[fairymagic]

Hi all. I don't normally post in this section often but was wanting some reassurance or advice I guess.

We have a 3 year old labrador cross rottweiler. He is gorgeous, friendly and so good with our kids. We have had him since he was a pup. We realised that with the breeds he has in him he was at risk of getting hip dysplasia. Thankfully he didn't but he did develop elbow dysplasia in his left front leg. We had that operated on a year and a half ago and he has been great.

Last Monday, as usual, our alarm clock goes off. Our dog always jumps up at this as he knows if I get up he goes back to bed until I leave for work and feed him or he gets fed if my DH gets up. My DH didn't immediately hear our alarm so when he did, he jumped up quickly scaring our dog. He bolted into our heavy bedside table then collapsed and had a seizure. It was the most frightening thing Ive seen in any pet I have ever had. He came out of it relatively quickly, went outside to the loo and then waited patiently to be fed. I took him to the Vets who said the bump to the head may have been the cause. They gave me the option of getting blood tests done to rule out anything else wrong and they came back all normal.

We relaxed somewhat thinking the knock to the head was the cause. Monday just gone, similar thing happened again this time without any knock to the head. Back to the Vets - they diagnose him with epilepsy and we start him on phenytoin. Im devastated that he has to be on these tablets the rest of his life and that it may not necessarily stop him having fits. He seems okay with it all - even when they took blood from him after the first seizure, the Vet commented on him being a favourite with the nurses already because of his nature. He needs to go back again in 2 - 4 weeks to get bloods taken again to check his phenytoin levels (Im a REgistered Nurse so understand all the reasons behind this).

Im guess what im hoping for is that some of you pet owners on here may have had pets with epilepsy and I was wanting to see how they did generally and whilst on meds. We have changed our alarm clock to music when it goes off since the alarm might have triggered the fit - Im now finding Im waking before the alarm to keep an eye on him and pat him to keep him calm. Any stories would be great.

Thanks for reading

[ritten]

Not personally, but my sisters dog has epilepsy.

She will be on meds for rest of her life, and she has to go in and have regular check ups/blood tests to check the levels of meds, and adjust as needed.

Once stabilised on the level of meds she is fine, she has had a few fits recently, but they also recently moved to australia from nz, so a bit of stressors there.

they also have changed her diet to a mainly raw food diet, raw meats with rice and veg grated through, and her 'treats' are carrot sticks lol. this helps with the epilepsy in general i think, but they also have to keep her at a certain weight for the dosage to work properly - she is only a small dog though, this might not be as important in a larger dog. Also the medication makes her hungrier, so by having veg as fillers and treats, she is able to eat more without gaining weight.

basically apart from that she has no issues related to the epilepsy at all.

[fairymagic]

Thanks so much for the reply. Im hoping our dog will lead a relatively normal life with this. I dread watching him go through another seizure - the first one he didn't really make a lot of noise -the second he cried a little toward the end of it poor thing. I just sat with him talking to him and crying trying to comfort him.

We did get warned he may get more hungry and be wary re his weight. He is a 49kg dog so we don't want him getting any bigger!! He has been on the meds a couple of days now though and seems ok with them. They warned us he might be more drowsy than usual but he is still a sleepy dog anyway unless we go outside or do something and then he wants to be with us so follows.

Thanks for replying though.

[runnybabbit]

Hi OP,

You mentioned that you'd had your boy since he was a pup. It's not unheard of, but it is unusual for first seizure in an epileptic to occur at 3+ years old. Advanced brain imaging (CT/MRI) to rule out intracranial causes might not be a bad idea, if you have a specialist facility where you live and can afford it.

A lot of epileptic dogs do all right. Most can and will have breakthrough seizures over the course of their lifetime; some take a lot of tweaking medication-wise, I've come across dogs who also end up being on a bit of a drug cocktail to keep their seizures in check. It takes a lot of commitment and money, and acknowledging that it's a disease that needs to be managed, but ultimately can't be cured.

Knowing what to do when a seizure occurs and when to take him to the emergency vets would be a good start. Many owners start to recognise the pre-ictal aura and can see a generalised seizure coming before it actually starts.

Good luck OP, it's hard caring for a pet with a chronic disease, check in whenever you need support.

[FiveAus]

Sorry to hear about your dog. Epilepsy is a cruel and horrible disease. My son had a beautiful English Setter who developed the disease at age 3, he deteriorated rapidly and despite the very best of care, and the very best medication, had seizures that were longer and nastier each time. The meds made him very anxious, he drooled and paced constantly, and eventually they did very little good. He was put to sleep at age 4 1/2 as the seizures were extreme by then, lasting up to an hour and the medication used to stop them no longer worked.

I hope your dog has a better outcome, some do and lead a reasonably normal life. But it's a nasty disease so best to be prepared for everything.

[fairymagic]

Thanks for the replies.

Runnyrabbit - the Vet told us that between the ages of 3 - 6 years is the most common times epilepsy seems to show up in dogs. Since he is 3 we didn't think it unusual. Both Vets we saw didn't recommend doing CT or MRI right now. They said if it is epilepsy, the scans whilst expensive and requiring anaesthetic to do, would show nothing. Since he is otherwise healthy and showing no other neurological signs of anything else going on, they said to leave it as an absolute last resort.

You talked about recognising pre-ictal auras? Can you explain this please? I must admit that on the Monday just gone when he had his second seizure, the running around blindly for a second or two before the fit warned us it was coming but otherwise, he simply got up quickly from his bed and went round to my DH's side of the bed which he does everyday. I must admit though, the last couple of days when the music has gone off he hasnt' jumped up like he used to. Im hoping the alarm we used to use was a trigger and that not using it will keep his seizures to a minimum.

FiveAus - that is terrible. Im hoping our dog does not go down the same route as your son's dog. He too is a big dog so Im hoping he will be well managed on his meds.

[AllegraM]

Our labbie has his first fit at 2 1/2. Labradors are prone to epilepsy. Our boy has one about every 6-8 weeks so our vet is happy to keep him off medication until they get closer together. He is currently 8.

He feels them coming on and rushes over to lean against us. We just clear the floor for him and stay near him to give him confort. Our labbie has never bitten during a fit but apparently this can occur so please keep any children or other pets away.

Sorry your dog has this. It is very frightening for them.

This post has been edited by AllegraM: 28/11/2012, 02:22 PM

[CFMummy]

We had a duckling born with epelepsy saddly nothing could be done and it drowned during a siezure. With good care your dog should be fine

[Femogan Boop!]

Sorry to hear about your dog. Epilepsy is a cruel and horrible disease. My son had a beautiful English Setter who developed the disease at age 3, he deteriorated rapidly and despite the very best of care, and the very best medication, had seizures that were longer and nastier each time. The meds made him very anxious, he drooled and paced constantly, and eventually they did very little good. He was put to sleep at age 4 1/2 as the seizures were extreme by then, lasting up to an hour and the medication used to stop them no longer worked.

I had a chihuahua cross who developed epilepsy around age 1.5.

The medication did not work. It simply made him fat and sluggish. He still had fits and they lasted for around 20-30 minutes.

I was finally given a sedative to administer mid fit. I noticed no difference with that either.

The seizures eventually lead to a heart attack when he was 9 years old after which, I had him put down.

[overtired]

I have a male lab and he has epilepsy. I inherited him off a family member with no known medical history (wouldn't of changed anything even if I knew), about 2 months after getting him I walked outside one morning and he walked up to me shaking with tail between him legs (very unusual). I walked him inside to my DH who was still in bed and he just made it to the bedroom before collapsing on the floor and having a fit. I completely freaked out (I thought he was dead at first), DH got up and tried to calm him down. Once he came out of fit, DH took him straight to the vet. Vet suspected epilepsy, and said that it was very common for most dogs to have at least one fit in its life but most times it goes un-noticed. He gave us 7 days worth of tablets (can't remember exactly what they were) and said that he would probably be fine and have no more, but if he did to go back and have some blood tests done and that if it happened he would probably be on medication for life. He was only 2.


The week went by without us seeing another fit, so we thought all was good. It was not to be a couple of days after he finished the tablets we saw him have another fit, so back to the vet we went and he was put on 1/2 a epiphen (sp?) tablet morning and night.


Fast forward 5/6 years and he is now on 2 different types of tablets (epiphen & epibrom (sp?) twice a day, and all up he is taking 6 tablets a day. He has just had his bloods done again and all his levels are in the normal range and the fits are being controlled. Was told that even with medication he would still be likely to have at least 1 fit a year. He has a couple a year but for the most part they are controlled. The medication is very expensive but he is very much a part of our family. We consider him to be our 6th child.

I will say the hardest thing is going on weekends away/holidays. I can't just leave him for other people to feed and walk. He either comes with us, or goes to my parents who I completely trust to give him his medication on time every day.