Topaz - Our Epileptic Puppa

05/30/11–Grand Mal Cluster

2011-05-30T23:48:00.000-04:00

I have not had to write for a long time. 274 days to be exact!!!

I don’t count the focal seizure as a seizure, but if I did it’s been over 100 days since then as well.

Around 3:00 pm on Memorial Day Topaz came to me in the computer room and had a grand mal seizure. He got through that one and went right into a second one. He was wedged in a not good area and I was sitting in my desk chair and couldn’t really get to him very well so I am not sure if he peed on himself or not. And being that it’s so hot out, I didn’t let him out right away.

My husband was outside and I needed his help so it was kind of chaotic but we got his cocktail in him and will give him another valium and two whole PB tonight when I give him his pills.

I cannot think of any triggers although we’ve had some wonky weather lately and it was really warm today. I washed the bedding on our bed. He may have gotten into the cat food a few times. And we switched to 1 pack of turkey meat – instead of chicken. Not sure about a trigger. Could be a number of things, we’ve actually been living life lately and not worrying about triggers…isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?

I will say this, the post ictal stage has been rough…he has wandered around for most of the night, been SUPER clingy, and even came to me at one point when I was SURE he was about to seize again…he didn’t, thankfully, but he was totally acting like he was going to.

Hopefully he will be better tomorrow.

02/10/2011–Focal Seizure

2011-02-10T23:47:00.000-05:00

I believe Topaz had what is called a Focal or Partial seizure tonight. I was laying in bed and I thought I could feel him shaking or shivering. He’s done this before, so I really didn’t think anything of it.

I called him up closer to me and noticed his head was kind of bobbing and he had that far away look in his eyes. He also seemed to get a little rigid like he was going into a Grand Mal seizure.

I got really worried because I was alone and he was on our bed and I wasn’t ready to deal with a seizure alone so I texted my husband to come home.

I observed him on the bed for a short time and decided to give him his typical after seizure cocktail just in case this was a type of seizure. While I was getting that together I grabbed my camera and took a little video. He didn’t look like he was in any immediate distress and was responding to his name and everything so I gave our other dog some ice cream and let his melt for a minute in some warm water before mixing in the rest of the ingredients (valium, PB and rescue remedy).

Here’s the video:

I posted this video on Facebook and also asked in the Epil-K9 and people who responded do believe it was a focal seizure.

My husband did come home as requested – thank you, honey! – and he called the vet on the way. They said that we did everything they would do and for us to just watch him. If it gets worse to bring him in. We didn’t have to take him in, but I was ready to!

Topaz slept for a bit and when it was time for his night pills he was still a bit shaky so I gave him some more valium and his regular PB dose and then we went to bed.

He was really clingy and needy for most of the night, sleeping right on me for a long time (not his usual). But he did well through the night with this episode not escalating to anything more.

He went 164 days without a seizure, which is just AWESOME! And I am not totally resetting his clock now, but starting a new countdown from this episode.

Other than this, everything has been great. I suspect he got into the cat food once in the past week, but besides that, all has been normal.

We have to take him to the new vet next week or the week after for a blood draw. I’m hoping that will go off without a hitch. The vet is not his favorite place to be! I will update again after the appointment.

Updates: Boarding and More Fleas!

2010-11-16T14:34:00.001-05:00

I haven’t updated in a while…which in this case is ALWAYS a good thing! But thought I should because some things have happened that are blog-worthy! No seizures though, THANK GOD!

It’s been 78 days since Topaz’s last seizure. You’ll have to trust me, I haven’t found a good ticker yet. I need to look again. I do have an app on my phone that has the countdown and actually one right next to it with the moon cycle too, just for comparison.

Since my last update my husband and I have vacationed to and returned from Walt Disney World! We were gone for 10 days and had to board the dogs. Because Topaz is epileptic, the dogs are raw fed and the stress of being boarded could potentially trigger a seizure, AND we’ve never boarded them before…we had to call kennels/boarding places, explain the situation and see if they would take our dogs. Shots or the lack of shots in Topaz’s case were also an issue.

So, after about 10 phone calls we finally decided to send them to “Siesta Canine Camp” a kennel in Farmington Hills, MI. The owners live on the property, which was a definite plus and they weren’t too expensive…AND they were willing to deal with giving meds and the raw food. My husband went and toured the kennel and talked with the owner and we booked them for the trip!

With that out of the way, we continued to plan for our trip and pack and everything. My husband called the kennel to see how they wanted us to package the food and good thing he did because we never would have known that they had new owners! Ugh! So I was pretty confident about it and now they have new owners. It was too late to make any changes, so we just got the dogs ready and dropped them off.

I was pretty leery because the woman there was leery of the food/medication situation. She wanted to give Topaz the medication to ensure he got it, we told her this was pretty close to impossible with Topaz, but we just told her to do whatever they were comfortable with doing.

I expected to be upset when we dropped them off but I really wasn’t. I think I was just stressed and ready to go on vacation and they seemed to be in good hands…plus they went into the kennel well. And so we left them there…for 10 days…MY BABIES!!

We called and checked up on them and they were doing great! We’ve never kenneled them before but we would DEFINITELY go back there. They were changing their name to something else, and are getting a website together and everything so as soon as they do I will be putting them on this site. I’d recommend them to anyone. It was a great experience and after a couple calls we realized that the pups were in good hands and that’s all we can ask for!

Plus, Topaz made it through being kenneled and us being gone SEIZURE FREE! And that, in itself, it awesome!

Of course, when we got home we noticed all animals were itching and I found a flea on one of the cats…so we got some more Advantage and put that on the zoo and we seem to be flea free once again. We may need another application to be completely rid of those little buggers, but we’re on top of it!

So those are the updates. Topaz is still a crazy boy and everything is going well at our house!

Moon

2010-08-30T22:56:00.001-04:00

I have always wondered if the moon played a part in Topaz’s seizures. Well I got an app on my phone to look the phases of the moon up.

Here they are:

May 14, 2006 - 2:00am - GM    full moon

May 16, 2007 - 2:00am - GM new moon

July 15, 2007 (2) - GM new moon

July 25, 2007 - GM waxing gibbous

November 19, 2007 - 4 Clusters - GM   waxing gibbous

November 29, 2007 - GM waning gibbous

February 3, 2008 - 6:00am - 3 Clusters - GM waning crescent

February 3, 2008 - 10:21am - GM   waning crescent

April 28, 2008 - 6:08am - GM   third quarter moon

February 16, 2009 - 1:40pm (2) GM   third quarter moon

May 30, 2009 - 8:15am - GM first quarter moon

July 12, 2009 - 8:35pm - GM   waning gibbous

July 12, 2009 - 11:15pm - GM   waning gibbous

July 13, 2009 - 11:30pm (2) GM n waning gibbous

September 12, 2009 - 7:44am (2) GM    third quarter moon

March 30, 2010 - 2:09am - GM full moon

August 30, 2010 - 1:32pm - GM waning gibbous

Interesting.

Lepto Shot & Grand Mal – 8/30/10

2010-08-30T20:07:00.001-04:00

Yeah, you read the title right! Ugh…

Ok first the Lepto shot, because I said I was going to write more about it.

We live in a city that is infested with rats. We had to call an exterminator ourselves because we had them in our crawl space…the rats were taking garbage out of our kitchen trash can under the sink and dragging it into the wall. YUCK! Gross, I know! So we called an exterminator and things have been good since.

Last week, a local news station ran this story and this video about Leptospirosis. Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection spread by the urine of rodents and other similar animals. Dogs here are dying from this after eating grass that’s been urinated on or drinking water that’s been urinated in.

Anyway, because of this we decided to get both dogs vaccinated for Lepto. Like I said above, our city is infested so I would rather be safe than sorry.

Onyx’s went off without a hitch and actually so did Topaz’s. We took both of them to different vets, both new vets. The one we took Topaz to we will be taking him to again. It was such a different vet experience than we’re used to! The normal vet usually has us put a muzzle on him and they’ve never actually examined him. The new vet got down and looked him all over and everything, and even gave him the shot in the room. I was very impressed.

Things were fine until this afternoon. I wasn’t home, so this is per my husband but he said Topaz was sleeping on the couch and started seizing.

Grand Mal like always.

He foamed at the mouth but did not pee on himself and my husband said it was very quick, like 30 seconds and really mild. He came around afterwards and he gave him our usual “after seizure cocktail”. Of course he stumbled around a bit, but he’s pretty much back to normal now.

The only think I can think of that was different is that dam shot. I don’t know if when they get vaccs and are going to have a seizure from them if they are immediate or take time usually. I just can’t help but think that the shot is to blame.

I can’t even say stress was the trigger – he went through all that tooth stuff with multiple vet appointments and surgery…and not one seizure.

Of course, I’ll never know…and this seizure broke a 153 day streak. Resetting the countdown clock…

Lepto Shot

2010-08-27T23:45:00.001-04:00

Topaz got a vaccination for Leptospirosis today.

Will write more tomorrow about it because we went to a new vet but I just wanted to get this on here tonight.

Fleas, glorious, Fleas!

2010-07-25T20:36:00.001-04:00

Ugh.

We have fleas. We are infested!!!

Topaz has fleas. Onyx has fleas. And at least 2 of the 4 cats have fleas. These are the confirmed cases of fleas.

This is ridiculous!

We bathed both dogs today using Dr. Harvey’s shampoo and gave them an Apple Cider Vinegar (with the mother) rinse.

We’re putting Apple Cider Vinegar in their morning food and also I gave them a clove of garlic each in their dinner tonight. I need to put the garlic through the food processor and mix them up, they weren’t too keen on eating the big pieces tonight.

We are also washing all of our bedding and their bedding, vacuumed the house up and we will be getting some Diatomaceous earth on Wednesday and try to get a handle on the flea situation.

In the meantime, I’m sharing my home with itchy and scratchy.

Doing Great!

2010-07-17T13:46:00.001-04:00

Topaz has been doing great! Eating good, taking his meds like a champ!

And the swelling is gone…everything back to normal it seems!

And, so far we’ve made it thru this all seizure free!

Yay!

Surgery!!

2010-07-12T23:09:00.001-04:00

Over this past weekend the swelling came back again. I don’t understand why it would completely go down and then come back within a really short time period.

Anyway, it came back. Surgery was scheduled for 7/16, but because the swelling came back we were worried that it was worse than we thought and I was worried about the infection travelling or something like that, so we moved it up to…TODAY!

I can’t believe I didn’t write sooner that we moved it up or that the swelling came back…what is WRONG with me???!!!???

Over the weekend we checked out his mouth again. I was worried that it may be more than just the tooth. Actually, I still kind of am worried about that. But I will try not to think about it too much. I was able to get a good look at the tooth though and it was a dark brown and even black at the gums, however, his gums did look good and I didn’t see any oozing or discharge.

But since the swelling did come back we moved the surgery up. Better to be safe than sorry.

We dropped Topaz off this morning at the vet…the funny thing is when I let him in from outside he ran right to the front door – he usually stops and waits at the computer room door, where his crate is. So he KNEW! LOL geez. Smart dog.

He, of course, was thrilled to be at the vet – read the sarcasm plz – and we had to help the vet people walk him back. I couldn’t bare to watch them drag him along the ground.

His surgery was sometime between 11:30 and 2:30. And it went perfectly, according to the vet…but that his roots were HUGE! We took the tooth home and yes, there will be a photo at the end.

They did a cleaning – it comes with the whole “dental package”, which is fine…definitely can’t hurt, but he really didn’t need it. The vet told us that the tech asked why they were doing a cleaning when he really didn’t need one…she said he needed an extraction, so YAY for raw meaty bones.

Chicken necks (RMB) = nature’s toothbrush. (and this is SO true, our 9 yr old Onyx girl has GREAT looking teeth and good breath too!)

Anyway, we spoke to the vet for a few minutes and then they brought out Topaz.

OMG…the poor boy was muzzled and smelly and looked srsly post ictal to me, but I know it was just him coming out of the anesthesia because he made it through WITH NO SEIZURES! yay! but when they brought him out…omg it was horrible. I felt so bad. I got his collar and leash on him and took the muzzle off and told my husband either you take him outside or I will.

So he gave me the keys and I took him to the car. I put him in the back and tried to calm him down a little. He did much better once he calmed a little bit.

We brought him home and gave him a little Arnica Montana, which is a homeopathic remedy that our friend from The Pet Beastro gave us, for swelling and bruising and to help bring him around after the surgery. I think it helped.

Anyways, my baby boy is home…he is my ♥ you know and I am breathing a sigh of relief.

Never a dull moment with this boy, let me tell you…but hopefully he’ll be feeling better soon and back to normal.

The Culprit!!

Resting peacefully after a rough day....thank God!

Birthday Boy ~ Photos!

2010-07-04T23:10:00.000-04:00

Here are a few photos from Topaz’s birthday celebration!

The birthday boy himself

I like this one better!

Onyx getting her party on!

Happiness is birthday yöghund on a hot summery birthday day!

Topaz enjoys his in the grass.

Onyx keeps hers on the deck

*sigh* ...all gone...

Happy birthday, Puppa boy! 5 years!

Food Changes & Back on Meds

2010-07-04T01:58:00.001-04:00

Antibiotic meds that is…I started getting nervous because I didn’t really see any change with the Apis, so I started him back on the Keflex and we added the Amoxicillin on 7/2 at night. We gave the Apis a good 24 hours. I should have probably given it 48, but I felt so bad because his face was so swollen and I wanted him to get some relief.

We’ve been on giving him the pills and the swelling has actually gone down a bit.

I just hope we can keep it that way and he hangs tight till surgery day. Then i can worry about that…ugh.

12 more days till surgery day.

Ok…so food changes:

Topaz hasn’t been taking his pills well in the usual breakfast mix (Oma’s Pride Turkey Mix, Oma’s Pride 5-Way Veggie mix, & canned pumpkin). He doesn’t really like canned pumpkin and will spit it out onto the floor, so we really try not to give him spoonfuls with the least amount of pumpkin as possible…not always possible though.

Since he NEEDS to take his meds (PB, KBr) we needed to figure something else out. We got a little 2# (I think it is) container of Oma’s Pride beef mix thinking that maybe that would make a difference, which it definitely has.

This morning, he ate his breakfast super slow…again, i am thinking too much pumpkin…so we decided to shake things up a bit and my husband bought the Oma’s Pride chicken mix instead of the turkey. And we still got the 5-way veg, although we do also have a 3-way veg that I’ll have to use too.

So those are the recent changes. Hopefully the swelling will continue to go down and all will be well. We’re keeping a good eye on it.

On a different note, today 7/4 is the day that Topaz told the pet psychic he’d like us to celebrate his birthday, so we’re going to do so tomorrow with some yöghund frozen yogurt for dogs. We got him and Onyx the Organic Banana and Peanut Butter flavor.

Organic Banana & Peanut Butter
Our Organic Banana & Peanut Butter recipe features potassium rich bananas, which are also a great source of the prebiotic inulin, along with peanuts for flavor and antioxidants. And of course, its primary ingredient is organic, low fat yogurt with live and active cultures, complete with all the benefits of probiotics.

I’m sure they will love it! I’m going to try to get my hands on some party hats and see if we can get a photo! LOL I’ll post it if I do!!

And the Swelling has returned!

2010-07-01T23:26:00.001-04:00

With a VENGANCE!

No, it’s back though, which is NOT good. My poor puppa boy!

I noticed it when we got home from work. It’s as bad, if not worse than it was when it first swelled up.

It came on as quickly as it did last time too. Late afternoon.

I called the vet and unfortunately it wasn’t out vet who normally takes care of him and the notes from the 2nd visit didn’t make it into his file, and I basically had to ask the vet on the phone to shut it so i could explain this to her. Ugh.

Anyway, so they were supposed to call us back – they never did, btw. Nice vet.

Actually, I love the vet who sees Topaz. Unfortunately, the Vet who ran the office passed away last year and it’s been taken over by someone new and now the reg staff is almost all gone and vets are resigning. But their hours are GREAT and they can almost ALWAYS get us right in. Hopefully our vet won’t leave too.

I posted about the swelling on Facebook and the owner of The Pet Beastro commented and asked if we’d consider homeopathy.

I’ll consider anything at this point. So we got to talking and I tried to look at that side and see what I could see, and to me it really looks like the tooth. I don’t notice any ooozing or pus or even redness and he really doesn’t seem bothered by it.

So she recommended something called Apis. We picked it up from her and are going to try it. We just gave it to him (11:10pm) and will be on “seizure watch” but hopefully it will help and we’ll remain seizure free.

We’re going to stop the antibiotics for a couple days too, and let this stuff have a chance to work if it’s going to.

We did get Amoxicilian from the vet to add to the Keflex, and we’ll start that in a couple days if the swelling doesn’t improve or we see any other changes. I’m kind of leery of that, but obviously the antibiotics aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do anyway.

Surgery is scheduled for July 16th.

Swelling Has Gone Down!

2010-06-24T23:36:00.001-04:00

Well the antibiotics are doing their thing and the swelling has gone down quite a bit on Topaz’s face. It’s almost to where it was when we first asked the vet. Almost.

But, this is good! The antibiotics are working and so far, no seizures!

Yay!

Still gonna have to get that tooth looked at and/or extracted. Not looking forward to that…or the bill from that!

But, my puppa is doing much better!

Outcome of the Vet Visit

2010-06-20T12:13:00.001-04:00

Topaz was actually really good at the vet. He wasn’t too worked up and didn’t need a muzzle. The vet came in and looked at his face and had me lift his lip so she could see his tooth.

She thinks the molar is bad, possibly chipped, and most likely needs to be removed. So we got an estimate: $325.00 - $450.00. I guess it’s not too bad, but we rarely have this much money to spend on anything. But if it’s needed, we’ll make it work.

Of course, I’m worried about him having surgery and having a seizure, but I guess we’ll cross that road when we come to it.

She did give us antibiotics for him – Keflex (Cephalexin) – and so far so good on not having a seizure. Hopefully that continues!

Pictures and Update

2010-06-19T18:36:00.001-04:00

We gave Topaz Benadryl and no change, so we’re going to take him into the vet and see what’s going on.

Our appointment is at 8:00pm, the vet is doing emergency surgery right now so we have to wait till then. Gives me a chance to get ready and we’re going to try to give him some Valium an hour before we are to leave and see if that helps him calm down any…it didn’t before, but we maybe didn’t give it enough time to kick in before. Hopefully it will work this time and calm him down!

Pictures of his face:

Will definitely update…

Swollen Face

2010-06-19T16:13:00.001-04:00

Topaz has a swelling on the left side of his face. We just took him to the vet on Thursday and everything looked good (Kbr and heartworm test both good as well). I am assuming it’s a bug bite or sting, so we gave him 50mg of Benadryl to see if it goes down.

It literally came out of no where which is why I’m thinking it’s a bug bite.

He did have a bump but the doctor looked at it and said it was hard like bone and seemed to be either his normal or on the bone. We may do an xray later on to see if it’s just his skull or something else.

So we’re going to keep an eye on him for now. He’s horrible at the vet and gets ALL worked up so we don’t want to have to take him in for anything if we don’t have to.

Poor baby! Will update later with a picture too.

Pet Psychic (Communicator)

2010-05-02T21:52:00.001-04:00

Today we took Topaz to see a Pet Psychic…well, actually we took PICTURES of him to see a pet psychic. He’s a handful and I wasn’t sure how he’d be at the store…although that would have been interesting to see!

We brought about 6 photos with us…a couple of him laying down and then 3 of him “boofing” for his dinner and one of him running in the yard. I thought those photos were totally him! I’ll post them in a different post, I have to put them on Flickr.

She explained that it was going to be basically like a conversation between us and Topaz and she was just the tool through which he was communicating with us.

This isn’t in order…

She first started out saying how she has an Aussie and asked how old he is, what his name is and how long we’ve had him. She started laughing and said that Topaz said “I am perfect, and there’s nothing to talk about”. lol

He asked who picked his name and why…I picked it and we already had Onyx, so I stayed with the gem theme (our cats at the time were candy themed) and decided on Topaz. Well, he said that he likes his name.

She asked if we had any of the photos framed that we brought in, I said no and I guess Topaz said well they should be and that he wants a giant collage of all photos of him.

She said he’s a smart ass…which I can totally believe! LOL He’s too smart for his own good, she did keep saying that.

She said we have no “Alpha” in our house as far as the animals go…Topaz said who wants that job all the time? He sure doesn’t! He said they take turns.

He said that my husband and I are animal collectors and asked if we were done? LOL I said, yes…we’re done. She also said we have a good bunch of animals right now, they all get along together and are fairly good.

She asked if there’s a cat he’s particularly close to, we both said yeah because my husband and I joke that he’s got a “bromance” going on with our kitten, Snorty…well, Topaz said that he (Snorty) needs guidance so he’s taken him under his wing…haha, so like a Big Brother program!

We asked her about his epilepsy and does he know he’s having seizures. She said he does and he tries to let us know he’s going to have them as soon as he feels like he is going to…sometimes a day or so in advance. (which he does, he comes to us and his behavior changes before he’s going to have one)

He asked if it was a little bit before he got on the medicine and it was and she said that he said it took a long time and a lot of adjustments before we found the right dose and that is true. He said that he doesn’t like going to the vet for the checks (when they check his levels) and that he feels more safe when both my husband and I take him. (He has to be muzzled and it’s a huge ordeal to get the muzzle on him and he gets all nervous…it’s not good)

He also asked how we feel when he has a seizure…well, it’s scary and we feel horrible that he has to go through them. When he asked that, the psychic said, “I don’t know why he wants to know this…he’s nosy, he wants to know everything!”. lol He also said that he was scared the one time the seizure lasted a long time. I believe that was the one time he had the 4 clusters in a row – we were scared then too.

I asked him why he doesn’t give me kisses but gives them to my husband and he said “to mess with us”. Nice. Thanks Topaz.

He said something about sleeping on the bed and she looked at my husband and asked “do you mind when I do?” (a lot of nights, my husband sleeps on the couch and I sleep with the dogs and whatever cats sleep with me too) and how come sometimes he can sleep on the bed and sometimes he can’t. I said because he’s a bed hog! LOL The he said he likes to sleep on our bed but he has to get down sometimes because he gets too hot up there and needs to sleep on the floor…and does it bother us. Nope, not at all…I’d rather him sleep on the bed, but as long as he’s close and comfortable, I’m good with it.

We asked about him nipping and biting and he described them as “love bites”. He does have that herding nature in him too. She said that he said he will herd the cats sometimes and would like to herd them all into a room together. LOL I can see that!

She asked when his birthday is, and I said that we got him in July, so we kind of celebrate then and she said that he said he wants to celebrate his birthday on July 4th and he wants cake. LOL I’ll make him a meat cake this year for sure!

She kept saying how independent he is and that he’d like to do everything for himself if he could…and the nipping is a way to say, “Hurry up mom, let me out!”

She asked out our other dog and asked if she was flighty. I don’t think she is, but my husband does. lol so I dunno…but he said she’s hyper and wants to play and that he just can’t keep up with her sometimes…even though she’s older!

I asked if he minded being in his crate and he said no and asked why he needs to be in there. I said because he gets into the trash!! She kept saying that he just likes to do things and mess with things just to do them. lol But he did say that it’s not ONLY him getting into things…LOL I said I knew they were all in cahoots together! LOL He does understand that if he’s in his crate and we’re gone and he has a seizure then he’s confined and that’s better and for us, and him, not to worry about that so much. I don’t worry as much as I used to.

He also asked about how my husband and I were doing and for us to take care of ourselves. He wants us around a long time.

Overall…it was a really awesome experience. She said some things in there that there’s no way she could have known and that we didn’t prompt her on or anything. Definitely worth the money and I’d see her again!

Here’s her link if anyone is interested: http://www.lorriethepetpsychic.com

3/30/10 – 2:09 am – Grand Mal

2010-03-30T02:13:00.000-04:00

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!

2010-03-20T01:44:00.001-04:00

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.

Grand Mal – 9/13/09 – 7:44am

2009-09-13T09:34:00.001-04:00

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

2009-07-18T22:28:00.001-04:00

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

2009-07-15T16:16:00.001-04:00

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

2009-07-13T23:56:00.000-04:00

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

2009-07-12T23:35:00.000-04:00

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

2009-07-12T20:59:00.000-04:00

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

2009-05-31T14:46:00.001-04:00

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.

5/30/09 – Grand Mal

2009-05-30T09:01:00.001-04:00

Well, unfortunately this morning around 8:14 am Topaz had a Grand Mal seizure. I was home alone this time. Not a fun thing to handle alone, let me tell you.

The details: I was asleep and he came to me a few times, but I thought it was to go outside. I got up to let the dogs out and he was kind of stumbling around and I noticed one leg was twitching up like he had hurt it or something, so at first I didn’t even think seizure…but something else seemed off and not right, so I quickly got down by his side.

He went into full GM seizure right in the doorway of our bedroom. I am pretty sure he urinated on himself, and there was definite foaming at the mouth this time. (my husband said there wasn’t the last time)

It seemed to last longer than the others have, I don’t know if that is truly what happened, or if because I was alone dealing with this, it just seemed longer.

The end was pretty violent and he did make noise this time. He did not go into clusters.

I tried the ice pack, but we don’t have one handy, and I didn’t know the proper placement (although I’ve seen the graphic a million times) so I don’t know that I was doing it right. I’ll have to read about it again.

I took him outside, and thank God for his pool being out there, I helped him into that to cool him down. I left him outside for a few minutes and got a scoop of Breyers Vanilla ice cream and mixed that with some Rescue Remedy and 2gr (I believe) or else 1 1/4gr PB. We don’t have valium, but may need to get some. I definitely need to order more Rescue Remedy next pay.

I called my husband, who’s heading towards Ohio as I write, and explained the details. I was still outside at this point with him. He never did poop afterwards…something he generally does…and he really seems out of it. I predict a longer post ictal stage this time.

Right now he’s sleeping peacefully next to me. We have the air conditioning on, so hopefully he will stay cool…and he’s half wet too, so that may help.

He went 102 days and approx 18hrs. I have no clue as to a trigger…nothing has really changed. I’ll have to think about it.

I’m gonna reset his ticker and add this date to his timeline. *sigh*

And I need to call the vet too, in about 15 minutes.

KBr Test Results

2009-05-26T17:04:00.000-04:00

The vet just called and let me know what Topaz’s KBr levels were.

I guess 1-3 is considered normal. He is generally low within normal range.

His result was 3.3 – so he was a little high this time. The vet wants us to get him down to 1.0ml of KBr (I have been giving like 1.3ml or so) and see how he does there. I agreed, he’s been doing really well lately.

We’ll probably have to check him again in a couple months.

Topaz’s Latest Adventures!

2009-05-22T00:25:00.001-04:00

I haven’t updated in a while…which always means GOOD news! Which is still the case…thank God! No seizures since the last couple in Feb.

However…he has been getting into things! What else is new, right?

Shortly after the last oatmeal fiasco, he devoured ANOTHER whole box of oatmeal…Apples and Cinnamon this time though! Bad puppa!

And just the other day he ate a package of Knorr Chicken Rice. I scanned the ingredients for Rosemary, and although I didn’t see it anywhere, I upped his PB that night. All seems to be well.

Our neighbor was spraying his yard today, and I didn’t catch it in time…so we’ll see if that has any effect on him. It didn’t last year.

He also got into the trash in my office today. No clue what was in there food-wise…but I think it was ok. There’s always the risk of him getting into this trash so I try not to throw bad stuff in there.

He went to the vet today for his KBr blood draw, a CBC and to get some PB. We also need to get more KBr. We’ll order that after his lab results are back.

He weighs 59.4 lbs now too! At one time he weighed 73 lbs, so he’s lost a good amount of weight and is doing really well.

He’s also back into his little pool. I’ll take a picture this weekend. He loves it! He’s such a happy boy and a joy when he’s not being a total BRAT!

Raisins & Spice Oatmeal and The Topaz (Raisin / Grape Toxicity)

2009-03-23T21:52:00.001-04:00

Today while my husband drove me to work, Mr. Topaz decided to help himself to a box of dry Quaker Raisins and Spice Oatmeal.

I was busy first thing when I got to work and when I got back to my desk I had 2 missed calls and a couple of missed txt messages from the hubbs saying that Topaz got into the oatmeal, which, mind you, was on the counter.

I knew he had bought 2 kinds…Apples and Cinnamon and Raisins and Spice. I asked which kind and said a small prayer that it was the Apple kind. He said apple…I asked are you sure. He went to check.

Nope…Raisins and Spice.

So I told him to call the vet immediately!

Raisins are HIGHLY toxic to dogs!!!! they can die within 48 hours of eating them. ONE, yes ONE, raisin can kill a 10 lbs dog!

Grapes/Raisin Toxicity & Dogs – Wiki
About.com - Vet Question
ASPCA - Grape & Raisin Toxicity in Dogs
Snopes - Dogs & Raisins
ASPCA - The Wrath of Grapes

If you click on the links above, or Google “raisin toxicity in dogs” you’ll find plenty of information about how grapes and raisins are bad and lethal for dogs.

Anyway, back to Topaz…so the vet says to either bring him in or watch him. Well, no way I’m taking that risk and just watch him…so my husband takes him in.

They said on the phone they were going to pump his stomach, but I believe then ended up giving him something to induce vomiting.

He threw up there until no more raisins came up, so hopefully he got rid of them all. The next 24 to 48 hours are crucial. We’ll keep an eye on him for sure.

He’s acting like nothing happened…and whew! he has some wicked GAS!! omg!!! Yuck!

Other than that and a bit of diarrhea, he seems to be fine.

Needless to say, he will have to be locked up again when we are not going to be home. This was basically the last straw and something that we shouldn’t have risked with him. It was just a matter of time before he got into something that could seriously hurt him…and this could have seriously hurt him.

I am going to up his PB tonight and hopefully he will remain seizure free after this. We’ll see, I don’t think there’s anything in the oatmeal besides the raisins that can really hurt him…other than he’s been on a no grain diet for a long time.

Never a dull moment with this dog, I swear~!~

The Many Adventures of Topaz!

2009-03-04T00:19:00.001-05:00

Topaz is a nut…he’s a bad, bad dog. And we’re bad, bad owners…we probably need to start locking him up in his crate when we leave, so I’ll take responsibility for these past couple incidents.

We were having a problem with a cat pooping under our bed. We nipped that in the bud by putting a litterbox in our bedroom. Funnily, she stopped pooping under our bed that SAME day! lol I guess it was a litterbox location issue. Ok, getting off topic…anyways, so Topaz got into the litterbox on Monday and had a little kitty snacks from there.

He was coughing a bit that night and so we kept an eye on him and I gave him an extra 1/4 PB that night.

Well, my husband and I come home today from my job and Onyx meets us at the door…no Topaz. I call him…no Topaz. OMG where is he! I was SOOOO worried he was laying dead somewhere in the house! I check the back of the house, thinking maybe he locked himself in the bathroom and notice some movement by the 3rd bedroom’s CLOSED door.

This door is never closed, it’s rigged to stay open because that’s where we keep the rest of the litterboxes. So I open the door and out trots Topaz and two of the (baddest) boy kitties!

The opening to get into that room is 6-8 inches. Topaz is 65 lbs and not a small dog…the freezer is RIGHT by the door. How he squeezed his big ole puppa body in there, I’ll never know! But he did.

AND there was a case of chicken necks (40#) sitting on the top of the freezer…of COURSE he had gotten into those. Not sure how much of it he ate, they are still pretty frozen! The rest of the room was a disaster area!

So anyways, now he’s panting and kind of coughing again…I assume from the litter, but we’re checking him for signs of the pancreatitis coming back. In fact, i was worried about his temp and took it tonight. 101.2. He hated me too. Poor dog.

Anyways…I think I’ll have my husband bring the dogs the rest of the week when he drives me home…they do love a car ride!

Oh, and I upped his PB tonight too…I think we may have to get his cage back in use order. it’s actually in pieces right now since we took it with us to my sister’s wedding.

Sardines

2009-02-17T13:02:00.001-05:00

Thought of something…I gave the pups Sardines either on Friday, Saturday or Sunday…don’t remember which day.

That may have something to do with the seizure.

2 Grand Mals after 294 Day Streak!

2009-02-16T18:31:00.001-05:00

Unfortunately, I need to reset Topaz’s ticker. Fortunately, he’s doing really well and the post ictal stage was really short according to my husband…AND he made it a whopping 294 days, and about 7 hours between seizures. What an accomplishment!! That I am truly grateful for.

So, as I usually do…here’s the “what happened” blog. One difference, I was not home when it happened so this is how it all went down via my husband…who did awesome and I’m very proud of him!

Around 1:40pm Topaz came to my husband into the computer room from the bedroom where he says he was sleeping. He came in and then fell over and started seizing.

He had a GM and was foaming and he was actually very loud this time around…the last time he was quiet, but this time I could hear him howling or screaming through the phone…poor baby!

My husband said he got up when it was over…after approx a minute or so…he moved to the middle of the room and had another one. I believe it was the same as the first. I’ll double check with the hubbs.

Anyway, he just had the two and then my husband took him outside to cool off. He did not urinate on himself, which he usually does, but he did poop as soon as he went out.

I’d say the post itcal was pretty short because he seems pretty near normal right now, and my husband said he was fine afterwards in the yard. Fine to him is not fine to me, so he was probably a little out of it, but not so bad.

I called the vet to document it and they said no change in meds. I will give him an extra 1/4 pill tonight though anyway. They said to call back if he has another within 24 hours of the first.

What else do I usually write…oh, environmental changes.

This dog has been SO hyper lately! He’s an Aussie or Border Collie, so this is to be expected, but he was overly excited. He has been going on daily or almost daily car rides and has gotten into the trash pretty regularly since before Christmas.

We’ve hopefully ended the garbage battle (haha I typed ballet first…either fits! LOL) once and for all with an under-the-sink trash can. So that should be done with.

Oh…and something that I usually do, but dh didn’t…or couldn’t as he was alone…I usually give rescue remedy right when he starts coming out of the seizure…and I would have tried to use the ice pack, but I wasn’t here. Not that I’m disappointed to not have the opportunity, I hope I NEVER do! When dh let the dogs back in after everything, he gave Topaz some Breyer’s Vanilla with RR mixed in…which is what I would have given him right away. But he got some and that’s good.

I am gonna look into some natural trigger possibilities…pressure, maybe moon…something…but I doubt it will let me know anything. Oh, and I’m also going to email the company that makes our cat food to see if they put rosemary in any of their formulas…so we’ll keep that in mind when feeding them.

Hmm…that answer will be interesting…Topaz has been getting into the trash and cleaning the kitty food cans…maybe a trigger.

Anyways…I think that’s all. I will update as needed, gonna go update the ticker. *sigh*

Garbage AND Deoderant!!!

2009-02-08T01:25:00.002-05:00

Ugh! This dog has kept us ON OUR TOES this week!!! First, he gets into the trash not once but TWICE this week.

Then, I come home today and he’s coughing and trying to vomit…so after some investigating I find that he’s gotten into my deoderant of all things! Never in the 3 years we’ve had him has he EVER gotten into that!!

I just don’t know what to do with him besides locking him up, which I think just stresses him out too much. Especially since he’s been able to be free for a long time now.

We finally got a child lock thing for the garbage can, we’ll see how long that lasts!

*This blog was actually started a few days ago..

He BROKE the child lock and got into the trash again...AND one day this week he ATE the entire bag of defrosting chicken necks that my husband left on the counter!

I don't know what's going on with him!!!

We've upped his PB on the days that he got into stuff that I KNOW wasn't good for him...

And...THANK GOD...he hasn't had any seizures! We've been VERY lucky in that sense. But this whole trash thing is getting old fast.

We're putting a metal lock on it tomorrow and if, somehow, he gets though that we're gonna put it under the sink and call it a day!

Stinkin dog!

Garbage Hound…yet again!!!

2009-01-27T01:34:00.001-05:00

This dog JUST will NOT stay out of the trash!!! UGH!!! I guess it was EVERYWHERE when the hubbs came home…

He somehow tipped over the metal trash can and emptied it…and proceeded to drag it around the house and eat whatever bits of it he could. Rotten dog!

Still no seizures…but I will be upping his PB tonight cuz of the garbage.

Oh, and kitty poo is almost a daily delicacy…we’re working on a solution to that problem as well.

*sigh* dogs are gross.

PB Level

2009-01-10T01:10:00.000-05:00

Topaz's PB level is within range...so we are proceeding as we are!

Yeah Puppa!

To the vet today!

2009-01-08T01:34:00.000-05:00

Topaz went to the vet today for a blood draw to check his PB levels.

He's such a different dog now than he was at his last visit to the vet, and even at his last blood draw! He's happy, boofie, crazy, hyper...like the Topaz we once knew. It's great and also crazy and once!

Will have the results on Friday...

Christmas Leftovers

2008-12-30T00:30:00.003-05:00

The hubbs left a bag of Christmas leftovers on the kitchen table and went to the bathroom. When he came out the bag was on the floor and the leftovers devoured.

Can't be 100% sure Topaz ate all of it, but he for sure ate some. Ham, Christmas cookies, and not really sure what else.

After a few days of on and off diarrhea, the holidays are over and we're back to our normal schedules and eating...hopefully this continues.

Still no seizures!

Not Interested In Food?

2008-12-21T12:59:00.000-05:00

Ok...so last night and this morning Topaz has not been interested in his meal. The only thing different in it is beef instead of chicken or pork. Wonder if that's it?

I made two other batches, both with beef...hopefully we don't have issues with those.

All is still well on the no seizure front.

Belgium Lukken Cookies...English Muffins...and Extra PB

2008-12-18T20:36:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we came home to an empty can of Belgium Lukken cookies that Todd's grandmother gives us every year. Seems that somehow the dogs...or cats...opened the can on the table, removed the two bags of cookies and left the can and lid on the table.

So, the dogs had a feast of 1 1/2 bread bags of Lukken cookies.

For future use: Lukken ingrediants: eggs, sugar, brown sugar, whiskey, flour, butter, vanilla.

We gave Topaz extra PB this morning and last night.

Then today, we come home to find the double package of Thomas English Muffins empied. These were on top of the microwave. Not sure if the cats helped with this one or not, I cannot imagine how Topaz or Onyx would have gotten them down and not knocked something else off the baker's rack that the microwave sits on.

Just in case: Ingrediants: Unbleached Enriched Wheat Flour [Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Reduced Iron, Niacin, Thiamin Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Folic Acid], Water, Farina, Yeast, Nonfat Milk, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Salt, Soybean Oil, Preservatives (Calcium Propionate, Sorbic Acid), Soy Flour, Grain Vinegar, Monoglycerides, Whey, Natamycin (a Natural Mold Inhibitor).

We will be again adding extra PB tonight and tomorrow morning.

Not sure if this is a bordom thing or a hunger thing. We always try to feed the dogs before we leave so that they're not hungry.

Hopefully this is the end of this...it's getting crazy.

Good thing is...so far so good on the seizure front, however, the Lukken did give him some wicked diarrhea. Well...serves him right! LOL

Extra PB tonight

2008-11-27T02:28:00.000-05:00

Topaz acting a little "off" to me, so I gave him an extra 1/2 pill of PB. I thought it can't hurt, right?

He ate some diarrhea cat poop earlier too.

Other than that, all is well!

200 DAYS!!!!!

2008-11-14T20:09:00.001-05:00

Topaz has made it 200 days without a seizure as of today! He's been doing SO WELL since the whole pancreatitis scare. I don't know what it is that turned him around, but we'll gladly take it!!

I know that the seizure monster could come at any time, so we're not letting our guard down.

But we should celebrate the milestones!

Yeah Topaz!! I hope it continues, puppa!!

More Goops & An Update!

2008-11-05T19:39:00.004-05:00

I have been wanting to make more "goops" for Topaz for a few days now. We've been improvising on his meals.

So I started as soon as I got home from work and I made 4 different goops. These ones have meat, veggie, fruit and supplement in them. well, all but one has meat and supplements. One is just veggies and fruit. I can always add meat to that one later.

The first one I made has canned pumpkin, carrot, celery, spinach, garlic, apple, and pork, plus the supplements. I gave them this one for dinner...it's a little thick, I added 1/4 cup water to the other ones...but they both LOVED it...I think the garlic makes the difference!!

The 2nd one I made has spinach, celery, broccoli, cabbage, canned pumpkin, garlic, 2 apples, pork and supplements.

The 3rd one is mostly cabbage and broccoli, but also has canned pumpkin, garlic, an apple and a pear in it. This one is strictly veggie/fruit...no meat. I had a lot of cabbage to get rid of so I just made this. I may add meat to it when we give it to them.

The 4th is cabbage, broccoli, a lot of canned pumpkin, 2 apples, garlic, pork and the supplements.

There has been a lot of discussion lately about food for epi dogs and a question asking what people feed and what they do differently than others do to keep the seizures at bay.

I know we're *very* lucky with Topaz right now. He's gone over 190 days seizure free, and that's amazing!! I hate to say that I feel blessed (just because I don't like that saying...another blog...maybe on my regular blog) but I truly feel blessed right now by his progress and how long we've been able to keep the seizures at bay.

What to do we differently? Nothing that I know of. I just know we, like so many other people who are owned by epileptic dogs, have done and are doing everything we possibly can for Topaz.

Oh and he's been doing so well. I think that the pancreatitis was like a blessing (ack that word again) in disguise! He's turned completely around as far as how he's acting. He's our old, crazy, hyper, boofie Topaz! My husband drove me to work today and when he picked me up he brought the dogs and Topaz was in heaven! He was wagging his tail the whole time!! The last car ride he went on he barely moved!! And he was just SO happy today...chasing cars in the truck like he normally/used to do. It was amazing and I was so happy that he was happy!

I hope he continues to feel better and that we finally have control over the seizures. I know at any time he could have one, but he's just been doing SO WELL lately1!

Veggie & Fruity Goop & Topaz update

2008-10-26T19:38:00.000-04:00

Today I made two batches of Veggie Goop and one batch of fruity goop.

In the first batch of veggie goop I put 2 or 3 celery stalks, 1 broccoli, spinach, 1 carrot, canned pumpkin and strawberries...plus supplements: Digestive Enzymes, vitamin E, Flax Seed Oil and their supplement.

In the second batch I put spinach, cabbage, broccoli, red pepper, strawberries and canned pumpkin and the same supplements as above. We are freezing the 2nd batch.

Then I rinsed everything off and made the fruity goop. I put in 1 whole pear, 2 whole apples, a banana, strawberries and nonfat yogurt. It smells DELICIOUS!!! I wanted to taste it! LOL

I gave the dogs the fruity goop and some hamburger this evening. they loved it. I may try out the veggie goop tonight at pill time.

Topaz is doing really well too. We're lowering his KBr, and he's really acting much better. Like the old Topaz. It's awesome to see.

We haven't added the milk thistle and I need to find some cod liver oil and vitamin C and a couple other things, then I'll be making patties and freezing them. it's from that diet I posted. It's the longterm part of it.

The Diet We're Following

2008-10-23T23:51:00.000-04:00

Topaz is doing so much better. He's just about back to his crazy self. I missed my loveable nutty puppa!!

He's eating pretty good, still getting smaller meals and we're feeding 3-4 times a day. Mostly veggies too. We're going to add some meaty bones back in probably in a week or so.

We have a pretty good variety of things to give him. This weekend I'm going to make a batch of the veggie goop as well as a fruity one and probably a meaty one, or else just chop the meats up so they are ready to give when we decide to do so.

I looked online for the article that the lady who we buy our food from, I call her my mentor, sent me about pancreatitis. I found part of it at this site, but I could not find the entire thing.

So here is what we are trying to follow...please remember this is copyright Ian Billinghurst.

DIET FOR PANCREATITIS
When it is time to re-introduce food, your dog will be nice and hungry and ready to eat just about anything. This is great because we want your dog to start a completely new diet. The diet is designed initially to prevent reoccurrence of the problem and, ultimately, to not only prevent re-occurrence but to improve your dog's total health.
You must not feed . . .
Cooked food, grain, fatty meals, processed food, canned or dry dog or cat food.
WHAT YOU SHOULD BE FEEDING
1. Lots of little meals - i.e., small meals several times a day.
2. Lots and lots of RAW vegetables - which must be CRUSHED, i.e., put through a juicer or a food processor. Carrot, celery, cabbage, pumpkin, etc.
3. Lean RAW minced meat - chicken, beef, kangaroo - RAW - and only in very small amounts.
4. Non fat yoghurt
5. Fruit - apples, pears, orange, banana, mango, etc.
6. Liver, egg, cottage cheese, sardines [in spring water] - in very small amounts.
7. Slippery elm bark powder
8. Enzyme tablets
9. Supplements including Multi-vitamin B, vitamin E, Flax seed oil, Cod liver oil, garlic, kelp, vitamin C and zinc.
The first water after an attack - should be little and often till satisfied
The first food fed after an attack should be 90 to 100 percent raw crushed vegetables. To this is added an enzyme tablet -crushed and mixed through and left to stand for 10 to 15 minutes. If this is refused, add a tiny amount of one or several of the foods from the WHAT YOU SHOULD BE FEEDING list - to make it more interesting. That is, depending on what your dog likes, a tiny bit of minced meat or egg etc. BUT ONLY A TINY BIT! This is a small meal. Maybe a quarter to an eighth the size of what he or she would normally eat.
Two to four hours later offer the same again. Repeat this over the next several days. You may gradually increase the size of these meals to about a third to a quarter of what he/she is used to eating, and reduce the frequency to two or three meals a day. You may do this over a period of several weeks. Gradually introduce the other elements of the diet such as the vitamins, the cod liver oil, slippery elm bark powder, the zinc, the kelp etc.
When all is going well, and usually after a blood test has confirmed that the pancreas is back to normal, you may start to introduce some raw meaty bones into the diet. Chicken wings/necks, shank bones, large beef bones.

So far we've got the digestive enzyme, I need to get the flax seed oil, we have vitamin E I think it is...and we're getting cod liver oil. We're also adding milk thistle to his diet for his liver. I am starting that next week.

It's kind of hard because my husband feeds him his breakfast meal. I take care of dinner, but it's the morning meal that gets his taurine and anything else we will add in. Although, maybe if he's not getting a bone meal for a while I'll put somethings in the dinner meal for him.

I don't know, it's a big change for us. We were kind of used to our little schedule and routines.

I think we're also going to have his vet draw blood for a 6 panel thyroid test and see if I or they can send it to Dr. Dodds to have it analyzed. I'm pretty sure that he'll end up on thyroid meds as well...since his test was low. Maybe that's the reason for the seizures...oh wouldn't that be wonderful if we found his trigger???

Anyways,...will keep updating here and will probably add pictures as I make the goops. LOL

Pancreatitis, the Puppa and the BARF Diet

2008-10-21T23:08:00.000-04:00

Today was a much, much better day. Topaz ate a bit this morning, took his am PB in peanut butter and just overall is acting so much better.

I tried to feed him a bit of banana and the turkey mix at dinnertime since he was acting really interested in food and was looking at me like..."where's mine" when I fed Onyx her chicken back.

We did his temp today:
10:15 am - 102
1:30 pm - 103.2
3:00 pm - 102.1
10:30 pm - 102.3

So even his fever is better.

I got a list of his blood work results and his WBC is elevated, one of his liver tests was slightly elevated and one of the thyroid tests came back a little low. (hmm...reason for the seizures?)

So he's on a different antibiotic for the high WBC and we decided against the flagyl. Oh, and the antacidy medicine they gave us...we just can't get it in him.

We are also going to really give a BARF diet for pancreatitis a try. So, tonight the hubbs was so nice to go out and get me some fresh veggies and a food processor and I made a "veggie goop" for him. I put broccoli, celery, carrot, cabbage and canned pumpkin. I also added in digestive enzymes and their supplement.

The entire time I was making it he was in the kitchen and seemed really interested in the smells of the veggies and everything. I even gave him a little to taste...and then we did the big test and gave him some with a little lean hamburger and were able to put his pills PB, the KBr, and even his antibiotic in there! And he ate most of it.

I think this will work out well. Tomorrow, or whenever the kitchen is cleaner I will make a fruity goop and also a meaty goop. And then I'll freeze them into small baggies and we'll feed him like that.

So...hopefully, things are looking up for the puppa!!!

Temps

2008-10-20T21:38:00.000-04:00

We have been checking Topa's temp at various intervals today.

12:30pm - 102.7
3:00pm - 101.5
5:30pm - 100.1

So his fever is going down! YEAH!!

I am so torn about this whole Flagyl issue...and where do we go from here?

Vet Appointment

2008-10-20T11:29:00.000-04:00

Topaz had a vet appt this morning.

His temp was 105!! omg...we're lucky he didn't have a seizure just from the temp alone!! (and my husband is out right now getting a thermometer for the dogs)

But he was dx with pancreatitis. He got a shot of Cerenia and they sent us home with flagyl and an antacid type med and did some other blood work.

We did a KBr level because I was worried about KBr toxicity and we also did the 6 panel thyroid testing. We should know more later on tonight or tomorrow. They did send him home with us since we were going to be home all day and could monitor him ourselves.

We have to check his temp and see if he can keep down his PB in an hour or so. I'm pretty sure he threw up most of his meds yesterday.

We're also probably going to try to lower his PB and/or KBr once we get through this because although he's gone 175 days seizure free, he's been pretty spacey and out of it as of late..well, he has had good and bad days, let's say that.

So, he's not out of the woods yet, but we can see the sunlight between the trees.

Also, I am thinking that we may need to switch him to turkey necks rather than chicken backs. I am waiting for a text message from the woman who sells us our food to get her input on that.

Well Dinner didn't stay down either

2008-10-19T21:24:00.001-04:00

So Topaz has basically thrown up everything he's eaten since probably dinner last night.

He threw up tonight's dinner. I fed him at 5:30 and he threw up around 9pm.

Thankfully I was able to get him outside before he did it.

He's definitely going to the vet tomorrow...in fact I just called and he has an appointment at 9am.

More Vomit

2008-10-19T13:52:00.000-04:00

First Topaz snubbed his breakfast...which is SO unlike him!!!

And then when I mixed in some cottage cheese, he ate it...but we just noticed two large piles of throw up in the living room...how I didn't hear him wretching is beyond me.

Anyway...we're going to keep an eye on him and see how the evening meal goes.

If need be we'll take him in to the vet.

Poor puppa.

Vomit & Diet Change

2008-10-19T06:17:00.000-04:00

First off, no seizures...which is a great thing.

Topaz did throw up 5 times in the house and at least once outside this morning.

I'm thinking it was from the marrow bones I gave them this afternoon. They haven't had those in a while. Although, we've reintroduced many things back into their diet...coconut oil, the supplement...and we did have a batch of meat that didn't smell great. (I don't generally condone to feeding them "bad" meat, but by the time I noticed we didn't have much of it left)

I really think it was the marrow bones. Tomorrow I'll go easy on him and just give him the mix and pumpkin...no extras for the puppa.

I need to get back to bed. The house smells vomitous and I'm wide awake yet super tired.

If the vomitting continues...off to the vet we go tomorrow. We're lucky to have found a 7 day a week vet.

Travel Depression

2008-10-08T06:24:00.000-04:00

When we decided to take the dogs with us up north to my sister's wedding, it was really because I thought it would be easier on them coming with us than to stay home and have a stranger watch them.

Plus, I was really concerned about Topaz with the seizures. The last thing I needed was to be 4 hours away and have my poor puppa have a seizure without us there to comfort him and help.

He had a good time in the car it seemed, but when we got to this motel room (which was essentially a tiny, cramped apartment) he started to act a little down.

I was really worried about him there...moreso than I would be at home even. He wasn't acting like he was going to have a seizure, he was just really not acting himself. Which always brings me to keep a close eye on him.

Unfortunately we did have to keep them in the room alone for long stretches of time, but I thought that just being with us for part of it would be good.

His whole mood changed once we got home though...it took a couple days, but he is now back to normal.

Is It Worth It?

2008-09-30T20:58:00.000-04:00

Someone at work today was telling me about their dog and how they think the dog has come to an end because of some recent behavior problems. The problems are pretty out-of-the-blue and are really pretty scary changes (I don't want to go into too much detail) so I can see where the person is coming from when they say that they're probably going to be putting the dog down soon.

What they said that really has been bothering me is that they aren't going to put their dog through all kinds of tests to just prolong their life. And that they don't know how or why we do what we do with Topaz because "what kind of a life is that for the dog" when the owners are keeping them alive for themselves.

It was almost judgemental without being judgemental...

When this person was saying it to me, I was really uncomfortable. They said that the dog, my dog I guess, is suffering by having the seizures and the medicine is just drugging him up.

Dogs aren't human and I hold humans higher than my animals, however, I also know that I wouldn't put my child "down" because they are sick or have seizures. Shoot, I have to deal with a sick husband every day of my life. Would I leave him, nope. Sorry.

I don't think we've made a mistake by putting Topaz on medication and I think overall he's a happy Puppa.

It just really bothered me that someone would say that. I know it's their opinion, but still...please don't judge me because I have chose to treat my dog for the disease he has. He's only 3 yrs old. It's not like he was 13 when the seizures started! He has so much life left to live!!!

I so wanted to tell this person to just MIND THEIR OWN!!! And deal with their own animals. Ugh...people. I hate them, I swear!

Gonna ReDo This Blog

2008-09-24T22:49:00.000-04:00

Since I now know how to make scrappy pages and scrappy blog templates, I think it's time to redesign my Puppa's blog.

Not sure when, but soon!!

Little concerned

2008-09-24T22:47:00.000-04:00

Nope, no seizures...going on 150 days too, which is just awesome!

However, Topaz has been really shaky lately and ataxic...moreso than usual. He still seems to have good and bad days, but lately it's been mostly bad days.

I'm hoping it will pass. Just keeping an eye on him for now.

The Death of a Squirrel & Vomit!

2008-09-15T15:59:00.000-04:00

RIP Little Squirrel

Well one of the dogs, I assume Topaz, killed a little black squirrel in our yard (no, not the one pictured) today. Topaz was seen running around the yard and it was freshly dead because it was limp and not stiff. Yuck! Now should we be worried about rabies?

Also, Topaz threw up approx 4 times today...one was a chunk of toy...nice...and the others were yellow bile.

G R O S S!!!!

Nothing going on as far as seizure activity goes...which is good.

Garbage Surfing AGAIN!!!

2008-08-31T22:35:00.000-04:00

Well, Topaz got into the trash again today. I guess it was from one room to the next with even some kitty food cans IN THE BED!!! Ugh.

Little brat probably hopped off the bed shortly after I left this afternoon to check and see if I forgot to lock the garbage can in the kitchen...and well, I did.

The only bad thing in there, I think, was marinara sauce....well and gum. I think he'd leave the gum alone with all the other yumminess in there.

Hopefully this will not trigger anything, he's gone 125 days with no seizures and we'd like to keep it that way!!

No New Seizure Activity ~ Random Thoughs

2008-08-16T18:53:00.000-04:00

Topaz has been doing well. No new seizures or anything. I was a bit worried a few nights ago, he was acting kind of off, but we made it through the night so all is well. He's been getting into things more than usual, but then again our schedules have been a little wonky and he gets out of sorts when that happens sometimes.

We have been crushing his PB and mixing it in with his food. I think this is a better way to go...we don't need to worry about whether or not he's eaten his pills or not, which makes things easier for me. I bought a little pill crusher thing from Avon. It works so well and was pretty inexpensive too. I was going to get a mortar and pestal from amazon.com, but saw this in the avon catalog and thought it was perfect. And it is!

I don't want to jinx anything by talking about how long it's been since his last seizure, but this has been a great stretch!! This was the time last year when he really started having problems and it's nice to see that he's doing much better now. Hopefully it will continue. Although, even the last GM that he had was not that bad at all...and since joining the EPIL-K9 list, I've got a few other tips to make the post ictal stage better, so if he should have another GM I will be sure to put some of those into play.

I also think the raw diet has helped him. I know there's info on the net about the risks with epi dogs and each person has their own idea of what's healthiest and best for their animals, but I really think this is working well. I need to get the coconut oil and the supplement back into his diet...we are waiting for Todd's disability checks to start before we get that again. But that will be hapening soon.

We're planning on getting his thyroid test done too whenever we have the money.

Tonight is a full moon. I hope that doesn't effect him. It didn't the last time.

So things are going well...and I really hope they continue!

No, No BAD DOG!!!

2008-08-14T21:50:00.002-04:00

Ugh...this dog has gotten into EVERYTHING this week!!!

My lunch bag was on the kitchen table and he got that down...no doubt looking for food.,...which there was NONE. So what does he do? He chews the BAG and also the blue thing inside that keeps the food cold. BAD DOG!!!!

Then...tonight we leave for a few hours and I left my work bag on the kitchen chair...which I do ALL THE TIME...and he got into that!!! No doubt looking for food.

I know his meds make him hungry...but good Lord dog. STOPPIT!!!

100 days!!!!!

2008-08-06T19:15:00.001-04:00

Topaz has gone 100 days with no seizures! Woo hoo!!!

We're doing a little dance here at our house.

Changes

2008-07-17T22:03:00.002-04:00

I just want to document some recent changes. We were really short on cash this past pay and we were expecting some checks to come in and they never did, so we've been improvising with the raw food.

We've been feeding chicken backs for breakfast, and hamburger meat and dinner has been kind of skimpy too.

Topaz has been acting a little odd, almost like he did when he was coming off the loading dose of KBr. I'm thinking maybe it's too much meds/not enough food.

Anyway, we now have money and were able to get some food. We haven't been able to get their right breakfast, but we're got eggs and cottage cheese, pumpkin and more hamburger...so hopefully this will hold them over until I can get their food this weekend.

Plus, I won some samples of Honest Kitchen from their blog and we can give that to Onyx. It has rosemary in it or we'd also give it to Topaz, but he can't have rosemary.

Anyway, I just wanted to document this change just in case it triggers a seizure. He's been doing so well. I sure hope not!

Mile Walk

2008-07-15T17:23:00.002-04:00

My husband took the dogs today for a mile walk which is a good thing if they are used to walking that far/that long, but they aren't.

When I came home from work Topaz didn't even get up to meet me at the door, he was so exhausted!!!

I know my husband didn't mean any harm, but #1 the dog's not used to it and #2 seizure dogs have a tendency to not be able to regulate their body heat.

I immediately took him outside to the kiddie pool to help cool him off and he's back in the air conditioned house with a fan on.

Hopefully he'll be ok and I hope my husband has learned to not do that again, or else go into it gradually!!

Preparing for Travel - Seizure Emergency Kit

2008-07-12T18:56:00.004-04:00

Everything is fine with the Puppa. No seizure activity...although he has been acting more "doped up" lately. I don't know if he's lost weight lately or something and the meds are stronger now for him, or what's going on. But he has seemed a bit off lately. We're keeping an eye on him.

Ok...so we will be traveling in October up north for my sister's wedding. We've decided to take the dogs along with us because I'm worried about finding someone to watch them and feed them correctly and administer the medication correctly. We're on a pretty tight schedule and that's important, so I think I will just feel better if they are with us.

We're staying in a "pet friendly" motel, and they already know we're bringing the dogs and all that is set. In order to prepare, I wrote on the EPIL-K9 list I belong to (for epileptic dogs & their people) what they bring when travelling and what they have in their emergency seizure kit.

Here's what they've said so far:

Medications (a few extra days' worth as well...just in case) like PB and KBr
Valium if you give it
Rescue Remedy
Ice packs (they make some you crack and shake, or else keep ice at hand)
Extra (throw away) towels or blankets
Bottled water
Wipes
Waterproof sheet or tablecloth to put under crate
Vet records

These are great suggestions!!

I'm also going to look up the closest vet to the hotel/wedding and call them to see what they do about emergencies, if there's an ER vet in the area. And also maybe a few along the way, just in case.

We'll also be bringing a cooler with their raw food and some recreational bones for them. We have this crate we bring to the lake when we go, so we'll probably bring that...it has some toys and things in it.

I don't think he'll have a seizure while we're gone. We go to the lake every year and he's fine, but I would hate him to have one and we're not prepared.

If you have any other suggestions, please leave me a comment and let me know!

Got Into the Litterbox...

2008-07-07T21:49:00.001-04:00

Topaz got into the litterbox today. My husband left the door to that room open and since the dogs are never allowed in there, of course he needed to check it out...little bugger that he is!

He had a gross kitty snack...hopefully this doesn't trigger anything, but I'm documenting just in case!

PB Level and Garbage AGAIN!!!

2008-06-23T20:35:00.003-04:00

The vet called this afternoon and Topaz's PB level is normal, which is good.

And my husband and I went to get cat food and also to pick up dinner and we were maybe gone an hour. We come home to nasty, stinky trash from one end of the house to the other!!! GRRRR

The new locking garbage can wasn't locked. Ugh....we're a bunch of dumb asses.

Anyways...so he got into the trash again. Lovely.

PB Level Check Today...and more Garbage! Ugh!!

2008-06-19T23:49:00.001-04:00

We took Puppa to the vet to get his PB levels checked. They also are doing some other routine labwork. The vet tech dude asked us about vaccinations. I really need to call the other vets we used and see if he actually got vaccs somewhere else. Now that I think about it, I think he has.

He also got into the trash in the computer room and also ate the cat food...little shit that he is!!! Ugh, he's BAD!!!

Anyways...still no seizures! Woo hoo!

Garbage Hound

2008-05-24T12:55:00.003-04:00

We went to dinner last night and then went to a couple of stores and came home to the garbage can on its side and garbage strewn from the front door to the back door and everywhere in between. What a lovely mess!

Anyways...that's the 3rd time this month Topaz has gotten into the garbage.

And he threw up again yesterday morning.

But...no seizure activity...which is lovely.

Throwing Up

2008-05-20T23:04:00.002-04:00

No new seizure activity...thank God!!

Topaz threw up yellow bile (I believe it's bile anyways) a couple times on Monday night and then he did again this morning.

We're gonna keep an eye on him for now...if it continues, he'll be going to the vet.

4/28 - Vet Call

2008-04-28T18:17:00.002-04:00

I called the vet when I got to work and she said that since this one was "different" and that it didn't seem as violent as the others and since he had gone such a long time seizure free, we will leave his meds where they are for now...which is good because he's totally a different dog with the 1/4 pill decrease. It's amazing.

So..we'll keep an eye on him and go on with life as usual!

4/28/08 - Grand Mal

2008-04-28T06:27:00.004-04:00

Topaz had a seizure this morning at 6:08am. It wasn't as bad as the last ones have been and so far no clusters. He had it in our bedroom at the foot of our bed. I heard him kind of get up and then felt and heard a hard thud and went to see what was going on.

And there he was seizing half under the bed and wedged between the bed and dresser in this little area.

He made little noise, and wet himself and foamed as usual, but overall it wasn't as bad as they have been. I'm hoping he won't cluster. The last couple have been very loud and pretty violent.

This one was different too, I couldn't get to him flat, so I kind of picked him up and held him while he came around, which seemed to comfort him...no growling this time around. We also gave him rescue remedy when it was over...gotta keep that in our room to be able to give it right away. Maybe I'll order another bottle of it.

I also should add that he got in the garbage can on Saturday and garbage was all over the house. He licked out cat food cans and ate whatever was on the garbage he pulled out. We've also been giving him peanut butter bones and those new hip-flex treats. And the supplement...no changes other than those.

Plus, it's that time of year and we have wonky weather...maybe the barametric pressure is messing with him.

I'll call the vet when they open to see what they want to do about his meds, we lowered his PB a couple weeks ago and he's been doing so well. Maybe we'll continue and see if this was an isolated incident or something, not sure yet. Will update later.

Anyways...he went almost 83 days with no seizure. 4 hours shy of 84 days. That's awesome. I'll reset his ticker.

For Later If Needed

2008-04-20T17:30:00.003-04:00

...but hopefully it won't be...

Neighbor closer to mile road fertilized his back yard (and possibly front) yard this afternoon.

Brought the dogs in when I realized what he was doing, but they were outside for a little while.

sigh...

Hopefully this won't effect the puppa.

Supplement & Treats

2008-04-17T21:45:00.004-04:00

We got the supplement for Topaz as well as some treats.

The supplement we got is: Advanced Mobility from Oma's Pride (O'Paws)

Ingrediants: Glucosamine Sulfate, Green Lipped Shell Mussel, Saccaromyces Cerevisiae, Kelp, Spirulina, SOD (Super Oxide Dimutase), Dicalcium phosphate, Ester C® , Ascorbic Acid, Methylsulfonal Methane (MSM), Yucca Schidigera, Calcium Carbonate, Calcium Silicate, Bromelain (Fruit sourced), Horsetail, Tumeric, Gelatin (Vegetable sourced) O’Paws Digestive Performance tm

And the treats we got are: Hip Flex Cherry Soft Chewables by Overby Farms

A canine soft chewable for joint health! Formulated with Tart Cherry Concentrate, Flax Seed and Glucosamine. Supports healthy joints and hips, for active and aging canines.

Hopefully this will help both dogs!

We're going to start the supplement tomorrow, and I gave them each a treat already tonight.

Vet Results from 4/16

2008-04-16T22:23:00.002-04:00

Of course on the day we were to take topaz to the vet he decides to act like nothing is wrong. He was running around the yard, jumping up on Todd and jumping all over the living room and on the couches like all is well.

He is always really nervous at the vet, and this trip was no exception. We had to wait a while to see the vet too, which didn't make things any easier on poor puppa.

Needless to say, he wasn't on his best behavior and tried to bite the vet. Nice, huh? Anyways...he needed to be muzzled and she tried to examine him. He was just too nervous.

She said he doesn't seem to be in a huge amount of pain, but if he's moving slow and everything she will give us some pain meds for him and suggested we get him a joint supplement. She suggested Kirkland Glucosamine/Chondroitin, but we're probably going to get something from The Pet Beastro...which is where we get their food and treats at.

We'll get the supplement tomorrow and I'll list what it is then.

We also are going to lower his PB from 1 1/2 gram to 1 1/4 gram...which is progress!

I feel so much better taking him in, and I'm confident that we're on the road to him feeling better!

To the vet we go!

2008-04-15T18:17:00.002-04:00

We're taking Topaz to the vet this evening. Our vet is open until 10, so we have a 9:00 appointment.

We have to get his pills, but I am also concerned he's in pain and I want the vet to check him out. He gets up very slowly and paces around a lot, so hopefully she will see what we've been seeing. Maybe I'll try to get the twitches on video as well.

Anyways...I'll definitely update either tonight or tomorrow.

Pacing

2008-04-13T11:31:00.001-04:00

Topaz has been pacing a lot lately. I think a call and/or a trip to the vet is needed. I've been feeling for a while that he's in pain and maybe he is. I think it's time we found out for sure.

I'll update later.

Changes..

2008-04-07T21:49:00.001-04:00

We didn't lower the PB yet, but we did start the Kbr at night. It really seems to be making a difference.

We also added Taurine...2000mg daily for a week and then down to 1000mg daily.

We're going to wait a couple weeks and then lower the PB.

So far so good. 63 days and counting!!

Lowering the PB other changes.

2008-04-01T22:19:00.002-04:00

My husband spoke to the vet this afternoon. He called to ask about us giving Topaz taurine. I've been told and have read online that it has some success controlling seizures. We're not replacing his meds with this by any means, but adding this along with the meds.

When I had spoken with the vet last month I asked about lowering Topaz's dose of something. Not that I think he's on such huge doses, but because he's so out of it and spacey and I hate seeing him that way all the time. She agreed that if he made it 60 days seizure free we could lower the PB by 1/4 of a pill...so give him one and 1/4 pill twice daily rather than 1 1/2 pill.

She said we could start the lowered dose tomorrow. My husband also asked her about the time we give Topaz the Kbr. I was wondering if we could give it to him at night rather than in the morning because it kind of makes him loopy and sleepy...then he could sleep it off at night.

This will change the way we feed them as well. I'll have to think about it all and figure out how to do it as the Kbr is a liquid and he's not that into the yucky flavor!

We're also going ahead with the Taurine. We'll be doing 2000 mg for a week and then 1000 mg daily after that. It will be mixed with his food also.

Hopefully, this will help and we can get our fun loving energetic puppa back!

Will update as needed!

Ataxia

2008-03-06T00:38:00.002-05:00

I believe this is what's going on with Topaz...not sure if this is related to the twitches/tremors though...I need to ask the vet.

What is ataxia?

Simply said, ataxia occurs when the body is out of balance. Symptoms of ataxia include: wobbliness, buckling leg joints, a drunken, staggering gait, lack of coordination, a tilted head carriage, tripping, falling, or collapsing.

This inability to coordinate voluntary muscular movements is often a side effect of anti-seizure medications which can cause weakness or loss of control of the hind legs, especially when the anti-seizure medication is first introduced, or when the current dosage has been increased. There are many other reasons that ataxia may be present in your pet, including ear infection and other health problems, but, if you noticed the ataxia soon after introducing anti-seizure medication, chances are, the anti-seizure medication is the source.

Another cause of ataxia is seizures. For a few days after a seizure your dog may not be able to jump up on the bed or couch and may have trouble going up and down stairs. Tremendous isometric stress is put on the muscles during a seizure. Immediately afterwards the back legs may not be strong enough for normal "romping" and it may take a few days to a week for that strength to return.

Both Phenobarbital (Pb) and Potassium Bromide (KBr) can cause ataxia, and the combination of the two drugs can often cause increased ataxia. Often, as the dog becomes used to the medication, the ataxia diminishes. If your dog is in this initial stage of getting used to the medication, it's prudent to go slowly with your dog on slippery surfaces and stairs. In time, your dog will gain more control of his/her hind end, so try to be patient.

It can be depressing to see your pal with ataxia. If medication was only recently introduced or increased, try to be patient and encourage your dog to go on short walks.

Problems can occur with older dogs who may be weak in the hind end already, or for dogs whose flooring is slick, as with hard wood or tiled floors. If you find your dog is unable to move safely on your wood or tiled floor due to ataxia, try putting down throw rugs to provide extra traction.

If you find that your pup's ataxia is pronounced, and shows no sign of lessening, please talk with your vet. Sometimes the anti-seizure medication can be reduced slightly and the ataxia will be greatly reduced. Of course, having ataxia is better than having a seizure, so we have to consider the balance there. If the blood levels of the medication are in question, the best way to know how much medication is being absorbed is with a simple blood test. Often the drug to reduce if you dog takes both Pb and KBr is Pb. Please do not try to reduce Pb without your vet's supervision and also you do not want to reduce it more than 10% every two weeks.

If your dog is only on KBr you might ask your vet if you can drop the KBr for just one day and see if that lessens the ataxia. If it does, you could ask you vet if a slightly lower dose could be achieved while keeping it in the therapeutic range.

Moderate and sensible exercise is recommended for dogs with ataxia. It is important to keep muscles strong and flexible. If your dog seems tired, take a break and continue on your walk when the dog is ready again.

http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/ataxia.htm

Vet Results...

2008-03-05T11:52:00.000-05:00

We got Topaz's lab results. The bromide level is good.

He's still been having these tremors (for lack of a better word). I don't know if they are getting worse. I just may be noticing them more. I think they're about the same.

Will keep an eye on him. He also keeps cutting the pad on one of his feet and he has a mysterious bruise like spot on his mouth, like where his chin would be.

Odd. Anyways...definitely keep a close eye on him.

Twitches

2008-03-01T21:50:00.006-05:00

I noticed the other day that when Topaz is laying down his feet and limbs kind of twitch. Once he's asleep it seems to stop, but it's like while he's relaxing. It's uncontrollable and I don't know what to make of it. I did mention it to the vet tech we spoke to yesterday.

I took a couple videos of it.

Vet Visit 2/29

2008-02-29T23:36:00.001-05:00

Topaz had a vet visit today to get blood drawn for his bromide levels. We'll get the results next week.

We also talked to a tech there who's going to talk to a neurologist about some of his symptoms. He's been really stumbling and falling a lot, and sometimes he's in almost a deep sleep like comatose even where I have to shake him awake...the sides of his mouth are also droopy now and sometimes he looks sad.

He's 63 lbs, he was 64 lbs in December...so he's down a bit...I'd like him at 60 lbs and I'm sure as soon as the weather breaks it will be no problem to get him down.

At least we have been seizure free!!

Will update when we get the bromide results!

Meds in food

2008-02-24T16:55:00.002-05:00

We started putting Topaz's PB in his food as well. It's been going pretty good so far.

Nothing more to report, thankfully!

The Smell Again

2008-02-15T23:05:00.002-05:00

My husband and I went out for a few hours tonight. We left at like 5:30/6:00 and came back right away...we bought a chest freezer to keep the dogs' food in so we wanted to set it up. At this time I fed the dogs a little bit...not their whole meal, just something to tide them over until we returned home later in the evening. We still had to go to Costco, get dinner and go grocery shopping.

We ended up getting home at like 10:00 pm or so.

Well when I let topaz out, the room had that seizure smell to it. It was that way earlier in the week one night too. His blanket in his cage was also wet. But his muzzle wasn't. The last time it happened it was the same thing...wet blanket, no wet muzzle. I always check when I smell that smell.

We were gone for a number of hours. It's possible that his muzzle could have dried...

I don't know what to think. I don't want to call anything a seizure unless I know it is one, but this is just odd. Maybe he peed in his cage? I don't know

We're not going to call the vet unless we actually see a seizure happen, which I hope to God we don't. But if we do need to call the vet, I will let them know of the two incidences this week.

He has been pretty drugged up all week since he had that loading dose of the potassium bromide. He's doing much better now.

We also have been letting him sleep in our room again at night. It's better if he has a seizure and he's in his cage at night, but at least I will wake up and can be right there.

Anyways, just wanted to document and update.

Poor Topaz

2008-02-10T13:54:00.000-05:00

No seizures to update on , thank God!! But my poor puppa is all stumbling around the house and falling over and tripping on things.

He's obviously overmedicated or else these are side effects from the Potassium Bromide being added to his meds...or both even.

I just feel bad for him, he seems lost and just kind of wanders around the house. I am sure once the medication is in his system, he'll be ok.

It's just hard to see him like this.

He HATES it!!!

2008-02-07T20:17:00.001-05:00

Topaz absolutely HATES the potassium bromide!! So we'll be mixing it with his food.

Let me tell you, 60lbs of determined dog is STRONG!! whew, he gave me a run for my money trying to get him to take that medicine!

Potassium Bromide

2008-02-06T19:57:00.000-05:00

We got Topaz's Potassium Bromide today and will be starting it tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. He has to go in for a blood level check in 3 weeks and then his PB will probably be adjusted.

I'm not looking forward to new side effects with this medicine. But, am hopeful that this is the medicine that he needs to being seizure free long term.

I'll keep the blog posted!

*ON a personal note...I really need to work on the fact that there just may not be a trigger for Topaz's seizures and that I may not be able to change anything to make him better. I need to realize that he's probably always going to have these seizures and that we're doing all that we can for him.

He's back from the vet!

2008-02-03T20:54:00.000-05:00

My husband went to pick up Topaz at 8:00 from the vet. He did good there, no seizures.

They gave him a dose of PB in liquid form and a pill. And they didn't feed him all day to not mess up his raw diet...which was nice, but the poor thing went all day without eating!! he tore up his chicken backs when he got home. I may give him another 1/2 of one before I go to bed.

They did up his meds to 2 gr 2x a day, but it will probably go down once he gets on the potassium bromide. They will call about that later on in the week.

It's been a long day. I'm so glad he's ok and is home, I just wish I knew why he keeps having the seizures.

Another Grand Mal and On His Way to the Vet

2008-02-03T10:57:00.000-05:00

Topaz had another grand mal at 10:21. It lasted a minute or so.

I was sitting here posting on a forum or updating a blog and I saw him walking in circles in the doorway. I got to him just as he was about to fall over and he had the seizure.

My husband called the vet and they wanted us to bring him in, so he's on his way now with my husband.

We'll see what the vet has to say...

Called the Vet 2/3

2008-02-03T09:53:00.000-05:00

Called the vet and the vet is going to put him on Potassium Bromide. I guess some other company in Arizona has to call me because they make it special and they flavor it or something...interesting.

Anyways, that's the way we're going.

The side effects are similar. and of course levels will need to be checked. I am going to do the thyroid panel at the same time they check his levels. That will be an expensive vet trip!

Off to feed and bathe the puppa...

2/3/08 Grand Mal and 3 Clusters

2008-02-03T06:33:00.000-05:00

Topaz had a Grand Mal this morning at 5:52am and then 3 clusters shortly after. The whole thing was over by 6:10 or so.

He has been sleeping in our bedroom for the past few nights. He's been barking at night when we put him in his cage to go to sleep and just would not settle down. I think that's because he went from crated 8 hours a day when my husband was volunteering at the shelter, to being out now that he's home again.

He was on my side of the bed on the floor when he had the first one. Once he came out of that, we put a leash on him to go outside to cool him off like we usually do and he had the other 3 once we got into the kitchen.

They didn't seem as violent as the past ones, but maybe I'm getting used to them...I don't know.

Right now he's lying on the floor next to me. He seems really out of it and very tired tonight in his post ictal stage. I'm sure they take a lot out of you.

We'll be calling the vet when they open. I think they will add Potassium Bromide and we will definitely be getting the thyroid test in a couple weeks. Will update again after the vet call.

Differences in food/environment...I gave him 3 tiny new treats and a couple days ago I started the dogs on chicken backs instead of turkey/chicken necks. Doubt either had to do with this though. Oh and he may have had some Mc Donald fries. But I'm not sure...if so it was like maybe 10 of them and it was the other day. Hmmm Environment...nothing I can think of offhand. The husband is home more, and I did go to the ER last night with an anxiety/panic attack so I know my husband and I have both been stressed and worried, maybe we are giving that energy off to the animals...but other than that, I don't know.

And...unfortunately, I need to reset his ticker. He had gone 66 days though! That's something.

What the vet said

2008-01-12T09:43:00.000-05:00

I called the vet the morning after the incident and she said that since I am not positive it was a seizure and it was so different than the others...and especially since our other animals didn't seem to notice anything happened, we're not going to treat this as a break through seizure and so we won't be changing anything right now.

She also said that if he needs more medication or an addition medication, he will have another seizure and will let us know that.

Hopefully he won't!!

So for now, we're not going to call this a seizure...but maybe an "episode" and I do have documentation on it now here so that's good too.

So the ticker remains!!!

Now that I check more closely...

2008-01-10T02:40:00.001-05:00

He did urinate on himself.

I wonder if I just didn't hear him have the seizure? Maybe it wasn't as severe as the last couple have been.

I don't know, I'll call the vet in the morning and see what they say.

Not sure if he had a seizure or not tonight....

2008-01-10T01:51:00.000-05:00

I think Topaz may have had a seizure tonight. I am not sure though.

He just woke me up about 10 minutes (1:40 am) or so ago but just with barking. That high pitched, get me out of my cage, barking.

If he did have a seizure, I did not hear him while he was having it in his cage.

The room had a faint smell of that saliva smell and when I check his muzzle and chest when he got out, it was a little wet. But no urine or feces in his cage and his blanket was only a little bit wet. The wetness was on his mouth a bit and his chest, which is typical during a seizure, however.

He's outside with our other dog, who was asleep on our bed when I got up. (generally when he has a seizure she is up when I get to him)

He's acting a bit post ictal, but not really. He knew his name and commands and didn't seem as nervous as he usually is.

No changes in his food, except one raw baby carrot tonight and the necks I fed them seemed a bit slimy today. The weather has been really wonky too...we've went from 30's and snow to 60's and rain in a matter of a week. It's been in the 40's the past couple days. The husband and I argued a lot this weekend too, with yelling, but I always try to nip it quickly for Topaz's sake.

So I don't know. I'll call his vet in the morning and see what they have to say. If this was a seizure it was not typical.

I'm not going to change the ticker either. I want to see what the vet says first.

No seizure...just a dog update

2008-01-01T22:49:00.000-05:00

Some jerk opened up our gates and let the dogs out this afternoon! I can't believe people would do such a nasty thing!!

Anyways, I wrote about it at my other blog. Here's the link.

http://randomheidiness.blogspot.com/2008/01/happy-new-yeardog-scare.html

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

2007-12-30T11:00:00.000-05:00

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.

Vet Visit...12/26

2007-12-27T13:30:00.000-05:00

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!!!

No seizure...just weirdness?

2007-12-23T10:26:00.000-05:00

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.

Vet Appt - Rescheduled

2007-12-21T23:00:00.000-05:00

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.

Should have updated...

2007-12-12T18:18:00.000-05:00

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.

No seizure...just too much medication

2007-12-11T22:59:00.000-05:00

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.