Canine Epilepsy?
Last night, just before when we were making supper, I asked Alan to let our two dogs into the family room for some company for them. Don, my dh, was in the family room. Our large black Lab., Jingle ran in, and then collapsed. She proceeded to pant and have paralysis of her back end. She couldn't stand and didn't respond when her name was gently called. It lasted around two minutes, long enough for Don to ask me to give him a flashlight while he looked into her pupils.
We decided to take her to the emergency vet. She did get up and walk, although she couldn't jump up into the back of the van and Don lifted her in and out. When we got to the vet, it was only about 20 minutes since it happened. Of course, there were forms to fill out, but the vet tech saw her about half an hour after it happened. After describing it, the vet came in. She ruled out Don's first guess, which was a stroke, because she was by then responsive and licking and following the vet with her eyes. She was panting and her temp. was slightly elevated.
We agreed to leave her there for a blood test to rule out poisoning, although we are pretty confident that she couldn't be poisoned unless she ate an animal which had itself been poisoned and got into our well-fenced yard. We declined the EKG and overnight observation. The upper end of the estimate was $800! We did have to pay $300 for this visit.
What are we to do? Basically not much. We are to record any further seizure on the calendar and describe it as best we can. If they become frequent, we are to take her to her regular vet, who will decide whether or not medication would be in order. If her quality of life is good and she doesn't have frequent seizures, nothing will be done.
It did give us a scare and we hope she doesn't have these frequently. I am considering getting a second crate as our crate is now occupied by the smaller dog, Pepper, at night. Now, I think we may put Jingle in the big crate and get a smaller one for Pepper. That way, if Jingle does lose control of her bowels or voids, the crate is easier to clean up. She spent a few nights in it when she was sick in January, but she recovered fine from that illness, which was likely a virus, according to the regular vet. We so love Jingle and hope that this is manageable.
We decided to take her to the emergency vet. She did get up and walk, although she couldn't jump up into the back of the van and Don lifted her in and out. When we got to the vet, it was only about 20 minutes since it happened. Of course, there were forms to fill out, but the vet tech saw her about half an hour after it happened. After describing it, the vet came in. She ruled out Don's first guess, which was a stroke, because she was by then responsive and licking and following the vet with her eyes. She was panting and her temp. was slightly elevated.
We agreed to leave her there for a blood test to rule out poisoning, although we are pretty confident that she couldn't be poisoned unless she ate an animal which had itself been poisoned and got into our well-fenced yard. We declined the EKG and overnight observation. The upper end of the estimate was $800! We did have to pay $300 for this visit.
What are we to do? Basically not much. We are to record any further seizure on the calendar and describe it as best we can. If they become frequent, we are to take her to her regular vet, who will decide whether or not medication would be in order. If her quality of life is good and she doesn't have frequent seizures, nothing will be done.
It did give us a scare and we hope she doesn't have these frequently. I am considering getting a second crate as our crate is now occupied by the smaller dog, Pepper, at night. Now, I think we may put Jingle in the big crate and get a smaller one for Pepper. That way, if Jingle does lose control of her bowels or voids, the crate is easier to clean up. She spent a few nights in it when she was sick in January, but she recovered fine from that illness, which was likely a virus, according to the regular vet. We so love Jingle and hope that this is manageable.
posted by Mary at 8:42 PM
1 Comments:
Oh, how scary. Any updates?
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