*Please Help, Desperate!*

[bleigh]

I have a 3 year old beagle from a rescue. She was previously a test dog for pharma. She was fine for about a month before she had her 1st seizure. Since she had 2 seizures in 24 hrs, she was given phenobarbital to help. She was fine for about 2 weeks on the medicine, and all of the sudden she's started jumping at the window, whining, whimpering, pacing, scratching doors, walls, and trying to get out of the yard. She's even started to get a little aggressive on the other dogs in the house. She was NOT like this at ALL when we first took her in. We don't know what to do to help her. She will not sit down. We've put her on a leash and kept her near us in the house, she won't have that. After 6 days of the behaviour, we took her to the vet for an overnight stay. He's lowered her pheno, but she came right back into the house whimpering and crying again... Please help! Does anyone have any idea what I should do? It's getting unbearable and stressful. Thank you!

[Nettle]

You are between a rock and a hard place. Do a Search on the side-effects of phenobarb and you will see where this is coming from. Unfortunately there is not much that can help with seizures.


Your vet may know of alternatives. The Internet will give you important information on side-effects. But it is a very difficult situation, and you have my greatest sympathy.

[Sarah83]

Try a different medication maybe? Try a lower dose? Higher dose? Obviously you'd need your vets advice on this though. I don't know much about epilepsy/seizures in dogs but I have epilepsy myself and so far the meds I've tried have made me violent, turned me into a zombie and turned me into someone who cries a lot and gains weight at the mere thought of food amongst other things. You and your dog have my sympathy, the seizures aren't fun but the side effects of the meds are horrible too.

How was she behaving at the vets? And how does she behave out of your house and yard? Were all her seizures while she was at home? Is she still having seizures?

[bleigh]

She's been fine on the medicine for the most part. I'm not sure if the medicine is what is doing it. She was perfect at the vet, no anxiety or behavior. Also, we do give her a lot of activity during the day.. we take her for walks, she plays outside with the other dogs, and has plenty of toys to stimulate her. She still loves going to the doors and windowsthough and whining at them and scratching at them.

[jacksdad]

you need to talk with your Vet. my dog also has seizures and is also on phenobarbital. Since all this started within the first 2 weeks of him coming to live with me and was on pheno at the end of his first 30 days with us, I don't know his real none phenobarbital behavior/personality. The vet that my dog is under care with is very concerned about side affects and he has my dog on a second med (along side the pheno) that is supposed to be gentler, a potassium bromide mix. Our goal is to wean him off pheno later this year once the other meds are at a therapeutic level that works for him.

some of the side affects my vet warned me about with the pheno was change in personality, "klutziness" (ie problem with balance,jumping on to things etc), he might have bathroom issues etc. my dog is a bit on the klutzy side, and in the first month he had a couple bathroom accidents in the house. I just really wish I know his non medicated personality.

I can't wait to see how he is off the pheno, but i also don't want him having intense seizures either so it's a rock and hard place. I really hope the other meds can take care of him.

but anyway, talk with your vet. also nothing says you can't get a second or third opinion from another vet if you don't think your primary vet is up to the task.

[Fundog]

Emmabeth: would it be possible to move this over to the "health" section, so our friend Dr. Jones will be more likely to see it? He doesn't normally browse the rest of the forum, other than the health section. (and perhaps change the title to "Epilepsy" so Dr. Jones knows what it is right off.)

As for my own two cents: thanks to these poor dogs and other laboratory animals, many great strides have been made in pharmacology to help with epilepsy. Phenobarbitol is no longer the only drug there is available to hold seizures in check. Clonopin and Digitalis are two anti-seizure medications that come to mind. In fact, my younger sister was born with epilepsy, along with many other problems (she was exposed to Rubella in the womb). She had been on Phenobarb in early infancy, and then in her pre-school years was switched to Clonopin. I don't know what she's on now, but the point of this is that Phenobarbitol is not the only drug out there. Just a side-note: Digitalis is actually derived from the Foxglove plant. I would NOT just grow the flowers and let your dog munch them, however, as both Foxglove and Digitalis are toxic if not used by someone who knows what they are doing. I do know that people who take Digitalis need to have blood draws on a regular basis, to monitor the levels of the drug in their system.

Definitely talk to your vet about a medication change.

[wvvdiup1]

You need to get your dog back to the vet as soon as possible! You said your dog was a "pharma dog" and to me that sounds like the dog was used in pharmaceutical testing, which should have been the first alarm to you, however, kudos to you for adopting the dog. Your dog has had trauma in its life that it may be remembering things, much like "flashbacks" in humans, that can possible be triggering the seizures and other problems. So, get your dog back to the vets as soon as possible and keep in mind you may need further professional help for your dog!

[Mattie]

Has your get attempted to find out what is causing the seizures? I have had 2 dogs that had these, we never found out why with Tommy but did notice she would get hyperactive a few days before having one, I would give her some herbal calmers and they didn't develop.

Joe was allergic to a lot of foods, as long as he didn't eat these he was fine,

There are many reasons why a dog has seizures, a vet should investigate to try and find the reason, if he has just given him phenabarb then change your vet.

Keep a dairy of what your dog does, write everything down including food, exercise, training etc, you should start to see a pattern developing before he has a sezure.