Grand Mal – 9/13/09 – 7:44am

I can’t help but feel partially responsible for this one. Unfortunately, I will never know either way, but I feel guilty as hell.

Topaz had what was probably 2 Grand mals this morning at 7:44am. We actually looked at the clock when it was all over with and it was 7:46am.

I think it was two because there was a little period where he came out of the first one and went right into the next. So it wasn’t like when he’ll go from one, get up and then move to a different spot for the next.

Some background…we got a new kitten on Friday. Kitten has a cold and so we’ve kept him isolated in the bathroom for the most part, but we have let him come out to play with the big animals a few times a day.

Last night Topaz seemed overly anxious. He’s been trying to mouth the kitten, so we’ve been yelling – not really yelling – but it’s been a lot of “Topaz, no!” and “Topaz, be nice” and “Come here and lay down”. Much, much more than normal. I’ve given him Rescue Remedy the past couple nights to help calm him down…but I guess if the seizures are coming, then they are coming!

The other thing is that I seriously think fish is a trigger for Topaz and we gave the kitten fish flavored food…so puppa could have gotten some of that on him from the kitten. It’s a stretch, I know…but I’m just throwing it out there.

The seizure itself wasn’t that bad as some that he’s had, but it also wasn’t the mildest one either.

He woke me up by trying to get up on the bed. That was when I knew something was up, so I helped him to the floor and he started seizing. I don’t know if he peed himself, I need to double check the bedroom and see. Just the usual paddling and foaming at the mouth.

I totally forgot about the ice pack, not that we have one ready, but we’ve used frozen vegs in the past, so we would have again. I had my husband get the rescue remedy, which made no sense…but I panicked.

After the seizure we gave him Breyer’s vanilla ice cream mixed with 2 1/4 gr PB, 1 valium and Rescue Remedy. We took him outside as we normally do and now he’s back in the house.

Still post ictal…nervous. I’m about to go back and lay down for a couple hours and see if I can get him to calm down a little.

I sure hope we didn’t do this to him with the new kitten. If not, then it’s some horrible coincidence.

Cost of Prescriptions

So we had to get a paper script for Topaz’s Phenobarbital because the vet isn’t going to carry it anymore due to paperwork and legalities.

I think I wrote last time that we were calling around to get price quotes.

I had kind of settled on Walgreens and their “W” card offer…they said a 90 day supply of his pills would be 10.99 plus 20.00 once a year for the program. That was cheaper than CVS and Target was going to be 15.00 or so. Walgreens without the W card was 20.99 for 90 day supply.

I thought that we should try Costco because I’ve always heard that their scripts are cheap. I had a heck of a time getting a quote when I called due to some rude pharmacy workers (unfortunately, I’ve found MOST pharmacy workers to be rude) and when my husband called he got a totally different quote than I did, so i was still unsure about the price.

My husband went up there today and for 150 pills it was under 7.00! I cannot remember the exact price, but it was CHEAP!

Plus, they are the same pills as he’s taking now!

That’s a HUGE difference than it even was at the vet! They were like 30 or 40 something for 150.

Score! Great savings!

The Valium was under 7.00 too and we ended up getting that at Target.

So overall, it helps to shop around and definitely try the savings clubs like Costco and Sams!

No New Seizures, Just Some Thoughts

Topaz made it through last night with no new seizures – Thank God!

I did talk to our vet last night and she’s going to give us a script for valium and we had to get a refill script for his PB…now I wonder if THAT is going to be an issue?? Ugh something else to think about. Usually we get his PB script from the vet, but they are no longer carrying it and are going to be scripting it out so we need to get it from the pharmacy. Hopefully it will not be an issue as far as the medication goes. And I will probably blog again about the cost of it all, I hope it’s not too much more than it is in the office.

The vet suggested to keep his meds where they are. Although, I will probably up his KBr a bit for my own peace of mind and I really thought he did much better on a little higher dose of KBr. But she did suggest that we check his PB level in a week or so, and come in for their last appt of the day (they are open till 10pm) and see what’s going on with it…if anything shows up. So we’ll do that in a couple weeks.

While I was thinking about environmental changes, I remembered that my husband had bought a different laundry detergent. He got Tide with Febreze – Meadows & Rain scent. It’s really fragrant! Personally, I never would have gotten that because it doesn’t smell good to me, but that’s what he got because it was on sale. I wonder if that has anything to do with the seizures. We’ve been using it for a week or so. Next time we’ll go back to our normal detergent.

Not sure if the Tide is to blame, or if it’s a total fluke…we’ll probably never really know, but I wanted to jot this down anyways.

Another Grand Mal Tonight! 7/13/09 – Actually 2

I really hope this isn’t going to be a long year with the seizures.

Topaz had another 2 Grand Mals tonight. I believe they started at 11:30pm ish. it was kind of hectic and I wasn’t able to see a clock right away. It was 11:35 when I looked at the clock…

I was making my lunch for tomorrow (Salmon, if that has anything to do with anything…the possible fish connection I made a few months ago) and Topaz went running down the hall to see my husband, which was kind of odd. Not that he’s never done so before, but it was just odd. Then he came my way and kind of staggered near the dining room table and then I knew, this wasn’t normal…so I was prepared and called my husband down to help.

He definitely foamed a heck of a lot more than usual this time. The first was fairly short, he kind of came around and then went right into the second one. It was a little nosier than the first and he was really contorted into a horrible position. Seeing a dog seize is not a pretty picture! 

A few other things:

• he didn’t urinate on himself during either seizure
• more foaming than normal
• loud crying noises
• post ictal has been long, he’s still not ok (this was written over an hour later)

We called the e-vet and they suggested we bring him in. As you may or may not know, e-vets are super expensive and we only have xx amount of dollars available to use and well, it was definitely going to be more than that. They suggested we maybe bring him in and they could treat him outpatient.

We decided to keep and eye on him and call his vet first thing in the morning. If he has another one tonight, we will take him in for sure though.

I don’t know what else they can do at this point but up his medication. He may just need to be a bit ataxic in order to function with minimal seizures. Lots of epileptic dogs are like that.

I think we may have his thyroid tested again too, just to rule that completely out. Oh and we need to review the ice pack position. I am going to print that out now!

After the seizure we took him outside and I gave him some Bryer’s all natural vanilla which he loved, and also some Rescue Remedy. I also gave him 2 gr of PB tonight and we upped his KBr back to 1.5ml. I am gonna have the hubbs ask the vet about upping that back up anyways.

Hopefully this doesn’t continue. I hate to have to write these blogs…especially back to back.

*sigh* going to reset the ticker. My poor puppa!

7/12/09 Another GM

Tonight is not my Puppa’s night!!

Topaz had another Grand Mal seizure at about 11:10pm or so this evening.

He had been lying on the couch with me again and had been pretty restless…he had JUST settled down.

I noticed that ever too familiar way that seizing dogs have just before they seize and tried to get to him before he fell off the couch. Unfortunately, he kind of landed on his head a bit, I righted him as soon as I could, but it did take a few minutes. I hope he’s ok with that, he seems to be ok. My husband or I couldn’t get to him in time. It was horrible looking.

Anyways, this was so different than his other seizures. It wasn’t so much paddling as it was laying there all stiff with teeth chattering. He also didn’t urinate on himself again, but did foam a bit. He took a while again to get out of it too.

We tried the ice pack trick again, but we don’t have a crushed ice bag ready (note to self…we NEED one of these!) so we used green beans. I also need to have my husband look at the picture of where to put the ice pack and I need to look at it again. We also may need to ask for some Valium from the vet. Esp if this is going to be a new norm.

When he finally did come around, which took a few extra minutes it seemed…even longer than the first one earlier in the evening, we gave him another spoonful of ice cream and rescue remedy and my husband took him outside.

He wasn’t pacing, but was walking around and kind of staggering. Moreso than normal, to me anyways.

We called the e-vet too, to get their opinion. If he has another one tonight, we’ll bring him in. Hopefully all will be ok and we’ll call his vet in the morning. I am thinking we need to up his KBr again back to 1.5 from 1. I don’t know.

I have no clue on this one…just the disease I guess.

Anyway, I hope there won’t be anymore! Poor puppa!

7/12/09 Grand Mal Seizure - 8:35 PM

Topaz had a Grand Mal seizure tonight at 8:35pm. He and I were laying on the couch and I was woken up my him seizing. Didn't seem any better or any worse at the time and luckily he managed to stay on the couch for the entire duration. But him coming around did seem a bit longer to me. He layed there for quite a few minutes just staring, not breathing heavily, but just staring...which is unusual. But he did finally come around.

We took him outside and did the usual routine of Vanilla ice cream (Breyers, of course), Rescue Remedy (thank God I had just ordered some), and his PB for the night. I game him an extra large dose, so he will be out tonight.

We (well my husband) called the vet and let them know too.

So sad to be resetting the ticker at only 43 days, but that is better than some, so we'll take it!

Cannot think of any triggers...just that he's gotten a few more eggs than usual. Other than that, everything has been same ole same ole around here.

Will think on the trigger thing...sometimes things pop into my head later.

Off to reset the ticker.

Something’s Fishy

LOL cute title huh?

So I’ve been thinking about possible triggers and there’s one thing that my mind keeps going back to and that’s fish.

Before the last seizure in February I think it was, I had given the dogs Sardines. That was the only big difference I could think of.

The cats haven’t been eating real well lately, not sure if it’s a seasonal thing, or if they’re bored with the flavors or something (we feed them strictly canned food and generally stick to poultry or beef/liver flavors) so we got a case of fish flavored last time we bought their food, and we got another one this past time as well.

So, maybe that’s a trigger for Topaz, or something in the fish. I don’t know. Definitely an interesting coincident.

He commonly gets into the cat bowls and goes behind them on the floor and everything. We have one cat, Beans, our little female, who takes a mouthful into the bedroom or hallway and then eats it. Half the time she drops some of it and she always leaves crumbs, so the dogs go and eat what’s left.

So, maybe it’s something? Definitely something to watch.