Kusu's having seizures.

At the end of November, and 3 times since, Kusu Akita has been seizing, grand mal and all.
Yesterday's started with her choking on nothing. Then she fell over in my arms.
It happened again yesterday. She's getting phenobarbital, having levels and new thyroid taken in a few days.

She's otherwise a lovely Akita. I had so hoped she would be my 1st healthy Akita.
I am researching and trying to find others who may have had a similar experience.
A breeder and I are researching lines, as well.

My Kalitan Chinook has seizures,too.
Some say it was the bottleneck that produced them, inbreeding, closed lips, of course.
His DNA is at UMO, Purdue, Vet Gen, and in Europe whose name I have forgotten, all for seizure research

I am not trained in science but I wondered if seizures could be associated with auto immune.

Comments

  • So sorry about this. :(

    Pearly our boxer had seizures at age 13 was very hard to see.
  • edited March 2012
    I have a Shiba that has seizures. She is from a puppy mill though. She is also low thyroid but was already being medicated for that before the siezures started. She is on phenobarbital, and it has been a life saver--literally. She was very fearful and disoriented a lot of the time before we realized she'd probably had a lot of petit mal type seizures. She was also dog aggressive and was acting so erratic that I really thought I was going to have to put her down. After getting the dose of pheno right (light enough that she's not sedated, but still enough to prevent more seizures), she's a different dog. I think she has had one very mild seizure I saw in the past year (may be others I didn't see, I suppose) but mostly she's just like a different dog: not fearful, calm, happy.

    Our vet just diagnosed epilepsy (seizures from unknown cause) because we don't know why they started.

    Living with a dog with seizure disorder can be difficult but pheno can really, really help. There's some people--not just me!--on the Shiba side of the forum that also have dogs with seizure disorders. If I can find the links later, I'll post them here. there's also a couple of good resources online that tell about how to deal with dogs with seizure disorders. Epi-angels is one.

    I'm sorry to hear this.
  • I do believe there is correlation between epilepsy and hypothyroid, and related to an autoimmune process. Dr Dodds book the Canine Thyroid Epidemic was very helpful and went over this. My Shiba had a few small seizures around 1-3 years of age. Then we found out she was low thyroid and she has not had any events since (and her temperament has greatly improved).
  • I am so glad to read your kind words, Shibamistress, Lindsayt and Saya.
    Kusu's thyroid is inconclusive, hence, low normal which Jean Dodds claims there is a predisposition in Akitas to that. However, I'm not an advocate of Dr Dodds, to each her own.
    In a few days, I hope to get Vet's advice on raising the Pb. and I'll be telling you all on this thread what her result are.
    She is almost 7 so this is late onset.
    Lindsayt, I'll be reading more about this connection and will tell you all what I find.
    Thank you!
  • There is a predisposition in Akita and Shiba, and the recommendation is to treat for low normal, and/or if symptoms are present (like aggression).
  • I am treating Kusu with .5 Soloxin before her next complete thyroid panel on the 19th.
    Thank you.
  • I had no advice or experience to offer, just wanted to say I'm sorry & I hope you'll be able to figure it out. ~
  • Thank you, Sangmort:-)
  • @hotarujishin - I am so sorry to hear about Kusu's seizures.

    Unfortunately, I know how devastating it can be to have a dog with a seizure disorder. Nola was diagnosed in October with seizures caused most likely by a brain tumour. (The vet and I are about 99% positive Nola has a fairly aggressive brain tumour, but we have not done any imaging to confirm due to costs and the fact that certainty would not change her course of treatment.)

    Nola started by having partial complex seizures, which are what some people call petite mal seizures. Putting her on a decent dose of phenobarbital helped quite a bit with the partial complex seizures... Until Nola started showing some immune deficiency issues and had to have general anesthesia in order to clear out a highly infected ear. Less than 12 hours after the surgery, Nola had a full blown tonic clonic (grand mal) seizure. A few weeks after that, she had another very bad tonic clonic seizure that caused some severe brain damage and a stroke. That was in November. Nola had another seizure a little less than two weeks ago that caused a mini stroke but did not decrease her neurologic function any further.

    Nola has improved after her stroke, but still has a lot of neurological issues, lack of energy, altered mental state, etc. She still has both the complex partial seizures and the tonic clonic seizures, but increasing her dose of phenobarbital has only helped a little.

    As a note, Nola's thyroid levels (checked multiple times over the past 5 months) have always been normal. However, my older Shiba, Bella, is hypothyroid, but has responded wonderfully to medication.
  • Thank you for telling me about Nola, poor thing. Is Nola a Shikoku?
    I can't see above exactly.
    You must be devastated and am sending Nola love.


  • Nola is a Shiba.

    And yes, things have been very rough over the past few months, but Nola is an incredibly special dog, so I will do whatever I can to keep her comfortable and happy as long as I can. Thank you very much for the well wishes.
  • Casey,
    It sounds like you are another devoted owner. I am so sorry for Nola.
    I will keep her in my thoughts.
    I looked at you flicker pics and I figured out she IS a Shiba. You were right, she looks like a Shiboku after shedding.
    Warmly,
    Britain
  • Britain, I've wondered if there's nothing definite like a brain tumor or untreated true hypothyroidism, if seizures and AI diseases in Akitas could just be related to the low level of diversity in the MHC region of their immune system, low in the whole breed and even lower in some individuals. This may give a general predisposition to seizures and AI diseases, just waiting for a trigger like over-vaccination of stress (physical, mental, or environmental). Rather than looking for specific genes associated with seizures or AI diseases, maybe testing for some of the immune system MHC genes, like the DLA test from Genoscoper in Finland, would be an intermediate step to looking for specific disease genes. If they had a large enough database from Akitas, it might be really helpful. I thought of doing it but it's something like $170.00 and then there's postage. The dogs I would have done it on were my Japanese Akita and my mixed pedigree Akita, related to dogs in Finland; however, they're both dead now. I hope Kusu's medication change brings relief. Linda
  • Sorry, "a trigger like over-vaccination OR stress..."
  • edited March 2012
    I would like to do that. I have the info on Genoscoper. I will contact them.
    Still, I would like to know more about affected relatives, esp if seizures are found in a line.
    The COIs on Chinooks are unbelievably bad. Thanks for this, Linda.
    I'll let you know what happens on the 19th and with the DLA test, if I do it.
  • I wonder if that is what is going on with Shibas too? I have two Shibas, both low thyroid, but both were being treated for it and had "good" levels (my vet believes very strongly in treating if they are "low normal" as both were. Both have had seizures, though my male only had one, and we have not treated him for it. The female is the one who has finally been diagnosed as epileptic after many seizures (luckily none that have caused permanent damage).
  • That is interesting. Shiba Mistress.
    I'll be talking to some Akita Owners about this. Thank you for the info. I hope your dogs are okay today.
    I have to get the phono to a therapeutic level.
    I can't wait for the visit to vet after tests.
  • I just wanted to show my sympathy as well. Please keep us posted.
  • edited March 2012
    I'm sorry to hear about Kusu's seizures. =/
  • Thank you, Corina and tjbart. I will keep you posted with all results.
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