HELP! Just found put Lex is epileptic!
 

I would love some input as to the meds you are using for epilepsy. My vet is suggesting Keppra but I am greatly concerned about the every 8 hrs dosing. This is in no way possible with my work schedule. I can do twice a day no problem. My sister uses phenobarbital on her beagle mix but I worry about possible liver damage. I am worried sick. My vet suggested an automatic feeder but Lexie is kind of finicky and I am not sure the doseage would be accurate at the times.
Please help- I would greatly appreciate any advice!! Thank you all in advance for your input!

Unfortunately I have no advice, as I have no knowledge about epilepsy in doggies.

However, I'm sorry about Lexie's diagnosis and will be praying that whatever treatment/medicine you decide on, will help your little furkid.

Thank you :-) they were checking her out for a liver shunt ( even though she is 6) I am just grateful all tests checked out negative for that. She is my life- I can't imagine being without her. This has been so stressful. Luckily I work in medicine so I knew it was a seizure almost right away.

I'm using Zonisamide for Teddy who is epileptic. It is dosed every 12 hours. You might want to ask your vet about it as the dosing may work out for you. Zonisamide has been great for Teddy and his blood work is perfect. You might want to ask your vet about this drug and if you need more info, feel free to PM me.

What tests were done to diagnose Lexi ?

I have neve heard of zonisamide. I will definitely check it out!! Thank you so much- I appreciate it!

They did an X-ray which showed a slightly small liver- then a bile acid test. She also had a complete blood panal- all totally normsl.She has had 4 seizures in 3 .5 months. It is a rule out game. There isn't a tester se for epilepsy so you just have to rule everything else out.

I know that lots of vets will diagnose epilepsy with diff diagnostics but I will always insist on an MRI & Spinal as there are things that yorkies are prone to that can cause seizures & can only be found with these diagnostics. Without these things being done I don't believe diagnostics can be complete & your dog could have something that if put on the appropriate meds can live seizure free.

Funny - I am a MRI tech. MRIs cannot diagnose epilepsy, but rather rule out other possible causes of seizures such as brain tumors, ect
I am nearly 100% convinced it is not a tumor, as she is exhibiting no other symptoms and her labs were stone cold normal. Yes I suppose I could go with the MRI to rule out the one in a million chance of it being a tumor, but at some point you have to be practical as well. And let's face it- MRi requires anesthesia and that in and of itself has risks - trust me I know. I love my baby very very much but I would never subject her to a craniotomy ( brain surgery) if I were to find a tumor. I see people suffer every day and I will not do that to my girl. I am researching the meds to see the least toxic and the one that has the least side effects before I put her on something. It's so hard when they are sick- ugh!!!

You have don x-ray so that would rule out AAI but only MRI can rule out Chiari witch yorkies are prone to. Depending on the severity of a Chiari your baby may or may not show other symptoms. I had a Chiari pup who showed no real symptoms till the age of 6 yrs. Seizure meds will not work alone with a Chiari.

If your pup has a Chiari then seizure meds will not work. Most often with Chiari pups if properly diagnosed & put on the proper meds they do not need seizure meds at all. I would be seeking out a neurologist ASAP.

I did take her to a neuro vet. He said we could do the MRI but did not think it was necessary. I may at some point consider it if she were to have other symptoms. Thanks:-)

We are going to try the meds and see how well controlled the seizures are- at this point they aren't severe or the cluster or prolonged type. ( thank God)

Keep in mind that with Chiari they can have several symptoms or no symptoms, they can have just 1 symptom with no other symptoms. Basically it all depends on the severity of the deformity so each dog is diff. There are Chiari pups that have such a mild deformity that there owners never see any symptoms. The other thing with Chiari is that once they start seizures, it means that the build up of spinal fluid is becoming more severe & dangerous.
Not a risk I will ever take.

So you feel every dog that has a seizure needs a brain and complete spine MRI( a $10,000 work up?) I respectfully disagree. I understand your situation is unique but by far not common. I do a ton of human MRIs and I can tell you 99%+ of seizing patients do not have a chiari malformation. I think the anesthesia risk personally is worse- not taking that chance unless I feel it's truly warranted. By the way, I am starting a part time job working at a vet MRI center- you need to market for us :-)

Wow, no need for the sarcasm, unless maybe I'm reading more into that post than need be. Not sure where you took your pup but $10,000 is Way out of line for an MRI & spinal for your pup. I would also like say that with all the BYB's & Mills, Chiari is more common then you think.
And to answer your question , Yes I will have an MRI & Spinal on any of my pups that ever have more then 1 seizure. I would just rather be safe then sorry & to me , if I end up throwing away a couple thousand $ to find out that my pup does not have something life threating is worth the peace of mind not to mention a proper diagnosis.

I am honestly not trying to be sarcastic but more a realist. I am sorry if it was interpreted that way. Not everyone has several thousand dollars to throw away. I sometimes feel on this forum that people are way out of touch with reality and make others feel guilty and bad because they don't have thousands to spend on a very small possibility. You are extremely lucky you are in such a position to be able to do that but please keep in mind not everyone is able to- we do the best we can. And for the record , I have spent about 500 so far on this. For me it is more about the benefit vs risk more than the money. I do appreciate your feedback and did not mean to come across sarcastic and I apologize if you felt that way.

Lol, that is why I said maybe I'm reading too much into it. I do understand that not everyone can afford all testing. I do want to say though that an MRI & Spinal tap normally is under $2,000 but no where near $10,000 so if that's what your neuro quoted you then I would deff be looking for another as that's Way too high a price. I actually have a credit card especially for pet emergencies & nothing else so it's easy to get paid off in a timely manner. I thank God for that card as it's deff had it's good use many times.:)

Thx for the clarification:-) I have been through so much this week. I was so worried she had a liver shunt and the stress has made me very on edge:-/ ( I am the one who needs meds- lol)
Thanks again for your input- I DO appreciate it!!

Hi. I'm not going to tell you what tests you need, but I'll tell you that my boy, Max is on phenobarbital. He's been on it for about a year and a half, since he was 12 weeks old when he was diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy/idiopathic head bobbing. He had the type of activity where he would shake his head constantly, all day long and his legs would slip out from underneath him. The episodes lasted anywhere from 2 seconds to 10 seconds and there were sometimes 20 per day.

He's been doing so well on his meds. He has only had 1 episode since the phenobarbital. I was very skeptical of the drug as it's a liver killer, however I'd rather try to protect his liver than not medicate the seizures. He's also taking Denamarin which has been proven to protect his liver.

I wish you the best. 107Barney's boy is doing quite well on his drug also.

My Sammy had seizures too. The vet started him on phenobarbital twice a day. (one quarter tablet). Then she increased it to half a tablet. That didn't help too much. Then she added KBR and that was wonderful. He took it once a day and was seizure free for 9 years. Also, watch for the additive BHT which is in some people food (cereals) as a preservative. It is not good for seizures. Good luck!

My sons lab is 5 years old. Just had his first seisure in Oct..Had another one last week. Our vet did all sorts of test ......He does not recomend meds unless seisures are long or sever or close together. Feels like the meds are hard on the system. But if they get worse or closer. As many a 2 a week he will be out on meds. I have used my vet for 30 years. He will get our his reference books right in front of you or call Texas A & M college to dig deeper. Sure hope things get better for your baby. And I know some types of sesiure do need to be treated with meds. from the beginning. If you can afford another opinion you may want to get one. I would take the test results with me from the vet you have used. Again I hope things go well for you & your baby............

There are some holistic medicines that have shown promise in dogs that are not having seizures on a weekly or by weekly basis. Our Goldern had gran mal seizures until age 5..and we used Rescue Remedy to lessen the intensity of the seizures. There were some Chinese herbs that also worked well.

If you must put your dog on meds, then I strongly suggest putting your dog on Milk Thistle/ Silymarin to protect the liver.

I actually was given very similar advice for our dog. However, because my dog was younger when he had the first seizure (9 mos old), it was preferable to have all of the testing done including MRI and spinal tap so that is what we did. It would have been an equally acceptable course of action to NOT do testing, given our dog's clinical picture and overall examination. So I hear what you are saying on this issue. We had a very small chance of discovering anything in our dog by doing the testing but we wanted to be able to give all pertinent information to Teddy's breeder regarding his condition as well as to be able to treat him appropriately in the unlikely event that he had something else.

It is true though that epilepsy is only diagnosed after all other causes of seizures are ruled out -- both medical and neurological. It is the difference between a diagnosis and a presumptive diagnosis.

I was faced with a similar choice when my other dog was 6 years old and she had some liver issues show up and we opted to NOT do exploratory surgery OR a liver biopsy. We opted to just treat her as a presumptive case of liver disease, and 5 years later with a well managed situation, I made the right choice for her.

I think you should ask about zonisamide -- not because I think it is a better drug than Keppra or another but because the dosing will work with your work schedule better. You have options. Zonisamide has worked very well at the minimum dosage for our dog now for a year. Keppra was the second choice of our neurologist if Zonisamide did not work.

Good luck with your Lex.