My Bassett has seizures??

Question

I'm discouraged, We adopted him knowing he had them, but the shelter said he was well controlled on meds and not having any. 1gram Phenobarb twice a day and he's soo groggy my husband has to practically carry him out to go potty. And he has seizures regularly at night. We maxed out on the allowed extra pills per the prescription- he is either snowed to the hilt or seizing. The pills are given12 hrs apart, with 1 or 2 extra if he has a seizure. I'm at a loss, and hubby is scared he is going to not wake up from an episode or we will accidentally overdose him.
I'm very frustrated that it appears the shelter was not quite up front about the number and severity of seizures- then again the dog only seizes during night when there is no one at the shelter to witness them.

Answer 1

Talk to your vet. There are many any other drugs available that can be used to treat seizures, either on their own, or in combination with phenobarb. Phenobarb is just used first because it's usually fairly effective and is cheaper than other drugs.

When you say '1 gram phenobarb'...are you sure this is correct? It sounds like a massive overdose if you are...going on recommended dose rates, he should probably be on about 150mg/day (based on average Basset size). In any case, if he's still having seizures on it, something's not working...it would be worth talking to your vet about a phenobarb assay & possibly introducing potassium bromide or something like that. It still potentially has side effects, but using more than one drug means that you can lower the doses of whatever is being used and still get the desired effect.

I think you should also make a complaint to the shelter he came from. It's wonderful that you adopted him knowing that he has this problem, but they should really be ensuring that information they provide about medical problems is accurate. Hopefully it is a case of them not knowing, rather than them deliberately keeping it from you.

Good luck :o)

Answer 2

you probably mean 1grain of pheno, which is an okay dose for him. Take him to a neurologist, they can do further testing, and can add different medications ontop of the pheno to try to lower the seizures, with any of the meds it may never make the seizures dissappear, just minimize them. The more he has the more brain damage he has. If he has more than 3 in 24 hours, or one lasting more than 5 minutes he should be seen immediately, as his body temperature may be very elevated which can be life threatening, also see a vet they may give you rectal valium kit, so when he seizures you can stop them. When adopting a seizure dog you should have read up on it, it can get very expensive and you have to give those pheno pills almost exactly 12 hours apart for it to be completely effective.

Answer 3

They probably had no clue about it. Have you taken the dog to your own vet? That would be my first step. They have other meds they can give that work better and don't make them stoned out of their minds.. poor baby.. and good for you for taking this baby on!!!

Hopefull these links will help you find some answers you can take to your vet!
http://www.canine-epilepsy.com/Resources.html
http://www.canine-epilepsy.com/
http://www.k9web.com/dog-faqs/medical/epilepsy.html

Answer 4

I would try putting your dog on vitamin supplements VitaminB,and E Cal Mag and Zinc are recommended.Vitamin b regulates the electro impulses in our brains.

Answer 5

Take him to the Vet. ! There are other similar med that don't have the residual affects as barbatol.. Sounds almost like he is being over medicated....... Good luck.

Answer 6

wow thats a lot of phenobarbital,,, my daughter gets 24 ml daily for hers,,, by liquid only,, i know im not talkin about an animal,, but i know what its like to deal w/ seizures