Seizures - not a great couple of days for Marquez :( UPDATED WITH POSSIBLE CAUSES & TREATMENT

So starting Tuesday evening until about 45 minutes ago, Marquez has had 7 seizures that I've witnessed throughout the day, possibly one during the night of Tuesday/Wednesday and possibly 2 last night from between 9.30pm when we went to bed until 5.30am when we wake.  The ones during the night last night must have been bad as he had peed his bed which he hasn't done before.  Yesterday we went to the vet and she gave my valium to put up his rectum during a seizure which I had to do on the way home at 11am when he had another.  The valium has worked very well in lessening the severity and length of the seizures and making his recovery faster but we still can't understand the sudden cause of them after his first 3 almost a month ago.

His checkup at the vet yesterday didn't come up with anything and he seemed fine but clearly something isn't.  What triggered this last bout?  The vets seem to think that my husband going away for a couple of days then coming home triggered them this time, just like it happened that first time when they started after we both came back from business overseas. We personally believe that the vaccine he had to get in the boarding kennel a few days before may have been a contributing factor as well.   My daughter and I are heading off to australia on sunday for 5 days so if he does get over the seizures today or tomorrow, there is a strong chance that they may start up again next friday when we get back.

So we've been trying to wrack our brains and trying to come up with other likely possible causes and the only other one we can think of is low blood sugar.  He's been eating raw for about 6 weeks.  He's not been getting any carbohydrates with his meat whereas before with his grain free kibble, he was getting sweet potato and chickpeas which was in there.  During this last seizure, I gave him some honey in the side of his mouth (along with the valium) and his recovery period was even quicker than the valium alone.

Other than getting further tests to check thyroid as well as liver & kidney function, we're at a loss at what to do in trying to find out the causes.  Just hope our boy recovers soon and that we find a cause.

Oh no Diane, so sorry to hear this. I hope you find the cause and solution.

Well after talking to my friend in Aus as well as his vet here about the possible low blood glucose cause we've decided to add carbs back to his meals. The recovery from his last seizure was much faster with the honey and he just wolfed down half his meat allowance with 100g sweet potato so hopefully this will make a difference. It's been 5 hours since his last seizure which makes it the longest period between seizures. Hopefully with the sweet potato will help regulate his blood sugar levels and help eliminate the seizures.
If this doesn't work, we'll take him to the clinic so they can do GBC testing over a period of a day to see what's happening as well as test the other levels mentioned before.

Oh my gosh! I am SO sorry to hear. How awful for you all, and especially with you headed down under. I hope he's ok and makes a speedy recovery, hopefully the change of diet helps. Thinking of you x

Oh no poor Marquez and you! It sounds as if he might have a low stress threshold? You going away and then returning could push his stress/excitement over his level if he is susceptible to seizures? I don't feed raw but I thought you had to be careful mixing cooked and raw at the same meal for their digestion. I could be wrong.
I so hope you find what's causing it Diane and a treatment. Good luck with the things you are trying x

Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear this, bless you both   I really hope you can find the cause and a solution xx

Oh Diane how awful! You must be so worried for your boy! I really hope you get to the bottom of it ASAP

So sorry to hear about this Diane, it does sound like low blood sugar doesn't it. Hope you can get something sorted for the little fella   

Kathy wrote:So sorry to hear about this Diane, it does sound like low blood sugar doesn't it. Hope you can get something sorted for the little fella   

You know it could be or might not be but since 4pm when he had his last one, he made it through the night and its been 13 hours since he had it. I've been adding some complex carbs with each meal as well as giving him smaller portions so he's eating more frequently to stabilise his blood sugar in case it is. When I'm back in Aus next week, I'll be picking up a tub of Taurine and Aceytl L-Carnitine (both amino acid supplements that I would use as figure bodybuilding athlete) to give to him. The Taurine is an anti-convulsant and both taurine and ALC are used to stabilise blood sugar.

AussieStaff wrote:Oh my gosh! I am SO sorry to hear. How awful for you all, and especially with you headed down under. I hope he's ok and makes a speedy recovery, hopefully the change of diet helps. Thinking of you x

Not too sure if it is the food but so far so good. No seizures for 13 hours so happy that its getting longer in-between episodes.

Yeah that's got to be good   xx

flowerbud wrote:Oh no poor Marquez and you! It sounds as if he might have a low stress threshold? You going away and then returning could push his stress/excitement over his level if he is susceptible to seizures? I don't feed raw but I thought you had to be careful mixing cooked and raw at the same meal for their digestion. I could be wrong.
I so hope you find what's causing it Diane and a treatment. Good luck with the things you are trying x

If it was a low stress threshold, we would've expected to see seizures after when he first came home us as that would've been an EXTREMELY stressful time for him. Our daughter who is 10 btw, says its "Anxiety separation stress"! I think she's been busy with Dr. Google   

In regards to the raw, I know dry food has to fed at different times to raw but not heard anything about fresh cooked food but I think that they also would have different digestion times. I've given him one meal with sweet potato and a couple with rice with his meats and so far no issues. I will stick to sweet potato/potato though as I do want to keep him grain free.

24 hours and he hasn't had a seizure. Fingers crossed they are over for now. I suppose we'll find out if it is stress/excitement related when Angel and I get back from our trip next friday evening and he starts having them again.

Poor boy how distressing for you all, hope you can get it sorted asap xx

It must be so very frustrating not knowing what sets them off.

Good news that he hasn't had any for 24hrs though   

-Ian- wrote:It must be so very frustrating not knowing what sets them off.

Good news that he hasn't had any for 24hrs though   

Yes it is very frustrating!!! So far so good and still no more seizures. Will be interesting though next weekend when we get back to see what happens.

Glad he seems to be settling down again, lets hope he doesn't have any more. Will be very interesting to see how he copes next weekend. If he starts again your daughter could be right!
"Anxiety separation stress"! I think she's been busy with Dr. Google Laughing
You must all be so worried Diane, I expect its verydistressing for your daughter to see too

aww poor lad

How's our boy doing Diane? Xx

Still no more seizures but he's started up with howling and sounding so sad. I've heard that some dogs do this after a seizure. I wonder if he's getting withdrawals from the valium. Fingers crossed that they don't come back.

Paws and claws crossed here Hun xxx

Could be, aww poor boy   let's hope he's over the worst of it xx

Well we got back last night after almost a week away and so far no seizures. We had contemplated using Phenobarbital in the days before we came home at the vets recommendation to prevent it if it was excitement causing it but we decided not to because then we wouldn't know if it was the drugs preventing the seizure or the diet changes (added sweet potato/potato to meat) we made to control blood glucose levels that has made the difference. If he did have a seizure, we could say pretty much without a doubt it was the excitement of seeing us again.
I picked up some homeopathy preps for him in Australia - a seizure support pack which included a Blood Sugar Balance, Seizure Support and Herba Calm. Because they know that he had a reaction to the kennel cough vaccine, they gave me a bottle of Cough Clear which they actually use in the boarding kennels there instead of kennel cough vaccine. I also have a bottle of Vaccine Detox to start him on now (1 dose once a week for 7 weeks) as it looks like he'll get that rabies vaccine on monday. There are instructions on there on dosing incase he does experience side effects. I also got some Rescue Remedy that both my brother and my friend that works at the vet clinic uses on animals in the clinic as well as the show dogs. Both said that Rescue Remedy works extremely well.
I also picked up Taurine and Acetyl L-Carnitine from the sports supplement there. Both are used for blood glucose stabilisation for those that train and it applies to dogs too. The Taurine is also used as an anti-convulsant. I'm adding a small dose of each to his water as they are both 100% pure without flavour, preservatives or other crap in there. Fingers crossed that he remains seizure free from now on.

Oh yes fingers crossed for him Diane, sounds like your doing everything you can for him   xx

Aww fingers crossed how distressing for all of you

Fingers crossed for you Marquez! I really hope you have found the issue and he will be without seizures from now on Good luck little man!

Thanks Saz, Sara and Emma, he's still seizure free and now the vets also believe its a low blood glucose issue. Funny that it takes their patients owner to work it out So glad that we didn't go with the phenobarb recommendation otherwise we'd still be wondering. Hubby is off to Europe next week for a couple of weeks so it will be interesting to see how Marquez is when he returns. I think we will be 100% sure then that it isn't an stress/excitement issue.
The only downside of adding the carbs to his raw diet is that he's put on almost 1kg in 2 weeks and he's now weighing 23kg   I'll still haven't heard of dogs on raw having this problem so I'm assuming that the sudden switch from kibble to raw could explain why he's had this problem. It's not uncommon for people who suddenly go extremely low carb to experience issues with blood glucose issues so I shouldn't be surprised about this happening to dogs too. I'll start reducing his carb intake very slowly (which is what we usually recommend people do) until we back to zero and see how he goes. I'll continue with the supplements (taurine and acetyl l-carnitine) that will also help stabilise his blood glucose levels and hopefully this works. It will be interesting to see how he goes over the next month or two.

So happy Marquez is seizure free Diane, what a relief it must have been to come home and him be ok! Hopefully everything your doing combined will keep those nasty seizures away

Oh well here we go again. He had his first one since that last lot 3 weeks ago this morning at 6.30am. I have to say that it looks like it could be that my husband is the trigger and who left last night for two weeks in Europe. The last two lots happened when he got back from travel and yesterday while hubby was packing bags, he was glued to his side and on his feet.
Gave him his valium and have started on his Seizure Support drops as well as Rescue Remedy to keep the anxiety at bay. It's been almost 4 hours and so far so good with no more repeats so hopefully this was just a one off thing this morning but based on what's happened previously, I won't be surprised if it happens a few more times.

Oh no Diane how distressing for you all take care love your in our thoughts! Xx

Aw no Diane, so sorry to hear that. You're doing everything you can and we're thinking of you.

Thanks Lisa and Hayley. 7 hours since his first this morning and so far so good. Fingers crossed that the drops have worked their magic. Before when he had the seizures they would happen between 2 and 4 hours apart so this is a good sign. Heart is still jumping every time he moves or makes a sound while he's sleeping though   

Oh no not again You are doing all you can to help him. Hope he has no more x

Just when it looked like you had it all under control too   

Does look as if stress could be the trigger, let's hope that all the other work you have been doing limits these episodes. Hoping he has a good restful day and that it's a one off Diane

How's he doing Diane? Xx

_Hayley_ wrote:How's he doing Diane? Xx

Unfortunately he had another one almost 4 hours ago but this time his recovery seemed to be different to his earlier one today where he basically slept all day and the other times he them. About 90 minutes ago he was back to his usual energetic playful self and not sad or dopey. He really perked up when I asked him if he wanted to go for a walk so I took him. He totally powered through it and stopped only once whereas he usually stops 3-4 times. I'm keeping up with the seizure support drops and will be sleeping downstairs to keep an eye on him. Hopefully he has no more between now and the morning.

Aw no, sorry to hear this Diane   thinking of you both xx

-Ian- wrote:Just when it looked like you had it all under control too   

Does look as if stress could be the trigger, let's hope that all the other work you have been doing limits these episodes. Hoping he has a good restful day and that it's a one off Diane

Its really starting to look like its stress/anxiety related to my husband going away and coming back. Strange really considering I'm the one that spends ALL day with him. He was sticking to him more than usual yesterday so he knew the hubby was heading off. Even pissed on one of his bags as if to say "how could you leave us and not take us with you"   

Wishful thinking can only do so much.  He had another one an hour ago     Was a pretty bad one too despite the valium.  I really hope they stop soon, hate seeing him like this  Can see it's going to be a long night with not much sleep for me. Told the hubby after he landed in Spain a short while ago and he is feeling guilty and he also thinks its him that's causing the stress on Marquez.

How is he Diane ?... Hope he's been settled since the last episode

He had another just before 12.30am Ian I slept downstairs on the floor so I could be close incase anything happened and it was weird because I was having a dream that he was having a seizure and I woke up and was debating whether to turn on the light or not to check on him and see if I had missed one when he started to have one. Had everything there ready for him and he settled right back down after a few minutes after the episode and went back to sleep. Its 6.30am here now and so far so good.

This is the second time that I've had a feeling that he was going to have one, the first I was at a hair salon and had a strange urge to login on my phone to the house CCTV and I could the hubby rush to Marquez's favourite corner just as he was starting a seizure. Hubby thought it was freaky that I was sending messages to him and the daughter asking if Marquez was ok as it was happening.

Think my baby boy is over it for now. 12 hours without a seizure and I can start to breathe easier. Hopefully he stays seizure free and it will be interesting to see in a couple of weeks when the hubby gets back from Europe.

Glad to hear he's doing ok xx

Pleased he's been fine today Diane. It is strange when you get that sixth sense about things like this, mind you I wouldn't mind that sort of thing with the lotto numbers   

Hope the rest of the day is good and that you all get a decent nights sleep tonight   

-Ian- wrote:Pleased he's been fine today Diane. It is strange when you get that sixth sense about things like this, mind you I wouldn't mind that sort of thing with the lotto numbers   

Hope the rest of the day is good and that you all get a decent nights sleep tonight   

I think we'd all wouldn't mind a sixth sense with lotto numbers   

Well still all good and about to take him for a walk now that the afternoon showers have stopped. Still plan on sleeping on the floor downstairs just in case but I think he's fine now   

How has he been over night and today Diane ?

Thanks Ian - he's been all good since that last one at 12.30am on Saturday morning. No howling or depression in the days afterwards like he did last time either which we think could've been valium withdrawals and where he had 5 doses in under a day

Great news... Will be interesting to see what happens when your OH gets back.. Hopefully things will be better.

Welcome to the team too Diane  

Here we go again    Woke up at 4.00am and for some reason couldn't fall back to sleep so just laid there wishing 5.30am to come around so that I would get up but 16 minutes later I could hear what I thought was Marquez pawing his door trying to get out of his crate. It wasn't when he wasn't barking after a minute that I thought "its happening again"!! Rushed downstairs to see him coming out of a seizure. 10 days since his last one and the hubby is still away and not back until next tuesday. Now a bit confused as what the trigger was this time which was really looking like stress related to hubby going away/coming home. Hopefully this was a one off but from past episodes, I don't think it will be

Almost 9 and half hours and no more seizures. This has been the longest in between so fingers crossed no more