Please keep Murphy in your thoughts ❤️

[unchosen]

My 9 year old baby Murphy had his first seizure on Easter this year. We took him to the ER and ran tons of tests and everything looked fine, except “slightly” elevated liver enzymes.

He has never had any health issues in his life, and I rescued him when he was only 4 months old. We’ve been inseparable ever since.

He had a second seizure on Memorial Day, then a small third one over that night. We took him to the vet the next day and did more tests, liver enzymes still elevated. We’re waiting on some more tests to come back today. He also has an appointment with a neurologist next week, and hopefully we’ll know what’s going on with our sweet boy. In the meantime, he’s been prescribed seizure meds to hopefully prevent him from having another.

I can’t stop assuming the worst. I keep crying every five seconds thinking our time together is slipping away. I know we don’t know anything for sure yet but I’m SO terrified. Until the past 2.5 years where I met my SO, it has just been Murphy and I. He made me a better person, and I can’t imagine my life without him.

Please send good vibes and if you have some advice, I would welcome that too. Thank you for reading about us, and I hope you have a good day.

Doggie Tax

 

[adenna]

@unchosen Honestly, if he’s eating, drinking and pooping fine, have them put him on Keppra and save yourself the additional testing. I spent 20K trying to figure out why my heeler had seizures and everything came back negative. Same with a friend of mine. End result was meds.

 

[unchosen]

@adenna He is! The weird thing is he’s 10000% normal except the random seizures. They’re short too; 30 seconds or less. His normal vet prescribed him Keppra yesterday and so far so good. I appreciate you responding; that made me feel better actually. I’m glad your baby is okay, and thank goodness for the meds!

 

[daniel924927]

@unchosen I’ll probably get downvotes for this, but CBD tincture is very effective in stopping my mixed-breed dog’s mild seizures. It’s worthy of consideration before putting your dog on prescription meds for the rest of his life.

I literally put a couple drops into her mouth as soon as I see her starting (she starts snapping her mouth), and she’s good within a few minutes. She has episodes appx 1-2x per month.

 

[unchosen]

@daniel924927 I appreciate your reply! Right now we’re not sure if he’ll have to be on meds the rest of his life; this is just in the meantime until we can figure out (hopefully) what’s going on.

I am a huge advocate of holistic medicine (although I always ask my vet before we try anything new), but I’m a bit hesitant to try that because the day he had his first seizure was actually the day he had his very first CBD treat. In fact, until his second one the other day, his vet said that could have been why since it was the only thing out of the ordinary that day. However, she made it clear it was because it could have been contaminated, not the CBD itself. I will be asking about that though when we talk with his neurologist next week!! I agree; I don’t want to have to medicate him, but if that is the only option then I will. :/

 

[daniel924927]

@unchosen I truly hope everything goes ok for you! Seizures suck… and he looks like a sweetheart!

 

[unchosen]

@daniel924927 Thank you! he is a total ham. The sweetest boy ever and I hope he’s okay too!

 

[jane123]

@unchosen I used CBD to treat my cattle dog's seizures for 2-3 years with some good effect. Eventually it got to the point where it was not really preventing them anymore. I switched him over to phenobarbital and it made a world of difference. Things that I didn't know were related to his seizures stopped too. I'd recommend trying CBD but keep pharmaceuticals in mind because it's been much more effective in my experience. Of course your doggos condition is likely different from mine.

Also as others have said, I wouldn't stress too much about figuring out the cause of they don't think the seizures are life threatening I'd just medicate your dog the best you can and appreciate the time you spend together.

 

[chisel]

@adenna Did the keppra change his behavior or quality of life at all? My 6 year old has a short seizure every few months, then he's back to normal. We're hesitant to put him on meds for life when the seizures are so few and far between. But we're preparing ourselves for when they do become more frequent.

 

[genxgirl]

@chisel Can I pop in? My ACD mix has maybe 1 or 2 a year, they're atypical seizures, and because they're so seldom, his vet and I have agreed to not medicate unless they become much more frequent.

 

[chisel]

@genxgirl Absolutely, thanks. What kind of frequency? Once a month? Once every 2 months?

 

[genxgirl]

@chisel So far, they vary. He's had a couple within a couple of weeks before and he's had them 4 months apart, even a year apart. We haven't yet found anything similar to trigger them.

 

[crawfojo14]

@chisel Chiming in: my dog is on Keppra, but we held off until she started having them either more than once a day or multiple times a week.

(And, for the record, the Keppra has definitely helped reduce both the frequency and the intensity of her seizies.)

Obviously, consult your vet! But I imagine they would be looking for a similar frequency to justify a daily medication.

 

[adenna]

@chisel None whatsoever. He eventually go weened off of it.

 

[crawfojo14]

@adenna I came here to say basically this. My pup has seizures, but other than that, she is totally normal, active, and healthy. The seizures came on about a year after we adopted her, and they are sporadic. Sometimes she will have 1-2/day for a few days, and then she goes weeks and weeks without one.

We've had basic panels done on her, and all has come back normal.

She eats, poops, plays, and overall behaves like a healthy gal.

We haven't yet been able to determine a cause, and the next steps recommended were $$$$$$ tests and neurologists visits to rule out everything OTHER than epilepsy to then be able to diagnose with epilepsy, which would only result in her being on the same daily medication she's on now: Keppra.

We've had her on this prescription for ~8 months, and we notice much less frequency in her seizures and much less intensity when she is having one. We use GoodRx to get the cost down significantly (from ~$90/mo to ~$19/mo), and she takes one pill with breakfast and one pill with dinner.

My main advice is this (based on my own experience): these seizures are not a death sentence.

- Do your best to learn how to manage the stress of a seizure when it's happening, but otherwise just try to give your pup a normal life.

** (During seizures: keep other dogs/animals away from the seizing pup, reduce heat as much as possible by taking off harnesses/collars/etc. and placing a fan nearby but not too close, avoid petting close to the head/mouth when seizing just incase they involuntarily bite, do not feed anything during or right after a seizure, and keep an eye out for uncharacteristic/aggressive behavior for a bit after the seizure) **

- Keppra, fa sho. Highly recommend asking your vet about it as a daily med.

- Definitely use GoodRx.

- Lots of pats and lovins, of course.

 

[unchosen]

@crawfojo14 Hey there!! Thank you so much for your thorough and caring response!! He is temporarily on Keppra just to try to make sure he doesn’t have another seizure, and as of right now we are going to the neurologist to try to figure it out. I have pet insurance on him, but depending on what they say on more initial tests, we may not need an MRI.

He is a totally normal and happy boy too; we frequently take him on adventures and we always take him when we go out of town. He has an awesome life. Some of his blood panels were slightly out of the normal range, but the vet assured me it wasn’t anything crazy and since we didn’t have a baseline before now, they could have been due to the seizures as well. We are retesting them in August just in case.

Good Rx is really a godsend!! Thank you for saying that here though in case others aren’t aware of it. The only reason I know about it is because I’ve used it for my own medications before haha!

Thank you again, you are so kind and helpful. I will do my best to manage my fears, but man they really are our family members so it’s hard. I’m so glad your pup is doing well also!!

 

[crawfojo14]

@unchosen

 

[unchosen]

@crawfojo14 That’s what I need to remind myself of in the moment! It’s easy to get overcome with my feelings but he is the one that needs me. I do love him tremendously I love him more than I love myself lol he has been with me through the brightest and darkest days. He is my comfort but I am his too. Thanks again for your reply

 

[jasonshores]

@unchosen Sweet Murphy!! Sending all the vibes and love for you both. Our pups are our soulmates and it’s SO hard to see them scared or in pain. You’re doing the right things! Find out if it’s something treatable and love him fiercely in the meantime. Keep us updated!!

 

[unchosen]

@jasonshores Thank you!! I will. He really is my soulmate and I am hoping so so much that it is and we will have many more years together. I appreciate your kind words so much thank you!!