Help please seizures

[Kimberley]

Gracy is having something that might be a siezure. I have seen a few and my sister in law whom Gracy stays with while I am at work has seen most of them. It usually happens while she is waking up from sleeping or just resting on
the couch. Her head moves symmetrically back and forth and it is difficult to get her attention and she can not stop the moving of her head. lasts 3-5 minutes. the above description is what I ahve seen, my family has seen full
body shaking and kinda kicking of her back legs. she has never lost consciousness or bowel or bladder. She sometimes has a blank stare. These episodes have gone from twice in june, after moving her from her only home at
the time, to after her trip to the vet when we were told she would have to have surgery for her tumor approx 4 times a week that we see. The first one started that night after the vet when we got her home. I am not positive
that they are siezures as I have seen very few but from what I know as a nurse I think they are and I do not know w
hat is causing them. Vet has already been made aware of situation and says to just watch her for now. I have heard so many horror stories about dogs on siezure medication I do not want to put her on it unless needed. I have been
bombarded by many vet bills in the last month and all the testing that needs to be done |I cannot afford more than half of it. PLease any one that knows anything about dog seizures, the medication for it, the testing, and if
somewhere there is a some kind of fund that can help me pay for the testing and her care, please please respond to let me know. I love Gracy so much and she has been there for me through a lot of stuff I want to be there for her
too. KNowledge is power and please help me with that power.

Kimberley and Gracy (2 1/2 yr old female brindle)

 

[miranda]

Sorry to hear about gracie not feeling well my charlie passed away today right after have symptoms just like hers so get her to a vet soon. i will pray for the both of you

 

[Aimee]

I am sorry to hear about Gracie. Leedsdevil knows alot about seizures. Her Boxer is on medication for this. Hopefully she will respond to this and can provide you with some information that you are looking for. I hope that Gracie gets better. You and Gracie will be in our prayers.

 

[LeedsDevil]

Siezure Testing

As Aimee has said my Greta has been taking 60mg of Phenobarbitol 2x's a day for about 7+ months for life threatening siezures (she would stop breathing) and has been doing very well on it. Your Gracy is much younger then her, and will probably respond well to medication.

While the Vet has never found a definate cause for her siezures ( Greta has terminal thyroid cancer but they can't seem to link it to her siezures) but I can tell you that the testing was not terribly expensive.

They ran a full blood panel ( SUPERCHEM/CBC/THY II ) and then did a heart test ( ELECTROCARDIOGRAM ),with the office call and first perscription it all came out to a grand total of $173.30 (I'm reading from the reciept). Since all came out within normal limits we decided to treat her with the Phenobarbatol, it is relativly inexpensive we only pay $12 for a months supply. She has only had 2 breakthru siezures since starting it in June. They do test her phenobarb levals regularly, but that is only $86 every 3 months. Depending on what they find they more do more testing on Gracy.

If you approach your vet they may surprise you and allow you to make payments if you can't afford it all at once. You can at least call and find out how much they charge for the testing I mentioned, since every Vet is a bit different.

Please feel free to e-mail me if you have ANY QUESTIONS!

Give Gracy lots of love and reassurance right now, Greta was scared when she had her siezures and needed reasurance that everything was OK :(

Good luck

 

[buddy'smom]

Hi Kimberly
I too have a beloved Male Boxer that started having seizures in June 2000. The symptoms sound the same, head shaking uncontrollably for about 5 minutes, and then the gran mals where he goes into full body convulsions flayling his legs etc. Like yours, he has never lost bowel or bladder during the seizure. Buddy was tested in the same way as Leedsdevil explained, and his seizures are considered idiopathic, meaning no known cause. I started him on phenobarb immediatly and he now takes 120 mg. daily. He has been seizure free now since October, and he is tolerating the meds well, other than some extra weight. Phenobarb is very inexpensive, as Leedsdevil said. I pay 28.00 Canadian for 200 tablets (60mg tabs). Have Gracy checked by the vet to asses what is going on. Keep us posted on how Gracy is doing okay