crazy behavior

Submitted by RAM on March 29, 2012 - 9:29am

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Brutus has been having "episodes" since January. He was sound asleep then jumped up and started barking very loud almost like he was protecting me from an intruder (if you did not know him you might think he was mean) running around the house (as if running away from something or looking for something)jumping on the furniture, excessive panting which led to drooling and occassionally whining as if he was hurt. This went on for an hour and then calmed down until about 4 hours later. The first time this happened he seemed to be sensative to any noise, the fedex truck, my putting his food in his bowl, the garage door opening etc. The vet gave him a tranquilizer but it happened again. Then the vet put him on amitriptyline 50mg twice daily. He felt he was stressed and upset due to his skin condition( allergies and seasonal aleopycia). The dog was so drowsey and not hungry or even playing with any toys... I lowered him down to one pill and he was the same way. He still had a few episodes (even when we went out on a walk) so the vet took him off the meds and decided to do blood work which of course came back normal. I saw an earlier post where one owners dog had an ear infection with the same type of episode so I suggested to look into his ears. The vet said the ears were fine, he feels it is some type of seizure like activity so he put him on Phenobarbital 64.8 mg twice daily. the dog started vomiting, fell off the bed, and keeps loosing control of his legs and tilting to his side when he walked since he started the meds the only positive is he wants to play with his toys again and is a little less lethargic. I called the vet and he said that it was not the Phenobarbital... regardless I know my dog so I decided to lower the dose to 1/2 a pill twice a day. Brutus has not vomitted but he is still a little wobbely and occassionally tilting.... he is also extremely hungry all the time now. Last night (he has been on meds for one week now) he had another episode. I do not know what to do and am not very happy with the vet. I am not even sure that Brutus belongs on this medication ... Does any one have any suggestions or have they heard of this type of behavior???? BTW Brutus is 7 years old

Oh wow - no experience but....

Submitted by RARett on March 29, 2012 - 12:23pm.

Have they done any kind of scan? I mean erract behavior / changes in personalities in people can be caused by tumors etc.

You said he has skin allergies - I'm assuming you tried switching foods etc to figure out the allergies -

You arent happy with your Vet, is there another one that you can go to? maybe a different sets of eyes/ears might have a different diagnoses - it sounds like this vet might be treating the Symptoms, not the reasons.

Wow Brutus, I dont know what else to suggest for him -

I hope someone with more experience in this replies -

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Last steps taken May 26, 2014 -- Been rolling along ever since . . . .

A few things I have heard

Submitted by CathyandAudrey on March 29, 2012 - 1:41pm.

saw a similar issue on another dog site, and a few of the responses from others with similar experiences:

1. Smoke alarm battery running low. Or smoke alarm making noises-dogs hearing is so much more sensitive than ours.

2. Old electrical wires were leaking electrical current into the air.

those were the 2 that stood out to me as not something I'd ever in a million years think of!

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Cathy and Audrey

No experience either but

Submitted by Céline and Ange... on March 29, 2012 - 1:41pm.

I think I would seek a second opinion. The vet seems to be throwing all sorts of drugs at this problem, without any real type of diagnosis (in my opinion). And the fact that Brutus is reacting badly to the drugs would prompt me to do exactly what you did, STOP those drugs.

I agree with Rick that some sort of brain scan would be a good idea. I might have guessed ears too, but you already checked on that...

Poor guy doesn't sound very happy, so I would seek another opinion for sure. Where are you located? Maybe some of the folks here could recommend a good doctor to check out your boy "stem to stern".

Please keep us posted.

ay...poor thing sweet

Submitted by Pegsy on March 29, 2012 - 2:49pm.

ay...poor thing sweet brutus...no experience either from my end

but i would definitely agree on get a second opinion on that...no

expert by any means but it would sound more neurological from

the sound of things...clearly the drugs are definitely not helping...

yes,pls keep us posted

Agree with the others

Submitted by onslowsmom on March 29, 2012 - 2:55pm.

specialist or another vet.

Sounds like a head issue but have you checked his mouth out very well? Perhaps an absess or something. Unlikely, just a thought. Hope you can figure it out.

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The drooling

Submitted by onslowsmom on March 29, 2012 - 2:56pm.

is what made me think mouth. But they do drool with general pain. =(

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I would immediately get a second opinion.

Submitted by AmyandSophia on March 29, 2012 - 5:09pm.

Find yourself a Bulldog knowledgeable vet in your area. There is a list of bulldog vets by state on teh home page, find one you can get him to.

I don't know what else to tell you, but I hope you get an answer.

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Amy and Sophia

Any recent Move? New home/apartment in January?

Submitted by Deb and MacKenz... on March 29, 2012 - 7:59pm.

n/m

Thanks for all the

Submitted by RAM on March 30, 2012 - 5:54pm.

Thanks for all the responses. We are living in the same house since I got Brutus so that is not a new change. I have an appointment with a new vet on Wednesday so we will see what he says and I will keep you all posted. Thanks so much and keep your fingers crossed.