Our Rainey changed potty habits and personality (aggression, OCD, out of it, etc) as hers progressed.

 

sending hugs. It sucks.