Our Epileptic Puppy
ADOPTING A
DOG WITH EPILEPSY
Twelve years ago we rescued our Husky / Shepherd mix, from the pound. It was
his last day. We named him Bear, but never stopped calling him Puppy, or should I
say, Puppy-Dog, as he is often affectionately called. He was about six months old and a
real cute fluffy little thing. It was unknown why his previous owners took him to the
pound. But there he was, waiting for someone to take him home. On the car ride home he got
car sick. In fact, every car ride we took him on, he got car sick. He dripped from the mouth and threw up. We tried giving him medicine for car
sickness, but it did not work. So we knew he got car sick; we could handle that. But there
was something else about our cute little puppy that we did not know; and we would not
discover it for quite some time.
My husband and I both worked during
the day, leaving our two dogs home together. We would often come home to a wet mess on the
floor along with some poop. The wet spot did not smell or look like pee, but I would
always assume that was what it was. It was a bit strange, because it seemed more like
drool, but Huskies do not drool and it was always next to some poop.
One Christmas morning while opening gifts, I helped our dogs open a big bone.
Puppy got so excited when I gave him the bone. He laid down on the floor and started to
chew it. He then got up with great excitement and started to playfully run around the
house. In doing so, he ran right into a piece of furniture, banging his head hard. He then
started to shake, and drool. I thought he was choking. I tried to do the Heimlich maneuver, to no avail. Then I tried to open his mouth to see what it was he was choking on. I
could not see a thing, so I reached my hand down his throat and tried to free his airway.
I felt nothing at all, but he was still shaking and drooling. I carried him to the car and
rushed him to the animal emergency room. By the time I got there Puppy was just fine.
Happy as could be, I did not know what to make of it. I sat down in the waiting room
and told everyone else who was sitting there what had just happened. One guy said to me,
"It sounds like he just had a seizure. There is nothing this place can do for that
and they are going to charge you $50 just for walking in here, let alone looking at
him." Suddenly it all made sense. Puppy was having seizures. I looked at my seemingly
very normal, happy dog, thanked the guy and went home. The wet spots on the floor, the way
he acted in the car; all this time, he was having seizures! The next day I took Puppy to
our vet. I was so scared they were going to come back and say he had a brain tumor or a
liver disorder or something to that effect. The tests came back and I was informed he did
not have a brain tumor or any other medical condition like it. He had epilepsy. I was very relieved, but I still did not know what life was going to be like for Puppy.
At this point I was home with our first baby and Puppy was not having that many
seizures. I think the stress of my husband and I both being gone all day was making
him have a lot of them. But now that I was home, he was not having as many. Only about one
every month or so. We decided to keep him off of medicine as long as possible. Being on
the medicine can affect a dog's liver after a while. When Puppy has a seizure, he does not
shake too terribly. Just enough to know something is not right. He lies down on the floor,
drools and looses control of his bowels. I would just sit with him and hold him until it was
over.
As time passed his seizures became more frequent (a few times a week), and we
decided the medicine was in order. Puppy was prescribed Phenobarbital 30 mg's every 12
hours. This helped him tremendously and he did not have a seizure for a long time. We were
warned that after his body was on the medicine for a long time, he may become a little
immune and we may need to slowly raise the dosage as he got older. I asked our vet how we
would know if we needed to raise the dosage. The vet replied, "You want to keep him on as little as possible. If he is not having
seizures, he is on the right dosage. If he
starts having them again, you will need to slowly raise the dosage until he does not have
them anymore." The medicine was surprisingly cheap. Only ten dollars for a month's
supply. Things were going to be okay after all.
Over a period of 8 years we did have to raise Puppy's dosage a few times. He is
now on 60 mg's every 12 hours and he is doing wonderfully. Giving him his medicine just
seems like a part of life. I don't think much of it at all. It is like feeding your dog every night. You just get used to it. Puppy LOVES taking his
pill. To him it is better then a bone, because I always put it in some kind of food, such as
cheese and he just eats it right down. If I say to Puppy, "Want your pill?", his
face lights up and he runs to the kitchen. Puppy has not had a seizure in years. As
long as I give him his medicine, he is just fine.
His car sickness has slowly and mysteriously disappeared over the years as
well. We travel a lot and our dogs always come with us. Back when Puppy would get car
sick, we had a mini van or a pick-up truck. We would line the back with cardboard
and would just clean up his mess; it was better then leaving him home for a weekend. Once
we would arrive at our destination (camping), Puppy would be in heaven. Seeing him run free
though the woods trying to chase anything that moved, made up for the car sickness
trouble. I think the medicine has contributed greatly in the slow disappearance of the car
sickness. Seizures occur when the brain activity quickly rises (stress). Puppy is not only
used to long car rides, but his medicine, which is a downer, (no wonder he is so mellow
:)), keeps his brain levels from jumping. This is what prevents his seizures.
Today Puppy's epilepsy is under control and he is the most gentle and wonderful dog, so happy, calm and mellow. So friendly, he does not even bother to bark at the door. He
is not dog-aggressive and while he does love to chase other animals, when and if, he
catches them, he does not know what to do with them. He will chase a cat and if he catches
up to it, he just smells it. I would not trade Puppy for the world, epilepsy and all. As
much as we went through in the beginning with his seizures and car sickness, I would do it
all over again. Puppy is now twelve years old and you could not ask for a better, more obedient pup!
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