10/22/12–Grand Mal Seizure

Wow. It has been a WHILE since I have had to update this blog!!

That is an AWESOME thing!!

Unfortunately, Topaz’s 511 (!!!) day seizure free streak was broken this morning at approx 8:30am.

I was at work so I don’t know the details, but my husband said he wasn’t vocal, didn’t wet himself, and snapped out of if pretty quickly. When I got home from work he was waiting for me – as usual – excited to see me, – as usual – and seems a bit more anxious than normal…which is normal after a seizure.

Nothing has changed that I know of…maybe he got in to something or maybe it was just time.

Will keep an eye on him…but planning to carry on as normal!

05/30/11–Grand Mal Cluster

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

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.

Lepto Shot & Grand Mal – 8/30/10

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…

3/30/10 – 2:09 am – Grand Mal

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

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

Anyway…on to the seizure information.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Grand Mal – 9/13/09 – 7:44am

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7/12/09 Another GM

Tonight is not my Puppa’s night!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Off to reset the ticker.

Something’s Fishy

LOL cute title huh?

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

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

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

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

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

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

5/30/09 – Grand Mal

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.

Potassium Bromide

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!

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.

2/3/08 Grand Mal and 3 Clusters

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Later...H

Spoke with the vet this afternoon

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

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

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

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

11/30...Here we go again

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

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

Prayers and good thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

11/19....Clusters

More seizures last night. (well this morning)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Long, scary night...

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

Thanks!

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

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

Will write more tomorrow, pretty exhausted now.

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

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

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

Keep us and our puppa in your prayers, please.

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's been a long, emotionally draining night.

I really hope he's ok...

Prayers please!! Thanks!

July 13...He came to me

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anyway...will keep updating here.

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