Hello everybody, I'm new on here and this is my first post. My 2 year 5 month old fox red Labrador "Lola" has recently had 2 episodes which we suspect are seizures. The first episode was on January 10th this year and the second happened on February 24th. She starts with the seizures by cowering then lies down with her legs held into her body, she then begins to tremble and seems almost paralysed by what looks like fear. She seems fully conscious throughout them and returns to her usual happy-self a couple of minutes later after it passes. I took her to see the vet and she had a full health check. Everything came back perfect. Her blood screening showed no abnormalities only a very high enzyme reading. After just losing a lovely staffordshire bull terrier who suffered with epilepsy throughout the last 6 years I am therefore worried sick at the moment. My plan is to switch her diet and try supplimets before I make the decision about medicating her. I can't believe this can happen again. I have also checked with the breeder who assures me no other pup from all 3 litters have reported any problems. At the moment I feed her on Skinners duck and rice with home cooked turkey mince. Any treats that I give her are also hypoallergenic apart from her daily dentastick. She loves to eat vegetables and raw fruit too. I want to give her the best possible life I can. We adore her, she is such a sweet and well behaved girl. The only previous vet treatment she has had was a couple of courses of antibiotics for a skin flare up which the vet thinks was a grass pollen allergy. Either way, I am not convinced because this rash is still here in the winter when there is no pollon around. She is fully vaccinated and has frontline flea treatment. I excercise her twice daily and she loves her ball and has tons of energy so we walk a lot. She is very slim, looks in great health and loves to be out. I would be most grateful If someone could offer advice or be able to identify the problem Lola is suffering with. Any and all comments are warmly welcomed. Thank you and have a nice day. Caroline
Re: Young Labrador suffering with possible seizures Hi Caroline, Welcome to the forum.im so sorry you are having this worry,especially as your other dog was suffering from a similar condition.Dexter is 17 months old and our first dog so I have no experiences of this or similar to share.There will be other members along and I'm sure amongst the lovely people who write on here someone will be able to help you. I just wanted to say hi and acknowledge your post as I know you must feel very worried about your lovely Lola x
Re: Young Labrador suffering with possible seizures Hi Caroline, and welcome to the forum. I am so sorry to hear that your dog has had some seizures. We have several forum members that own or have owned dogs with epilepsy and I hope you will find it comforting to talk to them. Can you tell us what your vet's opinion was? Pippa
Re: Young Labrador suffering with possible seizures Hello, and welcome to this lovely forum. Your girl sounds lovely! So sorry to hear she is having problems. I hope other people on the forum can help (I have no experience myself, but just wanted to say welcome).
Re: Young Labrador suffering with possible seizures Hello Caroline , welcome . I have owned two seizure dogs , both lost within the last two years , so I know and understand completely how worried you are about your lovely girl . As you no doubt know, there are many types of seizure , not all are the grand mal type where the dogs goes into a state of uncontrolled movement, eyes rolling etc . More common are the partial seizures which sound similar to what Lola is experiencing and one of mine did too . Most Vets will do bloods to rule out any other reason and then, if the bloods come back normal , most will advise a " watch and wait " policy as my vet did . As you know , the most common drug used to treat seizures is phenobarbitol , a potent drug but also effective . My own dog began to have seizures far too often to not treat her , usually two every week, but once she had got used to the drugs, she was absolutely fine, living a happy life for many years . They do require regular blood tests , usually every six months , to check that they are receiving theraputic level and to check on the liver function but its a small price to pay because they really can live a good life . Like you , I couldnt believe that lightening could strike twice, but its just rotten horrible luck . I wish you well and if I can help in any way, just ask x
Re: Young Labrador suffering with possible seizures [quote author=MadMudMob link=topic=4703.msg57925#msg57925 date=1393694064] [/quote] Thankyou for the welcome
Re: Young Labrador suffering with possible seizures [quote author=kateincornwall link=topic=4703.msg57927#msg57927 date=1393694360] Hello Caroline , welcome . I have owned two seizure dogs , both lost within the last two years , so I know and understand completely how worried you are about your lovely girl . As you no doubt know, there are many types of seizure , not all are the grand mal type where the dogs goes into a state of uncontrolled movement, eyes rolling etc . More common are the partial seizures which sound similar to what Lola is experiencing and one of mine did too . Most Vets will do bloods to rule out any other reason and then, if the bloods come back normal , most will advise a " watch and wait " policy as my vet did . As you know , the most common drug used to treat seizures is phenobarbitol , a potent drug but also effective . My own dog began to have seizures far too often to not treat her , usually two every week, but once she had got used to the drugs, she was absolutely fine, living a happy life for many years . They do require regular blood tests , usually every six months , to check that they are receiving theraputic level and to check on the liver function but its a small price to pay because they really can live a good life . Like you , I couldnt believe that lightening could strike twice, but its just rotten horrible luck . I wish you well and if I can help in any way, just ask x [/quote] Thankyou so much for your reply it's much appreciated. I'm so sorry for your loss too. We also had phenobarbital for our staffie but his last day with us he had 7 very serious fits and we had to make that horrible decision to say he had had enough. This was only 5 weeks ago so we are all missing him terribly he was adorable and worshipped Lola who often had little respect in the nicest possible way but he let her do what she wanted...so much for nasty Staffordshire bulls he was a complete walkover!!! We are in the process of putting Lola on a raw diet I have researched this a lot and am doing so under the guidance of a professional..anything is worth a try..Lola is a total sweetheart and we are determined to do everything we can...we can always pray for miracles? Am not brilliant with all this technology so please bear with me if my replies are slow in coming. I'm in a bit of a time warp I think will try and find out how to post a photo of our girl she is very pretty, know we are biased!! Thanks again. Caroline xx
Re: Young Labrador suffering with possible seizures Welcome to the forum Caroline and Lola just wanted to say hi and I know there is a lot of experienced people on here who will help if they can. I had Harley who is a red fox lab too, she is 7 months old tomorrow and is my first dog
Re: Young Labrador suffering with possible seizures [quote author=JulieT link=topic=4703.msg57917#msg57917 date=1393692254] Hello, and welcome to this lovely forum. Your girl sounds lovely! So sorry to hear she is having problems. I hope other people on the forum can help (I have no experience myself, but just wanted to say welcome). [/quote] Thankyou Julie T much appreciated x
Re: Young Labrador suffering with possible seizures So very sorry about your lovely boy , it was similar with my Flynn , he got into clusters and you feel so damned helpless , so sad that you are having this awful worry again
Re: Young Labrador suffering with possible seizures [quote author=Dexter link=topic=4703.msg57913#msg57913 date=1393691414] Hi Caroline, Welcome to the forum.im so sorry you are having this worry,especially as your other dog was suffering from a similar condition.Dexter is 17 months old and our first dog so I have no experiences of this or similar to share.There will be other members along and I'm sure amongst the lovely people who write on here someone will be able to help you. I just wanted to say hi and acknowledge your post as I know you must feel very worried about your lovely Lola x [/quote] Thankyou for your kind welcome am so glad we found this site everyone has been so nice xx
Re: Young Labrador suffering with possible seizures There is another condition in dogs which sounds very much like your dog, unfortunately I cannot locate where I read it, it was similar to exercise collapse but not that! There was even videos of the dog having an episode.
Re: Young Labrador suffering with possible seizures Hi Caroline and welcome to the forum I'm sure that things are very stressful right now. And I'm so sorry that you're suffering from the wail loss of your beloved Staffie I'm sure that your vet is giving you excellent care. But if you wanted to 'go up a level' there are veterinary neurologists these days e.g. http://www.veterinary-neurologist.co.uk Worth a chat with your vet? I've found the advice of a dedicated specialist to be very helpful in the past (not in relation to doggie neurological issues but dental). Edit: also see: http://www.rvc.ac.uk/small-animal-referrals/neurology-and-neurosurgery
Re: Young Labrador suffering with possible seizures hi, i'm really sorry your having to deal with this. I can't offer any advice on dogs with epilepsy, but my sons has a very rare syndrome within the epilepsy section, so can feel for you with regards to feeling useless, scared, out of control etc. he is on medication and has gone from average of 90 grand mal seizures per month to 10-20 per month. so some improvement. Know this doesn't help with your dog, but sending positive thoughts. mel
Re: Young Labrador suffering with possible seizures Hi Caroline and Lola, sorry you are having these problems. I'm afraid I can't particularly help with this, but hope those who have experience on here can give you support. Just wanted to say "Hi" Jac and Lilly
Re: Young Labrador suffering with possible seizures Hello, and I am very sorry to hear of your problems and hope things can be sorted.
Re: Young Labrador suffering with possible seizures I'm not experienced enough to help but wanted to say welcome and sorry to hear of the loss of your staffie, I've met many sweet, lovely staffies, they certainly don't deserve a poor reputation just good and loving homes like yours. All the very best with your girl, looking forward to seeing a picture
Re: Young Labrador suffering with possible seizures [quote author=editor link=topic=4703.msg57914#msg57914 date=1393692116] Hi Caroline, and welcome to the forum. I am so sorry to hear that your dog has had some seizures. We have several forum members that own or have owned dogs with epilepsy and I hope you will find it comforting to talk to them. Can you tell us what your vet's opinion was? Pippa [/quote] Hi vet doesn't really have any answers, all bloods came back normal apart from high enzyme level, I presume muscle enzyme. They said to keep diary and see what happens next...this is why I am going down root of diet and putting her on a raw meat and bone diet. She also gets a spotty tummy which vet put down to grass pollen allergy but there's no pollen at moment and spots have started again. Poor Lola x
