 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / February 2007St. Bernard having seizures
I have a six year old St. Bernard who had his first seizure two years ago. Since that time, he has had a few off and on. Recently however, his seizures have increased in frequency. A month ago he had two back to back seizures and today he had four back to back seizures. I brought him to the vet today and they are going to put him on Phenobarbital. The dog is my life and my buddy. My question is this. I've read so much stuff about Phenobarbital and the harmful side effects, I'm wondering if it's worth it to put him through it or should I put him down? I love him with all my heart and soul and don't want to see him suffer. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Scott I would at least give it a try. Phenobarbitol isn't as bad as it sounds used with the proper combination of drugs. Most dogs require more than one drug to control siezures and it takes some tweaking to get it under control. There are yahoo support groups specific to dogs with seizures I would go there to look for more advice. go to http://groups.yahoo.com and do a search Celeste > I have a six year old St. Bernard who had his first seizure two years > ago. Since that time, he has had a few off and on. Recently however, [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > Any input would be greatly appreciated. > Scott >I would at least give it a try. Phenobarbitol isn't as bad as it sounds >used with the proper combination of drugs. Most dogs require more than one >drug to control siezures and it takes some tweaking to get it under >control. There are yahoo support groups specific to dogs with seizures I >would go there to look for more advice. I would have to disagree with the statement "most dogs require more than one drug" for seizure control. Phenobarbitol works as a sole agent in most of my epileptic dogs. I actually only have a few on multi-drug therapy. And in those cases it's usually because the doses of phenobarbitol required started getting too high over years of therapy. To the original poster: what exactly have you been reading about phenobarbitol? Yes it can have some side effects but I'd consider them fairly minimal. The first couple of weeks can be a bit tough as some dogs get fairly sedated but usually they adapt. The only issue I have with phenobarbitol is that a number of dogs will develop liver problems on it but usually that's only after years. And then only because you often have to increase the dose as they become "tolerant" to it. Occasionally I will have a dog who doesn't respond to phenobarbitol but those are few and far between luckily. I wouldn't hesitate to try it in your case. Deborah DVM On Feb 5, 12:23 pm, "scottpconn...@yahoo.com" <scottpconn...@yahoo.com> wrote: > I have a six year old St. Bernard who had his first seizure two years > ago. Since that time, he has had a few off and on. Recently however, [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > Any input would be greatly appreciated. > Scott Hi Scott, has your routine changed recently (work schedule, get togethers, etc...)? I know that this is an odd question, but dogs have something called a seizure threshold. If they are stressed over a certain amount they are more likely to have a seizure. Remember, something that seems like a small change to you can be a life-changing experience for your dog. I'm not a doctor or anything, but I just thought that I'd throw that out there. |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2009 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.