Jack Russell Terrier has started having siezures

[moondiapers]

He has an appt with the vet on Monday. In hindsight I think he's having 3-4 a month. I've only witnessed one actual siezure, but after seeing how it acts and feels when he's recovering I think he's been having them for a while.

Will they be able to do anything for him? He's 9 years old, still super active.

[Nicole915]

There are many reasonable treatment options. And in your defense, it usually takes a year or so for an owner to realize that seizures are occurring, so three months is AWESOME. I have had owners come in and the dog has been having full blown seizures in front of them for years and they never realized anything was wrong.

The vet will want to do some blood work when they do the exam, and depending on the med, there will be some maintenance blood work. Allow a little bit of extra time for your appointment, a full neuro exam can take a while. There is no reason to believe that this time next month your pup will be well managed and the only change will be medication and a happier puppy.

Please feel free to PM me if you want more detailed info, I didn't want to nerd it up too much here, explaining why seizures happen and treatment options. =)

(I'm not your vet, and this isn't medical advice)

[moondiapers]

Originally Posted by Nicole915

There are many reasonable treatment options. And in your defense, it usually takes a year or so for an owner to realize that seizures are occurring, so three months is AWESOME. I have had owners come in and the dog has been having full blown seizures in front of them for years and they never realized anything was wrong.

The vet will want to do some blood work when they do the exam, and depending on the med, there will be some maintenance blood work. Allow a little bit of extra time for your appointment, a full neuro exam can take a while. There is no reason to believe that this time next month your pup will be well managed and the only change will be medication and a happier puppy.

Please feel free to PM me if you want more detailed info, I didn't want to nerd it up too much here, explaining why seizures happen and treatment options. =)

(I'm not your vet, and this isn't medical advice)

LOL, thank you.

It's not been 3 months, I think he's been having 3-4 seizures a month....now that I've seen what he's like after one. I've seen those behaviors in him a few times a month now since the end of the school year. He's an indoor dog, we have A/C.....is fed good quality dog food (EUkanuba) and home cooked corn free wheat free meals. We didn't get him until he was 6 years old though. His old owners were going through a divorce....and he kept running away from home. He is purebred, but I'm no longer in contact with his previous owners to find out if this has been a problem with his litter. I'm not sure if the doc will even treat him since they don't seem to be clusters.....just one siezure, then nothing for a week or more. He's the bestest doggy in the whole world He communicates with us so well, can totally tell us what he wants and understand what we say to him He sleeps next to me with his head on the pillow in summer, and under the covers by my feet in winter. When a baby is sleeping on my bed he is so careful not to step on the baby or lay on it.

[waterproofmascara]

My rat terrier just started phenobarbital for seizures. The way my vet handled it was he did a full examination, took blood, tested it, then prescribed her meds. She took them for two weeks and then went back for more blood work. Now we will do rechecks every six months to make sure she is okay with it.

The only problem I have had with it is she has lost some her ability to jump and balance. The vet says it cannot be the meds, but I think he is wrong. She had been taking them for a week and fell out of the boat, which she has never done before.

And don't feel bad about not noticing- I showed my vet her "heebie jeebies" (looked like her skin was crawling) and turns out she was having petit mal seizures for at least a year, but I didn't know that's what they were. It wasn't until she developed grand mal seizures that I took her in.

[moondiapers]

Thank you, poor Buddy was trying to walk but his face was on the floor and he kept falling down and having tremors.....and jerking......then he was just jerking. I moved things away from him and stroked his fur and talked to him until it was over. It lasted less than a minute, but felt like forever. Then he was to weak to walk afterward and kept stumbling and falling and still had the shakes a bit, but he was "awake". It took about 15min for him to be able to respond normally. Then he was just really sleepy and tired and lost his appetite for the day.

[waterproofmascara]

Originally Posted by moondiapers

Thank you, poor Buddy was trying to walk but his face was on the floor and he kept falling down and having tremors.....and jerking......then he was just jerking. I moved things away from him and stroked his fur and talked to him until it was over. It lasted less than a minute, but felt like forever. Then he was to weak to walk afterward and kept stumbling and falling and still had the shakes a bit, but he was "awake". It took about 15min for him to be able to respond normally. Then he was just really sleepy and tired and lost his appetite for the day.

This is exactly what Tiny did, except she vomited after her seizure. She has been on her meds for 2 months now and is doing great.

Good luck- I'm sure Buddy will be fine once you get him medicated.