Hey Pals,
Thank you so much for all of the healing vibes sent to Snickers. She is feeling much better today. Since many of our visitors are new this year, we thought we would give you a brief history of Snickers' epilepsy battle. But first we wanted to show you one of Mama's OTHER pets:
Can you see his little tongue sticking out??? (click on the picture to biggify)
Yep, as you know, Mama feeds about a
gazillion hummingbirds each summer. Well this little guy had an accident in May after he arrived here from the south. He smacked right into our french door glass & landed on the deck. He knocked himself silly, dizzy, you name it. He couldn't get up. Snickers & I just watched him. So Mama & Papa put him upright onto a table on the deck. He sat there for about an hour. Finally Mama coaxed him to walk around a bit, then he flew up to the feeder.
Mama can tell him apart from the other male
Ruby Throated Hummingbirds cause his red is a bit more orange then red. This guy sits on the feeder outside of the kitchen window day & night! He watches Mama. If she goes into the garden, he comes over & sits on the wire fence by her & makes his little chat noises. Yes, hummingbirds make little funny chatty noises. Mama will be sad to see him leave in October when he heads back south for the winter. Wonder if he will come back next May???
Now to give you the lodown on
Snickers' Epilepsy battle.
Luckily Mama has had past knowledge about human seizures all of her life. Her cousin was born normal, but at 2 weeks old, she got water on the brain & her head swelled causing her to be mentally handicapped for the rest of her life & battling a life of gran mal seizures. Mama witnessed way too many of her cousin's seizures through the years. As her cousin got into her twenties, the seizures started to slow down. She is now 47 years old and rarely has seizures. Mama remembers the struggles with medication dosages for her cousin through the years. It was a hard battle. So when Snickers had her first seizures, Mama knew right away what was happening and what to do.
Mama always takes Snickers into the bedroom and places her on a blanket or big towel onto the carpeted floor so that she doesn't hurt herself. The other pets are not allowed into the room.
Mama massages Snickers' body all over & hugs her the whole time. She also talks very calmly to her. Most dogs are temporarily blind while having the seizures & Mama knows that Snickers has this. So she keeps talking so that Snickers knows it's Mama in the room with her.
Snickers usually drools a lot during the seizures, so Mama keeps cleaning it off of her face. Once the seizures are over, Mama keeps Snickers laying down for at least 15-20 more minutes. When Snickers knows everything is over, she will pop right up and want a drink. Mama makes her walk very slowly since she is pretty wobbly after the seizures for quite some time. Some dogs still can not see after the seizures. Each dog is different with these side effects.
Next Mama gives Snickers some of the Rescue Remedy drops and a small biscuit. We have heard that most dogs have a drop in their sugar level after having the seizures so it's best to give them something to eat. Once Mama thinks Snickers can walk ok, then she takes her outside to potty. She usually needs to urinate and sometimes has diahrrea from the seizures.
Snickers started having seizures in June of 2008. She was almost 6 years old. She would get them often and 4 of them in a row within about 1 hour each time. Mama considers the seizures mild to medium. Snickers does not get the gran mal seizures.
By the end of July 2008, after running many tests to rule out what could be causing the seizures, she was diagnosed with the Idiopathic Epilpesy. She was started on Phenobarbital. By the end of December, the blood tests were still showing that the Phenobarbital level was still on the low side in her system. She was still getting way too many seizures. So the medication was increased.
Snickers was still getting seizures from every 12-25 days. The difference that we noticed was that the seizures were much shorter in duration. Also, most of the time she would only have 2 in a session instead of 4. Then in April 2009, the number increased back to 3-4 seizures each time.
The next blood test was due & still showing the Phenobarbital slightly low in her system. But we're at the point that we have to be very careful about raising the Phenobarbital dosage for Snickers.
Phenobarbital is eliminated by the liver and this can take its toll on the liver over time. Some dogs may develop liver damage with long term use of the drug, but many dogs never have any liver problems. Monitoring liver function tests on a regular basis will help avoid potential problems. Snickers had elevated levels on both tests with the second tests being extremely high. So we have to be very careful now with the Phenobarbital.
The dosage was raised on May 1st,2009. At first we thought this dosage was going to do the trick, but soon we knew it wasn't working. Now Snickers was getting seizures more & more often, even as often as every 2 days which she never had before. So on July 8th, she was started on Potassium Bromide. Some dogs need both Phenobarbital & Potassium Bromide to control their seizures. It seemed that Snickers was one of these dogs.
Most of the seizure drugs take many weeks & even months to build up in the dog's system. They just don't work overnight. So this is why it is so hard playing the waiting game to see if they get more or less seizures, more or less side effects, etc. Snickers had mild side effects from the Phenobarbital, but then after adding the Potassium Bromide, the effects got much worse. As most of you know from reading past blog entries, she has the severe hind leg weakness & mild coordination loss. Excess urination, hunger, thirst, whining, pacing, etc. Most of the side effects usually disappear for most dogs over several weeks up to several months. Our vet feels Snickers' leg weakness will get better. But in the mean time, now we have to make sure she doesn't hurt herself, especially after she rolled down a flight of stairs.
Snickers is NOT on a loading dose of the Potassium Bromide. Some vets give pets loading doses at first, which is a much higher dose than the normal daily amount to get the drug into the system faster. If Snickers did not have these side effects, we would consider doing the loading doses, but we don't feel she can take that much.
Since the last increase in Phenobarbital did NOT help at all, the vet agreed we should back her dosage on that down to the dosage it was previously. This might help with the side effects & we're certainly hoping the liver numbers will go back down somewhat. Once the seizures are under control with the Potassium Bromide, which could take many months of waiting & changing dosages, then we will work on backing off the Phenobarbital even more to help her liver. We do not want her to get liver damage & are worried that with the high numbers she has, they need to be lowered.
Mama is currently reading up on all she can about Milk Thistle. It is supposed to be very good at helping the liver to heal & keep it healthy since it is being stressed by the Phenobarbital. It specifically protects the liver against toxins (including some drugs and heavy metals), activates protein synthesis, and stimulates growth of new liver cells to replace those that are dead or damaged. Milk thistle also has strong antioxidant (destroys oxygen free radicals) and anti-inflammatory actions.
One good thing about Potassium Bromide is that it DOES NOT process through the liver. So this would be a plus for Snickers.
So that's her story. We'll be adding some links in our sidebar for sites that have good information about Epilepsy. We've already had some pals fill us in on their battle with seizures. We'll try to post their stories, tips & information for everyone to read. You never know when one little tip will help save a pet's life. If you would like us to post your seizure battle or have some good Epilepsy links, please email us at:
butchyandsnickers@gmail.comMAY THE PAW BE WITH YOU!
Wirey Hugs,
Butchy, Snickers, Ruby, Sylvester & Scuby
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