Canine Epilepsy - Phenobarbital Losing Effectiveness

Hi.  I have never posted here before.  I have a lot of experience with epi-dogs. I don't know your puppy's name except you call him Baby.  He is an absolutely beautiful doggie and has a great smile!  If you could give me some additional information maybe I can help.  What dose of pheno did you start with (and how often)?  What were the frequencies of seizures when they first began?  When did they become worse/better? How many seizures does he have at a time?  What amount of "recovery" time does he have between seizures?  How long do the seizures last?  How much pheno is he taking now?  Do you have him on a liver support?  There is a liver support in the form of soft chews that can help keep liver functions better with the pheno.  But please let me know before you buy them from the vet.  You can save about 300% on the cost.  Please email me at MilfordPrintShop@aol.com if you want my help.  God Bless.  Bernadette

Hi!  I will try to keep this short.  But it is so hard when your talking about your baby, well, my baby Maggie.   She was diagnosed with lymphoma in June 09 and since then she has been on lots of meds.  She started having seizures in Aug 09 and they had her on prednisone 1 1/2 two times a day for two weeks to see if it would help.   She didn't have any more seizures, but two days after I took her off the pred, she had a seizure that lasted longer and was more then just the foaming and head shaking (they called it 'fly catching') that she had prior to these new seizures.

They kept her in the hospital (Colorado Vet school) for the weekend and loaded her with potassium bromide.  She couldn't take the  pheno because her liver levels where way too high.  Since then she has been taken off the potassium bromide because she had night tremors really bad.  Now she is on Levetiracetam 500 mgs 3 times a day, 1 1/2 pred once a day and Xanax 2 mgs at night to help all of us sleep.  I am playing around with the xanax because she is way too out of it and if she has to go to the bathroom at night, she is to heavy to pick up.

 BTW, she is a 10 or 11 year old black lab who weighs about 57 to 60 lbs.   She was a rescue dog so they weren't sure how old she was when we adopted her.  I think she was about 1 and a half.  The pred has given her a ferrous appetite and she drinks a ton of water.

She hasn't had an MRI on her brain because it costs around 2k and her chemo and everything else has cost us around 5k.  If I knew what I know now, I wouldn't have had to take her to the vet so often and just asked to put her on the different meds and maybe saved some money to have the MRI.  She did have a ultrasound in the beginning and they couldn't see anything.  She has been seen by every specialist in the hospital.  She also went through a jerking period, almost like having the hic ups, but it was only from the waist down.  That has stopped.  She was on the potassium bromide and pred then and since we took her off the pot brom., the jerking has stopped.   My, Maggies dr. keeps telling me not to worry, because there are other meds that we can try and we won't give up as long as she keeps wagging her tail, eating her meals and going to the bathroom like she does.

She had since lost her vision in one eye and can see a little in the other.  But we are with her every step of the way and  use our voice to guide her.  

She will walk herself into a corner if your not there, but we are every minute.  I am not working now due to my carpel tunnel, which thankfully, allowed me to stay home and keep my eyes on her.   I am not on any workman's comp or unemployment so I am not taking advantage of anything.   I am just great full I can be with her and help her.

Please email me if you need any help or just someone to talk to about your baby.  Maybe we can help each other with our hits and misses.  One more thing, you may want to go out and get a doggie diaper from pet smart.  They have velcro to hold in place and a hole for the tail.   Don't buy the pads that they have for them, they are just feminine womans pads.  Just get the no brand super pads at the store and put it on at night.  Just don't put it on too tight.  My husband puts it on too tight, IMO and I adjust it just a little.  I have used two pads side by side, when I know that she is having diarrhea.   You never know how a medication is going to effect your baby, so it's better to be safe then sorry.  

Also, I see that you have the exact same carpet that we do.  You might want to go out and buy a Bissel small carpet cleaner.  I think they are around $69. at Target or Walmart (I did see them at Costco as well).   When maggie had a very, very large diarrhea accident, I just (this is gross) sucked it all up with the Bissel, all of it.  I didn't have to touch it.  Then I sprayed it with Windex, yes Windex it works wonders on carpet and soaked the carpet and sucked it up and repeated about 3 times.  Then I sprayed it with water and sucked it up.  I never rubbed the carpet and you can not tell she had an accident there.  since then, she has had a few accidents and you would never know it! Keep your eye on the 'Full' line.  Be sure you empty it and rinse it out.  When your finished with the stain rinse it out in the toilet or take it outside if the weather is ok and spray it clean.   I made my husband clean the last part of it.  

Best of luck to to and your beautiful baby!

Sincerely,   Carolynn 

clisagraff at aol dot com