3/30/10 – 2:09 am – Grand Mal

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

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

Anyway…on to the seizure information.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Trash Boy…the Saga Continues!

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

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

So..the reason for the blog.

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

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

Uh-huh…whatever.

So how did he get out then?

Right…I don’t know either.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

No New Seizures, Just Some Thoughts

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.

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.

PB Level

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

Yeah Puppa!

Preparing for Travel - Seizure Emergency Kit

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!

PB Level and Garbage AGAIN!!!

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!!

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!

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.

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!