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MEDICATIONS
AND DIETS THAT HAVE WORKED FOR EPILEPTIC DOGS
PAGE 7
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Cynthia and Bogie: Bogie is a part-pug "pound
puppy" who started with a grand mal seizure the day after being brought home (maybe
that is why his former owners didn't come looking for him?) These continued monthly
until Potassium Bromide was added. He now goes 3 to 4.5 months between seizures, and
we hope to lengthen that even more! Medications and Food: 45 mg Phenobarbital twice a day
(down from 60 mg); .25 mg Soloxine twice a day and 400 mg Potassium Bromide (capsule) once
a day. California Natural Reduced Calorie Lamb and Rice.
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Cynthia
and Christian: Christian will celebrate his 7th birthday on March 09,
2001. He was my first homebred champion, also shown by me in the bred-by-exhibitor
class. We received our first medallion for that accomplishment together from the
AKC. Christian is the father of
Devon and Serena. His seizures did not start until he was 5 years old.
Unfortunately, he had sired those litters prior to that. When we discovered he was
an epi we had him (along with our entire show kennel) neutered and spayed.
We recently weaned Christian off of
Phenobarbital and are not using any medication to treat seizures at the present
time. His last seizure was in May of 1999.
I did not know that it was
important to run chemistry panels with liver enzymes and did not do them
for Christian. In October of 2000 he became severely jaundiced and a
bile acid test was in the very high range. We are currently
feeding Hill's L/d and are hoping between the diet, milk thistle and no Phenobarbital his
liver will heal.
Medications and food: No medication
for seizures. Milk thistle and Hill's L/d for his liver.
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Dale and Maggie: I first learned about Maggie on June
7th, 2002. Her family had contacted Long Island Golden Retriever Rescue as they felt they
could not deal with her epilepsy. She was 2-1/2 and had been seizing for about 4 or 5
months. They had started her on Phenobarbital, but were still experiencing monthly
clusters. Their other dog was attacking her during the seizures, and the family, which
included several young children, was stressed. They loved Maggie very much, but just could
not cope. Rescue had no room to take her in, but offered to help find her a home. I
contacted rescue after a few weeks to ask how things were going. They had had no inquiries
about her at all. That is a bad sign in rescue! Most 'hits' come fast! This dog would be
hard to place! After my success with Sam (my first Golden) and her seizures, my
initial instinct was to foster Maggie and see if I could get her seizures under control
and find her a great forever home. I live in a city with a two dog limit, and I already
had three! Some plans are best left on the drawing table a very long time! Revisions
happen! I drove 5 hours each way on July 7th to meet Maggie and her family. The rest is
still history in the making! Maggie had the saddest expression! Her face was drooping like
a Basset! (no offence to droopy face dogs meant, but this is a Golden!) She was a happy
dog with a sad face. And what a porker! Her family told me that she had gained a lot of
weight after she started taking PB, and when she had gone for her rabies vaccination two
days prior she was 92 lbs. Sam has always been a large dog at 92 lbs, but Maggie had tiny
feet, and a tiny snout... It was not natural! As soon as she arrived at my house she
started a homemade diet. No more Kibble 'N Bits! Next, we were off to the vet.
Maggie luckily came complete with her medical history... rare in rescue. My vet not
surprised at all when I walked in with her. And her knee-jerk reaction was very much like
mine... We needed to do a thyroid test pronto! I took the serum across the boarder myself
to make sure there were no delays and it was all up to Dr Dodds to check our theory.
(Living in Canada has it's downsides sometimes!)
Maggie's test came back hypothyroid. We started Soloxine, and carried on. I was still
waiting for the 4-6 week seizure. We did have a day of 'face-pawing' that I thought could
be considered seizure activity, and I wrote to her former family to ask about it, but they
were very vague in their response. I knew that was not what they meant by seizure! Mid
September Maggie had to go for her thyroid levels check. Again, we made the trip across
the mighty Niagara River with our precious vial of serum! And on September 24th we got the
call. Her levels were right on target!! That night all hell broke loose. Mag seized full
GM's complete with vocalization (no one had warned me she vocalized!) and voiding from
every orifice. She repeated this 7 more times in the next 24 hours. I was shattered! We
had had such great news! And had gone so long... far longer than I had hoped to start
with! The decision was made to add KBr to her regime. I hated to do this on top of the
Soloxine and PB, but rather that than more clusters, so we did it. My vet also prescribed
valium for us (rectal and oral) in case of another cluster. Well, after we got over the
ataxia by adjusting some doses, I am very happy to report that the monster has NOT come
back since. She is now almost 5 months seizure free! Maggie has returned to the dog I know
her family misses very much! We have achieved balance! She is now a svelte 70lbs, and her
face rarely droops! (Only if you correct her!) Her coat gleams, her tail feathers are
coming back, and her sunny disposition has us all laughing! She is a true clown! The
emergency kit is still at the ready though! And if you are thinking of adopting her now...
FORGET IT!!! She has proven to be a very much valued and loved addition to our home and
family!
Maggie is currently on 120mgPB BID, .5mg Soloxine BID and 1.7ml 300mg/ml KBr SID plus lots
of good food and supplements! Oh, and lots of love! |
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Dale and Sam: Sam is a golden Retriever. She is now
3 years old and had her first seizure a week before she turned two. It was
discovered shortly after, that she also has a heart murmur. Blood work, ultrasound
and ECG have been done and no one can conclusively say when Sam does what she does.
We would love to find a trigger, but so far have not. She is a pretty normal dog (as
normal as Goldens can be!) other than those darn seizures! Sam started Potassium Bromide in
December 2000 after she had a cluster. I knew that I had to do something to prevent
things from getting worse, and I think we made a good choice due to all the information I
had gathered in preparation. Our vet has been quite co-operative and we are very
lucky to have her. She is learning with us. Since Sam started anti seizure
medication she has only had one seizure, about three weeks after starting.
Sam is proud to be one of
the founding members of the now famous Southern Ontario Epi Dog Hike Bunch! Sam
lives in Hamilton, Ontario with her playmates Zoey and Duke and a bunch of cats she thinks
are toys.
Medication and Food:
690 mg Potassium Bromide twice a day. 500 mg of Taurine and Vitamin B complex.
ProPlan Chicken and Rice and various veggies.
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