It's been heartbreaking to see how many dogs are popping up with seizures lately, but unfortunately Huskies are one of the breeds with a higher incidence of seizures.

Because of all the chatter on here lately and after talking to a couple other epi-pup owners, I decided it would be a good idea to create a thread that consolidates our epilepsy information.

For anyone new to the forum and looking for information, my dog Shadow has hydrocephalus with secondary seizures. Hers are a bit tricky to control, but we've found a good combination of conventional and holistic treatments that are working very well. Her meds and schedule are:

0630 (breakfast)
20 mg Omeprazole
750 mg Levateracetam (generic Keppra)
64.4 mg Phenobarbital
400 IU Vitamin E
Epimedium Powder
Di Tan Tang Powder

1430
750 mg Levateracetam

1700
Denamarin for large breeds

1830 (dinner)
64.4 mg Phenobarbital
400 IU Vitamin E
1000 mg Fish Oil
Epimedium Powder
Di Tan Tang Powder

2230
750 mg Levateracetam

So as you can see, it's a pretty involved schedule. If you're looking into medicating your dog, each dog responds differently to the meds and a lot of times there is some significant trial and error before you get the right combination.

Mostly though, this thread is here for moral support. Epilepsy is a horrible disease, and we feel so helpless just standing there and watching our babies seize. This is here for encouragement and support, and we're all here for each other.

This is a great idea Meredith. Thank you!

You're welcome! I was talking to Monique (Nova) earlier today, and it's an idea I'd been kicking around for a while. Finally made the time to start the thread

It really got to me the other day too. There was like 3 or 4 it seemed one day.

It just broke my heart.

Thank you for this thread Mer. Hopefully people can find it right away and get a hold of you quickly when their pup has their first seizure.

Thanks for posting this Meredith!   It's horrible how many of our babies are going through this all of a sudden. It's been a month and almost a week since Kody's last one. Fingers crossed that we keep on this path! I've been a major sock natzie! lol

I know that the Denamarin is for the liver, but how do the Epimedium Di Tan Tang powders help?

I have found several web sites with good information. I'm sure there are more out there. I go back to them occasionally as Lyra's battle with epilepsy has progressed and find: Oh yeah, they said that could happen...

http://www.canine-epilepsy.net/index.html

http://www.canineepilepsy.co.uk/default.htm

Good idea about this topic. Yukon started seizures on 11/4/13 when he was about 1 1/2 years old. We are on Pheno twice a day since and he has been seizure free since.

It is heartbreaking to watch them have a seizure. I did not know what it was when I witnessed it for the first time. I had this awful feeling he was slipping away. Even with the second one, even though I knew what was going on, it did not make it any easier. Yukon is one of the lucky ones where it has only happened 3 times and has been seizure free for 4 months.

Kevin, Thanks for those websites, I'm reading through the second one right now. It really seems to kind of dumb things down so you aren't getting overwhelmed with all of the information. And I actually printed off the seizure diary and am going to hang it on our fridge. The current paper we had, I'm worried that we will lose or throw out by mistake, but this makes it much more noticeable.  

Jason, I would of never known that Nikolai was having a seizure had I not seen a couple seconds of the video that Meredith posted of Shadow having one. Seeing that video actually ended up calming me down while it was happening, because at least I knew what was going on. I thought after seeing the first one and knew what it was that the second wouldn't be so hard to watch again, but its just as bad as the first time, although I think I knew to be a little calmer. I'm glad Yukon is doing well on the medication. We have opted against it for the time being, and am hoping that they will be far enough part to not have to do it yet. Its just so sad when they are young, because they have to be on it for the rest of their lives.

Meredith also mentioned to me that Rosemary is something that can potentially help cause seizure in dogs, and I actually around the times that he had them been giving him more rosemary than normal (he had some in his dry food, and more Zukes treats, that I had bought a ton of for Christmas) so I have cut out all herbs just to be safe. I won't know if this has helped for 4 more weeks now if he is going to continue his every 6 weeks, which I really hope he won't! But just something to consider, because when she mentioned that, it really hit me that could potentially be the cause. I even brought it up to my neurologist and she said I wasn't the first person to think that, that she has seen more recently.

Yukon's first seizure was at like 10:30pm one night while I was watching TV in bed, and Yukon was asleep on my pillow when he started. Afterwards I did some research, and made sure he was comfortable, got him some water and opened the windows so he would not get too hot. I called the vet first thing in the morning and made an appointment. While I was getting ready he had another one just as bad at 7:45am. The vet did some tests and said that if he has a 3rd one within the next 24-48 hours to have the pheno script filled and put him on that. That same night at like 2:30am he had his 3rd, so we started the pheno the next morning. His blood tests came back fine, so it ruled out any toxins or poison, so she diagnosed him with epilepsy.

Thanks for starting this Meredith!  As I mentioned to Meredith - Not all vets have the same experience when it comes to Dogs with seizures. Keep in mind every case is different and not all dogs are the same. Here is a list of tests we did for Nova and you may want to consider:
*1) Full Blood Panel >check glucose, white cell, etc. counts  This will be the 1st thing any Vet will do.
2) Bile Acid Pre & Post
3) Thyroid Panel
4) MRI  
5) CSF Tap (spinal tap)
6) Superchem/CBC/Lytes
7) Heartworn/Lyme/Erlichia/Anaplasma
8.) Distemper Virus PCR
9) Neospora Serology
10) Toxoplasma Serology
11) Ticker Vector PCR

Some of these tests can be done at the same time. For example 1&2 were done at once, 7-11 were done at another time, and MRI & the Spinal Tap was done when he was put under.

Nova's Medications - this is still a work in progress we haven't found something that will decrease the seizures more than 3 weeks. This is as of 1/17/14:
6:45AM (Breakfast)
(2) 500 mg Levetiracetam Extended Release
(2) 100 mg Zonisamide
(1) 300 mg Gabapentin

3:00pm
(1) 300 mg Gabapentin

7:00 PM (Dinner)
(2) 500 mg Levetiracetam Extended Release
(2) 100 mg Zonisamide
(1) 1000 mg Fish Oil

10:00pm (Bedtime)
(1) 300 mg Gabapentin
(1) 6 mg Melatonin

Now Nova's trigger is a panic attack, if we can't get the panic attack under control then he will have a seizure. For a Panic Attack he takes (2) 300 mg Gabapentin and the next doses for 24 hours is doubled.

Nova will get a 20mg Suppositoryy Diazepam if the seizure are over 3 minutes.

He also, has to get blood checks every month to make sure his levels are all good.

This is Nova's Second Seizure - and one of the calmest.

On advice posts I try not to comment unless I have something constructive to add to the conversation but in this post I just have to.

My heart goes out to all of you with pups who suffer from epilepsy and I really commend each and every one of you for dealing with it, I honestly do not know how I would cope if my baby was in that situation. Your dogs are all incredibly blessed to have the wonderful owners that they do.

Thank you very much for the information you all are sharing, experience is invaluable and I'm sure this will help a lot. I know personally I will be bringing this up with my breeder and going back through my dogs lines for any history of epilepsy just to be cautious.

My sibe has a lesion on the top of his snout that is not healing. I talked to the Vet and she wants to test his blood for zinc deficiency. So, I started researching ZRD and found this interesting article on ZRD relation with seizures. Just a fyi for all of those pups that are having seizures.

My own pup does not have seizures however, I am interested in this topic because my daughter has had seizures for the last eleven years.

http://www.jestarsiberians.com/zinc_responsive_dernatosis.html