Allergies and Seizures - help

[enzosfamily]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with their yorkies having allergies and seizures. We have been dealing with seizures with our 4 year old Yorkie since the summer and they happen now about once a week. We have had a Bile Acid Test, blood work, Addison's test etc. Bile Acids were a bit high but blood work was fine. The specialist we saw thinks it could be a GI problem and she and our regular vet do not think that it is his liver causing this. We had a MRI done showing no shunts though I am aware of possible MVD.

I am not convinced it is his liver OR GI and am hesitant to do a biopsy at this point. We are seeing a holistic vet on Wed - hoping she thinks a little outside the box.

I just read online that allergies can cause some dogs to have seizures. Enzo constantly itches, bites his paws often, sneezes a few times during the week, and then vomits with the seizure. I just saw a list of symptoms online and everything Enzo does is on the list. I did not bring this up to the Specialist since I did not realize that allergies can cause seizures. I told our Vet awhile ago about the itchiness but she did not mention a correlation. I do not know how familiar she is with allergies though.

Anyone have or know of similar symptoms in their Yorkies?

I also doubt it is hypoglycemia. I have heard of possible thyroid problems but our vet said that his blood work did not indicate that so she didn't think it was that.

Anyone with any help or insight, I would appreciate! I am desperate to find the cause without having to do a liver or GI biopsy - fearing it will be inconclusive and we put our poor little dog through unneccessary surgery.

P.S. I stopped giving Enzo food with rosemary in it - just in case but he had a seizure last night (more shaking/tremors) and has been rosemary free for at least a week and a half.

Thanks in advance!
Jenn

[Ellie May]

What wer the bile acids numbers?

What is being done for the itching?

Since there are so many things that can cause dogs to seize, some very serious, I would probably go to an internist at this point to see what they say. In most cases, liver biopsy is not the first choice.

[my2boyz]

What food are you feeding him? I was told that it can take a while to clear a dog's system of something they are allergic to in food once you change it.

[goofypup]

My little one Casey started having seizures at the age of 4. She had many tests done and we could not determine why she was having them. At first she would only have a seizure about once a month, it gradually became more frequent. She was put on phenobarb to help control them. She became very dopy and would sleep most of the time. We had to keep increasing her phenobarb to try and keep her from having them. At one point she had 16 seizures in one day.... but try as we might, we could not control the seizures.
She was only 3 1/2 pounds, and almost 6 years old. We had to make the terrible decision to have her put down, just after christmas. She had a seizure on christmas eve, totally different from all her other ones. It left her blind and deaf and we knew there was no way to come out of this one. But I truley believe that the cause of her seizures was due to all of the unnecesary vaccinations that she had. That might be something you may want to look into. We still have her brother who is only 3, and I will not allow him to have anymore vaccinations.

[enzosfamily]

Hi, thanks for your responses. Enzo pre Bile was 46 and post 29. His ALT levels are all well within the normal range and all other liver indicators on his blood work was fine. We did see a specialist and she thought he has more of a GI problem due to the throwing up and not the liver causing his issues. As mentioned he does not have a shunt but it is possible that he could have mild MVD so I am very conscience of his protein intake and he takes lactulose 3x a day.

We did not discuss his itchiness at that appointment with the internist as I did not think to mention it. Upon doing some research, I feel like he does have a food allergy b/c he itches his body all the time, has very itchy ears (I now clean them every other day as we found they were really dirty when our Vet did a cleaning - this was the new Vet, I would always bring it up to our old Vet and she would just check for infection and say he was fine), he vomits and then has the seizure. The question is: is he having a seizure and vomiting is part of it or does he get sick, vomits and then has the seizure as the response. So frustrating.

Currently, he is on Wellness - I am wondering if he is allergic to chicken - the seizures started up once a week when we switched him to Hill's L/D when we got the bile acid test back. We then tried the Royal Canin and then went back to the L/D since he is so picky. He loves to eat but on his own terms and what he likes. The internist suggested he start a novel protein diet - after over a week, he refused to eat the food - he went the longest without a seizure though- 11 days but then had one again the day he absolutely refused to eat. I did just read that it can take at least 6 weeks to get it out of there system though but I don't know how to get him to eat the food. I then got the Wellness senior and he has been eating without a problem but did have a seizure early Monday morning and vomited. I will say, the last two have not been full blown - a lot of shaking but minimal pawing the air or staring straight ahead. After it is over, he rests a bit and then acts like nothing happened and is good for the week.

I am going to a holistic vet tomorrow and hoping she can help us with a homemade diet that he will eat and maybe she will "think outside the box" more. I am willing to try any kind of treatment she can think of.

If not, then it is off to the neurologist. I know I will not put him on phenobarbital with his Bile Acid Numbers.............we will need the alternatives.

Thanks,
Jenn

[lillymae]

How is your baby doing ?