Epilepsy

[spotty_pony2]

We had a spaniel with epilepsy. No known cause, just started out of the blue one day around the age of 7, with multiple seizures. He had to be put into a medically induced coma, which we didn't think he would wake up from.

He lived happily until 13 1/2 on epiphen and only ever had 2 further seizures, during times of excitement (a child's party, even though he was safely closed in a room away from the excitement and noise)

Interesting. The Vet said she was going to put under GA if he had another one which he luckily didn’t, just so she could administer the meds and we struggled to keep him still.

 

[skinnydipper]

Thank you, he’s on Levetiracetam 500 mg initially 2 every 8 hours but reduced to 2 every 12 hours. I am well aware from reading this can sometimes only be a short term fix though if it’s epilepsy.

Vet has had a conversation with my friend. She’s given three options - 1) mri but it wont show epilepsy it will just show what it isn’t and at his age she thinks it’s very very unlikely it’s a brain tumour or cancer. 2) continue on the medicine 3) stop the medicine and see if it happens again in which case he will need to stay on the medicine. We will be provided with emergency meds before stopping it just in case.

I was always of the opinion that you can’t just stop it and it has to be tapered off, even if they have only been taking it for a few days as it can cause withdrawal seizures so we will be questioning that. I think friend wants to go down this route as she isn’t convinced it’s epilepsy. The medicines do have side effects so obviously if he doesn’t need them then he is better without them, but it is a risk. As he’s not mine I can only discuss it and can’t make the final decision. I think he may end up back on them unfortunately anyway. From what I’ve read thought they can remain seizure free for days/weeks/months and something can trigger it out of the blue. We will be trying to keep him calmer in any case.

He is really quite his normal self this afternoon. Not wobbly at all, wanting to play and responding normally although he’s obviously still on the meds…

How is your friend's Dalmatian?

 

[spotty_pony2]

How is your friend's Dalmatian?

Unfortunately he had another two seizures exactly one month after that two. Vet still agreed that we should monitor him and if quality of life still good in between do not put on medication, just use the emergency meds as and when we need it Sadly just three weeks later he had another cluster - and they were only five minutes between each one. The decision was made to start him on phenobarbital (Epiphen) It took a good week to ten days for him to adjust but then he was his normal self. He had to have his bloods checked one month later, so had to have his tablet late. The next day he had two mild seizures - they were much milder than before and he didn’t suffer the after anxiety, etc. Vet agrees he may need another med adding to the mix to hopefully lengthen the times between seizures. It’s heartbreaking because in between you wouldn’t know there was anything wrong. I spend a lot of time with him, and still take him out in the car and on walks - I just have the emergency meds with me at all times. If the seizures become more frequent and cannot be controlled or if his personality changes and his quality of life is affected unfortunately a very tough decision will have to be made. At the moment I’m living in the moment with him and I’m determined he is able to live his life to the full regardless of his condition. He absolutely loves going on walks and he won’t be missing out, he will be having a good life for however long he can.