Swollen Face

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)

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

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.

Cost of Prescriptions

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

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.