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.

KBr Test Results

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!

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)

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!

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.