[Dailydrool] Seizure help

[Brenda Waldrop]

My Aeryn (ATB) started having seizures at about 10 years old.  For a while
they were only every six months or so, but they did come in groups of
several seizures over a day or three.  We had all of the tests done, except
an MRI.  Our reasoning was purely financial, I was on disability and paying
for my own chemo at the moment, and we couldn't afford the 8k for the MRI.
Our vet, plus the emergency vet that we first took her to, were in agreement
that she was not poisoned, allergic, or suffering from anything that showed
up as an illness in her blood work etc. She was running a high fever, but
apparently that is the norm for a body that is under the stress of multiple
seizures.

It was decided that she had Epilepsy and would be put on phenobarbital.  I
did quite a bit of research into canine epilepsy and found that not only was
it common, most especially in purebred dogs of certain breeds (bassets being
one of these), but that unlike Epilepsy in humans, the diagnosis of Epilepsy
in a dog does not always mean that they have a congenital condition that
causes the seizures.  Most anything that causes seizures in dogs that is not
caused externally such as through a poison, is classified as Epilepsy.  The
treatment is much the same, treatment and management of the seizures,
regardless of weather it's caused by a brain chemistry condition like in
humans, or a brain tumor or the like.

We treated Aeryn with phenobarbital for several years and her seizures were
managed very well with very little effort and expense for most of that
time.  Towards the end the seizures got more frequent, eventually going long
enough that we had to let her go to the bridge.  It turned out that her
seizures had been caused by a slow growing tumor in her brain that would
have been inoperable even if we had opted for the MRI and discovered it.
According to my vet, that is the case much of the time with brain tumors.
So, even if we had known exactly what it was, treatment would have been
exactly the same.  The one thing I can say for not knowing about the tumor
is that we didn't spend the last years of her life looking at her and seeing
her days as numbered because she was dying.  We went right on just like
normal up to the two days before she left us for the bridge.  For me that
feels better in retrospect, but who really knows.

A couple of things you should know about phenobarbital that we learned the
hard way.  One, it will cause weight gain that you can do nothing about.
Restricting diet, increasing exercise and other weight loss techniques were
useless.  Aeryn, already a big girl at 78lbs, hit 98lbs and stayed there for
years.  Also, the amount of water they will drink and pass will increase
exponentially.  Aeryn was always thirsty and peed rivers all day long.  The
only time this is really an issue is if they are inside for extended periods
without access to a yard as our Aeryn was in our apartment.  She had
frequent accidents and we just bought a carpet cleaner and dealt with it.
The last important thing is the dose consistency with phenobarbital is
important.  It's based on weight and will need to be adjusted as the dog
gains weight with the med.  A sudden absence of the drug as for several
missed doses for example can trigger seizures all on its own, so it's
important to keep refills on hands at all times.  It's a fairly inexpensive
drug, I think we paid $30 for a three month supply.

Best of luck and hope this helps.

Brenda- Momslave to Copper, Elphaba, and Aeryn (ATB)
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