Canine Secondary Epilepsy

[Whippets Rule]

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OK as if things aren't stressful enough my Beagle has secondary epilepsy.

He's had three partial seizures that we know of.

Tuesday he was off his head just running round and round the house barking his head off and wrecking the joint in his desperation to find food,his eyes were popping out and his pupils huge,apparently he is totally unaware of what he's doing at the time (w00t) *wondering if i could get away with that kind of behaviour*

he's woken us during the night,smacking his lips and drooling and foaming at the mouth,just sitting there like a rabid dog :lol:

sadly it's not really all that funny,anyway he's having blood tests on Monday to see if a cause can be found. If not,the vet has said next step is a brain scan(they won't find one)but that's around a thousand pounds which is a bit scarey.

Anyone had a dog with secondary epilepsy?

if yes please post here and let me know what the cause was in your dog. x x x

 

[sugarpie]

hi,i know how worrying it can be when your dog has seizures,our dog began have seisures a few months ago. since that time she has been on potassium bromide+epiphen tablets daily. she was originally having up to 8 seisures a day(some milder than others).we kept her calm and our other dog away from her if a seisure occured,we would make sure that she could not hurt herself on any objects around her,then we would quietly talk to her as she'd start to come around. if out walking she could just fall to the floor,again we would calmly wait until she would come to.

happily since taking this medication her seisures began to decrease,(we found it helpful to chart when they happen+what was happening at the time,incase we could see a trigger pattern emerging). now it has been 7 weeks since her last seisure

it has been very costly at the vets as her insurance couldn't cover the problem as the vet said the likely epilepsy trigger was a very severe ear infection that effected a facial nerve,this health problem she came with (she is a rescue dog). she is due her 2nd blood test next week and hopefully her medication will be decreased.

i have found sites on the internet about canine epilepsy very useful.with regards to a brain scan as i understand it , it is not too beneficial as a problem cannot always be seen,plus the cost is huge and your dog will have to have a 'general '.

hope this helps you some what

regards deb :thumbsup:

 

[Whippets Rule]

Thank you.

Idiopathic or primary epilepsy is caused by brain cells behaving in a certain way and can be anywhere in the brain,this form of epilepsy is either inherited or the result of cranial trauma and needs to be treated with epilepsy drugs.

As i understand it secondary epilepsy is actually caused by another medical condition ie metabolic problem,liver,kidneys and even a brain tumour,i think this is why the vet has said about the scan.

my parents Border Collie has idiopathic epilepsy and in his case it is inherited and he didn't need a scan and he is on phenobarb and another drug.

because Parkers fits are secondary to something else,we need to find the cause,hopefully whatever it is can be treated and if we are lucky the seizures will stop.