3/30/10 – 2:09 am – Grand Mal

I am not writing this right after the seizure happened because it was in the middle of the night and I had to work this morning, so it’s actually in the evening…same day though.

Thank goodness for the Blackberry and Facebook. I guess I could update the blog from my phone too. I will need to look into how to do that. I still may move this blog to my own domain www.peargirly.com.

Anyway…on to the seizure information.

Topaz was sleeping in bed with just me, our other dog and a couple kitties. He got up and started stumbling around on the bed (which actually happens a lot because he gets tangled up in the blankets) but this caused the cats to get down and our other dog to growl because he stepped on her. All of these things happening at the same time woke me up.

He had the seizure on the bed, it was a Grand Mal and didn’t last too long. He was vocal, foamed and peed on the bed.

I went to run to the bathroom and change really quick and had my husband keep him on the bed while I did that. Then we got him down off the bed and let him outside as we usually do.

I quickly made my usual cocktail of Breyer’s Vanilla ice cream, 2 gr PB, Valium and Rescue Remedy and brought it outside to give to him. Of course, we also had to give our other dog a tasty little treat too!

The post ictal stage was typical, he ran around the yard a little, paced a little and seemed out of it a little. He pooped and peed and then we went inside and went back to bed. I barely slept because I didn’t want to disrupt him and I was freezing because I opened the window to help cool him off.

Triggers…NO CLUE. Nothing really has changed. We ran out of food and they were eating primarily frozen chicken wings from Costco for a couple days until we got their food again. We’ve been giving them these treats, which I guess could have triggered something, but I really doubt it…they have very few ingredients and they’ve been eating them for a couple months.

The only thing is it was a full moon last night…which I know a lot of people who have epileptic dogs have said that their dog’s seizures sometimes occur during a full moon.

I may see if I can go back and see if any of his others have happened while during a full moon. I don’t think so, I would have included that in the blog.

Anyways, it was 198 days between seizures, which is a good thing.

And you know, I kind of felt like this was coming…he’s been so super hyper lately, and that’s always a sign that one is coming…but it had been a long time of the hyperness, so I stopped thinking about it. And then in reading the EPIL-K9 list these past couple weeks, I’ve been thinking about some of the latest discussions, like bed protection…what do people use to protect their beds. Well, we’ve never had to because he’s never had a seizure ON our bed…until now. Just things like that.

He’s much better now…a little more wobbly than I like to see, but pretty much he’s back to normal. Well, a less hyper version of normal.

Trash Boy…the Saga Continues!

Everything has been going great with Topaz lately. No seizures since that last one in September, which is awesome!

He’s been hyper as hell, so I’ve kind of been on the watch for a seizure, but nothing so far…knock on wood and cross everything!

So..the reason for the blog.

SOMEHOW, Mr Topaz did some Houdini move and got out of his cage. Now, mind you, his cage is basically a gigantic cat carrier and there is really NO WAY he could have gotten out unless the door was improperly latched.

I didn’t lock him up when we left, so I don’t know what happened, but I have been assured that the door was properly shut and he was secured in the cage.

Uh-huh…whatever.

So how did he get out then?

Right…I don’t know either.

Anyway…I eat dinner in here most nights and there is food in the trash can in here, plus there are boxes from snacks.

Well you know this garbage hound just couldn’t resist all of the yummy trash smells so he ate everything he could get his grubby paws and mouth on and licked everything else clean.

I know FOR SURE that he ate leftover greek salad…which consisted of lettuce, chick peas (which I just Googled and are ok!) and feta cheese. Plus the dressing. – good thing I don’t like onions! He ate a 1/2 box of Costco sized Cheeze-Its, pickles, I think some almond cheese from Olga’s…and I really don’t know what else. Oh, BBQ chips.

He spent a long time outside while the husband and I cleaned the room up and then when he came in he drank a bunch of water…which he DOES NOT normally do.

But he’s been ok…it’s been a few hours.

I gave him 2 gr of PB (3/4 gr more than normal) and a Valium (we have pill form Valium, not liquid) and I will make sure he sleeps with us IN the bed if possible…and pray that this passes without a hitch.

We’ve been lucky with his garbage hound ways in the past…it’s just been a long time since we’ve dealt with this!

Anyway…so that’s my update. Just wanted to document and all.