I'm really happy you have had some better days with him and fingers crossed you have many more x

Hi-

I too am new and found this web site as I was looking for the possible side effects to a mixture of epilepsy medicines. Our St. Bernard, Santiago, is 3 years old and has been epileptic for the last year. A few weeks ago, he was having about 1 grand mal seizer every 30 minutes, on a Sunday, and the vet had to make an emergency house call; she mentioned something about brain damage but after spending 2 days at the clinic all seemed well. However, now he has been having accidents all over the house and before this, just like you lurcher, he had never had an accident except for when his grandmum was here and he was literally pissed off. Currently he is taking 2 Epilease 100mg tablets combine with 5, 60mg Epiphen tablets in the morning and then he takes 4 Epiphen 60mg tablets at night. I am very worried as we love him and he is a member of our family. If anyone has any helpful comments or suggestions please help us and help Santiago. I'm very sorry to hear about your Lurcher and I hope that he/she begins to feel better as I am sure that you are more than worried about him. Oh, Santi already eats fruit and veg and he can peel his own bananas but I will cut out the doggie treats and see what happens.
Thanks and all the best,
Stacey

SO sorry to read this. Your dog sounds like such a sweet character, full of life and fun. It's good at least to hear he is ok right now, and enjoying his life to the full

My deerhound suffered from fits, They came on whne he was 5 yrs old.
He was on lots of tablets. Can't remember what they were now.
Some days he would perhaps have anything from 1 or 2 fits up to 8 fits. Other times he would perhaps go a few weeks without one. I don't really know if the medicines helped or not.
The vet said that he had no recollection of it once he was over it?? and though it would take him a day or so of being subdued he would then be back to his usual crazy self. If I'd thought he was suffering in between then I would have looked at having him pts but he was v happy dog doing all his usual crazy playing/racing around the garden and enjoying his walks. He did used to pee/poo and saliva everywhere while fitting and he was one big dog.
He lived to the ripe of age of ten and a half bless him. So if it is just epilepsy they can live normally between the fits.

phenobarbitone has a sedating effect so as to controll the seizures, if on a high dose this may affect the dogs ability to have bladder and bowl control.
U will no doubt be having a blood test soon to measure the levels in the blood stream?
It my be the lesser of 2 evils....fitting dog or heavily sedated dog

__________________
Master or servent?? Just remember who shovels who's poo up. There's your answer!

Hi

Unfortunately we lost Bossie a year ago last January.

Though we didnt have any brain scans done, the vet was pretty sure it was a brain tumour as he kept breaking through any medication he was put on. He also - on occaisions - had an extended limp which is also a sign of a brain tumour. All the things that were happening to him did indicate a brain tumour and his fits were becoming more regular and more severe with cluster seizures becoming the norm for him. A cluster seizure is when he starts coming out of one fit and goes straight into the next one. We were told that the brain learns how to have cluster seizures.

We read up a lot on seizures and causes of while we had Bossie and it isnt just epilepsy or a brain tumour that can cause them. If your dog - as a pup - hit his head hard enough his skull could have created a 'splint' which could put pressure on the brain and cause him to have seizures.

With regard to food - we found ice cream helped him come round. Not much - just a spoon full, but it helped regulate his temperature and he wasn't 'drunk' for as long afterwards. He was a demon for ice cream towards the end

Also a pack of frozen peas placed on his lower back might help (this was something else we read and it is meant to ease the severity). Cant say for certain if this helped him as his fits were becoming more severe anyway.

We were also asked to keep a diary for a couple of weeks (dependent on how regular fits are) as to what he ate and what exercise he had, what time his fits were etc - just incase there was a link.

I dont know if any of this will help you - I am no means an expert! Just someone wanting to help any of you who are living with a dog who suffers seizures. We know as well as anyone just how stressful and upsetting it is.

Good luck and hope all of your dogs lead long and happy lives.

Claire

*** We will always love you Bossie - forever in our hearts and minds ***

Awww im sorry to hear you lost Bossie.Just happened upon this thread this morning,then noticed the thread was started over a year ago.You didnt have Bossie much longer after you posted i see,thats really sad.
I hope you can smile abit now when you think of some of the good times you had with Bossie.xx

My first dog died from a brain tumour, 6 days before his first birthday. He only started having seizures two weeks before he died. They were fairly intermittent at first but the friday before he died he was stared on Phenobarbital. Side effects were horrific, he just staggered around in a daze and actually had more seizures. He went into the vets that evening and had the medication via a drip at a much higher dose. He seemed better but ended up having a massive seizure and brain haemorrhage on the sunday and died. He was always ill in some way perior to this, but in hindsight I can see the changes in his behaviour prior to his death that are consistent with a brain tumour. He became much more puppyish - like he was 10 weeks old and also became aggressive towards us - not constantly but would occasionally have a go for no reason and return to normal.