| Tink's Mom | 09-08-2007 09:57 AM |
Tink had her vet appointment this morning. Her blood work and urine tests looked normal but not all results are in yet, have to wait til Monday for some of them.
She lost 1lb 3 oz. since she was in last month. She normally weighs about 9.5 lbs. But she's still a pup so I'm not sure what her adult weight will end up being. But the vet didn't like that. He doesn't know why she won't eat and thinks she is vomiting because her body isn't handling the seizure effects well. :confused: So, he's restricting her to fresh or cooked meat and vegetables, no kibble. Once the vomiting is under control, we can start trying to add back things she likes. But it may be that she never has kibble again. He said some dogs with seizures develop an intolerance to the preservatives in kibble. And he said it's OK to keep hand feeding her to be sure she gets something in her. Good cause I would have done that anyway.;)
He suspects she is having petit mal seizures quite frequently and the moderate ones occasionally. But she's having grand mal now too - not every day, just one this week. So, he was disappointed that they came back and felt very badly that he took her off the pheno. He said, "I probably shouldn't have done that. I knew better, I just was so thrilled at how well and quickly she recovered. I wanted to believe she was healed." I told him to remember that it was a joint decision and now we'll just go forward.
So, to end this long story, Tink is back on phenobarbitol twice a day and after two weeks, he's going to add potassium bromide and try to taper the pheno off because of the effect to her kidneys last time.
If he can't get the seizures under control this way, he's going to try gabapentin. I'm pretty worried about that. I have to do some homework on doseage and how it acts in dogs, 'cause with people, it's got some nasty side effects. I'm glad it's generic now so it's not quite as expensive as it might be. Hopefully the Potassium bromide will work for her.
Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers for the little Tinkerbrat. Tuesday she'll be 1 year old! I'm making her a cake and we'll have a little party to thank God that we've made it this far and with His help, we'll make it all the way. | 