If anyone reading this has sadly had a dog with epilepsy and if you feel upto it, could you kindly tell me what your dog was like inbetween seizures?

Having been reading everything I can find on the net about this condition it seems that dogs with it are relatively normal inbetween seizures (I may be wrong in this).

In general Harvey is not even half himself, he barely wags his tail, he is wobbly and weak most of the time, and the most pronounced thing is the tremors.

Since being put on the new double dose of Pexion I have to say the tremors do not seem as violent as they were this time last week but he does still have them.

When he is standing still on all four legs they are really noticeable. When he sits they affect his front legs and head
And when he does lay they seem to alternate, sometimes in his back half and some times in his front.

And another pronounced thing is he is still reluctant to lay down. Sometimes when I tell him to lay he flat refuses.

This particular phenomenon has been happening from back in December when his old Vet diagnosed Harvey with crystals in his urine. She said that he is probably feeling uncomfortable hence the reluctance to lay.

I have told his new vet about this several times and he has not really said anything about it but I'm convinced there is more to this and that it may some how be connected to his over all condition.

By this I mean, is there an under lying condition that's been over looked that may be causing or be part of the problem?

Has anyone with a epileptic dog ever had these kind of symptoms?

so soz kenny that i called you jenny!! Typing on a smart phone is horrendous!!

June and I will formulate a plan and sort this out xx gnasher xx

hahah I didn't even notice, it went right over my head

I have cared for half a dozen epileptic dogs in kennels and have one (petit mal only -- stabilized for four years now with low dose phenobarb) of my own. I have not seen abnormal behavior between seizures. Some of the medications used to treat epilepsy are depressants, and make the dog lethargic initially, but this lasts only a few weeks in my experience.

A previous user here spoke of the dog being extremely clingy, annoying, and hungry after a seizure. She said the dog would not be still or quiet and needed valium to relax. Not sure this is helpful as this was just what one person said... but there were issues in between seizures for this person.

Glad someone else knows that rhyme, I haven't come across anybody else before that knows it!
I've heard people pronounce it "Ee-sow" (as in, female pig), and even "Ess-oo"!! (Sounds like a sneeze, LOL!)

I do use Thornit, but this isn't just a normal ear infection unfortunately - the eardrum has perforated (has a hole in it), so I can't use anything except what the vet prescribes, and even that is difficult because there's no one product licenced to treat ear infections in the presence of an eardrum perforation.

Kenny, you asked how it's treated .. At the moment, we are using a very diluted form of the same kind of wash used by the vets for surgery on ears, and he's also taking antibiotics by mouth. We warm the wash to just above blood temperature so it's soothing for him, and just flood the ear canal with it twice a day. Then from tomorrow he will start on some antibiotic drops that the vet has specially mixed up for us. Fingers are crossed we have caught it in time!

Glad to hear Harvey isn't doing too badly - the quietness is probably the meds starting to work. He'll be sleepy more often with fewer fits. Hopefully the fits will eventually stop altogether, but aim for improvement rather than a cure. If the fits do stop completely and Harvey is still very dopey, talk to the vet about reducing the dose.

It's great that you'll soon be getting sorted out with a fabric crate! Aren't people on this forum the best?

Keep us posted, Kenny.

Hi Kenny,
As I say, the sleepiness/not being interested in things is probably the medication.

My dogs would have 'frantic' stages after a fit but this usually only lasted a few hours. They were often ravenous, too. Then they would be quiet and sleep a lot. But once this had passed, they were normal.

Having said that, both of them would tremble a bit before a full fit and the Goldie-x would shake and twitch during a petit-mal episode, so bear this in mind - Harvey is at the early stages of management and it's possible he's having smaller fits between the more obvious ones.

Your vet really should reassure you a bit more about these symptoms and explain them to you. Epilepsy is a very poorly understood condition even in humans, so it's quite possible that the vet doesn't know what's behind these symptoms but in that case, he should tell you!

If there's a possibility something else is going on as well as the epilepsy, then he should be looking into this for you, as you rightly say. If it's simply smaller fits then the meds might need increasing or changing, or the timings of the doses changing.

Next time you see the vet, ask him directly about these symptoms - tell him they worry you and you'd like to know why they are happening. He should give you a straight answer to a straight question!

Hi Kenny
I haven't posted before, but I do know the person Myra is referring to. Her dog who is 6 years old has suffered from epilepsy for the past 4 years and on average has one seizure a month. As Myra said she does give her dog valium to relax her, plus various supplements. (Strangely enough her vet is also epileptic so possibly has more understanding of the illness than most vets).

I know how precious Harvey is to you, so I hope you don't mind my having taken the liberty of posting her and telling her a little about you and Harvey and asking her if she felt she could give you some advice, which she feels she can do. She no longer posts on Dogsey, only on Dogsey's sister forum Breedia. I also cleared it with Azz, so if you'd like to join Breedia and start a thread about Harvey's epilepsy please feel free to do so.

All the best and hugs to you and Harvey.

Thanks sandgrubber

tawneywolf and I have spoken today. Things are a bit hectic for her this coming week but she says she will take a dekko at it as soon as she can to check it's ok ... If all is well then I am more than happy to collect it and arrange delivery, Kenny.