Diary of an Epileptic Dog

Sarah has been euthanized

2007-03-23T14:51:00.000-04:00

Sarah never had another grand mal seizure. However, it was evident over time that her behavior was not 100% the same.

Sarah had a bad heat stroke about before her seizures. She had thyroid problems before that.

When she had her seizures, we were told to come back if a pattern develops. Overnight, she had clusters of seizures. As you can see in previous posts, things returned back to pretty much normal after Sarah adjusted to the phenobarbital.

However, we were never able to put her crate away again. She would have occasional accidents if we left her out home alone.

She became food obsessed and always thirsty (I believe an expected side-effect of the phenobarbital). Food aggression seemed to develop from that--which became aggression toward any possession.

She could no longer be left unattended outside like she could before--she'd be yelping to come in.

The final straw was that she began biting people... nothing that caused any major damage. However, it started out connected to food aggression--if she stole a food item/container she'd snarl/bite at anyone who attempted to recover the item. She would recoil in fear and bear her teeth--then lunge.

We were able to mitigate the situation by being more careful of leaving food unattended, and not attempting to recover any item she stole without at least first distracting her with something else.

Unfortunately, Sarah finally began growling at our toddler this week--being intolerant of things she had allowed not long before. She finally bit our toddler. The bite was not enough to break the skin, but it bruised and left tooth-patterned scratch marks. The circumstances were more disturbing. Our daughter was simply laying her blanket on the dog. Sadly, we could not risk waiting around any longer to understand any more about our dog's aggression problem.

I still remember that I'm a mischievous dog.

2006-08-15T21:13:00.000-04:00

Sarah woke up this morning peppy and stealing dirty socks.

She was very energetic today, playing ball with Olivia, our toddler. She later showed the rubber ball who was boss by destroying it, just like the old Sarah.

I'm free! puff puff puff

2006-08-14T21:04:00.000-04:00

Every since she was a puppy, Sarah has been a "free spirit." She likes to escape from time to time and charge around the neighborhood, exploring. Ever since her thyroid started giving her problems, she's been a little slower at escaping--with much less endurance.

Late morning, Sarah esacaped from the house and ran around the neighborhood for about 20 minutes. When she came in, she lost bladder control in the basement, and had heavy foamy drool. We gave her water and put her in her crate to rest.

Going potty is still a little bit of a challenge. When we take her outside, she walks around yard as if she is clueless what to do. While inside, she paces around the house sniffing the carpet.

I'm still YOUR dog.

2006-08-13T20:56:00.000-04:00

At this point, we're professionals at giving pills to a dog.

Sarah's still very clumsy from her medicine. She's still pacing around the house and panting more than usual.

Personality wise, she now is back to howling at the organ sound on the kurzweil, and she's barking at other dogs again.

See, I am still a dog.

2006-08-12T20:37:00.000-04:00

Sarah woke up whimpering this morning, more alert, and aware of her need to go outside. By noon she had a couple of accidents, although she had been behaving strangely just before those accidents.

By late afternoon, she was alert, wagging her tail, and she whined to go outside--and went potty outside when taken outside.

By early evening, she was more definitively asking to be let out, and responded to both the "sit" and "shake" commands.

The Morning After the Storm

2006-08-11T20:18:00.000-04:00

In all of Sarah's restlessness overnight, she wandered into the hallway bathroom. When she went behind the door, she shut herself in. In the morning, I walked into a complete mess, with Sarah in the middle. The scene was very similar to the night of seizures, just a little more contained. I decided at that point that it was time for the crate to come out of retirement.

Amazingly enough, her bladder control came back about the same moment as her crate came out. She didn't seem to mind the crate too much, and we tried to handle the situation as though we had a brand new puppy in the house.

Letting Sarah outside to go potty quickly became our new challenge. We found out that she didn't remember her house breaking or "sit," "lay down."

As for her medicine, I put her morning dose of phenobarbital crushed into a ball of American cheese. Her evening dose went into soft dog food whole--a much simpler way of administering the 1 1/2 pills.

That night, she went potty outside while we stayed outside with her.

Homeward Bound

2006-08-10T20:05:00.000-04:00

We called for regular updates from the emergency veterinary clinic. There had been no seizures so far.

Early in the evening, the whole family headed to the vet clinic to pick up Sarah. She was sluggish and clumsy, probably from the phenobarbital that she was now on to control her seizures. She only barely acknowledged us, and could hardly get into the car, even with our assistance.

That evening, Sarah had her worst night that we observed since the seizures began. The medicine was making her clumsy, yet restless. When she finally fell asleep in the hallway, her bladder emptied out in her sleep. Later that night, she had another accident in her doggie bed.

A turning point.

2006-08-09T17:18:00.000-04:00

At 12:15am, Sarah had another seizure.

Then again at 1:30am and 1:50am.

Then another at 3:30am.

Then another at 5:45am.

Then again at 8:15am. At this point, we had planned to go as a family to put Sarah to sleep, but I couldn't wait for all of us to get ready and took Sarah in. It took two of us to carry Sarah out to my car because her body was completely limp, but as soon I started the car, Sarah jumped up in the seat, ready to go.

Unfortunately, as soon as she sprung back to life, she had another seizure. At the onset, she knocked my car out of gear, so I was trying to contain her and prevent an accident at the same time. After making it safely to the vet's office, a veterinary assistant and I carried Sarah in, doggie-stretcher style, on a big blanket. A different vet was subbing this time, and she explained the treatment procedures.

I hesistated about putting Sarah through all that, but I wanted Sarah to be comfortable until my wife Emily arrived. So, I went ahead and let the vet start an I.V. and give her a dose of Valium to stop the seizures. At this point, the seizures stopped.

Sarah stayed mostly sedated the rest of the day, but continued to not have seizures. Later that afternoon, Emily transferred Sarah to a veterinary specialty and emergency clinic for overnight observation. On the way, Sarah was groggy, but aware. Her bladder control was lacking still, and she had another accident in the car.

The day my seizures started.

2006-08-08T13:30:00.000-04:00

Sarah had her first seizure at around 1:30pm. She lost bladder control during what was likely a grand mal seizure. No one was awake to observe it directly, but we heard noises consistent with the events that happened the rest of the day--and night. The saliva marks appeared to indicate that two seizures may have a occurred back to back, but we don't really know.

We didn't truly recognize what was going on at that time. Looking back, it seems painfully obvious.

At 3:30pm, Sarah had another grand mal seizure. A vet appointment was scheduled for 4:45pm. The (substitute?) vet that was in that day said that he didn't recommend treating unless a pattern is established. Despite the fact that Sarah had a hypothyroid condition, no thyroid testing was done, but stool, blood and lead tests were done.

At 5:25 and 5:37, Sarah had a milder grand mal seizure, followed by a more substantial seizure. It was at this point that the emergency vet should have been called. As I learned later, 3 or more in a day is an emergency situation.

All was quiet for some time. Then at 8:15, Sarah had another seizure near the steps leading downstairs, and I barely caught her in time. At 8:37, another seizure erupted. We were convinced that Sarah wouldn't last the night.

Sarah recovered later that night, and was sleeping peacefully around 10pm.