[linz06]

My elderly yorkie cross, Lucy, started having seizures a couple of months ago. She spent some time in the veterinary hospital where they ran every test imaginable and all they found were an enlarged heart and signs of kidney failure. Even an MRI showed normal brain activity. So their best guess was that her kidneys were causing toxins to build up in her bloodstream which may have been causing the seizures. She was put on Benzapril and Phenobarbital. The seizures stopped. Her next checkup went well. Her kidney function had improved. We switched her from liquid Phenobarbital (it was very hard to administer) to pills and she had another checkup last week. On Friday they called me and wanted to increase her Phenobarbital dosage because the levels were low in her bloodstream. So Friday, we increased.

Friday night I found her laying completely in her water bowl with her head in her food bowl. I thought she was gone. But then I saw her breathing. I carefully coaxed her to get up, and my best guess is she had a seizure and fell that way. She has started peeing and pooping in the house constantly, so we need to keep her in a gated corner with her beds, a pee pad, and food and water unless we can supervise her. I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old and although they are good at finding and alerting me to messes, they don't always see them and might walk through them, plus constantly cleaning and sanitizing is really tough. On Sunday, Lucy peed in the house 4 times and pooped once... and that was during the time we could supervise her.

Last night she had a seizure just after I got home from work. Then she had another about an hour later. It took her 45 minutes to get up after the second seizure ended (the seizure itself only lasted about 10 seconds). It seemed like her legs were all limp. She could lift her head but couldn't control her legs. When she finally did get up (at around 8:45) she walked like she was drunk. She slept for the rest of the evening and when I got her up at 11 to go outside before bed, she was still stumbling.

This morning she could walk better, but had another seizure about 20 minutes after she woke up.

We just got a call back from her vet who said there is really nothing more they can do for her, but the meds will take up to 14 days to increase in her bloodstream, so we may need to give it more time. In the meantime, she told us to increase her dosage tonight and tomorrow to see if we can get it to increase faster. Then we just wait and assess. If her cluster seizures continue or get worse, we need to take her in as an emergency case and they will give her the meds through an IV.

The vet did not mention that it is the end, but I can't help starting to feel that way. A month ago, a much lower dose was working completely and she had no seizures. Now she is having cluster seizures and taking a long time to recover. She didn't eat yesterday at all. She is super clingy and just wants to be with me all the time. I feel heartbroken.