No, Yuri had to go. Nemo was not taking any of her attitude in his house. This place is only big enough for his attitude. They would have had to have been separated at all times. Apparently she did quite well with the dog where she stayed. Nemo and Hanzo did have a great time, everyone missed Hanzo when he left.
Good to hear from you, I hope things are going well.
Nemo had a seizure this evening. His first one since 9/28/07 (I keep a journal of events), and it was a big one for him. It lasted between 3-5 minutes, I didn't have my eyes on a clock the whole time. His eyes went "feral" and he was completely out of it for almost the whole time. We managed to kind of corner him, but not in a threatening way, just to keep him in one spot. Then we sat and pet him and talked to him, as he went through the motions. His legs got really wobbly, then he couldn't stand, then only his back legs worked and he kept trying to push up with his front legs but his chin just kept digging into the carpet. Finally he laid down, but then his head and body shook for awhile, not violently, just shaking. He drooled a bit but retained control of his bladder and bowel functions. His awareness came back before his full body control so we gave him some vanilla ice cream to distract him, and we have heard it helps.
Within 5 minutes of it ending he was completely back to normal as he ran across the room to bark out the window at a dog going by, and then promptly sat outside the kitchen letting us know that he had not forgot that it was his dinner time.
These are always scary to go through, this one lasted longer than most, and the shaking of the body and head was new compared to other seizures he has had. However I know that all together his are not bad compared to what some dogs go through, often for 10, 15, or 20 minutes at a time.
Not sure what brought it on, it's hot out, but it's been hotter. I don't really think there is one specific cause.
OMG! Im so glad Nemo is ok. I've never seen a dog have a seizure...but im sure its very scary and intense. Nemo is very lucky to have such loving and caring parents! I hope Nemo doesn't ever have to go through another one again.
Oh God Brandon... I don't know what to say. I am so sorry. I know you take excellent care of Nemo and will do what is best for him with whatever treatment he may need. Please keep us posted.
Aww Brandon-Poor Nemo and poor mommy and daddy. Even though you have been through it before, and yes other dogs have longer/more often ones, your heart must break every time. Time for extra hugs, kisses and lovies (and some extra ice cream!). Glad you guys were home too. If he has one, are there usually more to follow or they usually isolated?
yikes, seizures are the hardest thing to watch, they are just... gone and helpless But dogs can live full normal lives with a seizure disorder - Honey the fox terrier I recently posted is my mom's dog and she would go through a seizure every 3-4 years or so, it would last a few minutes, mostly we could tell it was happening because her eyes would start fluttering back and forth and she'd start shaking and once she just kept hitting the wall with her body. She has a cluster type of epilepsy. But shes 13 and healthy as they come, on shit food and all.
I'm so glad that Nemo is OK now, and walked away from it relatively quickly. 11 years is a long time to go without a seizure if he has an epileptic disorder, whatever you are doing, keep it up man!
That's heart breaking - it must be horrible to watch. I'm glad he is ok now and bounced back so fast. He is really lucky to have such carrying owners, you take amazing care of him - it's humbling.
Jen - 11 months, not years, haha, that would be a really long time.
Thanks for the kind words everyone. I guess I should say that it has been 11 months since any seizure that we are aware of, it's always possible that he has them when we are not home. He doesn't lose bladder control so we would have no real way of knowing, and he is himself within just a few minutes of it ending. No long lasting effects, thankfully.
I have talked to a few vets about this and since they are not severe and do not happen often there is no reason for medical treatment. The most common anti-seizure meds tend to be very hard on the liver. For dogs with severe seizure conditions it's often the choice of a shortened but seizure free (hopefully) life due to the meds ruining the liver, or possibly a longer life with seizures causing brain damage that could effect the dog in any number of ways.
Nemo is doing just great tonight, we played with a toy earlier, brushed his teeth, he chased the cats around, and we went on our normal walk.
As for it happening again anytime soon, last year he, had three seizures that we know of, two of them were within four days of each other. So I will be keeping an extra close eye on him. He almost always tends to have them in the early evening.
Nemo and his family appreciate everyone support. Instead of extra ice cream he got some canned duck, cat food*.
*the cats are getting canned food because Homer needs to increase his water intake.
We've actually had a few seizures in the past year with our Doxie Belle... the vet has done many many tests and really doesn't think it's something she wants to put her on medication for. I've done moderate research and I know the Dachshunds have Epilepsy in their blood... but she has the SAME symptoms that Nemo does (which aren't the same that are listed on the Doxie sights I've been to).
The best (and this is very relative to the situation) thing that she does is finds me or James just as the seizure is about to start and presses her tiny little body against our leg to brace herself. Yesterday was the third seizure I've helped her through, and it takes everything in me to just remain calm and keep her away from anything that might harm her is she runs into it.
I can tell you I hate it, and I know what you're going through - it's SO painful to see. Thankfully this was the first seizure she's had since Keiko came to us, and Keiko was crated at the time.
Brad - if you can link me any information you might have about Melatonin and how it helps I would love to read it. I'll try to do a little research in the morning as well.
Wow. Kinda late to this, sorry. I'm just shocked. My heart sank as I read your post Brandon. I had no idea Nemo suffered from a seizure disorder. I am more than relieved to hear that he is back to himself. I think its great that it appears to have been almost 11 months since his last episode. I'm sorry you all (Nemo and you guys) have to go through something like that no matter how sparse it is. Hugs to Nemo.
Although late, I'm sorry to read this Brandon. I bet it wasn't an easy thing to go through, even if it wasn't very long. Those must be very hard and stressful times on you guys.
It is hard to watch, and it is stressful but the only real option is to be there for him and to remain calm.
Kaddy - Nemo comes to find us also. We were eating dinner and he was just out of sight in the small hallway we have that leads to the bedrooms. He came running in towards us and I knew instantly by the way he was running that a seizure was setting in. Even though it had been awhile, you don't forget the signs.
Brad I have not looked into Melatonin. I'd be interested to read up on it if you have any links.
Also, Turi has the same type of seizures. It's another reason we believe they really are brothers by blood, not just dogs that were purchased by the same people. He doesn't have them very often either. Finn has seizures too, but his are much worse. Loss of bladder and bowel control, last 5 minutes at least, and usually after he has one, it saps his energy for the day and he gets really weak. His mother and whole litter were removed from a puppy mill, and they all have awful seizures. Melissa is trying a lot of different things to try and control them, and has been able to minimize them.
My mom's rat terrier is not on medication for that simple reason: we either choose to damage her liver over time or she lives relatively seizure free. She has them so infrequently that it just seemed more sensible to manage them as they come. She has clusters, where for maybe a day or couple days she'll have a seizure and then go a year (she's gone 3.5 years without one!) without. Like I said, she's 13 now, and her 'episodes' are just a fact of life with her so we would just keep her calm during and after. I think she lost bladder control once, never bowel that I know of. Now that she's older, they are more infrequent but when they do happen (when she was 9 was the last one) it really knocked her on her ass for a few days.
The neurologist that we took Hachi to for the air biting seizure mentioned alternative preventative treatments, melatonin was one he mentioned if the seizures predominantly occur at night or as a result of a phobia, like fear of thunder brings on seizure scenario. I didn't do much research on that yet, its on my doggy to do list though!
We have started treating Maui with melatonin and started giving it to Lani too. We are giving it to Maui to help with Anxiety and hair-loss and to Lani to help calm her down a bit so we can make better progress with her fear conditioning.
We have seen a small difference in Maui but have seen an immediate and rather drastic difference in Lani. Some dogs will show results faster than others.
I've got questions about the fear conditioning with Lani - what are her fears? Jazz freaks with thunderstorms. I would love to help this out. Do you think giving her a smaller dose would help with her dog reactiveness at the park, meetups, etc?
It may help her, Maui has thunderstorm fears too. He is also frightened by the sound of our washing machine and our dishwasher - since giving him melatonin he doesn't seem bothered by the dishwasher and washing machine as much. He is still freaked by storms tho.
Lani is fearful of public places and is [over] protective of our house. If any of our other dogs bark outside she would usually run out there and become very over-the-top protective. Last night Kona was barking at something and she didn't even bother getting up to go investigate, that's an EXTREME change in her behavior. We have not brought her out into public since giving her the melatonin, Jen is gonna test that today I think - I'll keep you posted.
Daily, with their meals. We got the melatonin from a local "herb store" [like GNC], its capsules filled with powder.
The specialist that analyzed Maui's blood work is who recommended melatonin to us for his hair-loss. Jen did a bunch of reading on it and found that it is like a magical thing that helps with lots of stuff... Sleep, anorexia, anxiety, fear, seizures, etc. So we figured we would try it on Lani too. As far as we can tell from our research there is no side effect or fear of overdosing - tho I would follow the recommended dosage from a vet. Maui's recommended dosage is 1.5ml up to 3 times a day, tho we give it to him only twice a day for now. Maui is 14lb.
LOVE Melatonin. A psychiatrist recommended it for one of my kids that was 2 years with serious ADHD issues and sleep issues. Of course, not wanting to give anti-psychotics to a toddler we did Melatonin and it does wonders. I have used it myself also to avoid rx sleeping pills during hard times.
This Saturday I helped out my friend Justin with campaign things, as he is running for State Assembly and the election is coming up fast, Sept 9th Primary. Justin is married to Melissa, they own Turi and Finn. So while I was out knocking on doors and handing out literature (not fun), I left Nemo at their home so he could hang out with his buds for the day, meaning they all slept under the futon together. Melissa stayed at the house (campaign HQ) and was figuring out maps and where we would be going later. What I didn't know was that April (Melissa's friend and campaign manager) was coming over too. I should of known but it didn't cross my mind because I was busy. April also takes her dogs everywhere, she has a Chi named Benetzio and a Rat Terrier named Ricco Tubs.
Now if you know Nemo, you know that he has not been good at all, with new dogs in a very long time, so you might be thinking "oh no, Nemo killed Benetzio and Tubs" but that is not the case! NEMO DID FANTASTIC WITH THEM!
April, Benetzio and Tubbs were there for a few hours before we made it back for our mid day break. I got there and was standing outside and saw Benetzio in the window. I looked at April and Melissa, and asked "You have Nemo in there, loose, with them?" They indeed did and he mostly ignored them (they are older and just lay around) and didn't get nasty at all. I was so excited by this. When I went in the house all five dogs came running up to me, and it was kind of hectic, Nemo and Turi get real riled up together whenever I show up. Even when he was excited Nemo was still great with them. The whole time I was there he only gave a lip curl growl to Tubs once, and in Nemo's defense, Tubs' nose had been in Nemo's ass for a decent amount of time.
I was and am so happy that Nemo was able to meet some new dogs, and not get nasty, maybe it's mainly the park? I don't know, but it gives me hope for the future and getting more dogs. I am very proud of him for being a good boy.
Sometime I have to get some pictures of Benetzio and Tubs, they are cute little dogs. Benetzio does not like to be pet at all, and Tubs likes to be pet all the time, a funny little pair.
I kind of thought that it might be he was good because I wasn't there. So when I went in to greet them all I was waiting for something to happen, though doing my best to stay calm, just trying to be alert. He just kept being good though, I'm not sure what it was.
Comments
Hehe.
Great pictures as always, Brandon!
-Sarah
Good to hear from you, I hope things are going well.
Within 5 minutes of it ending he was completely back to normal as he ran across the room to bark out the window at a dog going by, and then promptly sat outside the kitchen letting us know that he had not forgot that it was his dinner time.
These are always scary to go through, this one lasted longer than most, and the shaking of the body and head was new compared to other seizures he has had. However I know that all together his are not bad compared to what some dogs go through, often for 10, 15, or 20 minutes at a time.
Not sure what brought it on, it's hot out, but it's been hotter. I don't really think there is one specific cause.
And give him a little extra ice cream from me.
Hang in there Nemo!~
But dogs can live full normal lives with a seizure disorder - Honey the fox terrier I recently posted is my mom's dog and she would go through a seizure every 3-4 years or so, it would last a few minutes, mostly we could tell it was happening because her eyes would start fluttering back and forth and she'd start shaking and once she just kept hitting the wall with her body. She has a cluster type of epilepsy. But shes 13 and healthy as they come, on shit food and all.
I'm so glad that Nemo is OK now, and walked away from it relatively quickly.
11 years is a long time to go without a seizure if he has an epileptic disorder, whatever you are doing, keep it up man!
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Thanks for the kind words everyone. I guess I should say that it has been 11 months since any seizure that we are aware of, it's always possible that he has them when we are not home. He doesn't lose bladder control so we would have no real way of knowing, and he is himself within just a few minutes of it ending. No long lasting effects, thankfully.
I have talked to a few vets about this and since they are not severe and do not happen often there is no reason for medical treatment. The most common anti-seizure meds tend to be very hard on the liver. For dogs with severe seizure conditions it's often the choice of a shortened but seizure free (hopefully) life due to the meds ruining the liver, or possibly a longer life with seizures causing brain damage that could effect the dog in any number of ways.
Nemo is doing just great tonight, we played with a toy earlier, brushed his teeth, he chased the cats around, and we went on our normal walk.
As for it happening again anytime soon, last year he, had three seizures that we know of, two of them were within four days of each other. So I will be keeping an extra close eye on him. He almost always tends to have them in the early evening.
Nemo and his family appreciate everyone support. Instead of extra ice cream he got some canned duck, cat food*.
*the cats are getting canned food because Homer needs to increase his water intake.
----
We've actually had a few seizures in the past year with our Doxie Belle... the vet has done many many tests and really doesn't think it's something she wants to put her on medication for. I've done moderate research and I know the Dachshunds have Epilepsy in their blood... but she has the SAME symptoms that Nemo does (which aren't the same that are listed on the Doxie sights I've been to).
The best (and this is very relative to the situation) thing that she does is finds me or James just as the seizure is about to start and presses her tiny little body against our leg to brace herself. Yesterday was the third seizure I've helped her through, and it takes everything in me to just remain calm and keep her away from anything that might harm her is she runs into it.
I can tell you I hate it, and I know what you're going through - it's SO painful to see. Thankfully this was the first seizure she's had since Keiko came to us, and Keiko was crated at the time.
Brad - if you can link me any information you might have about Melatonin and how it helps I would love to read it. I'll try to do a little research in the morning as well.
Kaddy - Nemo comes to find us also. We were eating dinner and he was just out of sight in the small hallway we have that leads to the bedrooms. He came running in towards us and I knew instantly by the way he was running that a seizure was setting in. Even though it had been awhile, you don't forget the signs.
Brad I have not looked into Melatonin. I'd be interested to read up on it if you have any links.
Also, Turi has the same type of seizures. It's another reason we believe they really are brothers by blood, not just dogs that were purchased by the same people. He doesn't have them very often either. Finn has seizures too, but his are much worse. Loss of bladder and bowel control, last 5 minutes at least, and usually after he has one, it saps his energy for the day and he gets really weak. His mother and whole litter were removed from a puppy mill, and they all have awful seizures. Melissa is trying a lot of different things to try and control them, and has been able to minimize them.
My mom's rat terrier is not on medication for that simple reason: we either choose to damage her liver over time or she lives relatively seizure free. She has them so infrequently that it just seemed more sensible to manage them as they come. She has clusters, where for maybe a day or couple days she'll have a seizure and then go a year (she's gone 3.5 years without one!) without. Like I said, she's 13 now, and her 'episodes' are just a fact of life with her so we would just keep her calm during and after. I think she lost bladder control once, never bowel that I know of. Now that she's older, they are more infrequent but when they do happen (when she was 9 was the last one) it really knocked her on her ass for a few days.
The neurologist that we took Hachi to for the air biting seizure mentioned alternative preventative treatments, melatonin was one he mentioned if the seizures predominantly occur at night or as a result of a phobia, like fear of thunder brings on seizure scenario. I didn't do much research on that yet, its on my doggy to do list though!
We have seen a small difference in Maui but have seen an immediate and rather drastic difference in Lani. Some dogs will show results faster than others.
It is also said to help with treating seizures.
Here is an article Jen just passed me: http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/melatonin.htm
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Lani is fearful of public places and is [over] protective of our house. If any of our other dogs bark outside she would usually run out there and become very over-the-top protective. Last night Kona was barking at something and she didn't even bother getting up to go investigate, that's an EXTREME change in her behavior. We have not brought her out into public since giving her the melatonin, Jen is gonna test that today I think - I'll keep you posted.
----
The specialist that analyzed Maui's blood work is who recommended melatonin to us for his hair-loss. Jen did a bunch of reading on it and found that it is like a magical thing that helps with lots of stuff... Sleep, anorexia, anxiety, fear, seizures, etc. So we figured we would try it on Lani too. As far as we can tell from our research there is no side effect or fear of overdosing - tho I would follow the recommended dosage from a vet. Maui's recommended dosage is 1.5ml up to 3 times a day, tho we give it to him only twice a day for now. Maui is 14lb.
----
Now if you know Nemo, you know that he has not been good at all, with new dogs in a very long time, so you might be thinking "oh no, Nemo killed Benetzio and Tubs" but that is not the case! NEMO DID FANTASTIC WITH THEM!
April, Benetzio and Tubbs were there for a few hours before we made it back for our mid day break. I got there and was standing outside and saw Benetzio in the window. I looked at April and Melissa, and asked "You have Nemo in there, loose, with them?" They indeed did and he mostly ignored them (they are older and just lay around) and didn't get nasty at all. I was so excited by this. When I went in the house all five dogs came running up to me, and it was kind of hectic, Nemo and Turi get real riled up together whenever I show up. Even when he was excited Nemo was still great with them. The whole time I was there he only gave a lip curl growl to Tubs once, and in Nemo's defense, Tubs' nose had been in Nemo's ass for a decent amount of time.
I was and am so happy that Nemo was able to meet some new dogs, and not get nasty, maybe it's mainly the park? I don't know, but it gives me hope for the future and getting more dogs. I am very proud of him for being a good boy.
Sometime I have to get some pictures of Benetzio and Tubs, they are cute little dogs. Benetzio does not like to be pet at all, and Tubs likes to be pet all the time, a funny little pair.
I really am kind of long winded...
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I bet you're very proud of him! And that the grin on your face is probably still there :-)