seizures

[lester]

My 2 year old female boxer has been experiencing seizures in the last little while. Shes had about 4 since february. We thought she was just going through a little phase or something as they subsided for about 3 months. Two nights ago she suffered another one. It breaks my heart to see her go through this. We've had her to the vet and after hundreds of dollars in bills they still just want to do more tests. Has anyone else experienced this with their dog ? The seizures usually last anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute and leave her extremely tired and hungry afterwards. She walks around in a daze for a while and then she's back to normal.
If anybody has any advice I'd be so appreciative of it.
Thanks a million!!!

 

[buddy'smom]

Hi Lester
My male started suffering from seizures at the age of 7. My vet did some bloodwork on him and diagnosed his seizures as idiopathic meaning no known cause. We had to wait 4 days for the blood test results to come back, so I insisted that we start Buddy on a course of phenobarb immediatly and if the blood tests showed differently, we would cease the phenobarb and deal with the issues at hand. He agreed as like you say, it is awful to watch your furbaby have seizures. What type of testing have they done and why has your vet not put her on some type of seizure control for the interim?
My suggestion to you is to go back your vet discuss the testing he wants to do, thyroid and brain scans are normal tests for canines having seizures, and ask about some type of seizure medication to use in the interim. Phenobarb is inexpensive and once the drug dose is established I found it worked well at keeping Buddy seizure free. Also I found it very helpful to keep a daily diary on Buddy logging activities, food, weather, anything unusual about his day,general disposition etc. This is a useful tool for your vet to see when trying to make a diagnosis. As well the diary may help you identify triggers for the seizures. One thing I have learned since is this, If your vet diagnosis her seizures as idiopathic (unknown cause) do not accept this as the final diagnosis, insist that more testing be done for an underlying cause.
Here are some web sites dealing with canine epilepsy that may be useful to you. Please keep us posted on your boxer's progress

http://www.k9web.com/dog-faqs/medical/epilepsy.html

http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/Thyroid.htm

Also, please read this thread regarding Epilepsy and Thyroidism, it may be useful as well. Good luck and I will be thinking of you. Feel free to e-mail me if you would like, and also do a search on Seizures in the forums, there are numerous posts on epilepsy. Just click on the search at the top of the page, and key in seizures. Jean

http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=5945&highlight=Seizures

 

[wolfwalker_3]

i know how you feel

sorry to hear that this is teri in texas my boxer girl is 8 years old she is having them too i know it is not easy to watch when it happens i sit with bendew and wipe her with a cold wash rag it might not help but it makes me feel like i am helping her i talk to her and let her know that i am right here with her .it is all i know to do as of now.

 

[Letitia]

My 13 year old female started having seizures. The vet assured me that although it is very difficult for us to watch, that they are not suffering during the episode. It is important to keep them from injuring themselves and it is common for them to be dazed and hungry or thirsty afterwards. As Jean says, it is important to keep somekind of a record of the occurances, the severity and duration, which will help the vet determine the necessary dosage of phenobarbital.
It is important to get started on the medication as soon as possible. Good Luck!!

 

[jrhodes]

When Bandit was two years old he had started his seizure activity, we spent hundreds of dollars and seen different specialist and what not, only to find out that he was severely allergic to DOG FOOD!!! They put him on a lamb and rice diet and for several years he was seizure free. He started seizing again when he started to show severe signs of cushings disease.
He had since past on, but I thought maybe the reason your pup is seizing is due from allergic reaction to dog food... I do work with individual's who have seizures and I do know the different types of seizures that are out there and the different types of medication they have out there are well...
Good luck and take care of your pup...

jrhodes