02-19-2012, 04:05 AM
I had a dog with epilepsy and she lived to a ripe old age. She had the "worst kind" of seizures, the grand mal, and once she had one, she would not stop having them until drugs intervened (cluster seizures). It didn't start out that way, keep reading to the part about kindling. The vet set us up with phenobarbitol to prevent the seizures. Its cheap, safe, and effective. It prevented probably 99% of the seizures, meaning that we needed injectible valium to give her when she DID have a seizure in order to stop them. Feel free to email me if you have any questions. The thing about seizures, whether dog, human, or otherwise, is that each seizure makes it more likely that another seizure will occur (its a process called "kindling", each seizure serves to "hardwire" the brain, making the pathways for future seizures) so it's important that you do everything possible in order to prevent them from occuring. Over the years I learned the events and signs that she was more likely to have a seizure and I was able to increase her dose of phenobarbitol during those times to decrease the likeliness of another seizure. Some of the triggers were stress, too much exercise, change in food (usually if she "got into" anything), too much heat, or other things that were outside of her norm.
After the seizure she was a bit catotonic. She could walk around in a daze, but didn't seem to be able to see, hear, or recognize us. This lasted about 15 minutes, although it seemed much longer. She would usually void her bowels and/or bladder during the seizure, and sometimes she would vomit immediately before the seizure. Goodbye carpets. She ALWAYS knew right before she was about to have a seizure. She would immediately run to me, paw at me, and make sounds of panic. This gave me time to rush to the valium, draw up the proper dosage into the syringe, and try to get it injected before the seizure began. Getting the medicine into her while seizing was like hitting a moving target, but I got good at it.
A grand mal seizure is like running a marathon and the dog can overheat. Dogs don't sweat and they don't pant effectively during the seizure. The overheating can potentiate another seizure. It is important to keep the dog in a cool area and out of the direct sun. During a grand mal seizure a lot of foam comes out of the mouth and she would sometimes bite her tongue or cheek, making the foam pink. Dogs foaming at the mouth in this manner have been confused with having rabies.
You asked about genetics. Dogs in general are more likely to have seizures than humans, and some dog breeds (like labs) are more likely to have seizures than other breeds.
p.s. another post about this dog is here: http://www.punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9861&whichpage=3&SearchTerms=euthanasia
After the seizure she was a bit catotonic. She could walk around in a daze, but didn't seem to be able to see, hear, or recognize us. This lasted about 15 minutes, although it seemed much longer. She would usually void her bowels and/or bladder during the seizure, and sometimes she would vomit immediately before the seizure. Goodbye carpets. She ALWAYS knew right before she was about to have a seizure. She would immediately run to me, paw at me, and make sounds of panic. This gave me time to rush to the valium, draw up the proper dosage into the syringe, and try to get it injected before the seizure began. Getting the medicine into her while seizing was like hitting a moving target, but I got good at it.
A grand mal seizure is like running a marathon and the dog can overheat. Dogs don't sweat and they don't pant effectively during the seizure. The overheating can potentiate another seizure. It is important to keep the dog in a cool area and out of the direct sun. During a grand mal seizure a lot of foam comes out of the mouth and she would sometimes bite her tongue or cheek, making the foam pink. Dogs foaming at the mouth in this manner have been confused with having rabies.
You asked about genetics. Dogs in general are more likely to have seizures than humans, and some dog breeds (like labs) are more likely to have seizures than other breeds.
p.s. another post about this dog is here: http://www.punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9861&whichpage=3&SearchTerms=euthanasia