older dog's first seizures

[nhmtns]

My dog "Porter" is a 13-year old, 47 lb. border collie-lab mix. He's in excellent health and loves to hike and play. We've spent our lives together outside and we're very close.

Three days ago at 10:00 PM, he wandered out from his bedroom and had a massive, 4-min. seizure on the living room rug. It was absolutely horrible to see. I called the vet and they said to come in the next morning. At 1:00 AM, he had another major seizure. The next morning at 8:00 AM he had a third grand mal seizure before I took him to the vet.

Each time the seizures were similar in intensity and recovery. It took him about 30 min. afterwards to stop pacing, panting, stumbling, and looking very confused until he finally recognized me and settled down a bit.

We went to the vet and they did blood tests and took x-rays. There was a slight liver abnormality but nothing else bad. The vet prescribed 48.6 mg of Phenobarbital which I administered at 11:00 AM that morning.

It's now been 48 hours and he hasn't had another seizure. He is, however, uncoordinated and his hind legs are weak. He sometimes stumbles or walks slightly sideways, he seems to react strangely to noises, and is in general acting slightly odd. Once outside, his gait seems more normal and his energy improves. Now for my questions:

1) I'm aware of the side effects of Phenobarbital, but do they/can they start very soon after the med is started?
2) Even though the effect of Phenobarbital takes 1-2 weeks to be work effectively, does it/can it start working a little right away?
3) Is Porter's lack of seizures likely unrelated to the Phenobarbital at this point?
4) Could his behavior and lack of coordination be related to the seizures and not the Phenobarbital?

I want to believe that the Phenobarbital is working, but at this point I'm still very nervous about the whole situation and worry that the worse is yet to come even though the seizures have stopped.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Rebecca4614]

I can't answer your Phenobarbitol questions, but I thought I'd mention this... one of my friends has a Lab that suddenly started having serious, frequent seizures and the vet couldn't figure out what was going on.

They were trying to figure out what might have precipitated the seizures, and they realized they'd started using a new topical flea treatment (can't remember which one). They researched online and found that others were having the same experience. They discontinued use and haven't had seizures since.

Thought I'd throw that out there, just in case...

Hope your dog feels better soon!

 

[bubbatd]

It's horrible to go through !!! Hope they taper down !

 

[nhmtns]

Thanks for the responses.

It's frustrating right now because we (the vet and I) have no idea what caused the 3 seizures. He's lost his coordination and rear leg strength which is difficult to watch, and I have no idea if the Phenobarbital is helping or just making it harder for him to get around.

Physically and mentally, I'm also suffering because of all the stress I'm feeling. I just want my happy, active dog from 4 days ago back. I know dogs age and I was prepared for the inevitable, but this state of not knowing for sure is simply agonizing.

 

[Chikadee77]

I can't tell you anything about dog seizures because I've never had a dog with seizures before, but I have them myself and can answer some of your questions from the human perspective (I can't imagine dog's seizures being too different)

Remember, these are all from the human perspective of seizures, I'm not claiming them to be like a dog's seizures at all.

1) When I was on phenobarb, my doctor told me it could take up to 6 weeks to take full effect when I first started taking it. The amount of seizures I had did reduce a bit before those 6 weeks were up though, so I guess it was working a little bit before hand. It's usually the same for most anti-convulsants (I've been on 8 different ones).
2) I guess I kinda answered this question in my response to your first question. I did notice a slight reduction in seizures, but it did not stop them completely.
3) Maybe, maybe not. Who knows without knowing what is causing them.
4) Usually after a grand mal seizure, I am very out of it for 2-3 days afterwards. Though the phenobarb made me feel horribly sick the entire time I was on it too, so it probably contributed. I have been having seizures since I was 3 and have never had good balance, I shake a lot for no reason, and my thought process is often very slow. So those (from my experience) are very common after a seizure.

Hope that helped you a little bit. The doctors have never been able to figure out what cause my seizures, though my liver is also a bit abnormal, but not so much that it would cause so many seizures. I cannot tell you that everything will be ok, because I don't know, and not knowing what's causing them doesn't help either. I do however hope and pray everything goes ok with your pup. Hoping the phenobarb will control them and that he won't have anymore.

 

[bubbatd]

I'm sorry that you have to go through this Chik ....and I'm proud of you for posting . My vet didn't like to put my dog on pheno unless they had cluster seizures or more than 2 a month . I did know of one dog that had eaten into either a golf ball or mole poison .... he never had anymore . My IB's were caused by a brain tumor ....... that was horrible . Please keep reporting .... I'll be thinking of you and your dog .

 

[Chikadee77]

I've pretty much come to the realization that this will be a part of my daily life from here on out, so if I can help other people going through the same things (whether with themselves or pets) by sharing my experiences, I'm glad to do it.

I also found this for you, might help you some more.
http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/phenobarbital.htm

When I read the symtoms listed in that article, I noticed it said something about one of the side effects of phenobarb for dogs was hind end weakness. (like your pup has) But it also said that it usually goes away after a couple weeks of using phenobarb. I'd have the vet keep an eye on that liver too after reading that article.