We have a yellow Lab, he turned five on April Fools Day. He has a story that would suit a dog twice his age though, so please bear with me... Riddick was born with dodgy eyes and has been mostly blind all his life. He also has cataracts and can now only see really bold contrasts (no benefit from surgery so no op). He was diagnosed diabetic in September 2015 (he's on special food, he gets insulin twice a day, and I use a glucometer to monitor his blood sugar) with trips to the vet every other month to do a sugar curve. In October 2016 he was diagnosed with epilepsy. It would probably have been sooner, but what we thought were seizures due to bouts of really low blood sugar turned out to be epileptic focal seizures. He does have the occasional general seizure (AKA grand mal), but he normally has focal seizures. With focal seizures he will twitch - mainly his front legs and head, "zone out", pace, fall over his own feet, and walk into walls, but he is still responsive if you talk to him so keeping him on lead if he's pacing helps me keep him from walking into walls. When he comes out of it he is tired, and a little confused, but he's usually himself again within a couple of hours. When he has a general seizure it starts with a focal seizure, then its the typical running and jerking while lying on his side, peeing himself, jaw wide in a grimace, foaming. When he comes out of it he is super-hyper-excited but not registering his surroundings at all, and then he is exhausted for several hours. The general seizures also affect his blood sugar. We started him on Phenobarb when he was diagnosed (with blood tests to check the levels), and we got his seizures under control, with months between fits. With the help of friends and family we also bought a disability harness which I quickly put on him when he has a fit (just the front half) so that I can help him walk when he's wobbling and twitching (he paces 'coz he feels funny). Then about 6 weeks ago we started going downhill again. Almost daily focal seizures, one general seizure, and him spending a lot of time wobbly or recovering. It broke my heart. We increased his meds a little at a time to see if we could get it back under control, but didn't seem to make any progress. Then this week we added Potassium Bromide to his treatment to control the seizures, and it was only while I was reading up some more on it that I realised his "general wobbliness" lately wasn't just sedation from the meds or confusion from a seizure - it was mainly in his back legs and it is very likely a side effect of the increased Phenobarb dose. And now I am crying again... Back to the vet. We immediately decreased the Phenobarb dose again, and we're really hoping that the added KBr will work with the Phenobarb to control his seizures, and hopefully he'll regain the strength in his back end. And now I am crying again... Without the full disability harness, us helping him get up off the floor and keep his balance when he needs to poop or pee, he can't manage. We can't leave him home alone as he needs help to move properly. I am desperately praying that he will be okay again in a couple of weeks - once some of the Phenobarb has worked out of his system. What I REALLY am hoping is that there is someone here who has dealt with the rear-end weakness from Epilepsy meds, and that it got better... Because right now my boy is pitifully weak... This is no life, and if he doesn't get better we may have to seriously consider letting him go. And now I am crying again... He's my baby...
Here's Riddick in his Holistic Vet disability harness, just the front half, which I use to steady him when he's wobbling around before and after a seizure. I can also use it to pull him away from walls or furniture if he has a general seizure - it is made to be worn for extended periods of time, if necessary.
I am so sorry your boy is having such a bad time with his epilepsy. I have no experience of it. I really hope he shows some improvement as the phenobarbital leaves his system. There are others on the board who do have experience of epilepsy in dogs, hopefully they'll be along soon.
Hi. I'm so sorry about your boy. My boy, Snowie, has had grand mal seizures since he was 1.5 yo. Now 5.5 yo. Also a yellow boy. He's been on KBr since he was 3.5 yo when he had two seizures over a weekend. Before that it was one every 4-6 months. He came out of them within a minute or two. He is fed raw food, and I did ask the vet - specialist physician - if it would affect the medication, and he said no. Turns out it does. It's low salt so therefore more KBr stays in his system (salt competes with the KBr in the renal uptake, so pellet-fed dogs need more KBr, raw fed need less). After about 6 months of being on KBr, one morning Snowie appeared paralyzed in his rear end. Blood tests showed the KBr to be in the toxic range. Vet thought we were overdosing. It was lowered from 4ml/day to 1.4ml/day and thankfully he's never had that hindleg weakness again and his latest blood tests showed it at the lower end of normal. I have no experience of pheno so I don't know if it causes weakness. I used to follow a blog of a woman whose Dalmatian had fits, struggled for years to manage them with both pheno and KBr. After changing to raw food she had much success, dog lived to 14 yo. She believes the salt in pellets (kibble) made it difficult to dose correctly given the competition of salt with epilepsy meds. Might be something you can discuss with your vet. Really sorry you're having such difficulties. You are so caring for your dog. It's late and I need to get to sleep, but I'll come back tomorrow to share more of what I've done to keep Snowie almost seizure-free.
I had an epileptic dog and when he was first put on phenobarbitone he was very unsteady, it took about ten days for him to become normal again, so you may find your dog will improve after the excess phenobarbitone has left his body, the added Kbr should be very effective. There is a very good support in England called The Phyllis Croft Foundation for Canine Epilepsy and you can Google it, I found it very helpful, worth you having a look and perhaps getting in touch. I am so sorry for you, it is heart rending to have an epileptic dog, they are completely normal between fits but when they are fitting it is dreadful.
I'm so sorry to read your post,I don't have any experience at all of fitting or epilepsy but I couldn't just read and pass by without comment.I can really feel for you ,I really hope Riddick stabilises with the adjustment of his meds ,he stands the best chance as reading your post I can tell he is very loved and cared for x
Thank you edzbird, MF, Stacia, and Dexter. We have looked into the raw food diet, MF, and I think it would help, but with his current bills we just can't afford it... And we finally have his diabetes under control I am so not keen on changing anything that would send us down that abbit hole again! There are also not a lot of places I can get it in Joburg, and he would need a decent-sized portion which just isn't in our budget. Just so you have an idea how pedantic I am with my baby, I thought I'd show you these pictures... This is his log book - glucometer readings by date and time, insulin dose, time of the shot, notes on seizures, Phenobarb dose, and so on. And these are the graphs tracking his diabetes and his fits. My husband says I am making our vet's life too easy.
Hi , I also had a seizure dog , and so can understand your awful worries . Keeping a diary is such a helpful thing to do , for yourself and for your Vet too . My girl benefitted from Phenobarbs , she had six monthly blood tests to ensure that the dose was therapeutic and she did very well indeed . I am so sorry re all the health problems , its so unfair x
Your post makes very sobering reading. I'm so sorry that Riddick has such complex problems, but he's obviously much loved and in very good hands. I hope the adjustments in his meds help him to improve.
Aww, this makes me sad, poor Riddick. He has an awesome mummy though, sounds like you're really giving him the best life, love and security he could have!
Wow, you are such a committed dog owner. Riddick is so, so lucky to have you. It can't be easy with a dog with so many needs, but you're obviously doing a brilliant job. I can't offer any advice, but I just wanted to say how inspirational you are.
I'm really sorry to hear poor Riddick is suffering on various fronts, and particularly now with the fits and weakness. My dear girl Poppy has had several seizures but has not needed medication, so I understand how powerless you feel and how frightening it is to watch your beloved dog having a seizure. Welcome to the forum, and I am sorry it is this sad story that has brought you here.
@AngelConradie I can see you are doing so much for Riddick! There is a great facebook page "We Feed Raw - SA". There you will find files of raw food providers. You might find several in Jhb and even some that are affordable. The premade meals are more expensive than doing it yourself (I do it myself, I like to know exactly what I'm feeding Snowie). I give Snowie a Magnesium supplement every day (1 tablet) -- it has been shown to help human epileptics. I also try to keep his diet very low carb -- again, shown to help human epileptics keep their seizures under control -- in fact, a ketogenic diet (no carbs, minimum protein, high fat) is the way to go, but Snowie is such a scavenger that I'm never going to win that, and also, we use sweet potato for administering his liquid KBr, so we are giving him some carbs. Kibble can be high carb or no carb depending on the one you're using (worthwhile checking). You could also cook your own dog food, might be able to add cheaper veg to bulk it up. Snowie weighs 34 kg and he gets 700gm of raw food a day, plus lots of veg treats (raw carrot, etc). But I do understand your reluctance given you've got the diabetes under control. Incidentally, Snowie always got his seizures at around 4am, and the vet said this could be related to low blood sugar at that time, which triggered the seizures. Snowie was seizure free for 7 months. Then I gave him Bravecto early last year (we'd been in a biliary area) and he had two seizures within 6 weeks. He then went almost a year seizure free, and then had another seizure a couple of months ago. That morning he'd had a feast of human poo on the mountain (unfortunately he cannot resist human poo!!!!!!!) and that might've caused the seizure, perhaps the person had taken drugs, don't know... Otherwise, the KBr seems to be working well for him, has cooled him down immensely -- he used to be a very hot dog. Right now he has gastro (two days of bloody diarrhea, now just very porridge poo), which is being treated as HGE (haemorrhagic gastroenteritis). First time he's had this. I am hoping it clears up, otherwise it could be pancreatitis, which is a side-effect of KBr toxicity. He has not asked for a walk in a couple of days (started antibiotics on Tuesday), but another forum member said her dog took a week to come back to bounciness, so I'm hoping to same for Snowie. Am desperately hopeful it is not pancreatitis. If you have any questions around epilepsy, please ask away. I am no expert, but after a few years having an epileptic dog, it's amazing what one picks up.
Thank you @snowbunny, @Emily, @Karen, and @SwampDonkey. I do hope your Snowy "just" has HGE, @MF I'll ask Riddick's vet about the magnesium. We are looking to add a little hemp oil daily now too - the CBD oil where the THC has been removed. We can actually spray a little in his mouth when he's seizing and it may help ease the fit. Riddick is on the Science Diet W/D kibble, which is low carb for diabetic or obese dogs. I can't give him too much in the way of fresh veggies 'coz most have a natural sugar and they affect his diabetes... He used to love frozen carrots! Riddick isn't our first epileptic dog. We adopted two mixed-breed girls from a shelter in 2010, Thelma and Louise, and about a year later Louise developed epilepsy. Unlike Riddick she would have general seizures, but the Pheno worked like a charm for her, reducing her fits to one every other month. She crossed the rainbow bridge just over a year ago due to cancer.
Riddick is blessed to have you! He's lovely, must be so hard for you I don't know if I could cope as well as you've done, but we find the strength when we need to
