Update on Spike....
Submitted by a5hley on October 19, 2010 - 1:30pmSo....it is definatly not head tremmors =( At 3am he woke us up in a full blown seizure. His entire body was convulsing and he was drooling. It was followed by about a 30 minute post ictal period. then he paced the house for another 30 minutes. After he went back to sleep he woke up at 9 am having another that lasted about a minute to a minute in a half and his tongue started to turn blue. I used my infant nose aspirator to suction his mouth and he pinked up. We immediately went to his regular vet. By the time we got there he was looking alot better. They gave him some IV Valium to calm him down (7 mg) and then put an IV catheter in. They gave him 1 grain or 64 mg of phenobarb and we stayed for about an hour to monitor him. They sent me home with oral phenobarb and IV Valium. We go back tomorrow to remove the IV and recheck him. All of his labs were normal (CBC,electrolyes, kidney and and liver functions and thyroid)
We are going to try to manage them with phenobarb and if the meds don't work they will do a MRI.
Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
Thanks,
Ashley
Aww poor Spike
that must have really scared you! My close friends bulldog had this issue as well. You may have to adjust the phenobarb a few times to find the right mix for him. Once she got him settled on the right dosage, she hasn't had another problem since. I hope this is the case for Spike too. Best wishes and belly rubs to Spike,
Wow, that must have been scary!
I hope he adjusts quick to the medicine and things get better real quick!
Sending good thoughts to Spike...
Please let me know what you find out & give him a kiss from me. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this.
Cathy & Zimmer
www.midatlanticbulldogrescue.com
Oh no!
How scary! I sure hope the meds work.
Cathy and Audrey
poor boy
Gosh, that`s something I have never experienced. Give him a big kiss on the lips from me and Mr. Higgins. He is in very good hands with you, thank goodness for that.
I'm so sorry Ashley
Curious if you noticed rapid eye movement? Norbert had rapid eye movement and they thought brain tumor. He was on Phenobarb for several months then weaned off of it. He didn't have a brain tumor as thought and eventually succumbed to a maglinant tumor of the throat that surrounded is larynx. He was 11 1/2. I could go back to determine the progression but I'm guessing it was somewhere over a 9 month period. We did have several bouts of elevated white blood cells over a year or so.
I hope they can determine if it is epilepsy which can be controled by meds. Let's hope it is not a tumor. In my situation with Norbert, I would have not opted to do an MRI at his advanced age. #1 they are very expensive #2 Would you do surgery if you found a tumor. I think you have to weigh his age and determine what benefit the MRI would do and what the course of action would be depending on the result of the MRI. Have some discussion with your vet before jumping into the MRI.
Just some food for though. Keep us posted.
There was no rapid eye
There was no rapid eye movement, just a fixed gaze. That was my line of thinking about the MRI too.
another update
Being cautiously optimistic... we have gone over 24 hours without a seizure now. Hopefully the phenobarb is working. We go to the vet a 230 to take out his iv and get some rectal valium too have for breakthrough seizures. Please keep him in your prayers. Thanks for all of the kind words and encouragement.
Ashley
poor Spike...I can only imagine how horrible that was to see
I hope the meds continue to help...hugs to your little man!!
hi ashley my other dog is a
hi ashley my other dog is a doberman and she has seizures also she is on pheno barb and sodium bromide and it has helped alot, it took time to get the dosages tweaked correctly and she only has them occasionaly now. one thing with my dog is getting startled seems to bring it on, alot of times we can stop it with a treat , she loves carrots so we just ask her excitedly if she wants a carrott to distract her, it usually stops it and brings her back around. these are not full blown on the floor seizures just as her head starts shaking. good luck i know its pretty scary at first
That's positive
I'll keep up the good vibes for you guys. =)
Hugs and prayers to both of you..
Hoping the meds help the little guy. so sorry this is happening.
Jllian and PorkChop and our beloved BullyAngel Rex <3