Seizure Free...enjoying life

Capone has been seizure free for a week now. I know now that I can give him honey safely after his seizures or if I see him acting strange. Interesting in how the seizures coincided with taking awy his snacks and cutting down his Potassium bromide. Here is my inquisitive dog watching the biscuits rise in the oven. He is a character!

 

Seizures

First of all let me tell you that seizures present themselves in many different  ways. It is scary when you first expereince it. Found it helpful to keep a log to share the dates with my vets who helped care for Capone. This is an excerpt of the ongoing seizure log I kept.

Note: After a seizure, they will try to get up and walk. They are usually blind and cannot see for about 20 mins. I learned this later from first vet Dr Robinson, as I watched him run into walls and so after I realized this I kept him closer to me for 30 minutes afterwards until his sight returned.

2011

We adopted Capone from Alabama rescue society in July, we were in Alabama while Stephen was working at BCBS. We received a bottle of Phenobarbital with Capone (kept the name)  also his medical records. Our new dog Capone was Epileptic and deaf.

August 3rd

Gave him his medication (Phenobarbital) 3 hours late - attack was ~ 2 mins long. I noticed that he had a medication schedule and had to maintain it strictly. Kept to his schedule from this point forward. Never deviated again.

Agitated behavior (nipping and mouthy) beforehand, asleep on the bed when the attack occurred.

- 8:45 pm he fell off the bed (onto his side) and onto the floor under the side/night table (Stephen picked up the night table as he was twisted underneath it until the seizure was over and we could remove Capone from the corner of the bedroom), legs were outstretched and he was rigid, head was back and his mouth became frothy/foamy (drooling), his body began to jerk uncontrollably.

Afterward - he was woozy, disoriented, wanted to go outside to go to the bathroom. He had a little trouble walking and was disoriented. Had trouble walking, he was stiff. He peed and pooped outside immediately afterwards. I cleaned his mouth up with baby wipes, and wiped the froth off the carpet, cleaned his back end. Applied some cleaner to the carpet and let it sit overnight and took him back inside, he was foggy in the head. But slept most of the day. No more seizures that day.

August 4th

Asleep at the foot of bed when the attack occurred. About 1 minute in length.

- 12:15 am he fell off the bed over the foot board (onto his side) and onto the floor, legs were outstretched, body stretched out, head was back and he drooled, his body began to jerk uncontrollably. Less than five minutes

Afterward - he was woozy, disoriented, tired and wanted to go back to sleep. Cleaned his face up, put him back on the bed and he went to sleep.

- 8:45 am he was asleep below the desk (moved the chair and pulled him by his back legs out so his head was not in the cranny between the slats of the desk), legs were outstretched, left side of face twitched, body was rigid, head back and drool coming from his mouth, his body began to jerk uncontrollably. He was lucid about a minute later and just laid there. I comforted him by petting his back.

Afterward - he was woozy, disoriented. He got up, walked about 10 feet into the wall in the hall before he got to the kitchen and then ran into the other wall. He lost control of his bowls and I had to clean him up.

July 15, 2012

capones seizure

It was 4:45 am, I awoke to my dog trembling below me in bed. I felt him in the darkness, he was paddling and having small tremors. He was having focal seizures (partial Seizure which targets a certain part of the body). I put him on the floor, ran to get his meds in the room across the house. I looked at the clock again, it was 4:50 am and I didn't consider it a major seizure. He had another very small 1 minute seizure, for a total seizure time of 5 mins. I did get the anally administered gel in case I needed it....I just noted the times and duration, etc...pretty soon, he came out of it. I stoked him for 5 mins. He urinated and I gave him his meds orally. He kept his pheno and potassium bromide down. After 15 mins, thought he looked better, he was a bit dazed though, he tends to loose control over his bowels, he defecated on the floor. He looked at me as though he knew he did a bad thing. I picked it up and flushed it down the toilet and cleaned the carpet up. He got up and tried to walk around, I closed the doors to my bedroom. I thought if he can allow the meds to get into his system he should be fine. He walked into walls and also wandered around the bedroom, bathroom and closet. I knew he was temporarily blind and so was glad he was contained in the bedroom.

We have been at our home in the mountains for about 48 hours. Capone is fine now but tired and he has been sleeping allot.

October 31

New Vet changed his medication dosage (potassium bromide) from 1 tab to 1/2 tab due to the blood levels. Potassium Bromide levels should be between 1 and 1.5 but it is at 3. Which is high.

It took 3 days for the PB levels to taper down.

7:45 PM
Capone was asleep on the floor next to me. He began to gag in his sleep, then frothing at mouth. His seizure lasted for 7 minutes. He rolled over onto his left side. Legs paddling. He was biting and frothing at the mouth. Grabbed a towel and put it under he rear end. He lost control of his bladder.

November 1

Capone was asleep on the floor next to me.

 7:50 PM
Felt him start to gag, then frothing at mouth.  He rolled over onto his left side and contorted for 7 minutes. Legs paddling. He was biting (flybiting) and frothing at the mouth. Grabbed a towel and put it under he rear end. He again lost control of his bladder.
Closed the doors to the room and cleaned him up.

November 2

It was 3 PM! 

What the hell. Capone was asleep on the floor next to me. Felt him start to gag, then frothing at mouth. He gagged and began to seize. He rolled over onto his left side. when he seized it was usually on his left side. Legs paddling wildy like he was swimming hard against an unknown strong water current. He was biting and frothing at the mouth. Grabbed a towel and put it under he rear end. He lost control of his bladder.

Again, at 7:40 PM.

This is not working. I did get to call VET! She is on vacation. I left a message. Have to increase his PB meds. I don't think reducing his Potassium Bromide meds is the right way to go. Screw it! Two seizures in a day.  I am giving him his other half of the PB pill.

Capone was asleep on the floor next to me. Felt him start to gag, then frothing at mouth. He gagged and began to seize. He rolled over onto his left side. Legs paddling. He was biting and frothing at the mouth. Grabbed a towel and put it under he rear end. He lost control of his bladder. Was blind when he came to, but wanted to walk around and pace. I closed the doors to the room so I would not lose him in another room.

Nov 3

7:45 PM
My husband had broken his Metatarsal bone, dropped a table on it. So, Stephen was on crutches. He went to get his meds, I held Capone, stroked him. He knew he was having a seizure. Capone Kept trying to look at me. I held him, stoked him and gave him second half of a potassium bromide tab. Let him lick about a teaspoon of honey from my hands. I learned that dogs exert allot of energy during a seizure and so wanted to help him regain some energy, gave him water and honey.

Nov 7

I called Dr Favis.

Vet verified today (11/7/12) that Capone should stay on higher dosage of PB for a month. He is not having seizures any longer. But, that will be checked in a month. Also, vet verified that giving honey or Karo syrup to an epileptic dog is fine. They use alot of energy during the seizure. So, they come out of seizures with a loss of energy and are listless.

Moved to Texas in December 2012
December 2012

I went to my old vet in Pflugerville. Dr. Mendoza. Had Capones blood levels checked. His PB levels are at .3 now. He is at a safe level.

In March Capone had the second worst Grand Mal Seizures.

March 3rd.
Started at 7:04 PM. Capone was antsy all day and he threw up a bit of yellow stuff. He was restless. He had a grand Mal Seizure. Multiple cluster seizures. Had to cool him off with water sprays. He also lost his bowels and urinated all over himself.  Gave him Dizapan after 10 minutes. This one lasted over 75 minutes total. 

Have not mentioned much about my other dog Rocky. He thought of Capone as his buddy. They slept together, Rocky was Capones ears and alerted Capone to everything Rocky could hear. Capone wanted to be near Rocky. But something was different this time when Capone started his siezures. Capone was having his thrid Grand Mal, we were spraying him down with water, I squirted water into his mouth. Rocky usually looked on while Capone wriggled and writhed, but this time Rocky fell asleep and when he awoke the little 8 lb rat terrier jumped off the bed and came at Capone who was in the midst of resting between the seizures. Rocky, jumped at Capone and tried to get his attention. I think he knew before we did.

Took him to After Hours clinic in Round Rock.  Rocky wanted to come with us. We told him we would be back. let him go to the bathroom while I got Capone in the car.

The RR ER Clinic staff was great, we called them while we were on our  way, they had two tech outside waiting for us, we pulled up and they took him from my arms and started him on a valium drip right away. He was weak. But awake.

Came home and cleaned up the mess about 11 PM. I had ordered a large blue rubberized bed pad from Amazon late last year. I remember thinking to myself I should bought one of these way before this. This pad helped and have used it under him when he had seizures.

I slept on the sofa, as the bed where Rocky lay was wet, had to pull the covers off  the bed.

March 4th

Woke up early to take Rocky to the vet at 7:30 am for Kidney workup.

Home by 8:30 am. About 8:45 am received a call from the Veterinarian at the RR ER, DrVeilleux. Capone had two Seizures the night before at the neurologists specialty care hospital. Prognosis guarded.

I saw him after the appointment with Dr Geitzen the neurologist. That was at 9:30 am. I stayed with him until 10:30 am. He was happy to see me, saw me walk toward him and tried to get up, but appeared to have no ability to stand. I motioned him to "stay" with my hands and told him "Good dog" with sign language. I opened the cage, saw he had IV tubes hooked up to his left front paw and an IV shunt also on his back leg. He looked me with imploring eyes. I stroked him and he seemed fixated on looking at himself in the mirrorlike cage. I kept stroking him and let him smell me, he was so happy to see me. I was so sad when I had to leave him. I knew he was getting too excited and so I knew I had to leave. I left but as I walked to the door I turned to look at him. Not thinking this would be the last time I saw him alive. I waved at him and walked out the door.

He started on Keppra, third medication for epilepsy. He was being loaded in anticipation of coming home tomorow. He was on anti swelling meds for his brain and taking the meds I dropped off for him,

March 5th.
8:55 am, He had another GRAND MAL seizure this morning. Dr Geitzen called and told me on the phone. I had awoken up earlyto get cleaned up in anticipation of picking up my dog. She said she would call to let me know when I could pick him the day before.

Well, a turnabout change here. Neurologist suggested a full neurological workup ($2500) with MRI. Anyway, she said she is going to start on a fourth seizure medication ( Zonisimide). He has been given more Valium to stop any additional seizures. She said Boston Terriers are known for having tumors and she suspects he may have a tumor as an underlying secondary cause making his epilepsy hard to control. She is also giving him Medication for brain swelling.
I asked her what the prognosis is for dogs on so many epilepsy meds, steroids with underlying secondary causes.
She said the prognosis is not good.
She also said it impossible he may pull out of it.

The extent of brain damage would not be known for awhile but that there would be some brain damage given the number of grand mal seizures he has had.

I spent much of the day getting kidney prescibed food for my other dog Rocky, talking to vets about Capones prognosis. Talked to my husband about paying for the MRI. He was in work meetings, and so I researched cost of MRI's and finally spoke to the neurologist about his prognosis. The vet  told me Caspone ws twitch all day and this i thought meant he has been having focal seizures. NOT GOOD. Told her my husband wanted to talk to her but I wanted to come by and visit him that afternoon. My daughter was helping me research clinics that do MRIs and at my husbands request I decided to wait for my husband to come with me to see him.

We were leaving and about to walk out the door to see Capone at 5:05 PM. Dr Geitzen told me Capone had a cardiac arrest and was not reacting visurally to any stimulus and that he had no brain activity. He was breathing, but would not last long. He was on orders to ressussitate. We hurried to arrive there.

Arrived at 5:30 PM at clinic, ushered into a room where my dog lay motionless on a table. He was brain dead. seeing his dead body was closure, it was hard to see him like that. He was a trooper to the end.

My deaf, epileptic boy. Gone at 3 years of age. Survived a tornado in Alabama, and he lived in New Mexico and Texas for a short time. He lived with us for 20 months, which were filled with love and happiness.

I loved that dog, he will be missed.

Hope to see him along with my other dogs who have passed at Rainbow Bridge when I pass someday.

Notes:

I tried "Tellngton Touch" with my deaf dog. There are quite a few good books on Amazon.com thich will help you with using touch to communicate and put in touch with your dog. Thhis was useful when he was going through the seizures. The dogs tend to seek out the owner when they feel the process of an epileptic attack beggining which manifests itself as barking or wanting to get in your lap...they are looking for comfort.

I also used alternative methods to help him such as:
- occular pressure on the eyes for a minute when focal seizures occur to stop it
- placing a cold pack on the spine for a minute to stop seizures
- use of 1 T honey to prevent additional seizures and re-energize the dog in the event of low blood sugar
- Use of Salmon and fish meals to increase the essential fatty acids (ketogenic diet)
- eliminating extra sodium from his diet which can be a trigger
- eliminatng BHA and  BHT and other forms of preservatives from his diet
- minimizing stress from his life which contributes to an environment fostering seizures

Other Alternative medicines (we did not use):
- Bach Flower Essence - give before seizures begin when your dog alerts you
- accupuncture


Here are a few great sites to help with research on epilepsy:

www.canine-epilepsy.com/livingwith.html

www.petmd.com

www.thebark.com/content/holistic-treatments-epilepsy-dogs

Settling In

Time has flown by and my deaf, epileptic 2 year old dog is settling in. He has been with us for 8 mos now. It seems that he is finally getting the hang of being in our home. He is now house broken, doing better medically now that his epileptic attacks seem to have abated due to the Potassium Bromide the vet put him on.While i have been watching him for any signs of epileptic fits, I know that there are triggers which are stress and food related triggers.

The 1200 mile trip will be a test of his stress levels, so I will take it easy in driving with both dogs from Alabama to New Mexico for the summer. Now, some people have said that a fifty something year old woman with two dogs on the road is dangerous. But I will tell you all now that they are great company, and protection of sorts. Especially the small yapper Rat Terrier. They make me get out of the car and walk around the rest stops and parks. I have found that I need to carry snacks, water, and doggie bags as well as make sure the temp is decent for them. So, a little planning goes a long way when you are traveling with your dogs.

My Boston Terrier seems to have a very lovable, friendly, attitude. He pretty much carefree now, has a good home, and is loved. But he is finding out not all dogs a friendly.

He was bitten by a bulldog pretty badly a couple of months ago. It cost about $75.00 to get his leg cleaned of debris, get him on antibiotics and care for him medically. He is wary now of approaching unknown dogs, as he learned the hard way - they don't always want to play with him. He waits for me now at the door, lets me know when he wants out - by barking at me incessantly. He has regressed in our walks, so I have had to start re-training him to not pull me along. Some folks might say I am being mean, but my thought is he needs to understand I am taking for a walk - not the other way around. Our small Rat Terrier is 11 years old and he just can't keep up with the bigger Boston Terrier who weighs a good 26 lbs now, so I must slow the bigger dog down or take them for separate walks. But if I do that, the other dog is whiny and does not like being left behind.

Mr Capone is ready for more training, he seems to be smart as I have noticed when my husband comes home he knows his schedule. He greets him at the door, but he waits for him to change before he approaches him to play. So, I shall begin teaching new tricks and reinforcing his walking habits.

Next question that begs to be asked is...what new things shall I teach him????

Photo of him trying to lay in the Rat Terrier's Bed.

Deaf Dogs Really Don't HEAR!

It really is true!

Perhaps they may hear a high pitched noise. Perhaps they may hear a sound. But most likely they feel vibrations more than anything. So, beware of unfriendly dogs!

My deaf dog did not hear the big white German Shepard who was barking at him. His owner was freaking out because my dog had seen his dogs and was inquisitive and quickly ran towards them. We had seen them with the man's wife, we exchanged pleasantries when we saw one another but always took the dogs separate ways. Her husband was a young man with a big white German Shepard he could not control, the little wiener dog and the big white dog were walking away from the dog yard outside my back door. My friendly muscular two year old Boston must have been intrigued as he decided in a split second to run up to the Big White dog and his little wiener dog friend. My dog paws at them, jumps on them and then it went very wrong.

My dog clearly wanted to play, but with the owner was freaking out and backing away, the Shepard then into attack mode. Perhaps the Shepard was trying to protect his owner who was saying "no", "go away" - alas my poor deaf dog could not hear him!

I was putting out his clean wet crate tray outside to dry in our shared dog space at the apartment complex. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my dog run from our doorway. He is good and does not usually walk out I guess this temptation of two dog playmates was too inviting, another set of dogs to check out, another set of dogs to play with. In an instant I realized the dogs and their owner were about to walk out of sight behind a bush in front of my back yard patio. I saw my dog run off out the corner of my eye, I quickly kicked off my slippers. Slipped on my Keds and ran after my dog.

The Shepard had backed up into the owner further into the dog yard, my dog had moved forward and pawed the Shepard. The Shepard lunged at my dog,snarled at him, barked and lunged in for any part of my dog. The Big white dog grabbed my dog by his hind quarters and threw him on the ground. A splash of water came down as my dog hit the ground. It was raining. I knew the water had saturated the ground, I could not avoid the puddles and I ran as fast I could. It was  cold, but I could not feel the cold. I slowed down and walked between the owner and my dog as my dog went down on the ground again. The big white German Shepard and the little wiener dog were snarling, the owner could not control his big dog. I  quickly scooped up my dog.

Told the young man. "My dog is deaf he cannot hear." I had my dog in my arms, and walked away with my Boston Terrier as mud dripped off his body onto my sweater and pants.

Adrenaline works mysteriously when you see your furry child attacked. I was horrified to see blood dripping down his leg as I walked toward my back door. Did not know where it was coming from nor how badly my dog was bitten. I walked in the apartment, threw the back door closed. I yelled at my husband.

"The dog was bitten."

"Capone" was attacked. I walked down the hall grabbed the dog shampoo in the closet as I walked past the hall on the left. Walked in our bedroom and into the bathroom, threw him in my shower. Washed his muscular little body down, as the mud washed off his body I saw his leg was torn and bitten. He was in shock. I dried him, he was confounded.

Showed his leg to my husband. He went to look for the other dogs and owner. They were no where in sight. I was horrified. I explained to my husband what had happened, he was cleaning the crate area.

Capone was taken to the vet, he was shaved, wounds irrigated. Given pain meds and antibiotics. I was scared the dog was going to stress out and worried about him having an epilepsy attack. He was fine. His meds have been increased and his blood levels checked.

All I can say glad he is OK. Yes, he has been bloody, oozing everywhere, but we have a washer and dryer and is healing. But, tell you one thing. I do not like that White Shepard, we are on the lookout for the big white dog and will stay away...hope my furry child remembers not all dogs want to play and not all are friendly.

The owner and his wife have been out of sight since that time. Disappeared into their apartment.  Have not seen them on the patio which is catty corner to us. Strange, I keep thinking to myself. Couldn't control their White Shepard. That dog is gonna bite someone, maybe their young son. It is too big to live in a small apartment.

I grew up with a German Shepard, they are as mean as the owners will let them be. German Shepards need to be trained. Made me wonder about that dog and the owner...who kept calling his wife to come down and help him. Perhaps the White dog was her dog? The man never said a word to me.

(NOTE: I thought it was a German Shepard, it was dark - the white dog was a white Boxer looking dog which I saw repeated in the daylight hours after that, always avoided each other). This made Capone very protective of anyone he was walking with.

Watch out for unfriendly dogs!