First, thank-you everyone for your kind comments and emails in response to yesterdays post regarding Foster.
As a quick follow-up, Foster did not have any seizures yesterday or last night following the three Grand Mal Seizures he had the day before. His blood tests came back with no indication of any problem or issue.
Since Foster had a cluster of seizures it’s been diagnosed as Idiopathic Epilepsy. What this really means in layman terms is that they don’t know what caused them. He was prescribed a prescription for Phenobarbital, which is one of the more widely used anticonvulsant drugs–two tablets per day for the rest of his life.
After discussions with our veterinarian we’ve decided to hold off starting the Phenobarbital for a while until we see if these seizures are re-occurring, and at what frequency.
One cluster of seizures in one day does not a pattern make.
We’re also exploring some life style changes for him and his adopted sister, Maggie.
Many believe that allergies, vitamin deficiencies, and reactions to food supplements/additives are causes for canine seizures. This wouldn’t be surprising since there’s very little regulation on what can be put into dog foods.
I’ve also noticed that many of the readily available dog treats have questionable ingredients.
I was pleased to find that there are excellent natural holistic dry and canned dog foods available and one of our local stores has a whole isle dedicated to these products. I was informed by a store employee they are becoming ever more popular with pet owners–of course they are also more expensive. Two higher rated brands of pet foods I’ve looked at are “Taste of the Wild” and “Blue Buffalo.”
So as of yesterday Foster and Maggie are eating healthy and their treats are being closely monitored. I’m also investigating vitamin/mineral supplements that claim anti-seizure properties.
It’s amazing how fast you’ll educate yourself when a loved one is threatened–Foster still has much to teach me. :-)
Glad to hear Foster is doing better so far Earl. I really wish veterinary science was just as advanced as human medicine to give us more definitive answers. But even the latter keeps us guessing so many times as well.
Blue Buffalo has a pretty good reputation – created supposedly after its owner became fed up with all the junk that is placed in dog food and treats. I don’t know if that is part of their marketing or what – but seems to have a sincere story. Having a diabetic dog for so many years – it was amazing to find how many pet treats have sugar in them or some other sweetener. Nuts. Like dogs care about sugar! It seems whatever lobby that gets high fructose corn syrup in so much of our food offered something up to pet food companies as well.
I continue to wish Foster well.
Mark, thanks for the well wishes and kind words.
For Foster it’s been one week ago today and so far so good. We still haven’t started the Phenobarbital.
One possible cause for the seizures I wonder about–we’ve had an exceptionally wet spring and last Tuesday I noticed mushrooms/toadstools in the yard where normally there are none. I wondered if Foster had eaten some and they were either poison or he “had a bad trip?”
I’ve done research but there’s so little known of what causes seizures in canine. The easy/quick way is to call it all some form of Epilepsy and prescribe anticonvulsant drugs.
Warmest regards to you and your family!
I am so relieved to hear that Foster is stable. I know this has produced some sleepless nights. It certainly makes sense to me to hold off on the medication unless there is another episode. Meanwhile, I wish you the best of luck in searching for clues. I am paying close attention to your experience with this, since (as I mentioned) I have never dealt with seizures.
@Anita: Thank you for your concern. I’m happy to report that Foster still hasn’t had any further seizures we are aware of. However, he’s outside in our fenced in backyard for most of the day so it’s possible he could have a seizure we wouldn’t be aware of. I do check on him as often as possible.
This was my first exposure to canine seizures as well and his first seizure scared me. I honestly thought he was dying. Not a good experience. :-(