Seizures in dogs (update on Bud) last page

[colliehauler]

Wednesday morning at 3am and again at 7:20 Bud had a seizure. This is the first that I'm aware of. I took Bud to the vet who gave him a shot of Valium. He has not had a problem since. The vet said it could be epilepsy or possible because of being older a brain tumor.

For those of you that have dogs that have seizures is there foods you avoid? Or diet that helps?

The vet who I agree with did not want to start him on meds unless it repeats.

Bud does not want to eat dog food but will eat people food. He has wanted less and less dog food as time has went on.

[RBak]

Hope Bud continues feeling good. Sometimes the seizures come back, but as long as he is under the care of your vet, he should be ok. There are many medications that can help him lessen the times when this happens. Wishing Bud and you good times and good health.

Rita

[colliehauler]

So far so good, Bud has not had any more problems and back to his happy go lucky personality. He seems to be eating better as well.

I forgot in the first post that when Bud had his seizures we were 900 miles from home at the seasonal site. Third day of the trip.

[Campinghoss]

Lucky our rott/shep mix starting having seizures when he was 3 yrs old. They are never very severe except the one time he had a grand mal. He got just as stiff as a board for what seemed like an eternity. The vet checked him out thoroughly and could not find any underlying factor. He deemed it idiopathic seizures. We have kept accounts of it over the years and not one thing seems to be common when he does have one. Sometimes he looses bladder control but usually he just shakes and wants us to touch him. The one thing he ALWAYS does though is he starts doing things in reverse from his normal behavior. I assume it is part of the seizure but I guess it could be him trying to let me know to help him.

I have noticed though that in the summer he appears to have them more than cooler months. Might be just a coincidence but none the less it appears so. Lucky will be 8 this month.

[raindove]

I have rubbed a few drops of Rescue Remedy on the ear leather while they were having seizures and that seemed to help bring them out of it faster. Two of my boys had them often enough that they needed medication. We opted for the potassium bromide compounded in an oral liquid. They did well on that. They started on the potassium bromide at about 2-3 years of age - one lived to 14, and the other made 16 yr and 7 months. So they had good long life spans on the potassium bromide.

Regarding feeding people food to old dogs -- it reaches a point where every day is a gift, and you give them whatever they will eat. And what they eat now, they may turn their nose up at by dinner time. In old age, they start wasting away - it's hard watching the decline.

My philosophy is that as long as they are happy and eating we're good. When a cocker spaniel quits eating, you know you are in big trouble.

[Big_Katuna]

I forgot. Bachs Rescue Remedy seemed to help lessen the severity and length of the seizure. We would put a few drops in when he started and another few drops when he stopped.

Available at Health Food stores.

[karen_Lee]

My little chi,Grady,has had 3 seizure since March. In fact he had the first one the morning after his yearly shots. The next 2 occurred on Aug 2nd and the last on the 12th. He is between 10-12. He's on pheno and so far no episodes. Thank you to the person suggesting something sweet after the seizure passes. I adopted Grady from Az Chihuahua Rescue almost 2 years ago and they never said anything about seizures. Hoping he'll be around for more years to come. Not sure if I'll have any more booster shots.

[colliehauler]

The only thing different I just gave him his heart worm prevention a few days earlier but he has been on it for years. I switched from Pedigree canned to alpo canned over the top of his Pedigree dry. No problems with the other two Collies.

Second day after he was back to happy go lucky Collie he normally is, weird deal for sure. Bud is my youngest Collie about 8, no knows his true age being a rescue.

[xteacher]

Did the seizures happen to start after application of monthly flea/ticks meds? I've noticed that several of them have warnings on them concerning seizure prone dogs.

I second spacing out vaccines and having them administered as little as legally allowed. Many dogs have adverse reactions to them, especially if all given at once.

There have been many anecdotal reports of rosemary triggering seizures in seizure prone dogs. It's a common ingredient in many kibbles.

If you're feeding a kibble with colored pieces, I'd change to a kibble without them. Many of the grocery store brands contain them, as do the least expensive foods on the last aisle of the big box pet stores.

My boxer, Jackson, started vomiting at night after being fed Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Stomach and Skin for a few weeks (against my better judgement, I might add :o). I changed him to Fromm Gold Adult, and it literally stopped overnight. A good quality Kibble can make a difference in your dog's health!

[BCSnob]

We found with Gyp that warming the food (especially meat based items) helped bring out more odors which helped her appetite.

[Big_Katuna]

Food and managing exposure to insecticides and changing his vaccines. definitely helped Boudreaux. We took him to Shands UF Vet Hospital/College for a full workup to make sure it wasnt a tumor or something solvable.
Idiopathic Epi was the diagnosis. While our vet wanted to start Phenbarb right away, the vets there suggested changing food, etc.
They also changed up his vaccines to space them out instead of 2-3 at once.

As I stated, he went from 2-3 a week to 2-3 a month and a year later, 2-3 a year. Lived to 14.5. His mom almost made it to 17.

Long lives for Standard Poodles.

[colliehauler]

dturm wrote:

BCSnob wrote:

Triker33 wrote:
Quit giving him people food and he will eat more and more dog food when he gets hungry.

We found this does not always work with older dogs. My Gyp (Border Collie) stopped eating dog food and lost 20% of her body weight (starting from a thin 32 lbs) without ever showing signs of wanting to eat the food she'd been on for years. At that point she HAD to eat so we starting looking for anything she would willingly eat to keep her from wasting away.

I've found Mark's experiences repeated over and over in practice. When animals get older, sometimes you just have to get really creative to keep them from wasting away.

In Megan's last month, we found the only thing she would routinely eat was the grilled chicken from Wendy's. I'd order a salad with grilled chicken - I'd eat the salad, she'd eat the chicken. BTW, Megan was about 15 1/2 year old golden and pretty healthy right up until about 15 then started showing the age related deterioration.

Bud likes salad, cucumbers, tomatoes. Just walks away from his dry with canned on top. Bud has always been not food driven.

[BCSnob]

We let Gyp go this summer at 14.

[dturm]

BCSnob wrote:

Triker33 wrote:
Quit giving him people food and he will eat more and more dog food when he gets hungry.

We found this does not always work with older dogs. My Gyp (Border Collie) stopped eating dog food and lost 20% of her body weight (starting from a thin 32 lbs) without ever showing signs of wanting to eat the food she'd been on for years. At that point she HAD to eat so we starting looking for anything she would willingly eat to keep her from wasting away.

I've found Mark's experiences repeated over and over in practice. When animals get older, sometimes you just have to get really creative to keep them from wasting away.

In Megan's last month, we found the only thing she would routinely eat was the grilled chicken from Wendy's. I'd order a salad with grilled chicken - I'd eat the salad, she'd eat the chicken. BTW, Megan was about 15 1/2 year old golden and pretty healthy right up until about 15 then started showing the age related deterioration.

[dturm]

Idiopathic Epilepsy is a very common problem in dogs, more common in several breeds. I've often thought idiopathic = we're idiots and can't figure out what is causing them.

It is RARE for foods, drugs or environmental exposure to CAUSE epilepsy, but there are many that can change seizure threshold and make a seizure disorder more problematic. Do a google search and you can find tons of information (most aimed towards people) that might help.

I agree with your and your vets approach, if the seizures become frequent or more severe, then treatment is necessary.

Doug, DVM