Epilepsy

[pure_breed]

Any help advise greatly appriciated.

My dog has had 3 seizures in the past 9 months, each lasting about 5 mins (I think it felt like an eternity), he thrashes about, has alot of spit comming out of his mouth and then when the seizure is over he sleeps rock solid for roughly 9-10 hrs, I physically have to shake him to wake him up. I have taken him to my vet and he has run liver function tests and done a full physical on him, the tests come back all clear and he is in perfect health. The vet has told me there is no test that can test for epilepsy and the vet has advised me to get a cat scan on his head to rule out a brain tumour as well.

What I would like to know is does a dogs personality change with epilepsy as my boy has changed dramatically, he is now very anxious and has developed a very nasty streak, I know he doesn't mean to do the things he does its as if he cant help himself, he will scratch my face when I am holding him and bite my other dogs for no reason.

Also the cat scan is going to be inexcess of $2000.00 and I wont be able to come up with the money for a little bit, is there another way to find out if it is a tumor or epilepsy.

Cheers in advance.

[Rappie]

How old is your dog?

Epilepsy is what we call a diagnosis of exclusion, meaning that to 'diagnose' it, we have to rule out all the other likely possibilities first. This is a situation that many people face when we're working up seizures - we cannot find a metabolic reason, which means the cause is likely to be in the brain, but is it an electrical / chemical problem, or a structural one (which is where the MRI comes in).

In some situations it is reasonable to do a treatment trial on anti-seizure medication to see if this improves the situation. The disadvantage is lack of diagnosis. Many people do not have the means to do advance imaging, so I would recommend that you speak to your vet about other options. Due to the location of our practice, we do have the alternate option of referral to a neurologist for a second opinion. Obviously a human cannot replace a machine, but the neurologist has a wealth of experience and gives very practical advice. This might be an option for you also.

ETA: Generally speaking, medication might be started when seizures occur at a frequency greater than one every 4-6 weeks, but this is dependent on other factors such as triggers, severity and duration. Whether or not it is an appropriate option is something you need to discuss with your vet.

Edited February 3, 2010 by Rappie

[pure_breed]

How old is your dog?

Epilepsy is what we call a diagnosis of exclusion, meaning that to 'diagnose' it, we have to rule out all the other likely possibilities first. This is a situation that many people face when we're working up seizures - we cannot find a metabolic reason, which means the cause is likely to be in the brain, but is it an electrical / chemical problem, or a structural one (which is where the MRI comes in).

In some situations it is reasonable to do a treatment trial on anti-seizure medication to see if this improves the situation. The disadvantage is lack of diagnosis. Many people do not have the means to do advance imaging, so I would recommend that you speak to your vet about other options. Due to the location of our practice, we do have the alternate option of referral to a neurologist for a second opinion. Obviously a human cannot replace a machine, but the neurologist has a wealth of experience and gives very practical advice. This might be an option for you also.

ETA: Generally speaking, medication might be started when seizures occur at a frequency greater than one every 4-6 weeks, but this is dependent on other factors such as triggers, severity and duration. Whether or not it is an appropriate option is something you need to discuss with your vet.

Thanks for your reply

My boy is just on 2 yrs old.

[Rappie]

Idiopathic epilepsy (seizures with no identifiable cause) has a typical onset between 1 and 3 years of age, so this would be a consideration for your boy.

[pure_breed]

Thanks, he has an appointment on Friday, I will mention this to my vet.

[SueM]

My dog has epilepsy has had it for the last three years and his personality has not changed at all.

[Cockerlover]

my heart goes out to u ,having experianced a young boy with suspected epilepsy ,

my huckie was only 18mnths old when he had the first of many episodes,

the last few left him a competley changed dog .

it was like lights on nobody home .

there is medication that can sometimescontroll this,but it is

expensive & an ongoing process .

I know $$$$dont count when it comes to our dogs ,but i feel personally one has to look @ the Quality of life .

[~Anne~]

What state are you in?

If you are in Sydney, then I can give you the name of a fabulous specialist in this field and this may rule out the need for a scan. I have an epileptic dog and we see a Neurologist by the name of Georgina Childs. She conducted a few simple neurolgical tests on my boy, combined with his history of seizures and other things, and concluded that a scan was not neccessary as it appeared that it was idiopathic epilepsy.

Epilepsy does change the behaviour of some dogs, as does the anti-epileptic medications that the dogs are put on. One of the chnages is related to aggression.

The quality of life of any dog with epilepsy is up to the owners to consider. My Pug, Monte, has a great quality of life even though he has suffered more than 300 seizures over his life. We have never experienced major aggression with him, but he will sometimes take play a bit too far and will suddenly zone into a second or 2 of aggression. These days this occurs very, very infrequently though. He is more laid back, docile and lethargic than the other Pugs, but he also has many moments where he is just as active. He still plays and enjoys his life, he just simply sleeps and dozes more than the others.

Monte was first diagnosed at 18 months and is now a couple off months of 8 years of age.

Edited February 3, 2010 by ~Anne~

[frufru]

My standard poodle had seizures between the age of 2 and 5 years (averaged one every 4 months) was never medicated and has not had one in the last 3 years. His personality did not change. He had typical grand mal siezures which lasted around 2 mins - they were full on and he sometimes took days to recover.

It would be a good idea to time your dog's seizures as there is a big difference between 2 mins and 5 mins.

There is a lot of very good info on the net. The Canine Epilepsey Network was very good.