New to Epilepsy
Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 9:47 am
My Maya has recently been diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy. Two weeks ago on Nov. 15 Maya started having what I call psychotic episodes. She was eating when the first one happened. She just stopped eating and then backed away from her food and started this yelping/barking/howling sound (most horrible sound you ever heard). I calmed her down and checked her over to make sure she wasn't hurt. She let me do this and I found no areas that were painful. About 30 min later she did this same thing again. (The first one was at about 5:45pm). I went out to dinner and came back home and let her and her sister Sadie (mixed breed...no clue what she is), and the foster I am taking care of outside. They came back in and we settled in to watch tv. About 15 min later Sadie started this time with the yelping/barking/howling sound and then she started running around like crazy. Maya started too and they were both running around making the noise. Sadie and Maya lost control of their bowels. Sadie ended up in her crate voluntarily (she never goes into her crate unless told to). Maya I was able to soothe while on the kitchen floor. Sadie did not want me to touch her. After this episode stopped (it lasted about 15 min) they were fine. Maya had a few more small ones on Sun night (just the noise around 6pm) and then we got the big one. Both dogs did the same thing as they did on Sat night and Sadie jumped over the barrier on my steps and Maya follwed and they ran upstairs. Sadie was trying to jump out my bedroom window and Maya was cowering in the corner. Sadie eventually ran into the shower (once I got her away from the window) and she cowered in there. Maya was on my bedroom floor. Both lost control of their bowels and didn't seem them selves for a while after the incident. During all these episodes they looked paniked and scared.
I had to go out of town on Monday Nov 18 for the week so I took them to their regular daycare/boarding place. I told the staff about their episodes and to watch out for them. I also called the vet and she said they were just having behavioral issues and to put them in thier crate and ignore them. I also told the staff that. On Tuesday Maya had a small episode (at 5pm) just a few minutes. Then on Friday Maya had a 30 sec seizure and then an episode after the seizure where she was throwing herself against the walls of her run to get out of it. She seemed fine on Friday night but she just came home and slept (not unusaul after a week at daycare). Sat morning we had an appointment at the vet for blood test. After we got back from the vet I noticed she was kinda running into walls a bit. I took her with me to a party to keep an eye on her. She seemed fine enough. Walking a little weird but I though she was just being funny and was tired. Then at about 8:15 she had another seizure. (This one about 2 min...we think). We took her home and we all went to bed. On Sun morning we woke up and it was like my 1.5 year old dog was 15 years old. Her back legs were buckling under her. She didn't know commands she previously knew. She had tremors (like you see in a human stoke or parkinson's patient). We kept her quiet and she had the same thing on Mon. I took her back to the vet and the vet was concerned. We got the results of our blood tests and they were normal. The vet suggested that we take her to NC State and have her looked at. I took her there Tuesday night and she was there until Thurs. She had a MRI and spinal tap and both of those were negative. The vet there wanted me to put her on meds right away and told me I was doing the wrong thing by not doing that. I just don't feel comfortable with that yet. I need to do more research.
Since Thurs she has been fine. Same old Maya except when she is sleeping. I have noticed that she is "chasing squirrels" a lot more than normal. By this I mean she is twitching and her paws are sometimes moving, her nose and lips are twitching. She is always asleep when this has happened and as soon as I clap or shake her to wake her she is fine. (My other 2 dogs were doing the same thing last night although not as much as Maya). Is this seizures too? If so I wonder why all 3 are doing it.
For right now I have Maya on home cooked meals (I plan to continue this but I need to find a nutrionist that will help me make a balanced menu). Maya also has IBS which she takes Librax for (she only taked it when she will be in a stressful situation) so I was thinking abot switching her anyway. (Sadie will start getting home cooked meals too).
We also have an appointment with a holistic vet on Mon. so hopefully that will help and we won't need meds.
So I just wanted to sat hi (sorry so long) and see what you all think about the sleeping twitches.
I had to go out of town on Monday Nov 18 for the week so I took them to their regular daycare/boarding place. I told the staff about their episodes and to watch out for them. I also called the vet and she said they were just having behavioral issues and to put them in thier crate and ignore them. I also told the staff that. On Tuesday Maya had a small episode (at 5pm) just a few minutes. Then on Friday Maya had a 30 sec seizure and then an episode after the seizure where she was throwing herself against the walls of her run to get out of it. She seemed fine on Friday night but she just came home and slept (not unusaul after a week at daycare). Sat morning we had an appointment at the vet for blood test. After we got back from the vet I noticed she was kinda running into walls a bit. I took her with me to a party to keep an eye on her. She seemed fine enough. Walking a little weird but I though she was just being funny and was tired. Then at about 8:15 she had another seizure. (This one about 2 min...we think). We took her home and we all went to bed. On Sun morning we woke up and it was like my 1.5 year old dog was 15 years old. Her back legs were buckling under her. She didn't know commands she previously knew. She had tremors (like you see in a human stoke or parkinson's patient). We kept her quiet and she had the same thing on Mon. I took her back to the vet and the vet was concerned. We got the results of our blood tests and they were normal. The vet suggested that we take her to NC State and have her looked at. I took her there Tuesday night and she was there until Thurs. She had a MRI and spinal tap and both of those were negative. The vet there wanted me to put her on meds right away and told me I was doing the wrong thing by not doing that. I just don't feel comfortable with that yet. I need to do more research.
Since Thurs she has been fine. Same old Maya except when she is sleeping. I have noticed that she is "chasing squirrels" a lot more than normal. By this I mean she is twitching and her paws are sometimes moving, her nose and lips are twitching. She is always asleep when this has happened and as soon as I clap or shake her to wake her she is fine. (My other 2 dogs were doing the same thing last night although not as much as Maya). Is this seizures too? If so I wonder why all 3 are doing it.
For right now I have Maya on home cooked meals (I plan to continue this but I need to find a nutrionist that will help me make a balanced menu). Maya also has IBS which she takes Librax for (she only taked it when she will be in a stressful situation) so I was thinking abot switching her anyway. (Sadie will start getting home cooked meals too).
We also have an appointment with a holistic vet on Mon. so hopefully that will help and we won't need meds.
So I just wanted to sat hi (sorry so long) and see what you all think about the sleeping twitches.