Wendy and Sadie: Our little Golden Retriever, Sadie Littlefoot (named after her extremely long feet ☺), wiggled her way into our hearts as a puppy during Christmas 2001. After loosing our 11-year-old Golden (Shylo) a few years before, I could stand the emptiness of our house no longer; so I got my hesitant husband a puppy for Christmas.

Sadie introduced us to her epilepsy in April 2003 at the tender age of one and a half. Because Sadie wasn’t our first dog to ever have a seizure, we weren’t too alarmed at the time of her first seizure. It wasn’t until a month later when Sadie had her first cluster that we really learned the epi parent panic.

We rushed her to the vet who drew blood and gave us a couple of syringes of valium to inject intramuscularly in case she continued to seize through the night. By the next morning we were five seizures into her cluster, and the vet recommended starting Phenobarbital. At this point I was scouring the net searching for answers. When the canine epilepsy guardian angels site popped up, I read and read and read. Of course, I was in denial; our dog didn’t need medication, especially one that could damage her liver! I found out rapidly that my hesitance was not getting her seizures under control. They were coming every 7-10 days. I knew something had to be done for my little girl.

I finally admitted defeat and started giving her medication. She is now on Phenobarbital (64.8 mg BID) and Potassium Bromide (275 mg BID) and her seizures are 30-45 days apart. We continue to measure her levels and *tweak* medications, slowly but surely we are gaining better control. Although we have only been battling Sadie’s epilepsy for six months, at times this journey feels like it has been a lifetime.

Sadie continues to be the strong one in dealing with her epilepsy and is enjoying the many things we have learned from the Angels. She loves her new home cooked meals (except for duck which she spits out), thinks the idea of muffin *treats* is outstanding, and is enjoying many more seizure free days with her medication. I continue to thank God for the Angels because we couldn’t have traveled this journey without them. We have a long way to go, but together we are going to make it.

Medications and food: Phenobarbital (64.8 mg BID); Potassium Bromide (275 mg BID); milk thistle; Rescue Remedy; home-cooked meals with Vitamins E, Ester C, and gelatin; and of course….muffin treats!