[maisiebuc]

Just looking for some info regarding Maisie and her seizures (Fits as i call them here in Scotland). Maisie had here fist fit in January this year, fit was convulsions for a minute with foaming at mouth and loss of bodily fuctions. Happened @ 07:30 ish in the morning. The fit/turn only lasted a minute or two and within 30 mins she was back to her usual self (well a little lethargic as would be expected). Myself and the wife have had experiance with epilepsy and thought along those lines. Any way we took her to the vet straight away who tested blood and the usual mobility stuff, but results were all fine. Left vets with the hopefully this won't happen again head on.

8 weeks later Maisie has the same fit/turn as mentioned before. Back to the vet again who checks for Blood work and mobility. Different vet this time who says it could possibly be a mild form of epilepsy and gives us 10mg of diazapam to give to Maisie is she has another turn.

11 weeks later (Just last week) Maisie has exact same fit/turn again. Adminustered diazapam but this did not really change anything. Forgot to mention every fit/turn happens at around 0800hrs.

I am really looking for any other advice from owners on the site i have searched thro the history of the forums which has put my mind at ease greatly, thought we were the only one as our breeder had never heard of seizures in any of his past breed beagles.

 

[Murphys Dad]

Maizie is having seizures too often. Please see a neurologist soon. Odds are they will prescribe phenobarbitol or potassium bromide as an anti-seizure med. Phenobarbitol is usually the first choice and is fairly inexpensive (at least it is here).

Do note the time (when and length of seizure), symptoms, and try to grade severity. Give all this info to your vet as soon as it happens.

Seizures can be set off by a number things: food, chemicals, excitement, stress... Try an narrow down what it might be.
- Did you change her food?
- Are there any new cleaners or chemicals in the house?
- Do you have a landscaper spray your lawn?
- Is there any external sources that may stress her?

Responsible breeders would not breed from a pair anymore once a problem has been diagnosed from that litter. Sadly, most breeders do not track the health of the pups they sell (unless they are show or trial champions). Even so, most will not admit their dogs have issues.

 

[BookerMoose]

I do hope you can find out the cause and get on the right medication if necessary.

Two of our three beagles have minor and infrequent seizures and we have always been told by the vet that the absolutely best way for them to understand the nature of the seizure is to have us film it so that they can watch exactly what happens. Of course it is hard to think about filming when the seizure is happening since you want to help the dog, but it is a good thing to keep in mind.

 

[Murphys Dad]

Sorry to hear Maisie is experiencing seizures. Here is a great website with lots of info: http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/site_map.htm .

 

[maisiebuc]

Thanks for the info so far. The last time we went to the vet they said that the next time Maisie fits would probably determine what course of action that would be required, dependent on the lengh of time and signs and or symptoms. The wife has a log of the fits which the vet has documented against Maisie's file as well. This may sound a bit harsh but we are still in the thinking that she won't fit again as it could poss be age thing. Fingers crossed anyway. As for probable cause, Maisie is on the same type of dog food for a while now all be it she is on light version at the moment as she is a tad over weight (17.7 kgs last health check, she has a slight belly but we put this down to having her spayed), there is no real big daily change in Maisie's routine and i don't think she is stressed, Maisie's breeder also mentioned about her inuclations. Maisie recevies her annually thru a booster, the breeder mentioned a herbal course that is taken monthly, we are researching this at the moment as our friend who breeds Standard poodles uses this method. Anyway when i get home this time from working offshore when i she has her health check i am going to note the 2 x drugs mentioned and see what the vet thinks. Thanks for the info so far, greatly appreciated.

Maisie

 

[Murphys Dad]

Our Spook isn't a beagle, but is on medication for seizures. His weren't as frequent as Maisie's and, since he was young when they started, we thought he might outgrow them and didn't put him on medication.

The day he had cluster seizures was the day he started phenobarbitol. Believe me, cluster seizures are hard to watch and can be very dangerous for a dog. The phenobarbitol is inexpensive and has controlled the seizures very well. Our vet does insist on bloodwork every six months to monitor the levels of phenobarbitol, but we think that's a good thing.

 

[maisiebuc]

Not looking good as Maisie has taken another fit today. 1 and a half weeks after the last one. Same fit again but this time she fell from the steps we were luckly that it was from the bottom 2. Wife new it was coming as she could see it in Maisie's eyes so was trying to get here into the kitchen so she could not harm herself. The wife administered diazapam as instructed by the vet which made no real difference to the fit (Fit lasted the usual 1-2 mins with same side affects) only to make her more unsettled instead of a usual 30 mins to come back to normal it took her 1 hour 30 mins today, wife said she was very unsure, weepy and clung to her side for the whole time. Man i hate being stuck offshore when something happens back home, i feel useless.

Any way i have told her about the above drugs mentioned as she has an appointment with the vet today. So hopefully the vet will try and get a specilest or try and get her prescribed some drugs to stop the fits

Fingers crossed anyway.

 

[Murphys Dad]

I can't stress this enough. Please get her to a neurologist soon. You need to get the seizures under control now. I have never heard about giving meds afterwards. If they are getting closer together, she is in danger. If your vet doesn't know how to deal with epilepsy, then find another vet. Seizures can cause brain damage and be fatal. I know of two BW beagles that have passed away due to seizures.

 

[maisiebuc]

Maisie been to the vet and has been put on phenobarbitol (it is called ECH something over here but the vet said it was phenobarbitol), She has a return appointment for a month if nothing else comes up. The vet also mentioned the possibility of MRI scan but would like to see the course of phenobarbitol hopefully take control. We have phoned our pet insurance to see what they say but we are now hoping that Maisie will become more settled now that she is on medication.
The meds afterwards was explained wrongly by another vet or so the vet today said, He said that the diazapam was for if the fit lasted longer than 5 mins or if that Maisie was to fall in and out of fits. The diazapam was meant to act as in like humans i.e relax and stop them hurting them selfs.
The wife has done a lot of research today and was armed with a list of questions that would fear you. The vet seemed to answer them all which pleased the wife. The vet also said that diagnosis for epilepsy in animals is very hard to narrow down but also mentioned that it could be any number of things that could set a fit off. All Maisie's family have there fingers crossed that the meds will sort this problem out.

 

[Murphys Dad]

I'm with Joe, please get Maisie to the vet or neurologist ASAP! Her seizures are way too frequent, and that's dangerous. Believe me, you don't want her to have cluster seizures! That's extremely dangerous, not to mention agonizing to watch.

I do have liquid valium on hand in case Spook should ever go into cluster seizures again despite being on medication. It's not a preventive, but just something that could hopefully help bring him down until we could get him to the vet. The vet gave it to me because it takes us an hour to get to his office or to an emergency vet. But, I repeat, it isn't something that's for preventing seizures.

 

[Murphys Dad]

I see that you were typing at the same time as me, and that you now know how diazepam (valium) is supposed to be used.

Hopefully, the phenobarbitol will be as effective for your Maisie as it's been for Spook.

 

[Zookeeper]

Glad to hear the vet put Maisie on meds. We had a dog with seizures when I was a kid and it was such a scary thing to watch. I hope the meds work well for Maisie and that she never has to go through that again.

 

[Makaella's Mom]

A little off topic - sorry to piggyback on someonelses thread but I have read of so many beags on this forum having seizures and I guess I'm wondering if it will happen to Jack. Is there an age by which it usually starts? The vet thinks he's two and I have no medical records from before Memorial Day, when I got him.

Is he past the age of onset or could this still happen?

Thanks for letting me jump in.

 

[maisiebuc]

Maisie was 2years and 1 month old when she had her first fit. This was totally out the blue as well as she is a livley healthy dog. I would read the forum history on seizures which will help a great deal if you ever have to do anything along those lines but i hope you don't have to worry about it.

 

[Makaella's Mom]

Thank you! I was just starting a search - good advice.

 

[josiek]

Hi. I hope Maisie fares well on her medication. I don't know the statistics offhand, but phenobarb helps a significant number of fitting animals to get their seizures under control. Even if it doesn't, the vet can then prescribe epilease (UK name, don't know if it's called the same all over the world), which is potassium bromide. Again, this is proven to help many animals.

Unfortunately, it has not been the case for our 4 year old beagle, Flash, who started fitting over a year ago. He started off in a similar fashion to Maisie - a fit out of the blue and then more followed. The vet so far has followed the usual protocols and each time we change the meds it seems to work for a while and then his fits start to be more frequent again.

He's now on a large dosage of epiphen plus epiliease plus some skullcap & valerium tablets that are supposed to help him slow down the processing of the other drugs through his efficient little body. These tablets were added after he started having more than one fit in a row.

Outside of his fits he's a happy little boy. I'm making another appointment with the vet today to see if there's any other route that we can go down as these drugs just aren't working for him.

 

[deb]

We have a cat that has had seizures since we got him. We were told that the seizure that he has is not epilepsy and that seizures in cats on any kind are very uncommon. It wasn't until almost a year after we got him that we found out that he had been accidentally locked in a freezer (unplugged) for several days. Therefore the vet seems to think that the lack of oxygen to his brain is what causes his seizures. Originally we were told that he would probably live about a year. But thanks to phenobarbitol, he is still going...5 years and counting.