Dogs And Epilepsy

[baxter650]

How many of you dog owners have had a dog with epilepsy?
This weekend i had to have my Lab of 10 yrs put to sleep.
It was not unexpected as we have been putting it off over and over in the hopes that the seizures might become less frequent with more or different meds.
He started having them at about age 4 and i recognized what it was as soon as i seen it because he was my third Lab in a row that has had it.
He was wonderful freind and we all miss him.
My first was not a pure Lab but the others were.
Is it just me or have any other owners here had this happen to their dogs?

 

[Lovey]

Had one when I was a kid.
Mix breed. Had grandmal seizures.
This was about 30 years ago. Thats about all I can remember.

 

[cary]

My german shepherd had them. Typical Asyomatic seizures that started at about 3 years. The only strange part was they were very long, grand mals lasting about 7-9 minutes. They were only about every 3-4 months, but after about a year, he clustered (had them back to back which is dangrous). At that time we put him on phenobarb which fortunately worked well for him.

 

[4dmalamute]

Our St Bernard came down with it when he was just over 11 months old. It was a bad deal for him. He couldnt go on walks, or get excited because it would trigger them. We ended up finding him a home with a family who was familar and could spend the extra time with him. Sad but good for everyone in the end. Anyway, he is just over three years old now and doing good. (we have spoken to his new owners and they say he is great, just have to watch what will bother him and trigger seizures).

 

[baxter650]

Our guy was having up to 6 a day some back to back, he was losing his bowels and pissing like a fire hose. Most often he had them while sleeping, then was out of it for an hour after, walking into walls and things, at the end we had him on 6 -20mg phenobarbatol pills a day, 3 in the morning with 4mls of potassium bromide and 3 in the evening.
For most of the morning he was a drooling glassy eyed mess.

 

[Hot_Eighty_Chick]

Poor doggies.

 

[cary]

Our guy was having up to 6 a day some back to back, he was losing his bowels and pissing like a fire hose. Most often he had them while sleeping, then was out of it for an hour after, walking into walls and things, at the end we had him on 6 -20mg phenobarbatol pills a day, 3 in the morning with 4mls of potassium bromide and 3 in the evening.
For most of the morning he was a drooling glassy eyed mess.

Be proud that you tried as hard as you did and kept at it for as long as you did. I have heard some really sad stories of people just letting their dogs continue to cluster without doing anything, without taking them to the doctor, without getting medication, etc. Many just say oh well and put them to sleep.

It is obvious you did everything you could. I don't know how you could sleep. Even when my Shephard had his once every 3 months or so before the phenobarb, I was tramatized for days after (even though he wasn't) and was always waking up when he would move around, thinking he was having one.