Hi guys,

I am writing this on behalf of my co-workers. I have forwarded him this website also so that he can register and get all the great tips.

In his own words-

“My 1yr and 2mth old French Bulldog had a seizure this weekend after waking up from a short nap on the couch. His legs were having violent spasms, his eyes opened wide and rolled, he lost control of his bladder and had a foamy discharge from his mouth. The whole episode lasted approximately 3 minutes, and afterward he seemed tired, but perfectly normal without any obvious after-effects. Has anyone else ever experienced this? I am clearly going to take him to the vet ASAP, but I wanted to have an idea of what to expect?”

I know that there was a post on seizers but was unable to find one. Or am I just hallucinating?


Thanks,

Rashmi

Rashmi, I was the one who posted on seizures. If you want to PM me, we can save everyone on the forum from hearing my story all over again.

Jenni

so there i was one night hanging out watching t.v. my dog at the time a 9 month old boxer was having what i thought was real bad doggy dreams.. we tried to gentally shake him awake.. nothing.. he was still dreaming (or so i thought) then 1 month later it happend again... i took him to the vet and it was epilepsy... he was a normal epilpetic (if there is such a thing) for months... 1 seziure every 4 weeks and only at night or early morning would they hit this is normal for an epileptic dog... so the vet put him on pheonbarb. and this leveled him out and kept him at 1 seziure every 4 weeks. for about 2 years.. then i moved to t.x.. my poor boxer stated to cluster seziure for at least a week everyday he would go thru at least 1 hr of clusters. ( the vet then told me to watch how high or low the weather pressures were) . the vet then put him on potassium bromide (KBr) in addition to the phenobarb he was on... this leveled him out to 1 sezure every 2 weeks...every time a very strong high pressure came he would have a seizure.. same if rain was comming he would have a seizure) what a good weather man he made.....
then we moved to germany... the military vet that saw him said i want to take him off the pheno and leave him just on the KBr.. well my thinking was if its not broken why try to fix it? but because he was a vet and im not i aggreed... big mistake.... with in 4 weeks (the amount of time it took the body to have all traces of pheno out of the system) he was in a coma and had to be brough out of it by a 12 hr valium drip at the german emergancy clinic.....he was never the same mentally after that incident... but he did live until he was 8 years old....o.k not that the story helped you much but.....
keeping a written record of time of seziure...
lenght of seziure..
weather during seziure...
if anything forgine was given to the dog (new treat.. or bone)
it is very common for temporary blindness to occure after a seizure in a pet... this lasted in my boxer up to 1 hr after a seizure and is normal....
higher body temp... i would keep a wet towel frozen in the freezer and drap it over my boxer during the seziure to help keep his body temp lower....

during a seizure... close all the blinds to the house darkness it best... no loud music or t.v.. quiet is best...
supplements that you can use and might help....
taurine
vitamin -b-12
and i also would use a 1/4 to 1/2 tablet melatonin (for a 70 lb dog) to help calm him also (i also gave him this to fly on airplanes with as a seditive) i hope this helped a little bit....

thanks a lot.

Anything in terms of RAW FOOD that might help me also?

THanks,

Rashmi

Rashmi, in addition to what I said in my PM, my vet said that another problem with PB is that once on it, it's nearly impossible to take a dog off it without the seizures increasing, and possible becoming worse than before the drug. A dog should NEVER be taken off the drug cold turkey, as Suzi's story illustrates.

the only reason why i aggreed to take my boxer off the pheno was because his vet in t.x also recommended it but he didnt want to do it at that moment because my husband and i were getting ready to move over here to germany.. too much stress with flying and new house different, water ect..... when the military vet sugguested it...i thought o.k that was 2 vets that wanted to try him just on the KBr alone...if i knew then what i know now.....

Make sure the vet is in on any move you make with the meds. Most, if not all seizure meds, can be tapered gradually if it is deemed appropriate. There is often the illusion that seizures are worsening because owners/humans have forgotten what the seizure rate was like before medication. I'm not saying that is so in any of the aforementioned cases-just info. All of that being said, different medications work differently for different dogs and/or breeds. There are far too many variables when dealing with seizures in dogs and their owners! Just my humble opinion!

i agree also.. even tho now more is known about epilepsy in pets then when my boxer was diagnosed... we are all still guineapigs.....

My parents have mutt that has them. A vet can perform some blood test and determine a potential problem. Their's simply requires regular phenobarbital. Every once in a while it will run out and he'll have another before they can get them refilled, but it seems to work.

When he does have them, they are less severe (this from expierience understand) if you hold and/or pet them and talk to them. They seem to be able to hear and realize what is going, but just can't do anything about it. My parents dog has even tried to follow them when they would walk away as he obviously felt some comfort. Also, when they have held and talked to them he seems to press against them, and the duration is virtually always less.

This is not only apparent from having watched from a distance, but even the amount of drool will be less. SO staying with them seems to help.

It's a terrible thing to watch though. Hope it works out.

THanks guys.

Vet performed some blood work but did not find anything...but my friend is going to watch his dog strictly for few days.

Let's see

Rashmi