Black lab: epilepsy - help!

madmav

madmav

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Really sweet 6-year-old male, but epileptic and driving owner mad. On epifen (sp?) and waking in night and every day at 5am. Needy, desperate for comfort/company etc. Walked a lot in day and has lots of company. But night-times are bad. Vet put him on meds that seemed to drive him more mad. Would be hugely grateful for any ideas? Maybe a calmer? Thanks (on behalf of my sleep-deprived friend).
 
My friend had a retriever who was epileptic, they found out that when they took him to the beach, the salt in the water made him fit, check they dont' take the dog to the beach.

He was on meds aswell but the salt seemed to trigger it.
 
If it is only the 5 am. that is a problem try gradually moving his body clock - changing his regime forwards 15 minutes a day.

Is there any outside stimulus waking him up?

Milkman? Neighbour starting a car? If so a blackout blind & radio on low may help.
 
Hello there,

I'm really sorry about your dog, we unfortunately lost out collie dog through epilepsy.
I have one main question - is your dog insured?
We had insurance for rosie and when she was first diagnosed, we wanted an MRI but the vet at the time didn't think it was necessary. We since found out that there was a lesion on her brain, that would have been visible with an MRI. Ok, what they would do about it, remains unclear but you at least have a reason. Insist on all these diagnostic tests whilst the insurance is still covering the condition if that is the case.
From personal experience, we found that they need a strict routine to stick to and anything that changes really seems to upset the balance.

Our girl was on Epiphen and potassion bromide. The potassium was supposed to enhance the effect of the epiphen, at first, it made her very thirsty, so she drank more and peed more! The epiphen however made her sleepy, not more alert! I would check with your vet that she is on the right doseage, through bloods done eight to twleve hours after her last epiphen, it can take some messing around to find out what the right doseage is, but when you get there, stick to it religiously, including the times you administer.
 
Has he been castrated? We has a lab who started fitting when he was 12 months old. He started on tablets but my mum didn't like the effect on him (20 years ago). Having him done reduced the frequency of his fits, and they became very infrequent as ge got older. He lived till he was 14 1/2 years old, and lost his fight to a tumour. Hope he settles and you can get his Meds sorted. Also try a dap diffuser, may help calm him down
 
I had a brown lab bitch who was epileptic from the age of about 18 months. We started her on medication (phenobarbitone, I think) which just seemed to make her depressed, so we managed without. She lived to be almost 15 when she died of a pancreatic tumour. She had most of her seizures when coming into season.
I'm not sure that the epilepsy is relevant to this dog's behaviour, unless it has changed since being put on medication. If the owner gets up and lets him out at 5 am every day, he will expect this to happen and will make a fuss if it doesn't. She will have to treat him like a puppy and extend his night-times to suit her own routine.
 
This is slightly unrelated, but Pearlasinger, if she was fitting more coming in to season, was there a reason you couldnt spay her? xx
 
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