Fits

[swainm]

My pug is 6 years old and for last 3 years has been having fits every 3 months or so. Last night he had a really long one and the vet is urging me to put him on medication for the rest of his life. The fits aren't life threatening or even very severe at the moment and I'm just not sure what to do as the medication can make the dog lethargic. Any advice would be much appreciated. Mel & Mr Darcy

[luluthepug]

Your dog is having seizures, right? Every 3 months doesn't seem to be that bad. Our vet advised us to put Lulu on meds after she had more than 1 seizure a month. She's on a very low dose of potassium bromide. How long is "really long"? And what sorts of seizures does he have? There is concern that a prolonged seizure can cause brain damage. Lulu's longest are about 6 minutes, hers are partial seizures where she shakes, but doesn't go into the full-blown grand mal seizure where they are lying on their sides convulsing. Still it's horrid to see. I'm sorry you are going thru this.

The low dose of Kpb doesn't cause any sort of side effects at all for Lulu. Phenobarbital is processed thru the liver, that's why our vet started us on the other stuff first. Higher doses can case lethargy.

Kara

[luluthepug]

Oh, and I LOVE the name Mr. Darcy!! :)

[Bethy]

One of our pugs, Mary, who we rescued, when she was four weeks old, has been on a low dose of phenobarbital, for most all of her life, with no lethargic side effects whatsoever. We have her liver function checked every 6 months, and she's been just fine. Mary is now 9 years old, and has been seizure free, since beginning her meds.

[swainm]

Darcy's fits are only partial ones, horrible to see but I've learned to cope with it. The vet was concerned as last night's episode was 46 minutes in total. Having said that, when he snapped out of it, he was straight back to normal self. I am trying him on a high meat content diet to see if this helps at all before resorting to meds. Thank you all for your advice - the medication doesn't seem as scary now. I was worried that any side effects may change Darcy's personality.

[snowsprite]

Medication wasn't able to help my pug, but it can do wonders for many dogs. The problem with epilepsy is that the more seizures that occur, the more the pattern for having them becomes imprinted in the brain, like making a path in a field. It doesn't happen in every case though.
The thing with medication is that if you find it isn't helping, you can always discontinue it's use. It doesn't have to be a permanent solution. Seizures do cause damage over time, and you have to weigh the benefits of the medications with any side effects or issues they may cause healthwise. There is a wealth of information on the internet about canine epilepsy.
Canine Epilepsy Resources

[luluthepug]

Yikes. 46 minutes? That is scary. Having a seizure that long can cause brain damage. If he were mine, I'd seriously consider putting him on meds because of the length of those. Even if he still had a seizure, hopefully it would be a lot less time, so the chances of brain damage would me minimized. I know many dogs are on pheno for years and years without any side effects. Lulu's potassium bromide took about 5 weeks to reach therapeutic level, and she's had a few (6 min) break through seizures while on it, but they are mild. She's on .25 2x a day, the meds cost about $17 and last for 5 months.

Why are you considering the high protein diet - is that something you read? We had researched feeding Lulu a raw diet, but were interested to find this article about epileptic dogs and raw food. I'm not sure if that's what you are considering. That 2nd site talks about people using ice on the back to reduce seizures, and a little bit of ice cream to prevent a 2nd seizure. Very interesting stuff - written by lots of people that have tons of experience.

Cautions on Raw Foods (Raw Meat) and Epileptic Dogs

There is a wealth of info on this site, in case you haven't found them:

http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-...m/site_map.htm

[swainm]

My vet warned me that one of the side effects of medication is that the dog can become very lethargic and I really don't want Darcy to be like that as he is so full of life. The other drawback is that over here the tablets would cost £18 per month on top of regular blood tests costing £58 a time - sure seems to be a lot cheaper where you live :-(

I have read on a few dog web sites that there may be a strong link between seizures and the type of food that you feed your dog. They all suggest changing to a good quality food containing a high meat content without preservatives etc. On some forums, people have noticed significant improvement to their dogs health.

I keep a diary of Darcy's seizures noting down everything to see if there is a pattern. This is the first time he has had one that has lastest so long. They are normally only 5 minutes or so. The vet has checked him over and is happy everything OK post seizure. I have been given some emergency medication which I can administer myself at home to snap him out of the fit if it happens again.

You just don't know what to do for the best do you? Thank you for the links - I have been doing a fair amount of reseach!