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MEDICATIONS
AND DIETS THAT HAVE WORKED FOR EPILEPTIC DOGS
PAGE 14
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John and Tawny: Tawny is a female pound puppy from the SPCA in
Victoria BC who we adopted for Tralfaz to play with. She currently rules the
roost here. Tawny only has occasional seizures. Medications and diet: Tawny is
not on any medications. Diet
includes daily feedings of fresh carrots, tomatoes and peppers which are given between
meals and for one on one time.
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Joyce
and Chester: Chester is the handsome English Springer Spaniel -- the large good
looking one with the snooty pose -- the one with the long ears and the brown and white
coat. Nikki is the little white, non-epi Bichon Frise.
Chester comes from an abused background and was frequently kicked his alcoholic owner. He
came to me at 3 years of age (approx), when my late husband brought him home to me one
night. He had absolutely no training and no manners. He was not even housebroken. No
matter, I thought he was one of the most beautiful creatures on God's earth. It was
definitely love at first sight for the both of us. He is a quick learner, is very smart,
fiercely protective and loyal.
"This handsome devil is fiercely loyal and protective, but offer him a cookie and
he's putty in your hands!"
His meds include 500
mg of KBr 2x per day and 1 grain of PB 2x per day. I recently took him off Science Diet
because his fur was falling out! I put him on Iams and his coat grew back more beautiful
than it had ever been. However, I have been adding green beans, carrots, peas, and
potatoes a little at a time to try to wean him off the kibble. For treats he loves sliced
apples or raw carrots, better still a nice biscuit! Still, I'm have some significant
problems. For instance, today he's back on boiled white rice and boiled chicken. He seems
to have a problem with diarrhea and I keep having to take him off his kibble and veggies.
When I get the diarrhea under control, I will start with simple kibble then begin adding
veggies all over again. I'm about to start cutting his PB back a little more because
he's having trouble with weakness in his hind legs again. I'm just not sure how to cut the
pills down but I'm going to work it out so that it is ever so minor, a bit at a time, and
see how it goes.
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Judy and Pebbles: Pebbles is a 6 1/2 year old spayed female
Australian Shepherd who began having seizures at the age of four. Before we started
the Clorazepate and changed her food, she was having seizures every few weeks, for a few
days at a time. She started to have cluster seizures in January of 2000 and that is
why we added and new drug and changed her food. Medications and food: 30 mg
Phenobarbital, 210 mg of Potassium Bromide, and 15 mg Clorazepate twice a day; Clonazepam
4mg as needed to control cluster seizures. Rescue Remedy as needed. California
Natural Lamb and Rice reduced calorie with rice and broccoli added.
Updated 9/00
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Judy and
Hunter: Hunter, a 6 ½ year old Weimaraner, started having seizures in October of 2001. His seizures have all been grand mals with occasional clusters. He was initially put on a low dose of Phenobarbital accompanied by Potassium Bromide and is still on the same medication. Through the wisdom of the Guardian Angels, I learned about Taurine and added this amino acid back in September of 2003. Since adding Taurine, Hunter has had only three seizures. Up until this time, his seizures were getting closer and closer together. Thank you, Angels! I have also learned so much from this website that has helped all of my pets: better quality kibble, not re-vaccinating and looking into natural alternatives. Hunter has such a beautiful, trusting spirit! This horrible disease has forged an unbreakable bond between my sweet boy and myself.
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.
You make me happy when skies are gray.
You’ll never know dear
How much I love you.
Please don’t take my sunshine away! |
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Julie and Aisha: Aisha is a 28 pound Shiba Inu who was born
9/16/98. He was on PB for 8 months and developed liver dysfunction. I reduced
his PB slowly to a very minimal amount and added KBr to his regimen, which reversed his
liver dysfunction. I learned that with a proper diet and removal of hepatotoxins,
liver dysfunction is manageable and can be completely reversed, Aisha is living
proof! I now homecook for him and this diet has been the key in keeping him
healthy. He still is on a very small amount of PB with his KBr but the dosage is low
enough to keep his liver healthy. Medications and food: 11.25 mg. in the AM / 7.5mg in the PM
of Phenobarbital, 200mg KBr BID and 0.2 mg. of Soloxine BID. Rectal and oral Valium
on hand for cluster seizures. Homecooked diet supplemented with Vit E, Vit C, Vit
B-complex, Milk Thistle
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Julie and Major (aka: Major Fritz
Von Richter):
My name is Major and I started having seizures when I was only 8 weeks old. This picture
was taken about a week and a half after my first cluster seizure. I look great in this
picture compared to what I looked like the week before. You see, when my owners got me, I
was thin, but they just thought I had a few worms and needed to eat more. They wormed me
and fed me well, but I didn’t get much better. Before they knew it, I had a seizure.
The vet did a test and said I had a lot of hookworms and that the worm medicine I took
must not have been effective for getting rid of them. He said that since I was so young he
felt like they could possibly be causing me to have the seizures and he thought I had a
chance of growing out of them. He gave me worm medicine and told my owners to observe me
over the weekend to see how I did. Well, I got rid of my hookworms, but I still had
seizures. I was very thin and had no energy with all of this going on with my body. We
went back to Dr. Daley, my vet and he gave me an antibiotic and Primidone which my owners
were naïve about. He led them to believe that it was a form of Phenobarbital.
However, it did help me. I took half a pill twice a day until I got to be about 11 weeks
old and I had grown and gotten so healthy, big and strong that I needed more of this
medicine to keep me from having seizures. My owners have known my vet for a long time and
have seen him help a lot of animals in our area, so they did not think about looking up
Primidone on the Epi-Angel website. Thank goodness that Lorianne Upperman sent us the
research on the medicine. We will be going back to the vet this week to show him the
research on different medicines, hopefully get more vaccinations and to ask for some blood
testing for liver damage. We are hoping he will cooperate with us. If we’re not
satisfied with what we hear, my owners are going to find a vet willing to work with us to
get me on the right track.
We feel blessed that the Epi-Angels are there to support us in keeping me healthy, because
my owners are confused, overwhelmed and very naïve about canine epilepsy. They will need
all the support and information they can get to keep me healthy. They love me a lot and
want me to be around as their companion for many years to come. |
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