::JAS::

aprovencher21

Hey,

I have a question about seizures in dogs.  Does Shy act strange for the next few days after a seizure?  Has she ever lost sight for a few days?

Kaylee seemed to have a slight seizure early Wednesday morning (like 4am).  Ever since her third eyelids have been slightly up, she flinches away from things moving towards her (as if her vision is disturbed), light bothers her, and she wants to be slightly on her own (for example right now she's curled up in her special bed under my vanity where its dark and away from the other two dogs).  She's eating, drinking, pooping, peeing fine.  She's able to run, walk, jump (though she shouldn't be) just the flinching and yelping has be besides myself. 

Thank you.

zippityb

I am not Jas, but I had a sheltie growing up who was epileptic. She had seizures when she'd get too excited, and we would just have to keep her calm for a while afterwards. She sometimes would act like she was in trouble, even though she wasn't. That would only be for a couple of hours, though, and then she'd go back to normal. I would definitely take Kaylee in to the vet just to be safe.

aprovencher21

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_jas-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:ede24861-2763-44e4-98f2-fb9cbea2c32cPost:6f60449d-a6ca-4c1d-829a-3e82e0cc7171">Re: ::JAS::</a>:
[QUOTE]I am not Jas, but I had a sheltie growing up who was epileptic. She had seizures when she'd get too excited, and we would just have to keep her calm for a while afterwards. She sometimes would act like she was in trouble, even though she wasn't. That would only be for a couple of hours, though, and then she'd go back to normal. I would definitely take Kaylee in to the vet just to be safe.
Posted by zippityb[/QUOTE]

Hi Zip! Thanks for responding.

Kaylee's been having a few medical issues so I've been updating her vets about twice a day.  She's on two medications as it is.  She gets horribly stressed going to the vet's office so we (the vets, FI and I) are trying to avoid bringing her in since she's eating, drinking, walking, etc.  She also has a slightly herniated disc in her neck (why last week we were meeting with the orthopedic surgeon) so keeping her calm is important for both the seizures and her disc alignment.  Jas knows some homeopathic therapies (such as ice on the back works wonders to slow and help stop a seizure).  I just wanted to know if she'd experienced some of the behavioral changes with her puppy.

You know you're a crazy pet owner when your vet's phone number is on speed dial. 

TheCranberry

Awww, I get so sad when animals are hurt/sick.  You can't really explain to them what's going on, and they must get so stressed out by it.  I hope she feels better.

aprovencher21

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_jas-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:ede24861-2763-44e4-98f2-fb9cbea2c32cPost:f9e3943d-ccf5-43e6-b865-ff2442975e68">Re: ::JAS::</a>:
[QUOTE]Awww, I get so sad when animals are hurt/sick.  You can't really explain to them what's going on, and they must get so stressed out by it.  I hope she feels better.
Posted by TheCranberry[/QUOTE]

Thanks.  Right now I know she's feeling really punky.....however the little stinker is enjoying the fact that she gets meds three times a day so she is enjoying the extra yummies. 

Usually when she's not feeling well she just wants me to hold and cuddle her.  Right now she wants to be by herself relaxing in the dark.....<sigh />

jasmineh7777

Hey Aprove.
 
 All of those things sounds pretty "normal" for post ictal behaviors.
I'll type a longer response, just wanted to let you know this off the bat.

aprovencher21

Thanks Jas.  She's having her blood checked next week if i don't have a cow and bring her in before that.  She likes being with the other dogs and then will suddenly want to go off on her own.  Its really unusual for her.  Especially for her to want to be away from me.  She's been on Pheno for almost a month so I'm hoping its not that.  I think I'm worrying its her neck vs. seizure related.  She lets me touch all along her back and neck and even apply pressure so I'm reassuring myself she's not in pain.  If she's left where she wants to be she doesn't cry or flinch.

Exhausting.

jasmineh7777

The pheno levels have to build up and stabalize in the blood. If she is on the high end, they may lower the level, which could alleviate some of the behaviors.
 
 Shiloh will sometimes whine before she has a seizure. She can "feel" when something is up.  Maybe Kaylee is just feeling a little off? If she is indeed feeling funky before a seizure, you can give her a drop or two of the Rescue Remedy to try to stop it before it happens.
  Have you used valium?
    Does she have cluster seizures or one at a a time?
      Do you feel interregated yet? :P

aprovencher21

Her seizures are so slight (and I'm not complaining) that we didn't even know she had one happen yesterday morning.  I'm still not even sure one happened.  She was playing with a toy and suddenly her eye was watering and twitching a bit.  He third eyelid stayed up and got red for a bit and she was pawing a bit at her face.  She then proceeded to yelp and flinch away if our hands went by her head.  She basically wanted to go sit in a corner in her bed in the dark.  Strange.  The vet said she could have had a minor seizure but with some harder to overcome effects.  Its just different this time because if she did have a seizure, with the last two she had a very quick rebound back to normal.  I'm so highstrung over her.....and I really hurt myself this week that I'm exhausted and highly medicated.

Now I feel whiney.

She's still on steriods along with the phenobarb so she's still eating like a champ.  All 7lbs of her!! 

aprovencher21

We haven't used the valium yet.  My vet's want to take things slow because she was highly medicated the past two weeks with pain meds and muscle relaxers cause of the neck issues. 

jasmineh7777

Oh Aprove, what a crap week.

 Focal facial seizures can just affect the head and mouth. For example, her eye may twitch, or her mouth. Like when you have a muscle spasm, kind of. It is still a malfunction in the brain, and probably really scary for her.

 Shiloh's had around 10 seizures this week as well. So this is all fresh in my mind.

Are you keeping a seizure log? They're really helpful and your vet should be willing to look over it.

aprovencher21

I have her seizure log.  It stays right by my bed.  My vet's are awesome and Kaylee may now end up with her own neurologist (I have my own for my migraine disorder so Kaylee should have her's for epilepsy).  Now she has her own orthopedic surgeon, radiologist and neurologist......

I'm hoping that she's blacking out in these seizures and doesn't remember anything except feeling tired.  Her vision is clearly still off cause she's clumsy (which is really abnormal because she;s the most graceful of my girls) and has walked into the doorways.

I'm so sorry to hear about Shy.  Any idea what triggered the seizures?  Are you okay??  This is all so emotionally draining.

jasmineh7777

She probably doesn't remember it at all. (In fact, I think my vet told me this.)
 Shy will suddenly look around after it's done like "WTF was that?" I really don't think they remember. They are just tired and achey.

 The bumping into stuff is really quite normal, both in what I've read adn for SHy as well. Even when she can see, she bumps into stuff and falls over for a while.

Try and note *where the seizures occur and *what time. You might notice a pattern.
  We have found that 90% of Shy's happen between 9:00pm and 6:00 a.m.

We're doing fine, just tired. Thanks for asking.   This is just part of Shy. She will always go through periods of seizures. It is so much better now that we have an emergency med kit and have assigned jobs. It's kind of like being a trauma nurse, isn't it?

 THe valium helps with cluster seizures. IT doesn't stay in teh system long, and can't be used to treat long term. BUt it does help for 4 hours of so if Shy is clustering.

aprovencher21

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_jas-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:ede24861-2763-44e4-98f2-fb9cbea2c32cPost:01b89653-7f83-4970-be70-6afa052820f2">Re: ::JAS::</a>:
[QUOTE]She probably doesn't remember it at all. (In fact, I think my vet told me this.)  Shy will suddenly look around after it's done like "WTF was that?" I really don't think they remember. They are just tired and achey.  The bumping into stuff is really quite normal, both in what I've read adn for SHy as well. Even when she can see, she bumps into stuff and falls over for a while. Try and note *where the seizures occur and *what time. You might notice a pattern.   We have found that 90% of Shy's happen between 9:00pm and 6:00 a.m. We're doing fine, just tired. Thanks for asking. :)  This is just part of Shy. She will always go through periods of seizures. It is so much better now that we have an emergency med kit and have assigned jobs. It's kind of like being a trauma nurse, isn't it? ;)  THe valium helps with cluster seizures. IT doesn't stay in teh system long, and can't be used to treat long term. BUt it does help for 4 hours of so if Shy is clustering.
Posted by jasmineh7777[/QUOTE]

The ice packs worked really well in calming Kaylee.  We now have a basket of supplies next to the bed.  I'm going to get the liquid melatonin and I'm sure my vet will fill the valium order for me to have on hand for her.  Kaylee's three seizures so far have been at 4am, 8:30am and 7pm.......no pattern yet but I'd love for them to be completely over and for me never to have to establish a pattern.  I can hope right?

Shy's very lucky to have you as an owner.  I'm sure it wouldn't surprise you but a ton of people once they found out Kaylee had a seizure asked when we were putting her down!  They were just lucky I was medicated or me telling them to go fvck themselves wouldn't have been the only thing I did to them.

jasmineh7777

Did I ever send you that website? It's made by owners of epileptic dogs.

We got taht reaction too. We adopted Shy, and a lot of people thought it wasn't worth spending the money. Jerkfaces. I'm glad she never went to the shelter, or they would have put her down on the spot.
 It's sad because most eplileptic dogs are fine a huge majority of the time.

And you may not ever need to know a pattern! Many dogs go through a period of seizures and then it never happens again. My 14 year old papillon has a seizure maybe once a year.  It can happen!

aprovencher21

You did send me that website.  I'm on it all the time.  How long is Shy usually "different" after a seizure?  Is there a point I should be worried that Kaylee isn't getting back to normal??

jasmineh7777

Shy's seizures are a littel different. She may have 7 grand mals in 4 hours. So, she can be messed up for the rest of the night (blind, terrified). and then "off" for days. She's been acting strangely *all week* this week.

 Kaylee may well be having such small seizures that you don't even notice (like you said). So each one could start the recovery cycle over again. It may not be that the symptoms are still from teh first seizure you noticed.