Oh my. They must not be bad at all if hubby can carry him.  I've been bit when my dog had a seizure. They say to just put them in a soft area where they can't hurt themseles or you. If he's had them often then a little phenobarbitol can help.

My Missy had seizures from the time she was a year old. We were told that we should medicate them (which we did) because the longer they were allowed to go on, the more she had, the more intense they would get. They started her out on a low dosage of Phenobarbital. You want to use the lowest dosage that will control the seizures because the meds are hard on the liver. Turned out we could not use enough Phenobarbital without her being drugged out, so we added Potassium Bromide, and this controlled them as well as anything did.

I understand how scary it is and how helpless you feel when it happens. Even after we had been dealing with epilepsy for a long time, I would still cry to have to just stand there and watch her chew up her own lips and sling blood all over.

quote:

---

Originally posted by: Denise
"How often has Shadow been having seizures & how frequent are they?  How long do they last & how long does it take him to return to "normal" after the seizure ends?"

---

       Denise,if you remember i only got shadow last November and he had his first while with me in Febuary.He has them one or two in a couple of months.They have usually only lasted a minute or two,not very severeand he returns to normal as soon as they stop.He seems to know when they are getting ready to start because he will lunge towards you.He seems to know whats going on while he is having one.

I am sorry to hear of the poor dog having those siezures..I had to put my last German Short haired pointer to sleep about 3 years ago now for the same thing. She didnt start having them until over 14..and she had 2 I knew of and they were 6 days apart..and they were really bad. She deficated in her bed, finally came around but ran around the dining room table for 1 to 2 hours none stop..I called the vets in the middle of the night at the first sign of siezure and then after she was so restless...It was horrable..Took her in first thing in the Am and I had already decided that she was going to be put to sleep..She seemed blind after the second one..and she was almost mean too..she didnt recognise us and was out of sorts all together..So..now she is gone..I dont think I would personally keep mine on such strong drugs for very long..I hope I dont offend any one..But I just dont go into keeping dogs alive at  all costs...They can not really convay how they feel..and I have made some decisions about pets being purly selfish because I loved them so...So..I try to now have an approach about pets that has their best intrest in mind..and not mine...I hope I said that right..But..I do strongly believe in good vet care...but some times the vets like to keep you coming back too...My first dog Smokie was a shelty mutt.and the best..He lived with me for 18 years...I was 8 when I got him..he grew up with me..So..in his twighlight years he had a few problems..A car ran him over and broke his elbow..and required emergency vet and surgery.he was on his feet the same day...nothing kept this dog down.....and then one day he was dazed..I took him to the vet..he had a huge growth on his rectum...the first thing the vet said is do you want to treat him..Now..when I had him at the emergency vet they pretty much told me to put him down..eveything from decayed teeth to hip dis to back problems..but he seemed fine...and I didnt at that time..When i asked the vet "is he treatable" he said "anything is treatable..but is it worth it" He most likely has cancer...he had system falures and would need to be on iv's and there was no guarantees..Well.I stayed with him as he went to sleep..and I was unconsolable...And having to personally bury him took all the strenght I had..But it had to be done..I learned then that vets will let you treat an animal as long as you want to..My dog was 3 months to being 18...He needed to rest at rainbow ridge///

This may sound silly, but on the Labrador board there was post on seisures that linked it to diet.

Back To Basics

ZenCat's Avatar

Join Date: May 2004
Location: CT
Posts: 8,708
Send a message via Yahoo to ZenCat

Seizure/Grain Connection: Interesting Article
My dogs have never had a seizure, but my heart has broken for friends on this board who's dogs have. I was doing some reading online tonight and came across this interesting article about the connection between a dog's diet and seizures:
Quote:
1. The vitamins and minerals in grains have low bioavailability to the digestive tract. (Simply, grains offer little to no nutritional value to a canine diet).
2. Grains contain components considered "anti-nutrients" that can cause negative biological consequences (including autoimmune problems, allergies, digestive, gallbladder and liver problems all of which can cause seizures). Certain auto-immune diseases (e.g. insulin dependent diabetes mellitus IDDM) increases in animal models when they are fed high cereal grain diets.
3. Grains have high phytate content which impairs mineral absorption (particularly relevent since magnesium, zinc, calcium and other mineral deficiencies are linked to seizures).
4. For canines, it is well documented that three of the most common food allergens are wheat, corn and soy, primary ingredients in many commercial dog foods. (Allergies are a cause of some seizures.)
5. In human epileptics, it is believed that the grains high in gluten content (like wheat, rye, oats) stimulate opiod receptors in the brain, making them more susceptible to seizures. Although grains further "removed" from wheat (like corn and rice) are allowed in gluten free diets, the other issues listed here concerning grains in the diet would still exist.
6. Complex carbohydrates found in grains quickly turn to sugar in the body. (Since a dog's metabolism is considerably faster than ours, this might in turn mean that a quicker crash from a sugar "high" would occur. Hypoglycemia is another cause of some seizures.)
7. Unsupplemented canine diets of commercial foods high in cereal (grains) and vegetable proteins are likely to be deficient in amino acids. Taurine is the building block of all of the amino acids. (Deficiencies in taurine are linked to seizures and epilepsy.) Cereal grains are also low in Essential Fatty Acids, important for neurological function.


Full article: http://www.canine-epilepsy.com/healthydiet.html
__________________