Seizures

[linz06]

My elderly yorkie cross, Lucy, started having seizures a couple of months ago. She spent some time in the veterinary hospital where they ran every test imaginable and all they found were an enlarged heart and signs of kidney failure. Even an MRI showed normal brain activity. So their best guess was that her kidneys were causing toxins to build up in her bloodstream which may have been causing the seizures. She was put on Benzapril and Phenobarbital. The seizures stopped. Her next checkup went well. Her kidney function had improved. We switched her from liquid Phenobarbital (it was very hard to administer) to pills and she had another checkup last week. On Friday they called me and wanted to increase her Phenobarbital dosage because the levels were low in her bloodstream. So Friday, we increased.

Friday night I found her laying completely in her water bowl with her head in her food bowl. I thought she was gone. But then I saw her breathing. I carefully coaxed her to get up, and my best guess is she had a seizure and fell that way. She has started peeing and pooping in the house constantly, so we need to keep her in a gated corner with her beds, a pee pad, and food and water unless we can supervise her. I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old and although they are good at finding and alerting me to messes, they don't always see them and might walk through them, plus constantly cleaning and sanitizing is really tough. On Sunday, Lucy peed in the house 4 times and pooped once... and that was during the time we could supervise her.

Last night she had a seizure just after I got home from work. Then she had another about an hour later. It took her 45 minutes to get up after the second seizure ended (the seizure itself only lasted about 10 seconds). It seemed like her legs were all limp. She could lift her head but couldn't control her legs. When she finally did get up (at around 8:45) she walked like she was drunk. She slept for the rest of the evening and when I got her up at 11 to go outside before bed, she was still stumbling.

This morning she could walk better, but had another seizure about 20 minutes after she woke up.

We just got a call back from her vet who said there is really nothing more they can do for her, but the meds will take up to 14 days to increase in her bloodstream, so we may need to give it more time. In the meantime, she told us to increase her dosage tonight and tomorrow to see if we can get it to increase faster. Then we just wait and assess. If her cluster seizures continue or get worse, we need to take her in as an emergency case and they will give her the meds through an IV.

The vet did not mention that it is the end, but I can't help starting to feel that way. A month ago, a much lower dose was working completely and she had no seizures. Now she is having cluster seizures and taking a long time to recover. She didn't eat yesterday at all. She is super clingy and just wants to be with me all the time. I feel heartbroken.

[TxVicki]

I most certainly feel for you. I went through this a couple of months ago.
I lost my 12yr old Willow to seizures that couldn't be controlled on March 13.
I made the call to let her go in peace. The Vet and I could tell she was not in her right mind, she had no idea who I was. Willow kept having Grand Mal seizures, it was like it took her mind away.
This was one of the hardest things I had to do. I have lost other's but this one hit me hard. I just still pray that she knew I was with her until the end.

Sending out many prayers for your Lucy.

[linz06]

Thank you Vicki. Lucy definitely still knows me... she needs to be with me all the time. She has lost a lot of her eyesight but she will sniff everyone until she finds me. If I go upstairs, she will cry until I come back down. This behavior started in December, which was very odd because from the time we rescued her 5 years ago, she didn't want to be close to ANYONE. Her "brother" had an episode in January where we found out he has heart disease. We figured that's why she had been acting funny. Now we know it's because something was also wrong with her. She has really become clingy to me and me alone.

I'm unsure when to make the call about her quality of life. When she's not having seizures she is happy and eats well and loves to sleep on the couch while we are watching tv. But yesterday and this morning she has not been herself. I feel like we should give it more time but I don't know if she is suffering. The vet has said the seizures don't hurt her, but I wonder if she is scared by them. I just don't know.

[Juliealfies mum]

My little Alfie has epilepsy, we had to increase his does a few times now , we have gone through periods like this , sometimes 3 seizures in 1 day , but then it gets under control again , he is know 13 years old . Just take each day as it comes and see how is quality of life is , it's hard at times but so far we have always come out the other side but only you can make the decision for your little one. I have found that Alfie is sometimes a bit confused after a seizure and wants to sleep but he still has a good quality of life at present , wishing you well with everything.

[linz06]

Thank you Julie, that eases my fears. I did a lot of reading today about phenobarbital and I now know that her frequent accidents indoors and dazed appearance and even some of the wobbly walking could be caused by the fact that we doubled the medication starting last Friday and it may take some time to settle down as her body gets used to it. I just hope she can stay comfortable and the seizures will subside.

[Lacy's Mom]

Did they check her blood sugar levels? You may try giving Nutrical or Nutristat just to make sugar it isn't hypoglycemia or even Corn syrup if that is all you have. Has she been exposed to ant or bug poisons, fertilizers, new plants, any new flea or tick treatments. My mom's dog was having seizures and only showed up as kidney problems. It turned out to be ant poison exposure. Although Lucy's seizures are short, it sounds like her recovery from them is much longer than normal.

You said they did an MRI so that would probably rule out brain tumor and probably the link I am giving you, if they looked at her pancreas. Prayers for Lucy I hope the anti-seizure meds start working.

Pancreatic Cancer (Insulinoma) in Dogs | petMD

[linz06]

Originally Posted by Lacy's Mom

Did they check her blood sugar levels? You may try giving Nutrical or Nutristat just to make sugar it isn't hypoglycemia or even Corn syrup if that is all you have. Has she been exposed to ant or bug poisons, fertilizers, new plants, any new flea or tick treatments. My mom's dog was having seizures and only showed up as kidney problems. It turned out to be ant poison exposure. Although Lucy's seizures are short, it sounds like her recovery from them is much longer than normal.

You said they did an MRI so that would probably rule out brain tumor and probably the link I am giving you, if they looked at her pancreas. Prayers for Lucy I hope the anti-seizure meds start working.

Pancreatic Cancer (Insulinoma) in Dogs | petMD

They did run every test possible, as far as they've told us. I have a list in her discharge notes. The MRI was the very last thing they wanted to check because of the expense. They had ruled out everything and we said go ahead with the MRI - if it was a tumor we wanted to know. And it was clear (and there was $1000 down the drain!) So they decided that although it is rare, it is most likely that her kidneys are causing it. There was nothing she could have ingested because she is never outside our yard - and our yard is pretty safe because we also have toddlers.

[linz06]

These are the tests they ran at the veterinary college when she was admitted back at the beginning of April. Since then she has had recheck blood panels and urinalysis every two weeks. We adjusted last week based on those results and she has another recheck next Friday.

[linz06]

She's gone. We are visiting family and traveled for a concert this weekend. She had two seizures in the car on the drive and two more after we arrived and who knows how many overnight. She wasn't recovering. She hadn't eaten and wouldn't take her medicine. All morning she laid there limp, unable to move her own limbs. Then she started convulsing and threw up bile. She jumped up a bit later and turned in circles screaming. We called and went to the first vet who would see her and he confirmed she was in bad shape and likely wouldn't survive much longer even on an IV. We had to let her go peacefully. My heart is aching so badly I can hardly breathe. We have expensive concert tickets tonight and I don't want to go. I hate that we weren't at home for this. I hate that we have to transport her body tomorrow when we go home. I just feel sick.

[Shicks]

Oh my, I'm heartbroken for you. What a hard situation you have been in. You gave your baby the best 5 years of her life. Nothing will help but time to grieve and a lot of time to heal. Prayers for you.
Another wonderful Yorkie crossing rainbow bridge to play with my Titan

[BayleighL]

I am so sorry for your loss of your loved pet Lucy. My heart breaks for you.

[yorkiemini]

Prayer and hugs! You did all you could do for your baby and were such a good Yorkie mama. Those decisions are always so hard and we never get to have them long enough. Blessings!

[Juliealfies mum]

So sorry for your loss , we are thinking of you.

[Skarbie1215]

So sorry for your loss my heart aches for you.

[linz06]

Thank you everyone for your sympathy. I have thrown myself into work and worked overtime last night and probably tonight, will be busy with my son's soccer tomorrow, and really am trying so hard not to think about it. I feel like I failed her for not being home where she was comfortable. I knew she wasn't doing well but we went anyway.

Our veterinary hospital at home is so accommodating, when we had to put Layla down last year they let us spend as much time as we wanted with her in a private room with couches, and kept coming back to check until we were ready to let her go. This random vet we found in another town kept pushing to just give her the anesthesia while my husband wasn't even in the room with us and I was bawling. After she was asleep he took her to the back to give her the final injection while we sat in the waiting room. It hurts so badly that I couldn't hold her as she passed. I was the only human in the world she felt comfortable with. I couldn't even be with her at the end. I know she was asleep and didn't know, but I wanted to be there for her. My only peace is that I know without a doubt she was in pain and was struggling to breathe, her temperature had dropped so she was hypothermic, she couldn't move, and we had to do something. There is no doubt it was her time. I don't have to second guess that for the rest of my life, at least.

Our remaining dog is quite lost and sad. The two of them were abandoned together and were so attached we had to adopt them as a pair. When he got sick in January with his heart condition we never thought we'd be saying goodbye to Lucy first. He has been moping around and isn't his normal self. I hope it doesn't negatively impact his health as well. He was given 3-6 months to live in January but I honestly can't go through this again so soon. A year ago we had three healthy dogs, as far as we knew.