Hello, I'll try to make this brief and keep my emotions out as much as possible!
Last August, my 10 year old toy poodle starting having horrible episodes. She would turn her head to one side, run around, and scream this horrible scream. I thought it was something with her neck so I took her to her old vet. After a lot of guessing, they said they thought it was neck issues (of course after doing a ton of blood work and inconclusive x-rays they sent off to a specialist). Only one person in the entire office (a vet tech) suggested that these episodes were seizures, and she was quite insistent. The vet told her she didn't believe it to be so. They prescribed her all this medication and ordered strict bed rest. It took about a month for her episodes to stop.
It has been almost a year with nothing. Then, she had two of these episodes on Saturday and has kept having them randomly since. I since switched vets because I disliked how they approached this issue with Frannie last year, and she had an episode at the new vet's office. Since we weren't in the room yet and they were busy, 3 technicians and the actual vet saw this happen. The tech asked me why I didn't put seizures in her medical history to which I responded "No.. this is the neck thing we're bringing her for!" All the technicians and the vet said it looked like a seizure.
To be sure, he examined her neck anyways. He turned it this way... that way... up, down. She didn't show any signs of disturbance at all. He said when they did blood work during her wellness exam in Feb., nothing showed up to indicate seizures, but he also said seizures are very very tricky and differ greatly from dog to dog. So he prescribed phenobarbital to see if this will alleviate the severity/frequency. He did say that on a positive note (although it doesn't seem like much of one to me :/) is that he has seen dogs have much, much more severe seizures and hers are not that bad in his opinion.
I am just an emotional wreck. This dog is my "child" and watching her have these episodes kills me. When she shrieks like that, I feel like she must be in pain (doc said seizures are not usually painful, and that the shrieking is involuntary/a neurological response) but I just can't take it. She is staying with my mothers for the time being because the vet said my stress will do nothing but make her seizures worse. I have never been so scared as when I am when she has these episodes.
Does anyone have advice on this? How did the phenobarbital work for your dog/how long did it take to kick in? I'm just so upset and just needed to get this out somewhere
Last August, my 10 year old toy poodle starting having horrible episodes. She would turn her head to one side, run around, and scream this horrible scream. I thought it was something with her neck so I took her to her old vet. After a lot of guessing, they said they thought it was neck issues (of course after doing a ton of blood work and inconclusive x-rays they sent off to a specialist). Only one person in the entire office (a vet tech) suggested that these episodes were seizures, and she was quite insistent. The vet told her she didn't believe it to be so. They prescribed her all this medication and ordered strict bed rest. It took about a month for her episodes to stop.
It has been almost a year with nothing. Then, she had two of these episodes on Saturday and has kept having them randomly since. I since switched vets because I disliked how they approached this issue with Frannie last year, and she had an episode at the new vet's office. Since we weren't in the room yet and they were busy, 3 technicians and the actual vet saw this happen. The tech asked me why I didn't put seizures in her medical history to which I responded "No.. this is the neck thing we're bringing her for!" All the technicians and the vet said it looked like a seizure.
To be sure, he examined her neck anyways. He turned it this way... that way... up, down. She didn't show any signs of disturbance at all. He said when they did blood work during her wellness exam in Feb., nothing showed up to indicate seizures, but he also said seizures are very very tricky and differ greatly from dog to dog. So he prescribed phenobarbital to see if this will alleviate the severity/frequency. He did say that on a positive note (although it doesn't seem like much of one to me :/) is that he has seen dogs have much, much more severe seizures and hers are not that bad in his opinion.
I am just an emotional wreck. This dog is my "child" and watching her have these episodes kills me. When she shrieks like that, I feel like she must be in pain (doc said seizures are not usually painful, and that the shrieking is involuntary/a neurological response) but I just can't take it. She is staying with my mothers for the time being because the vet said my stress will do nothing but make her seizures worse. I have never been so scared as when I am when she has these episodes.
Does anyone have advice on this? How did the phenobarbital work for your dog/how long did it take to kick in? I'm just so upset and just needed to get this out somewhere