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NFT: Anyone ever have a dog that get regular seizures?

NYG27 : 2/26/2020 10:40 am
We have a 4 year old jack russell\beagle\lab mix (at least that's what we think, he was a rescue dog). When he was a year old, he started to get seizures.

Over that first year, the rate of the frequency of the seizures started to increase. Talking with our vet, we changed his food\diet. Then it still occurred. We changed his flea medicine from the drop on the back to the collar, which our vet said would cause less chemical effects on the dog and it still occurred. In fact, since the weather had gotten cooler, he hasn't worn a flea collar since November but he still gets seizures.

Our vet than said let's get him on medication, which he now takes Levetiracetam 750MG. He started with half tablet a day but when he kept getting seizures, the vet increased it to a full tablet a day, 3 times a day. The medicine seems to have helped a little, as he only gets a seizure just once every three months now. Although as a side effect, I have seen him get a lot more aggressive when something is in his mouth.

He had one again last night, they only occur while he's sleeping, and I feel horrible for him as there is nothing I can do for the minute or so the seizure occurs.

My main concern is I don't want to ruin his quality of life and he seems to be "OK" after the seizures stop. I was curious if any other dog owner on BBI had similar experiences?
Can I assume  
Bubba : 2/26/2020 10:47 am : link
he has had cardio tests? Echo etc? To rule out possible cardio issues.
RE: Can I assume  
NYG27 : 2/26/2020 10:51 am : link
In comment 14819576 Bubba said:
Quote:
he has had cardio tests? Echo etc? To rule out possible cardio issues.


Cardio tests came back negative. Outside of the seizures, the vet said he's healthy. At first I thought it might be food based but we introduced more raw options into his regular diet but that doesn't seem to have helped.

Only the medication has helped but I'm worried about giving him higher doses and the mental effects that might have on him. For now the vet just wants us to stay with one tablet, 3 times a day and to keep track of all the occurrences.
I had a beagle with epilepsy  
hocuspocus : 2/26/2020 10:55 am : link
that started when she was 5. I was told by the veterinary neurologist that it was common for that breed and generally the onset starts at about that age.

She had a severe case. In one instance she was having cluster seizures and she was "out of it" for several days. Phenobarbital wasn't going to have much of an effect for her situation. The vet put her on zonisamide twice a day. It worked well - the frequency and intensity decreased dramatically. The downside is the cost - it was $250 a month for the meds.

She had a good life until she got cancer. She was 12 when we had to put her to sleep.
Our 15 year  
Bubba : 2/26/2020 10:58 am : link
old Havanese (recently passed) had a few seizures starting about 2 years ago. She went through a battery of tests including neurological. The neuro was to rule out a possible brain tumor. Turned out her issues were cardiac which we controlled with meds. Has the vet discussed the possibility of brain tumor?
RE: Our 15 year  
NYG27 : 2/26/2020 11:02 am : link
In comment 14819593 Bubba said:
Quote:
old Havanese (recently passed) had a few seizures starting about 2 years ago. She went through a battery of tests including neurological. The neuro was to rule out a possible brain tumor. Turned out her issues were cardiac which we controlled with meds. Has the vet discussed the possibility of brain tumor?


Our vet said because he's young and tumor's occur more frequently with older dog, we haven't done more neurological tests yet. Although that might be an option, just to rule it out.
RE: I had a beagle with epilepsy  
NYG27 : 2/26/2020 11:05 am : link
In comment 14819587 hocuspocus said:
Quote:
that started when she was 5. I was told by the veterinary neurologist that it was common for that breed and generally the onset starts at about that age.

She had a severe case. In one instance she was having cluster seizures and she was "out of it" for several days. Phenobarbital wasn't going to have much of an effect for her situation. The vet put her on zonisamide twice a day. It worked well - the frequency and intensity decreased dramatically. The downside is the cost - it was $250 a month for the meds.

She had a good life until she got cancer. She was 12 when we had to put her to sleep.


When you mention the frequency dropped, how often would she get them while on meds? In our case, he went from 15 seizures in a 12 month period before meds to about once every 3-4 months now while on meds.

I hear you about the cost of the meds, luckily we found a pharmacy that charges us only $15 per month compared to CVS or Walmart pharmacy that was telling us $150-200 a month.
Lab started getting them  
Darth Paul : 2/26/2020 11:06 am : link
had to put her down.
RE: Lab started getting them  
NYG27 : 2/26/2020 11:10 am : link
In comment 14819599 Darth Paul said:
Quote:
had to put her down.


That's the last thing I want to do, he's a part of the family. Although I can't say it hasn't crossed my mind. I just don't want to ruin his quality of life and worried about giving him more medication.

This whole situation just sucks and I wish there was something more I could do for him.
RE: RE: I had a beagle with epilepsy  
hocuspocus : 2/26/2020 11:12 am : link
In comment 14819596 NYG27 said:
Quote:
In comment 14819587 hocuspocus said:


Quote:


that started when she was 5. I was told by the veterinary neurologist that it was common for that breed and generally the onset starts at about that age.

She had a severe case. In one instance she was having cluster seizures and she was "out of it" for several days. Phenobarbital wasn't going to have much of an effect for her situation. The vet put her on zonisamide twice a day. It worked well - the frequency and intensity decreased dramatically. The downside is the cost - it was $250 a month for the meds.

She had a good life until she got cancer. She was 12 when we had to put her to sleep.



When you mention the frequency dropped, how often would she get them while on meds? In our case, he went from 15 seizures in a 12 month period before meds to about once every 3-4 months now while on meds.

I hear you about the cost of the meds, luckily we found a pharmacy that charges us only $15 per month compared to CVS or Walmart pharmacy that was telling us $150-200 a month.


She was having them every month to 2 months. I would say, on average, they went down to every 3 to 4 months, with a couple of times she went longer -- 6 to 8 months. In her case, the meds really helped with the intensity. She would come out of it much sooner (a couple of minutes) as opposed to several minutes without meds. And it eliminated her cluster seizures.

We were told the meds could cause lethargy, but she didn't have any real side effects.
RE: Lab started getting them  
hocuspocus : 2/26/2020 11:16 am : link
In comment 14819599 Darth Paul said:
Quote:
had to put her down.


When our dog had a horrible cluster seizure (she was out of it for several days), we seriously considered putting her to sleep. We had a fantastic veterinary neurologist who had tons of experience with beagles. He felt that he could get her through that episode and allow her to have a good quality of life. Listening to her whimper as she went through withdrawls from valium nearly killed me, though.
Cbd May help  
Payasdaddy : 2/26/2020 11:22 am : link
They use it in humans for seizures
Probably helps dogs too
Worth to read up about
Yes  
brandozilla : 2/26/2020 11:24 am : link
As a kid I had a Brittany spaniel who had epilepsy.

Epilepsy is fairly common in Brittany's.

When he was young, the seizures were very uncommon, maybe 1 or 2 a year at most.

As he got older, he progressively had seizures more and more frequently until he was having multiple seizures per day by the time he was 10 or so. My parents had to have him put to sleep.
i had a husky mutt who had them  
Justlurking : 2/26/2020 11:38 am : link
we used potassium bromide to manage the seizures. It was really unsettling when he would have them. The potassium bromide helped tremendously. I would try CBD as well. You want to avoid phenobarbetol if possible from what I recall researching back in the day unless the seizures are very bad.
RE: Cbd May help  
Diver_Down : 2/26/2020 2:10 pm : link
In comment 14819644 Payasdaddy said:
Quote:
They use it in humans for seizures
Probably helps dogs too
Worth to read up about


Definitely look into CBD Oil.

I have had pets that have had seizures. My first was a miniature Maltese who was the runt of a litter. She was 6 lbs max and began her seizures in her first year but they very infrequent. She passed away in my arms at 4 years old while having a seizure. That was a tough for me to deal with.

I have since had mostly large greyhounds that were never any problem but in 2008 I rescued an Italian Greyhound. She would have seizures but extremely infrequent (once a year). As she got older (over 8 years old), they occurred 2x a year. Never knew when it would happen. Her last seizure was a few days before Thanksgiving. It was a severe one that paralyzed her leaving no use of her rear legs. I had to have her euthanized.

Have you tried CBD?  
Section331 : 2/26/2020 2:21 pm : link
I haven't had a dog with seizures, but I know some people who have, and they said that CBD worked wonders. It's worth a shot, and not toxic like pharmaceuticals can be.
...  
BrettNYG10 : 2/26/2020 2:27 pm : link
My dog had them. Would just freeze up. Was terrifying. Doctor put him on some meds and he's fine.
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