"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion." ~ Unknown

Sunday, December 30, 2007

The Results are in...Vet Visit 12/26

Just called the vet and Topaz's PB test results are in.

He's on the low end of normal, but if everything seems to be ok we'll continue as we are with the 1 1/2 gram dose.

He's been seizure free for a month!! So let's hope it stays that way for a long time.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Vet Visit...12/26

We took Topaz to the vet. He weighs 64 lbs. I think he should weigh around 60lbs so we're going to adjust his food a bit, and onyx's too I think. I need to email the food lady.

Anyway, we did the blood draw and got more meds. For my own note and for future reference it's 97.00 to get the blood draw and the pills.

We need to wait a few days to get the results. When we do I will update.

We've been seizure free for almost a month!! WOO HOO!!!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

No seizure...just weirdness?

When Topaz has a seizure there's a certain smell. I don't know if it's saliva or what it is. I had been calling it "adrenalin" because I didn't know what else it could have been. But it's definitely a distinct smell and it is ALWAYS there when he has a seizure or has HAD a seizure.

Sometimes when we let him out of his cage, the room he's in (my "office") has this smell. I always check his chest and muzzle for signs of wetness and then check the blanket or towel that's in his cage. There's usually nothing. So I assume no seizure has occurred.

I can't help but wonder what this smell is, and whether a small seizure happened. I know he's on meds and everything and should be ok. But who knows. We weren't home, so I don't know.

Weird.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Vet Appt - Rescheduled

Topaz had a vet appt today at 7:00 pm but we rescheduled it till the 26th. It's to check his PB levels and see where they are at. I'm curious to know since we switched him to the raw.

So, I will update after his appointment.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Should have updated...

We did start feeding the dogs the RAW food last Friday...so the 7th.

It took Topaz a couple days to actually eat a meal, but now he's eating it ok. He's definitely a bit slower going than his sister, Onyx is...she tears it up!

Just wanted to add this to the blog.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

No seizure...just too much medication

We've been really trying to stay on top of Topaz's medication since his last seizure. So we've been writing down the times we give the PB in a small notebook by his pill bottle. It needs to be given 12 hours apart and we have been pretty good about giving it to him like that.

Well we give the Melatonin to him a 1/2 hour before we go to bed and lock him up. I asked Todd tonight if he could give him his PILL...not PILLS, but PILL...talking about the Melatonin.

So...Todd gives him the PB!!! I gave it to him at 9:51 and then he got it again at 10:30! Ugh...

I called the emergency vet and they said it's ok, to proceed as normal tomorrow and he may be a little more sedated tonight.

Nice. Anyway...just wanted to update on that.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

See my other blog

...for the regular info...

I'll be keeping this one strictly for the seizure dog.

Monday, December 3, 2007

No new seizures...just some thoughts..RAW Diet??

My husband and I volunteer on a regular basis at a local animal shelter. This weekend was the grand opening of the pet store that's located inside the shelter building. The pet store is called "The Pet Beastro" and they sell holistic, natural and raw pet foods and treats as well as some quality toys, collars, and beds. On Sunday I sat in on a talk about pet food nutrition. Now I know that since all of the pet food recalls last year and earlier this year, I for one, have been paying more attention to what is in the food I'm feeding our animals.

The dogs have been getting Canidae and the cats, unfortunately, are still getting a mixture of the crap that you buy at the grocery store. I have one cat, the little female, here that will NOT eat premium foods...however, we may just buy a bag of it...replace the junk in the feeder and not give her a choice BUT to eat the premium food. I think we're going to do that this week and see how it goes. I want to feed them all the best we can.

Ok, so this brings me to the little seminar/talk I sat through and the whole RAW diet thing.

It was really interesting...i mean what she was saying made sense and I really have to wonder if it would help Topaz. We're just about out of dry food, so we're due to buy some more. The 40lb bag of Canidae lasted us just about a month...a few days shy is how it will come out. But we free feed, so I don't know who's been eating what and if we fed at certain times, certain amounts I am sure that it probably would have lasted a little bit longer.

Anyway...so now we have to buy food this week. I am seriously considering giving raw a try. I never ever in my life thought I'd say that, but it doesn't seem as awful as it all sounds. I mean it's gross sounding to me and it will probably take me some time to get used to the whole fact that I am feeding my dogs raw meat, but I think we're going to give it a month and see how it goes.

I am worried about Topaz with his meds and the seizures and everything and unfortunately the internet is not the best place to get information about all of that because you do get such differing opinions and everything. I almost need to just stop reading the net, think about it, get my questions answered and go from there. I'd be better off.

And I do have a TON of questions: How to get a dog that gulps and doesn't chew to chew the bones? What about vitamin supplements? Do we need to go cold turkey and just jump into it? Will there be side effects to look for? What about Topaz and his medication, what effect will the food change have on him? How do I know how much 8 ounces is? Do I need a scale? What about veggies and fruits? Will this make them sick in the beginning?...and well, the list goes on and on!!

So... I will need to chat a bit with the Pet Beastro lady and see what she says. And well, we may be venturing into the scary world of RAW food. I don't know yet...I have a few days to figure it out.

Here are some links:
http://www.barfworld.com/html/barf_diet/barfdiet_specific.shtml
http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm

Here's a site that talks about what is in pet food:
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04/Perhach/PetFood/Processing.htm

The jury is still out on this one. I don't know what to think about it all.

Later...H

Friday, November 30, 2007

Spoke with the vet this afternoon

I spoke with the vet this afternoon and she said to increase Topaz's PB dose to 1 1/2 grams from 1 gram 2 times a day. We also give him Melatonin at bedtime and use Rescue Remedy after the seizure and for thunderstorms.

We'll need to get his PB level checked in a couple weeks too. And let me tell you, he's a prince at the vet...haha NOT. He's so bad.

Anyway, that's where we're at now.

If anyone out there is reading this and has a dog with seizures, PLEASE give me a comment and I'll give out my email address.

11/30...Here we go again

Another seizure about a half hour ago. 1:35 am. So far no more...knock on wood and cross fingers and all that. :crossfingers:

I know for sure that I've been giving him his doses, so maybe his meds need upping. I don't know. Will be calling the vet in the morning and will probably start a real blog about this so i have it all somewhere. Here is fine, but I'd like to have it all in one central place just for that.

Prayers and good thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

Monday, November 19, 2007

11/19....Clusters

More seizures last night. (well this morning)

Got woken up at like 2:45 to himseizing in his cage. I swear I heard a yelp or bark too, so I wonder if Onyx tried to wake us up. Topaz is in a cage in the computer room, to cut down on nighttime stress from the flock of kitties we have here. We have a night light in here for him and play music to try to drown out the noises in the rest of the house. Basically we try to give him a peaceful night's sleep.

Anyways...got him out of his cage wiped him up a bit and he seemed ok, the post ictal stage is weird...sometimes he's a little weird and sometimes it's like he doesn't know us.

Took him outside on a leash (new back yard) and he pooped and brought him back in. I noticed a bit later (like at 3:00) that he was starting to get stiff and weird so I laid him down and he had 4 cluster seizures. They were very strange though, he made noises and it was mostly his front (head, front paws) that were involved.

After they were done, he was panting hard and I went to call the emergency vet...wish we had the 500.00 to take him in, but we don't...so they said to watch him and take him to the vet in the am. The earliest we can pay for a visit is Wednesday, so I called first thing this morning.

During the commotion, Todd found one of his pills in the kitchen, so he cheeked on of them today...stinker.

Anyway...they will probably up his dose and I will be sleeping with one eye open for a while again.

Long, scary night...

Praying folk...we could use one now, please!!

Thanks!

Thursday, July 26, 2007

7/25...Another Grand Mal...and Meds now too

We put him on the meds. I am not thrilled, but I don't know what else to do.

Will write more tomorrow, pretty exhausted now.

He had the seizure sometime before I came home from work. He had pooped & peed in his cage and his muzzle was wet on one side and he was acting a bit weird.

We went to the vet and got him the medication. We need to go back in a month and get his level checked, will do a thyroid 6 panel then as well.

Hopefully this medication will work for him and he won't have all of the nasty side effects I have read about.

Keep us and our puppa in your prayers, please. :praying:

Saturday, July 14, 2007

And another one...and a trip to the emergency vet

Topaz had another seizure at 12:45 or so. He was in his cage and I gave him a spoonful of ice cream mixed with rescue remedy afterwards.

We took him to the local Emergency vet, they are keeping him overnight and will keep an eye on him. They will also do a CBC and see if anything is up. (I won't even tell you how much the bill is)

We talked to the vet for a while and we're going to hold off on the meds unless he has another tonight or within a short period of time. Like a month I believe it was.

Topaz was not acting like himself. He was whining and crying alot and didn't really seem to know us...effects from the seizures I'm sure. Poor baby!!

In the meantime, I will be giving him some herbals and see if that helps.

It's been a long, emotionally draining night.

I really hope he's ok...

Prayers please!! Thanks!

July 13...He came to me

Topaz had another seizure tonight. He knew it was coming and came to me right before. He had it in the computer room on the floor.

It was probably the single most terrifying thing I've ever seen. So scary!! I am still a bit shaken from witnessing it.

Anyway, we kept the cats out of here best we could and I sat with him throughout the seizure and afterwards. He growled a bit, but never lunged at me...good to know.
It was about an hour ago or so, maybe an hour 15 minutes. It lasted what seemed like forever, but was probably a minute or under.

He stumbled around a bit, I was afraid of him having another one, so we put him in his cage. He's outside barking at something now. Will wait a bit before I let him in, it's a beautiful night.

Todd's got a good relationship with some different vets now because of the shelter, so he's going to call one on Monday morning.

I don't know what to do as far as meds. I really don't want to put him on the medication, I've only heard bad things about dogs that were on the seizure meds...I guess we'll see what this vet has to say.

He really needs a CBC but we can't get him to calm down enough to draw the blood. He's really high strung and not trained very well.

Anyway...will keep updating here.

Keep my puppa and us in your thoughts and prayers please!

Friday, May 18, 2007

Poor Puppa!

Poor Topaz has been through the mill today and yesterday!!

They could NOT get blood from him yesterday, he freaked out. We were in the very forever and they just couldn't do it. They were going to give him a sedative, but they couldn't even do that...

So todd brought him back in today and they gave him a sedative...waited and then tried to get the blood, he freaked, so they gave him more sedative. They waited and tried again, and he freaked out again!!! So they sent todd home after spending the whole day there practically with an oral sedative to give him monday and bring him in.

Todd took him to the shelter with him to keep an eye on him and he peed on himself twice...poor baby! He was STILL out of it when I got him from work, and his appt was at like 10am!

Then it took him until 9:30 or so to really be back to normal, he was still stumbling around and snapped at Razzle at one point (something he's NEVER done) and he snapped at me too. He's mouthy, but not like that. We called the vet like 4 times.

We're not gonna do the blood work...(vet suggested we don't too, it's too much on the dog) And we're not putting him on the seizure meds. If he has another one then we will go back and try the blood thing and everything again, but I honestly think he's only had the two.

I felt so bad for him today...poor baby, I knew he was in there somewhere, but he looked so sad and lost for a long time!

He's so much better now and is basically back to normal. We'll be putting him in his cage at night and when no one is home and I am planning getting the house back to normal, the cats mingle with the dogs now, so it's all good on that end. Just have to move some food and a litterbox and then we'll be all set to allow all animals free roam again!

I know he could have some underlying epilepsy thing going on, but everything I've read online and heard from people who gave their dogs the seizure medicine has said that it made them worse, and or they regretted jumping the gun on the meds. He's a young dog...those meds are hard on the liver...i just have a bad feeling about them.

Vet Update

The vet did bloodwork and said we'd just have to watch him. Basically, they don't want to put him on any meds...they are hard on the liver...unless this is a reoccurring thing. He may never have another one, or this could be one of many.

We'll see what happens.

His bloodwork all came back normal, so that's good at least...he's a healthy puppa!

And he's acting fine now, I'm all paranoid though.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Interesting...

I told my sister about the seizures and how the two were a year apart, almost to the day and time...which is bizarre and is really bugging me. She mentioned barometric pressure and maybe that having something to do with it.

Interesting, it seems it is a trigger.

I am going to do the bloodwork and see if the vet will hold off on the meds for a bit because those anti seizure meds scare me...

So we'll see tomorrow.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Vet Update #1

The vet wants to put him on meds because who knows if he's had more than just the two because we aren't home 24/7. Makes sense, but I think we'd know if we came home to a urine stained dog (since he pees on himself when he has one)...but the vet knows best, I guess.

We have to take him back in because they could not get a blood sample from him, he freaked out. and then they couldn't give him a tranq shot and I couldn't get a muzzle on him...yep, guess who needs obedience training? Mr. Topaz.

So...todd is going to try again tomorrow.

But he's been fine all day. :crossfingers:

May 16...Happy Birthday to me!

About 40 or so minutes ago, he had another seizure. a year and 2 days after the first one. Lasted the same amount I'd say...woke me up this time though...Thank GOD he had it in his cage again!!

He growled a bit afterwards, (I was able to shut and lock the door to the cage) we just waited till he was wagging his tail and crying to come out and he was fine. We called the emergency vet again and plan to take him to the vet tomorrow. Hope it's not too much money, as we don't have much, but our vet is pretty cheap so we should be ok.

Since this is now his second (that we know of anyway) I am not sure if he will be put on meds. I guess we'll see tomorrow.

Todd was up for this one, I heard the noise and woke up and was like, what is that and he thought it was the rain (seems tina sent us her storms) and I was like, no...that's topaz...and we ran in there.

Guess I was hoping we were in the clear. :worry:

I'm just going to use this thread to document...in case there are more coming. :crossfingers:

God willing, there won't be. :praying: