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MEDICATIONS
AND DIETS THAT HAVE WORKED FOR EPILEPTIC DOGS
PAGE 8
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Dave
and Boomer: Boomer is a 110 pound neutered, Black lab. Boomer began
seizing in November 1997 and clustered in December 1997 when he was started on
Phenobarbital. In May 1998, after clustering again, he was started on Potassium
Bromide and has done very well since then. 205 days is the record between seizures,
but average is 4 to 5 months. Medications and Food: 50 mg. Phenobarbital twice a day, 650 mg
Potassium Bromide twice a day and all the love Pepper and I can give the big guy.
Sensible Choice Lamb and Rice is the food Boomer demands twice a day.
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David and Max: Max is a
three-year-old neutered German Shepherd Dog who
had his first seizure on August 30, 2002. He has had a total of six seizures
since then. As of today (11/27/02) the latest one was this past Sunday night
- at that time he had gone 31 days seizure-free. The seizure on Sunday night
was only 30 seconds. We gave him vanilla ice cream and he had no
post-ictal symptoms. He has had his thyroid function tested and is to begin
thyroid medicine this week.
Max is currently taking 100mg. Phenobarbital twice
daily. |
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Deb
and Ollie: Oliver is an 11 yo English Setter with inflammatory
colitis, born 5/31/92 and rescued nearly 3 years ago from a UK shelter. In October 2001 he
collapsed whilst out on a walk, and had his 1st GM. He suffered several more, varying in
severity, over the next fortnight, and blood tests, a chest xray & ECG prompted a
cardiac root diagnosis. Not convinced that it was the whole picture, I approached another
vet who tested for Addisons: - negative result. Heart meds prescribed, and though his
collapses lessened in frequency for some months, the severity of the seizures fluctuated.
However everything suddenly increased again in March 2002, and his colitis flared up with
a vengeance. Not prepared to take a final heartrending diagnosis of "he'll just go
down one day and that'll be it!" - I hit the web in desperation and bingo - Guardian
Angels! - Sound advice at last! A new vet practice - and a sympathetic vet who listened
and is prepared to go out on a limb for us. Thyroid tests done, with very positive
results, and a surprise finding ~ he is severely hypertensive to boot, although the vets
are waiting to see how the thyroid reacts before treating the hypertension, as it seems to
be coming down on it's own.
Ollie's regained his appetite, having lost both it, and 9 kilos, is now on the
liver cleansing diet, thanks to Jan T, and thriving. His colitis seems to have settled
down properly for the first time since I've had him, and though he still has the
occasional "fainting" episode, brought on by exercise intolerance, they are
relatively minor and infrequent, and the seizures that accompanied them have been replaced
by mild twitches or nothing at all. We've got sunshine at the end of the tunnel, but boy
was it a struggle to get there...
Meds: Vetmedin 5mg bid, Soloxine 0.8mg, and Sulfapyrazin 500mg bid
Food: the Liver Cleansing Diet. |
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Debbie
and Baxter: Baxter is a 55 pound rescued male Dalmatian. He was born June
19, 1992. He came to us when he was 2 years old and no one had mentioned seizures to
us. After coming to us he began to have cluster seizures but they were infrequent,
only 1 per year, so we really thought nothing of it. At the beginning of 1999 I had
to change his food and things changed for the worse. He started having seizures
every 2 to 4 weeks, then he went longer and longer between seizures, having them every 2
to 4 months. At the beginning of this year the same thing happened, once only going
3 days between seizures. My vet wants to see if this is a pattern before putting him
on any medications. We use the valium protocol to stop his clusters and it works
very well for him. Medications
and Food: Rectal and oral valium to stop cluster seizures. Rescue
Remedy. Milk Thistle. Adult and reduced calorie chicken and rice Pro
Plan.
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Debbie and Simba:
Simba, a male golden retriever, was born on June 4, 2000 and became the
newest member of our family that August. He grew not only in size but also
in our hearts with all of the extra joy, laughter and love that he brought
to our family.
All was well until June 17, 2002 when Simba had his first seizure. His
second was July 9th and after the third on November 12th we found Joanne and
the guardian angels.
Thyroid testing turned up negative and no apparent reason for the seizures
was evident. Simba's food was changed to Solid Gold Millenia and he also
continues to receive lots of fruit and veggies daily.
Again all seemed well until January 3rd, 2003, Simba had his 4th seizure.
All of his seizures presented the same - he falls to the ground, his body
stiffens, his hind legs cramp up and he has a panicked look on his face.
This lasts for between 3-4 minutes at which time he comes out of it and is
perfectly fine; he runs around and plays and acts as if nothing has even
happened.
Trying to determine what could be causing the seizures Simba went to a
neurologist the end of January 2003, but again nothing definite was
determined other than it was probably idiopathic epilepsy. We decided to
try using KBr to control the seizures.
Simba started taking 2 1/2 cc of KBr daily but after checking his blood work
after being on KBr, we lowered his dose to 2cc once a day.
At this point Simba is doing great!! No more seizure activity - he weighs 70
lbs, is almost 3 years old and is an absolutely wonderful, loving, gorgeous
golden retriever who is doing something daily to bring a smile to everyone's
face.
We hope to always bring a much joy to his life as he brings to ours!
Debbie, Rob, Richard, Mathew & Krysten and Simba
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