Jump to content

Greyhound Epilepsy Study


Guest Peanut

Recommended Posts

Guest topazaby

Hi!

I have a 6+ year old grey who developed seizures 3 years ago. He had them very sporatically at first and was diagnosed with hypothyroidism at the same time. He is on .8 soloxine and 1.5 grains of phenobarb. Now he has seizures less than a month apart. I am very interested in any info that you have gathered, as well as completely the questionaire if that is still something that would be useful. My boy is such a treasure and I can't stand the thought of losing him.

Thanks -

Jo (topazaby@bellsouth.net)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 125
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Guest LLennox
I am owned by two greyhounds that have epilepsy; one of which is extremely unstable. In hopes of finding answers and gaining insight into greyhounds with epilepsy, I am conducting a research study in Natalie's honor (my greyhound). Some of you are familiar with Natalie and the struggle we've had to make sense of her epilepsy and to gain control of the seizure monster. If you are not, I'd be happy to share the store with you. Natalie is my heart and I fear for the day she will no longer be a part of my life.

 

If you are owned by a greyhound who experiences epilepsy, even 1 seizure, please contact me. I have a simple questionnaire to send to you for you to complete. The data collected in the questionnaire will hopefully help us find correlations to the many greyhounds that are suffering from epilepsy. All information will remain confidential.

 

Please pm me to receive the questionnaire. Also, share this information with any other greyhound people you know that might be experiencing epilepsy with their greyhound. The more data collected the more knowledge we'll gain.

 

For the Hounds!

 

Gen, Natalie & Peanut (my epi girls)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest LLennox

I haven't figured out how to private message -- just joined. My 5-year old male, Lance, gets seizures. We've had him 2 years. They have gotten more frequent. I have spoken with the vet, but have not put him through any particular tests. I am keeping track of them and they seem to be getting more frequent. I have not found anything in particular that seems to bring them on. On a couple of occasions, he had one after being startled by a sudden noise. I am hesitant to put him on medications. If you'll send me a form at LLennox@maine.rr.com, I'll gladly fill it out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
Guest ucfedwin

My 10 year old Grey just had a Seizure yesterday morning for the first time. That was quite scary. I've had her since she was 4 as a retired racer. She has been on thyroid suplements for about a year and C/D formulated Vet food. I will be taking her to the neurologist tomorrow morning as her Blood Work came back Normal today. I would love to fill out a questionaire!

 

Edwin

Orlando, FL

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest caviles

Hi

 

I have a 10 year old greyhound that I rescued when he was 2 years old. He had his first seizure earlier today. My husband was fortunately home when it happened. Apollo (our greyhound) is currently at the vet and will need to spend the night - they are not able to stabilize his temperature. They ran a lot of bloodwork and we wont know much until tomorrow. we are extremely worried and any advice or comments people can give me would be GREATLY appreciated. I am also more than happy to fill out the questionnaire. Please send it to me. My heart goes out to everyone who has suffered through this with their greyhounds. It is a scary experience.

 

Thank you

 

Cristina

Queens New York

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
Guest jhayes

My name is Jeremy Hayes and I own two greyhounds with my wife. We have 1 male Pirate and 1 female Brandy. Last night we left the house around 6 PM and returned around 8:30PM. When I opened the bedroom door Brandy ran out and Pirate was in the corner trying to get up but could not. At first I thought his legs were alseep but upon seeing the bedroom that was not it. There was vomit on the big bed and in his bed as well. Also there was poop in his bed as well. I ran over to him but he could not get up . After about 15 minutes he was not getting any better should we pick him up and carried him to the car where when I put in him, his legs stretched straight out and his neck extended forward and his eyes fixed upon the front of the car. We had about a 30 minute ride to the emergency clinic and when we got there I carried him and tried to lay him down but he stood on his on at this point. Long story short we had him stay over night with xrays and everything you can think of and they found nothing. Pirate is 10 and this is the first time we have experienced this with any of our greyhound. Like you Pirate is my buddy and we do everything together I am for wanting to fill out your survey and whatever we can do to find out what causes this. Do have another question for you. They drew blood from his neck and he had a small bump just under the skin, the vet said it could be fluid from where they drew blood and to just keep an eye on it. When we got home we noticed his skin was darkened a little bit on his neck. We are taking him to his personal vet tommorrow just wondering you have experienced any of this before. Just think we worry to much but they are like our kids. Thanks Jeremy Hayes

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Peanut
My name is Jeremy Hayes and I own two greyhounds with my wife. We have 1 male Pirate and 1 female Brandy. Last night we left the house around 6 PM and returned around 8:30PM. When I opened the bedroom door Brandy ran out and Pirate was in the corner trying to get up but could not. At first I thought his legs were alseep but upon seeing the bedroom that was not it. There was vomit on the big bed and in his bed as well. Also there was poop in his bed as well. I ran over to him but he could not get up . After about 15 minutes he was not getting any better should we pick him up and carried him to the car where when I put in him, his legs stretched straight out and his neck extended forward and his eyes fixed upon the front of the car. We had about a 30 minute ride to the emergency clinic and when we got there I carried him and tried to lay him down but he stood on his on at this point. Long story short we had him stay over night with xrays and everything you can think of and they found nothing. Pirate is 10 and this is the first time we have experienced this with any of our greyhound. Like you Pirate is my buddy and we do everything together I am for wanting to fill out your survey and whatever we can do to find out what causes this. Do have another question for you. They drew blood from his neck and he had a small bump just under the skin, the vet said it could be fluid from where they drew blood and to just keep an eye on it. When we got home we noticed his skin was darkened a little bit on his neck. We are taking him to his personal vet tommorrow just wondering you have experienced any of this before. Just think we worry to much but they are like our kids. Thanks Jeremy Hayes

 

I'm sorry to hear about your boy.... Email me at gencfg@gmail.com and I'll send you the survey. I'm still trying to get 100 surveys to get a good study sample. I've never seen darkening of the skin... maybe someone else has.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jeremy, I wonder if the darkening you are seeing is the beginning of bruising. When they do my Piper' blood draws sometimes the delicate boy bruises. If that's the case it is nothing to worry about. Best of luck with your poor Pirate's health.

 

Lucy & epi Piper (12 weeks seizure free)

gallery_2398_3082_9958.jpg
Lucy with Greyhound Nate and OSH Tinker. With loving memories of MoMo (FTH Chyna Moon), Spirit, Miles the slinky kitty (OSH), Piper "The Perfect" (Oneco Chaplin), Winston, Yoda, Hector, and Claire.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Too new to PM but would be glad to fill out the questionnaire. I lost my second girl Morgaine to Status Epilepticus. As my vet explained it (and my Dr. best friend concurred) she experienced an initial seizure that never stopped. My walker found her, called me and with help we got her to the emergency hospital where she lost her fight. My own vet explained to me that what happened to her is similar to aneurysms where you hear that someone just suddenly dropped dead.

 

She was a happy, healthy girl right up until the moment the seizure took her.

 

Anything that I can do to help another grey to avoid this, I'm happy to do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest silky883

I don't have a clue as to how to PM on here, but I'd be glad to take the survey. My Hallo has been on phenobarb. for the past year and had his first cluster seizure Saturday morning. At the time I didn't have a clue that a cluster was so dangerous! But god looks out for fools and children and my Hallo was fine.

 

Sandy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Peanut
I don't have a clue as to how to PM on here, but I'd be glad to take the survey. My Hallo has been on phenobarb. for the past year and had his first cluster seizure Saturday morning. At the time I didn't have a clue that a cluster was so dangerous! But god looks out for fools and children and my Hallo was fine.

 

Sandy

 

 

You don't have enough posts for me to PM you. Here is the information:

 

I'm sorry to hear about your girl... feel free to email the questions to me at g_manders@yahoo.com

 

Hi! Thanks for offering to fill out the questionnaire. To be honest, I'm still gathering data. Life has been crazy and data has been coming in slow. If you'd still like to participate, please answer the questions below. Fill it out the best you can... Thanks! ~ Gen (GreyTalk: Peanut)

 

I've included the questionnaire for you to copy & paste into an email and email back to me at g_manders@yahoo.com. This project is taking longer than I thought, but will eventually be done. Any insight you can give will be valuable.

 

 

In being owned by a greyhound that experiences epilepsy, it has always been a struggle to figure out what the cause of the epilepsy is. It always seems to be a guessing game. Because of this and in hopes to gain some insight and understanding, it was determined that it would be valuable to gather data regarding epileptic greyhounds and see if there are any correlations that may be causing the seizures. As an owner of an epileptic greyhound, you can provide us with vital data for this project. It doesn’t matter if your greyhound has had one seizure or a multitude of seizures, your information is important to us. If you would like to be kept abreast of the findings, please include your name and all contact information.

 

All information gathered will be kept confidential. If you have any questions regarding the study, please contact Gen Manders at g_manders@yahoo.com. Thank you for your participation. Please return completed questionnaire within an email to g_manders@yahoo.com or by mail to: Greyhound Epi Study c/o CfG, PO Box 17, Coopersville, MI 49404.

 

Please answer the following questions regarding your epileptic greyhound.

 

1. What is your greyhound’s Racing Name?

2. What is your greyhounds’ birth date?

3. Where was your greyhound born?

4. Where was your greyhound farmed at?

5. Where was your greyhound schooled?

6. What tracks did your greyhound race at (list all)?

7. Did your greyhound receive any injuries while racing or after? If so, please explain:

8. How old was your greyhound when he/she started seizing?

9. What type of seizures does your greyhound have? What type of medication is your greyhound on?

10. What type of food do you feed your greyhound?

11. What type of treats are you feeding your greyhound?

12. Has your greyhound’s diet changed since he/she began having seizures? If so, please explain all changes.

13. Has your greyhound been tested for Tick Borne Disease? If so, what were the results?

14. Has your greyhound been tested for Hyper or Hypo Thyroid? . If so, what were the results?

15. Has your greyhound been tested or treated for any other medical conditions? If so, please explain:

16. Do you use flea & tick preventative? What kind? How often?

17. Do you use pesticides in your yard? What kind? How often?

18. What kind of heart worm preventative do you use? How often?

19. Is your greyhound’s pedigree is available on www.greyhound-data.com? Yes If not, please include the following information regarding your greyhound’s pedigree.

a. Sire

b. Dam

c. Grand Sires (2)

d. Grand Dams (2)

e. Great Grand Sires (4)

f. Great Grand Dams (4)

g. Great Great Grand Sires (8)

h. Great Great Grand Dams (8)

i. Great Great Great Grand Sires (16)

j. Great Great Great Grand Dams (16)

20. Would you like to receive the results of this study? Yes If so, please provide your name and email address:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Hi there! I am the pround mom of two beautiful boys, one of which has been diagnosed w/ Epilepsy. He is only 3 1/2 and is on phoenabarb and potassium bromide daily. He continues to have seizures about ever 5-6 weeks. I feel so helpless and wonder if we will ever have it more under control. To us, this is much better than it was before. He had 18 seizures in a 32 hour time frame a few months ago and that is when the dr. decided to start him on the potassium bromide.

~helpless mom

 

I am owned by two greyhounds that have epilepsy; one of which is extremely unstable. In hopes of finding answers and gaining insight into greyhounds with epilepsy, I am conducting a research study in Natalie's honor (my greyhound). Some of you are familiar with Natalie and the struggle we've had to make sense of her epilepsy and to gain control of the seizure monster. If you are not, I'd be happy to share the store with you. Natalie is my heart and I fear for the day she will no longer be a part of my life.

 

If you are owned by a greyhound who experiences epilepsy, even 1 seizure, please contact me. I have a simple questionnaire to send to you for you to complete. The data collected in the questionnaire will hopefully help us find correlations to the many greyhounds that are suffering from epilepsy. All information will remain confidential.

 

Please pm me to receive the questionnaire. Also, share this information with any other greyhound people you know that might be experiencing epilepsy with their greyhound. The more data collected the more knowledge we'll gain.

 

For the Hounds!

 

Gen, Natalie & Peanut (my epi girls)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
Guest pirate17
I am owned by two greyhounds that have epilepsy; one of which is extremely unstable. In hopes of finding answers and gaining insight into greyhounds with epilepsy, I am conducting a research study in Natalie's honor (my greyhound). Some of you are familiar with Natalie and the struggle we've had to make sense of her epilepsy and to gain control of the seizure monster. If you are not, I'd be happy to share the store with you. Natalie is my heart and I fear for the day she will no longer be a part of my life.

 

If you are owned by a greyhound who experiences epilepsy, even 1 seizure, please contact me. I have a simple questionnaire to send to you for you to complete. The data collected in the questionnaire will hopefully help us find correlations to the many greyhounds that are suffering from epilepsy. All information will remain confidential.

 

Please pm me to receive the questionnaire. Also, share this information with any other greyhound people you know that might be experiencing epilepsy with their greyhound. The more data collected the more knowledge we'll gain.

 

For the Hounds!

 

Gen, Natalie & Peanut (my epi girls)

I have a male greyhound that has had two seizures back to back this past June. Took him to the vet and advised us he more than likely had a brain tumor. It is now the first of october and he has not had anymore seizures that we know of. The initial one was horrible, lost all functions of his body and could not stand for about an hour. During that time he had another seizure that last about 20 seconds. For the past month he rubs his head on the couch but the funny thing is it makes him wild and he wants to play. He never stands next to a wall and holds his head there but when he rubs it, it makes him really wild and playful. If you have any ideas please let me know. Thanks Jeremy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest lynne893

I'm brand new to the forum and just wanted to thank everyone here for "being there." We have one grey that we own (Timber, she's 9 years old) and just began fostering a new grey 5 days ago, Picasso. Picasso is a BIG male, 4 1/2 years old, and yesterday he had a grand mal seizure. It scared the heck out of us-- he has no documented medical history of seizing, and we never expected this in our wildest dreams.

 

The seizure only lasted 2-3 minutes, but it was violent, and fortunately we got him to the vet within 30 minutes. He has recovered well and 24 hours later, no further problems. We're awaiting the results of the bloodwork. For now, we're just monitoring him and we'll look at treatment options pending the outcome of his labs and any further seizing.

 

I will fill out the questionnaire and send it back. Thank you all for this resource.

 

Lynne & Joel (and hounds timber and picasso)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest ChrisC

Hi all,

 

For those of you who may not be aware of this, dogs can be frightened by another dog having an epileptic seizure, even to the extent of attacking. I have two greyhounds, one of which has had periodic seizures for the past year, and I had read about the fear that can be generated in another dog by an event. Unfortunately, I then found out the truth of it in a distressing way. My wife and I had gone out for the evening, leaving the two dogs in the back yard. When we returned, our male was standing in the middle of the yard, staring vacantly, obviously recovering from a seizure. And he had been bitten, in perhaps half a dozen places, including the face. At first I thought the seizures had thrown him against a stone wall or something capable of causing lacerations, but they were all around his body, and they were too consistent with teeth marks.

 

So this is a sad lesson that this can happen. Epilepsy - not much pleasant comes from it.

 

Regards,

Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I missed this thread until now.

 

Can anyone advise as to if their dog is epileptic but has been fed an *entirely* raw diet- as in no added carbs? The reason I ask is that a ketogenic diet has been known to work in stopping epilepsy in humans. The mechanism is very different than that of drugs used to control the condition. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has used a raw meat and bone diet to manage epilepsy- or, on the other hand, anyone who feeds an epileptic hound a raw diet.

 

Thanks!

Coco (Maze Cocodrillo)

Minerva (Kid's Snipper)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...
Guest Nautilique

Hello! I wonder if this thread is still open? I'm Laurie and I have 2 greyhounds (plus 4 other dogs), and one of my greyhounds started having seizures last October at 3 years of age. His name is Rocky, he's a super sweet guy who was a "failed foster" of ours. His initial seizures were a cluster of 3 within a 24 hour period, we took him to the vet who started him on Pheno. 6 weeks later, he had another cluster of 3, and 6 weeks after that a cluster of 4. His meds were doubled and 11 weeks later, he had a cluster of 6. This was earlier this month, and he is now taking potasium bromide as well, time will tell if we've got it under control yet. His seizures are of the grand-mal type (clonic-tonic I believe?), and they are quite scary. In his first cluster, after the initial seizure, he'd jump up in a (literally) blind panic, backing up and bumping into things and not knowing who we were. Now he stays lying down when they're over for about 10 minutes or so, huffing and puffing, and when he gets up he does seem to recognize his surroundings. Anyway, I'd love to hear from other epi parents, their medication protocols, etc. Thanks for the opportunity to participate in Greytalk!

Laurie

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome to GT Laurie. You will find that there are several of us here on the board with seizure dogs. My boy Saint has grand mal seizures also but with the help of Potassium Bromide and Phenobarbital he has been seizure free for 4 years. I hope you are as lucky!

Judy, mom to Darth Vader, Bandita, And Angel

Forever in our hearts, DeeYoGee, Dani, Emmy, Andy, Heart, Saint, Valentino, Arrow, Gee, Bebe, Jilly Bean, Bullitt, Pistol, Junior, Sammie, Joey, Gizmo, Do Bee

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest cristaron
Hello! I wonder if this thread is still open? I'm Laurie and I have 2 greyhounds (plus 4 other dogs), and one of my greyhounds started having seizures last October at 3 years of age. His name is Rocky, he's a super sweet guy who was a "failed foster" of ours. His initial seizures were a cluster of 3 within a 24 hour period, we took him to the vet who started him on Pheno. 6 weeks later, he had another cluster of 3, and 6 weeks after that a cluster of 4. His meds were doubled and 11 weeks later, he had a cluster of 6. This was earlier this month, and he is now taking potasium bromide as well, time will tell if we've got it under control yet. His seizures are of the grand-mal type (clonic-tonic I believe?), and they are quite scary. In his first cluster, after the initial seizure, he'd jump up in a (literally) blind panic, backing up and bumping into things and not knowing who we were. Now he stays lying down when they're over for about 10 minutes or so, huffing and puffing, and when he gets up he does seem to recognize his surroundings. Anyway, I'd love to hear from other epi parents, their medication protocols, etc. Thanks for the opportunity to participate in Greytalk!

Laurie

 

 

Hello Laurie,

You have come to the right place to find help with your seizure boy. The people on Greytalk have

a wealth of information to share.

 

I too have a seizure boy. He will be eight years old in October and started seizing just after he turned

two. He was initially started on phenobarbital. His first seizures were very violent, sometimes lasting

over 5 minutes. His post-ictal was horrendous. Sometimes the post-ictal stage would last for two or

three days. He wouldn't eat - he was afraid of his food bowl. We couldn't get near him because he

was afraid of us and everything around him.

We added potassium bromide and he became a completely different dog. He still has seizures, but

they are pretty predictable and not as often or violent as in the beginning. The post-ictal stage is

pretty much completely gone. He gets right up after a seizure and is his same old self again.

The potassium bromide takes a while to build up in the system. Give it time to work. It could take

up to a couple months to start really working.

For us it has been a miracle drug.

I hope the same for you and your boy.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Nautilique

Hi Jilly and Cistaron! Thanks for your speedy replies, I'm so glad this isn't a dead thread! It's very encouraging to hear that Saint is seizure free for 4 years, that's greyt!!! BTW, I love your picture tag, do you currently own all those dogs (without the halos) ?! Wow! Saint's picture looks freaky, lol, I have some freaky pics of Rocky too. I'll have to figure out how to put pics of my guys in the posts. Cis - your poor seizure guy! Rocky's post ictal has been bad too, after this last cluster of 7 at the beginning of April it took him a week to start acting *normal* again. Sometimes he'd just wander around like a lost soul, or whine for no reason, stare into space and/or very skittish. He's not had a problem eating tho, and after his actual seizures when he gets up he gets a drink and then scouts the house for food, he seems desparate to eat. I found a canine eiplipsy site that recommended giving ice cream after a seizure to bring up the blood sugar. I didn't have any this last time, so I gave him a bit of vanilla yogurt after each one. So what's the dose of meds everyone is on? And how do you get the pot. bromide? We just started with that, and it came in capsule form, but I looked around on the internet and found that it also comes as liquid and in chewable tabs for dogs. Rocky is getting 97.2 pheno plus 500 mg. pot. bromide twice a day (each). He weighs in at about 72 lb. I think. I know it's a matter of getting the meds at the right level, it's just a bit unsettling in the meantime. How often are your guy's seizures now that he's on the meds for awhile? Does he just have one or a cluster? I keep a diary of them so I can try and note any pattern. I had some problem with the other dogs attacking him when he went down, and then as I rushed them outside, they attacked each other so back in October my other grey ended up getting stitches after her *brother* got over his seizure. Rocky's episodes are so violent I'm scared of him hurting himself. We cleared out a small room (we call it the padded cell, lol), and I have carpet pieces on the only corners, the room is completely empty except for his bed. I feel bad putting him in there every time I go anywhere, but I want him (and the others) to be safe. Anyway, I look forward to getting to know everyone and exploring the rest of the boards.

Laurie

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest cristaron

Definitely try to make sure your other pups aren't around him when he starts to seize. Some dogs

will not be bothered by it, but others will react just like yours did. If they can't get to the seizing dog,

they sometimes will turn on each other. Our two females that were here when he began seizing

never even paid attention to him, but that didn't mean it would never happen.

Ron is on 1 1/4 grains of pb every eight hours and 1125 mg of kbr once a day. He weighs 79 lbs.

We get his kbr from a compounding pharmacy. It's capsule form. When he first started on it, it

was upsetting his stomach so now I wait 45 minutes after he eats dinner and then wrap it in a nice

snug piece of doughy bread and pop it down his throat (he's a very good piller so it's easy).

He was seizing about every 5-6 weeks pretty regularly, but hadn't had one since December 31st -

until March 15. Two grand mal's back to back at 4:00 a.m. His usually are very early

in the morning. It starts with his *aura* of sniffing. The minute he starts that, I know we're in for

trouble. He seems to have more trouble in the summer months. I really think that the barometric

pressure has a lot to do with it. He can be fine one minute, I let him outside to go pee and he'll

come in and start acting funny. This is in a matter of a couple minutes.

Do keep a log of seizures. Sometimes you can pin point a pattern, but a lot of times there is really

no rhyme nor reason to them.

I've learned to just kind of go with the flow with this. In the beginning, I was a basket case. I had

no idea how to help him. I'm sure my negative energy was being passed on to him and it wasn't

helping at all. Now I just sit next to him, talking softly, with the lights down really low and wait until

he comes out of it. It's calming to him. It's much better.

Rocky's little padded room sounds just perfect for him. He can't bang into furniture or get hurt on

anything.

Ron has always been in a giant wire crate. Well, one day just as I was leaving for work, he started

seizing in his crate. He flipped back and his jaw got stuck between the wires. It was a nightmare. I

couldn't pry his teeth away because he was so rigid. I just had to sit there and talk and wait until he

started coming out of it and relax enough to get his mouth off the bars.

That afternoon I went to Petco and bought a giant plastic Vari Kennel.

Now if I have to leave I'm not so worried about him hurting himself and I won't be there to help him.

That's my biggest fear - I won't be here to help him.

 

We plug along and do the best we can. That's all we can do.

It's a hard thing, but we love them all the more for being special.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...