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!