Epileptic Dogs and Seizures

2574 Views 3 Replies 4 Participants Last post by mandyy4, Oct 7, 2009

1310betsy

Discussion Starter · Apr 8, 2009

My husband and I are desperate to find assistance in treating our dog, Jack, who has epilepsy. We adopted this pup, who got a bad start in life. Read about Jack’s story after the jump. First, here’s Jack…

Alan and I are falling apart over our dog, Jack’s epilepsy. We have exhausted all of our finances over emergency vet hospital visits during the night and do not know where to turn for help to save him.
We got Jack from a stranger in the Shop-Rite parking lot (two and a half years ago) on the way to Costco. We stopped there at the spur of the moment (when we never had gone there before for grocery shopping). The man had two Shih-tzu’s and said that he was looking for a good home for one of them. We thought that he was joking, but it turns out that he was serious. We got Jack when he was less than 8 months old. It later surfaced (from this man) that prior to us adopting Jack, the man had sold him to a woman, who he then found out beat him (even broke his tail) and more than likely, inflicted head trauma to him as well.
On December 28, 2008, Jack turned three. On January 2, 2009, Jack began having seizures. The doctors say that it can be genetic, but it can also be a delayed reaction to head trauma. He began by taking Potassium Bromide, but the seizures got worse, fast and furiously. The vet then added Phenobarbital, but still, Jack’s seizures are not under control.
We are out of money to keep searching for a vet who will treat Jack at little or no expense, just because they really care about animals, and not just there to see how much money they can earn while trying to get the right mix of meds.
Readers, if you have any ideas, share them.
Betsy
Here’s Jack again…

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funnyspacemonkey

· #2 · Oct 4, 2009

Hi Betsy,
We have a female Dalmatian and around the same age, she used to have fits and it was getting worrying. We took her to the vet and they said the same thing about it being hereditary or some head injury when she was a pup. It was getting difficult as it would occur more and more frequently. It finally came down to a few things, we put her on homeopathy and the effects were almost immediate. From twice to thrice a day its almost gone. She had one two weeks ago after about 2 years( so I have resumed the homeopathy, and she is running around like a rabbit again). It's very inexpensive and has no side effects. She is 8 years old now. Try and reduce the use of chemicals in the house as well like floor disinfectants, sprays, cleaners etc it could also be a reaction to that as well we noticed.
I hope this helps and if you have anymore questions please let me know.
Regards
Keshav

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Mikey

· #3 · Oct 6, 2009

Hi Betsy and welcome to the forum!!

Anti seizure meds, which are given continuously, are likely the best way to go-especially if it's head trauma causing the problem.

Have any of the vets you've seen prescribed any medications? What tests have been done? What has been found?

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mandyy4

· #4 · Oct 7, 2009

My dog started having seizures when she was about 2. My vet put her on Phenobarbital, and that would keep them under control for a while. Then they would get bad again, and he would have to up her dose. Sometimes I would forget to give her her medicine for a day or two, and sometimes she would have a seizure then, but they wouldn't be bad.

She never really hurt herself during her seizures (except for biting her tongue a little), until she died at 6 years old. I don't know if you really want to hear about that, but just know that it was a totally avoidable accident. She could have lived a lot longer.

I'm sorry if that wasn't very helpful... Good luck with everything : [

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