Linda and Angel Dallas (Australian Shepherd)

My name is Linda Peterson and my epi was a 5-year-old Australian Shepherd named Dallas.  Dallas was my “heart dog”.  She had been healthy and active her entire life, so when I awakened one morning at 2:00 AM to a very strange noise, I was stunned and terrified to find her in a full-blown Grand Mal. I immediately took her to an emergency vet in the area who gave her a shot of Valium and told me to take her home and see my regular vet in the morning. I did so and no action was taken. I was told that if she seized every 30 days it wasn’t a big deal. Easy for them to say!!

As time went on, her seizures became more frequent and we started her on PB. When that failed to control her adequately, we added Potassium Bromide. I had gone out of town for a week and left her at the vet’s office. Apparently she had two seizures there and no one did anything about it, as the staff didn’t recognize them as such. Once I learned of this, I started looking for some real help.

I found it in the Epi-Guardian Angel who answered my web mail. Oh, I was so relieved to have found a friend! At her direction, I had the T6 panel run through Dr. Dodd’s and found that Dallas did indeed have a thyroid problem. We immediately put her on Soloxine, and adjusted her PB and Kbr levels.  I was very lucky as my vet was open to any suggestions and readily accepted Dr. Dodd’s advice.  He agreed to let me use the Valium Protocol with Dallas and it saved me many a trip to the ER.

I changed her feeding routine to several times a day, and began to home cook for her.  Between the Soloxine and the home cooking, her seizures began to decrease and we established much better control.   We went through the focals, the clusters, the not-eating, the bad stomach –but…the Angels and Joanne in particular really helped us. I’m very grateful.

I was asked to become a Guardian Angel in 2002 and was so very pleased. At last, I would have a chance to ‘give back’ the gifts that I had been given.  If I can help even one pup and one set of parents out there get control over this horrible disease, then I will have accomplished something more wonderful than words can express. 

Dallas passed on to the Rainbow Bridge in 2003.  She did not die of Epilepsy, but we will never know what actually did occur.  I knew that I could not live without a dog, and I’m convinced that she picked out my current dog, Dax, for me.  Dax is a German Shepherd mix and his mother was undoubtedly crossed with a Shetland pony for him to be so big!  He is a non-epi (so far) and I am eternally grateful for that. 

My greatest joy is to be able to help another epi-parent through the difficulties and fears created by Epilepsy; to be able to greater achieve control over seizures and give this pup and his/her parents a more normal life.  THAT is what being a Guardian Angel is all about.