Medications and food:  1/4 grain Phenobarbital 4 times a day, 312 mg Potassium Bromide twice a day and 0.2 mg L-thyroxine twice a day.  Rectal and oral valium as needed for cluster seizures.  Supplements include Cosequin every other day. 

I like to say my husband has had Beags longer than he's had me. Mike, my husband, brought Beags home in the fall of 1993. I met Mike in the fall of 1995 and we married in the spring of 1998. Mike had told me of Barney's seizures and had discussed them with our vet numerous times. Our vet described them as idiopathic and said when Mike noticed them on a recurring basis, we should seek treatment.

He was put on 1 gram of pheno per day (two pills daily...each was 1/2 a gram). Within three weeks his seizures stopped completely. He lost none of his personality (which I had heard might happen) and was our wonderful boy without the seizures... we'd hit the jackpot! In fact, even the potty training was a breeze... one accident! Whatta pro, my Beags! That's how it's been for two years. No seizures (except the one time I forgot to get his Pheno... he had one seizure because we missed two doses... that has NEVER happened again).

He still does not have seizures, but we now have new problems. All of them have started within the last two months. Beags has lost muscle use in his face (his jowls droop and his upper lips hang into his mouth), he drools so much more than ever before... almost like he isn't swallowing, when he drinks-the water runs out the side of his mouth instead of being swallowed (but no change in the way he eats... it's still fine), he has occasionally stumbled when walking (especially when going UP stairs), his left eye occasionally wanders and does not go back into place as quickly when he blinks, and in the last week he has changed the way he walks-he's not limping, but that's what it looks like. His head dips unusually low and it looks like he's limping, but he's putting weight on all paws and nothing hurts him, he's just using an odd walk. We did see our vet two weeks ago in response to this and he responded by cutting the Pheno dose in half... Beags now gets 1/2 a gram a day.

Beags eats Canidae Platinum and gets Ivergard Heartworm Preventative monthly. Our vet tests Barney's liver functions annually, but I've learned from your web site that is not often enough. So, that is the first change we'll be making.