Denali was on phenobarbital for a long time and then her liver levels started skyrocketing so our vet switched her to potassium bromide which has worked well. It costs us $50 for 100 pills. We were giving her twice a day then reduced it to once a day. Worked very well. You may wish to ask about that too.

I'm sorry to hear about Yukon. I've been meaning to reply to this thread.

Nova started having seizures in October - just before he hit 1 year.

We've done a full blood panel, bile acid & thyroid testing = all came back normal. (thanks to Meredith for the advice on the million questions I asked her- she said I should get those checked) There are 4 other tests we can do that where suggested by our vet: Distemper Virus PCR, Neospora Serology, Toxoplasma Serology, Tick Vector PCR.

Since then he has had 6 seizures we are actually having a MRI & CSF (spinal tap) done on Thursday. His seizures are increasing in length and are taking longer for him to recover from them.
Meds: Nova is taking Levetiractam & Trazodone. (He is taking trazodone also because he has high anxiety and when he works himself up he has a seizure.)

Sorry to Yukon is going through all this. I hope they can get the meds to start working for him.

Unfortunately, Yukon had another seizure last night It only lasted a couple of minutes, but this was the first time since November. I talked to the vet, and the last time they checked his pheno levels back in January he was a little low but they did not want to up his medication dosage. When they go on the meds, they usually do another test 6 months later, which it is about time for, so I will probably have to bring him back in to have his pheno levels checked and they may have to up his dosage. I am waiting to hear back from them now, but hopefully he does not have anymore seizures

Ugh, I'm sorry the streak got broken. Shadow had one this morning too, I think it might have been a reaction to her heartworm pill...

Go check out Canna Companion. We've had Shadow on it for a couple of months now, and have seen a huge improvement just overall. It's a hemp based cannabidiol product, but is perfectly legal since it has no THC. I'm part of a forum for that, and lots of folks have seen a marked difference in their dogs.

Good luck with Yukon, and hopefully you can get him straightened out. 8 months really is an awesome streak though.

blueeyedghost wrote:

Ugh, I'm sorry the streak got broken. Shadow had one this morning too, I think it might have been a reaction to her heartworm pill...

Go check out Canna Companion. We've had Shadow on it for a couple of months now, and have seen a huge improvement just overall. It's a hemp based cannabidiol product, but is perfectly legal since it has no THC. I'm part of a forum for that, and lots of folks have seen a marked difference in their dogs.

Good luck with Yukon, and hopefully you can get him straightened out. 8 months really is an awesome streak though.

I saw a programme on this cannabis oil recently for a young child with severe seizures and related problems. There was a remarkable turnaround for the child and he was even given it in hospital. Unfortunately the police raided the parents house, took the medication and charged them. It has created a public outcry and the case is ongoing. I feel that it will all work out now that the politicians are being educated into this type of treatment and as you say the THC is removed from the product. Based on what limited amount of info I have seen on it, I believe it is a real lifesaver and the potential for our beloved dogs should not be understated.

Haven't posted in awhile, but thought I would update. Yukon had a bad day today Well, bad few months. Last November he had 3 seizures and went on pheno. He was seizure free for 8 months until July, when he had another one. The vet ran a pheno level and it was a little low but they did not want to up his dosage.

Then, on October 4th he had another seizure and I called the vet again, and they said unless he has 2 within a couple weeks there was no reason to up it. Since then I switched vets. In the mean time he had a seizure again on November 13th, and now 2 today. The first one was this morning, so I went back to the vet this afternoon. He looked at his levels, and he said he was tested during his peak (6 hrs after a dose) and he was under the therapeutic range, he was "13" when it should be "20-30" (whatever that means). So he upped his dosage and we will run the pheno tests next month.

Anyway, it sucks and I wish he didn't have to deal with this. Hopefully the new dosage works.

The only thing worse than having a dog who's not doing well is to have a vet who says "Don't worry about it ..." How do you not worry about it?

Glad you got the second opinion and hope things level out for Yukon and you again.

Unfortunately, he had another seizure today. We have never witnessed one in the afternoon before, it has always been in the morning or late evening. He goes in Friday morning to have a pheno check before his med so they can test at the lowest level, and again around 2pm when his dosage is at his highest, and then the CHEM10 test.

This makes me wonder if he has been having them during the day when no one is home. Meredith, how often does Shadow have seizures? It does not seem like he should have them this close apart, just 3 weeks, especially after increasing the dosage. They did say it might be a couple weeks for it to work, so I am hoping it is just that, but I am not sure.

There would probably have been some *signs* had Yukon seizured durig the day with no one home to witness it...examples would be drool/saliva on the carpet or floor (wherever it happened), likely some urine, Yukon probably would be noticably *different* when you came home as well, either sleepy or disoriented/pacing, the eyes...just not clear and alert as usual. Of course much of this will depend on how he *normally* recovers from a seizure. No two dogs seizures are alike, and as I had two that seizured, I can say they were as different as night and day. Malukhai would often sleep for hours to as long as a day afterwards, while Anuschka was barely phased at all. Drool and urine in the place they seizure is pretty much a given usually. And yeah, seizures 3 weeks apart is kind of a lot. Hopefully the increased dosage levels off and Yukon will be seizure free again. I'm sorry you and Yukon are going through this.

That was exactly my thinking, that there would be signs that he had a seizure during the day while I was not home. He is kept in a crate all day long, and when he first went on the meds, he would pee in the crate, and it was very obvious as soon as I walked in the door. I have not experienced that at all. The only doubt I have is how much of a coincidence would it be that he has only had seizures while someone was home, but I guess it is possible.

When he does have them, they last for about 1-2 minutes, violent shaking, foaming at the mouth, etc and then afterwards he is dazed for about 1-2 more minutes and usually pees, although the last few he was confused and pooped inside. After the disorientation, he will pant heavily but be completely normal afterwards. Only twice has he peed while he was having them, and that was before he was on the meds. To my knowledge he has had 9 seizures since November 2013. 3 before he was started on the pheno last November and then none until July. Since July, he has had one every 3 weeks starting in October.

I called the vet, and they took down the info and said that if the vet thinks that he needs to do anything additional for the breakout seizures he will call, which they have not yet. He goes in for the extensive tests Friday to check the levels, so we will see where he is at.

Artic_Wind wrote:

There would probably have been some *signs* had Yukon seizured durig the day with no one home to witness it...examples would be drool/saliva on the carpet or floor (wherever it happened), likely some urine, Yukon probably would be noticably *different* when you came home as well, either sleepy or disoriented/pacing, the eyes...just not clear and alert as usual. Of course much of this will depend on how he *normally* recovers from a seizure. No two dogs seizures are alike, and as I had two that seizured, I can say they were as different as night and day. Malukhai would often sleep for hours to as long as a day afterwards, while Anuschka was barely phased at all. Drool and urine in the place they seizure is pretty much a given usually. And yeah, seizures 3 weeks apart is kind of a lot. Hopefully the increased dosage levels off and Yukon will be seizure free again. I'm sorry you and Yukon are going through this.  

I'm sorry that you're going through this Kody started on pheno in April and he's been seizure free since. Knocking on wood that pattern continues. His levels were at 15 on 1 1/2 pills total a day. So 3x a day he gets 1/2 pill. He was orginally on the 2 pills daily, but he was just REALLY drugged even after the anticipated week or 2 so they lowered his dosage. Tested his levels and they were perfect so they vet didn't feel to up it at the time. His seizures were always in the early morning also.  I hope that the new vet figures this out

I don't know if you'd consider spending the $, but we got a dropcam and watch him all day long just in case. It was about $140 (i think).


Please keep us posted.

Sorry you're having issues, Jason. Remind me, is he just on pheno? You might need to add something else in. Seriously, look into the Canna Companion. It really helped Shadow. Unfortunately she passed away in October from complications due to intestinal blockage. Her seizures were completely unpredictable too, we'd go for long periods and then she'd have several in a short amount of time. Hers were almost always early in the morning too, but we'd have them at random times as well. Good luck, and feel free to hit me up if you have questions.

Ugh, I hate reading about other people going thru this Id also like to add, and someone else better informed can correct me if Im wrong, but early morning seizures are somehow connected to the fact their blood sugars are at their lowest during the early morning. Not a lot you can do about that but I also know that following a seizure, blood sugars drop significantly and can actually cause them to go into another seizure and that giving them vanilla yogurt, or vanilla ice cream can help raise their blood sugars. I dont think itd hurt. I also wondered if maybe giving them a treat before bed would help the level of the blood sugars in the early morning? Stuff you can ask your vet if you want? I did the vanilla yogurt (greek style) with Malukhai after some cluster seizures he was having and he practically ate the spoon!! it did work though as it stopped any further seizures and he had already clustered earlier. I'm just giving you my thoughts...I've been thru this and I wanted and collected as much information as I could.

Ahh, and yes, for whatever reason, its very possible he would seizure only when someone is home. I dont know how but Anuschka was a early morning seizurer, and no matter how deep a sleep I was in, I would wake up...and yet the seizures are so silent.

When they tested his peak level in July, he was at 13%, and the vet at the time said that was a little low but not cause to up the dosage, however I changed vets and the new vet said that it was way too low, and increased his dosage to 120mg of pheno a day instead of 94mg. That's great that he has been seizure free since April though!

MelissaI wrote:

I'm sorry that you're going through this Kody started on pheno in April and he's been seizure free since. Knocking on wood that pattern continues. His levels were at 15 on 1 1/2 pills total a day. So 3x a day he gets 1/2 pill. He was orginally on the 2 pills daily, but he was just REALLY drugged even after the anticipated week or 2 so they lowered his dosage. Tested his levels and they were perfect so they vet didn't feel to up it at the time. His seizures were always in the early morning also.   I hope that the new vet figures this out

I don't know if you'd consider spending the $, but we got a dropcam and watch him all day long just in case. It was about $140 (i think).


Please keep us posted.

Oh no, I am so sorry

Yeah, he is on pheno. I am going to check into the Canna Companion. Do you have any suggestions on where to get it? I think I will just google it.

Yukon has had a rough year though...in addition to the seizures he got into a fight with Kodiak, and injured himself. I couldn't find any puncture wounds but I think it was his neck because he would yelp if you touched him and he didn't want to play or do anything for about 2 weeks. Then, just after that he must have eaten some plastic and I had to take him to the vet because I thought he had a blockage. Luckily he didn't but he was vomiting pretty badly for 2-3 days.

blueeyedghost wrote:

Sorry you're having issues, Jason. Remind me, is he just on pheno? You might need to add something else in. Seriously, look into the Canna Companion. It really helped Shadow. Unfortunately she passed away in October from complications due to intestinal blockage. Her seizures were completely unpredictable too, we'd go for long periods and then she'd have several in a short amount of time. Hers were almost always early in the morning too, but we'd have them at random times as well. Good luck, and feel free to hit me up if you have questions.

I'll have to ask the vet about that. When he was describing it to me, his pheno levels peak about 2 hours after taking the pill, and Yukon takes it at 6:30 am and 6:30 pm, so at night his highest would be at 8:30, and it would drop to the lowest between 5-7am. Even after taking it, he could have a seizure a couple hours after that. But then some were at like 11 at night, so that didn't make sense to me either.

Artic_Wind wrote:

Ugh, I hate reading about other people going thru this Id also like to add, and someone else better informed can correct me if Im wrong, but early morning seizures are somehow connected to the fact their blood sugars are at their lowest during the early morning. Not a lot you can do about that but I also know that following a seizure, blood sugars drop significantly and can actually cause them to go into another seizure and that giving them vanilla yogurt, or vanilla ice cream can help raise their blood sugars. I dont think itd hurt. I also wondered if maybe giving them a treat before bed would help the level of the blood sugars in the early morning? Stuff you can ask your vet if you want?  I did the vanilla yogurt (greek style) with Malukhai after some cluster seizures he was having and he practically ate the spoon!! it did work though as it stopped any further seizures and he had already clustered earlier. I'm just giving you my thoughts...I've been thru this and I wanted and collected as much information as I could.

Ahh, and yes, for whatever reason, its very possible he would seizure only when someone is home. I dont know how but Anuschka was a early morning seizurer, and no matter how deep a sleep I was in, I would wake up...and yet the seizures are so silent.

www.cannaforpets.com, they are awesome to work with. We were part of their "extra strength" trial this summer, and finally felt like we had pretty decent control again.

blueeyedghost wrote:

www.cannaforpets.com, they are awesome to work with. We were part of their "extra strength" trial this summer, and finally felt like we had pretty decent control again.

Thank you, I sent them an email.

I read Shadow's blog and started tearing up I know what it is like to know that one of these days he is going to have "the one" that he won't recover from. I kiss and hug him every day in case it is the last day I see him. Yukon also eats everything that is not nailed down, so that can easily be him. I will be comforted by the fact that when my boy does cross the bridge, Shadow will be there with him.

And he just had another one a few minutes ago This one was scary because afterwards he just played there and closed his eyes, but now he is back to normal. I don't think I will be able to wait until Friday and will call the vet in the morning.

Do you have an emergency vet nearby? 2 seizures in 24 hours is not good. Only after knowing what I know now would I say this and that is to take him in. They will monitor him and should he seizure again, he's in good hands. They'll also do blood tests and make sure everything is where it should be. They'll also transfer all their findings to your regular vet.

When he first started having them he had 3 in a row. And earlier this month it was two in one day right after they increased his dosage. I'm going to watch him tonight and hopefully get him in tomorrow. Last time the vet didn't seem that concerned that he had two seizures in a day

Sorry I fell asleep last night and wound up not chiming in. Usually they say bring them in if its 4 in 24 hours, we only had to do that once with Shadow. How is he doing today, Jason?

I'm sorry my blog made your eyes water last night too, and mine watered a little reading your post

blueeyedghost wrote:

Sorry I fell asleep last night and wound up not chiming in. Usually they say bring them in if its 4 in 24 hours, we only had to do that once with Shadow. How is he doing today, Jason?

I'm sorry my blog made your eyes water last night too, and mine watered a little reading your post

It's OK He has been doing good this morning, he slept through the night, even though I did not get a good nights sleep. He was acting different last night, it's hard to describe...he was more relentless in getting what he wanted. He has always been stubborn, but he was constantly on the counter, or wanting to get to what I was having. He has always done that to a degree, but more in your face than normal. The thing that scared me afterwards was he just laid there after the seizure like he was going to sleep for a few minutes, and he was pretty restless for much longer than before.

There are a couple folks on the Epil-K9 list serve whose dogs have behavior like that post seizure. Shadow never did, but she had so many other neuro issues who knows. She did have big pica issues, and as careful as we were it still wasn't enough.

Kody actslike that after his seizures also for HOURS. Very frustrating