Epileptic Dog

cepheus

Before insuring the dog make sure they accept current illnesses, I would be suprised if they did.

My friend has had an epileptic Golden Retreiver for more than 5 years now despite checking on the Pedigree before buying her as a pup. As well as being expensive, it tends to rule her life, makes her unable to sleep due to the dog keep wakening her up, and prevents any social life. I think the anti-epileptic drugs include valium and make the dog very sleepy most of the time.

bagginslover

I just want to clarify, I wasn't suggesting you give her up, merely that you could ask for help from a rescue specifically for her breed. They might want you to let them take her away for treatment if they agreed to help as they'd have discounts set up with certain vets that might not be in your area. I know you'd miss her, but her health is the most important thing here. Didn't want you to think I was being totally insensitive.

vax2002

Obviously not relevant to the Charley as you can just put them in you bag.
But general advice on spotting an epileptic fit in a dog and what to do.
The Dog begins to cough as its airway closes, then begins choking and slouches down and keels over, begins running on the spot choking until it stops as if dead, then it slowly wakens.
At this point the dog is deaf blind paralysed and only has very basic survival instincts switched back on, as life signs return one by one, the dog may not know who you are and can become very dangerous attacking out at anyone.
Its vital signs switch back on one by one with the hi I am your friendly pooch as the very last, the dog will begin to panic and try to escape and can jump through windows, run off in to the wild and any manner of oddities
The safest place for any dog "returning " from a fit is to be taken and locked in the smallest area you have with no windows it can jump through, lock the dog in and leave it alone for at least an hour, it will usually fall in to a sleep, wake up oblivious at your concern, get it wrong and it can savage you and smash the whole house up.
Then run the dog a bath, you will see why.

Elle7

The flopping to the side you describe is much more similar to a heart problem....get her heart listened too properly, fast. If it is this, she will be fine one minute, usually running or excited. Then the valve will allow blood to leak back into the heart, meaning she'll fall onto one side, and look glazed. She will feel heavy, and it can take quite some time for her to recover, with glazy eyes, or she might be back up in no time, depending on the severity.

If this is happening already, then her heart has already started to fail, and she will need medication fast to prolong her life. It isn't fixable, so it's just getting her onto the right dose asap to stop it getting any worse. My cav cost £120 a month in meds - he lived a year and a bit after it began.

If its brain swelling it is equally as important...brain surgery could be necessary, or she could be in a great deal of pain very soon.

Please let us know what the vet says...I'm worried about the poor girl. I hate that cavs are so ill

Odunican

The flopping to the side only happened once she never done it before and as I said it was like a pre-seizure. Her heart is fine according to the vets.

The first time her heart murmur was mentioned was when a vet said she has one but it wasn't enough to give it a grade. But every time she been the vet since then they havent heard anything so maybe vet was mistaken.

She is on medicine now only small dose twice a day for life. I asked the vet about futher investigation and she said she could refer us to a specialist for a MRI scan but that if they found the condition you are all refering to then yes it would cost £2000 to operate and also this wouldn't stop the fits and she still have to be on medicine. But she said if it was free then she would give her one as the condition is reknown in cavas.

But she wasn't concerned at the moment as she was showing any other sytoms such as head shaking.

Lucky vet only charged us for medicine and not to see her. Cost £21 and thats cheaper than last time when all I did was visit the vet so pretty happy.

Do you know any charities or whatever who could help with funding for the MRI scan as I really want it done. I mean if worse comes to worse have to just do a payment plan as I doubt I could get a loan at the moment as am already getting a student finance loan.

Oh and she wears a harness bought her one a few months ago as she always pulls and chokes herself. Plus find easier to grab her if needed with a harness.

Elle7

What medicine is she on? That might help us identify what the vet is thinking...

I hope I haven't scared you, I'm just trying to keep you informed. I found not knowing made it so much worse to go through...I'm glad your vet didn't charge you too much either.

Odunican

Phenobarbital 15mg tablets. As I said two a day.