Seizures in puppies

[Sue Hebel]

Hello again,

My 10 month old Nugget has just started having seizures.  He had two on Sunday, and one Monday.  All the seizures have begun while he is sleeping.   Our vet prescribed medication to stop the seizures when they are occurring and phenobarbital to give orally after.  We gave the medication to break the seizure Monday AM, followed by a dose of phenobarbital.  He has not had any more seizures yet.  I am hoping this is not a recurrent condition.  Nugget does not have an infection and appears normal otherwise.  This seizure condition was a total surprise.  Does anyone have any experience with this?  I am contacting the breeder to see if any other puppies in Nugget's litter of twelve has had seizures.

 

[Catherine Carter]

So happy to hear Nugget is doing better....for the ears you can get a detangler comb online they are very good as they don't hurt the dog. Each little bit of the comb rotates so that it does not tear the hair out....I hope this helps....also you could use a very nourishing hair conditioner when giving a bath :-)

[Sue Hebel]

Thank you, I will see what I can find and order one.  My husband wants to cut the matted hair out and I won't let him.  I did try just shampooing his ears and applying my hair conditioner, which I think, did help some.  Nugget doesn't like his ears messed with for cleaning and I am trying to not have it be an unpleasant experience when I put the enzyme drops in for cleaning up the insides.  I got some wipes too.  Good thing I love this dog!  He is a 24/7 job.   But he is loving life getting so dirty!

[Angela Clarke]

This is a very strange thing, Abbie who is epileptic also has very waxy ears, and always has. I clean hers every Saturday with ear cleaner from the vet. My other two can have theres cleaned every few months and still have no wax. Could there be a link ?

[Sue Hebel]

I am not sure about a connection, but I wouldn't be surprised at anything anymore!  When we took Nugget to the vet in Oregon because he wouldn't eat or drink (because the rock he ate got stuck in him), the vet said he had wax in his ears.  She had the assistants flush them out and we were to put Zyvox in his ears daily for a week.  When we took Nugget to the vet here, related to his seizures, we had him check the dog's ears because he was always scratching them.  The vet said he had a yeast infection and gave us some other drops to use for a week.  

Thyroid tests should be back from Hemopet in a day or so.  Updates to follow.  Good to have lots of other folks with setters to run stuff by!

[Finding_Beau]

I cannot comment on seizures in Irish Setters even though my English Setter, Rose died from complications associated with brain seizures. However, I can comment on waxy ears and yeast "infections" because I have been battling to keep my English Setter, Hobson alive for 4 years now because of the continual misdiagnoses and mismanagement of his health by vets!! An "overgrowth" of the bad yeast in the intestine will result in continual ear problems and/or skin problems, etc. The way to fix this is to fix the digestive system because the cause of the problem is in the digestive system. The reason many dogs itch is not because of allergies or eczema, it is because of an imbalance of the yeast in the gut. The term "systemic yeast infection" is not an infection, it is a prolonged imbalance of yeast in the gut which eventually results not only in a seriously impaired digestive system, in a compromised immune system, auto-immune problems, endocrine problems, etc.

I hope I never have to speak to a vet again as long as I live. Hobson is slowly improving because all the meat and bone he eats is certified organic human grade and the other components of his diet are primarily organic but otherwise preservative free and natural. I have stopped all kibble. I will not allow Hobson to be given antibiotics or any drugs. Because Hobson has been so ill I have had to go very slowly. Yesterday I commenced a multi-vitamin/mineral/antioxidant supplement for pets to be used with a natural diet. This type of diet is expensive but I believe it is vitally important for the digestive health of a dog. This is my personal opinion. I am not trying to tell anyone what to do. I am contributing to this forum topic only to help. I would never want another human being to suffer the way I have because of what vets have done to my beloved animal children.

[Angela Clarke]

Ok Sue, now I am realy wondering if we may have found a connection, Abbie had her ears flushed out two months before her first fit. How does this compare to Nuggets treatment, time scale ?

I would be very interested if any other owner of an epileptic dog has had the same treatment done.

[Sue Hebel]

Nugget had his ears flushed a little over a month before his first seizure.  He still gets a lot of build up in and around the ear canal and doesn't like to sit still for frequent or thorough cleanings!

Hemopet thyroid results came back normal; actually better than the first ones I had done through my vet.  So it seems he may indeed be epileptic.

[Angela Clarke]

I am now very interested to hear if any other owner of an epileptic dog has had their ears flushed.This could be possibley a link, an avenue worth exploring. 

[Sue Hebel]

Do you think we should start another forum related to ear issues?  Maybe it is just coincidental....?

[Howard Glansfield]

I don't think the neurological condition ,epilepsy, is anyway related to ears being flushed .I certainly have never had mine done!

[Sue Hebel]

Thanks much for the information.  I try to give Nugget a spoonful of yoghurt (with active culture) daily, per the advice of the breeder. I wonder if I should be giving him more?  There certainly are a lot of things to consider. It is amazing that the two setters we had  over thirty years ago never had any problems and we most certainly didn't do anything special back then.  We could barely feed ourselves!  I still think that over-breeding has caused many of the problems with the beautiful setters of today.  Nugget also has English Setter in his heritage.

[Angela Clarke]

I shalln`t open a discussion on ear issues, and I am sorry if I changed the subject on your discussion. I was trying to help, but hands up I got it wrong.