A year ago today marks the date that my Sylvie became a seizure dog. I still have a hard time believing it, and I still have a hard time saying her name and the word “epileptic” in the same sentence. As a matter of fact, I just asked my vet this afternoon if Sylvie really would be considered an epileptic— a fraction of a second after I asked, I was met with a resounding “yes” followed by the definition of epileptic, which I managed to quickly tune out. Iʼve always been the kind of person to question and wonder about everything Iʼm told, so I figured it wouldnʼt hurt just to ask…again.
Even as I typed that last paragraph, I felt like I had suddenly inhaled a baseball. Believe me, this is an improvement compared to what I was like a year ago. Iʼm not sure if itʼs hard for me to believe that Vʼs an epileptic because it literally happened overnight, or simply because I just donʼt want to believe that it could (and does) really happen to her. Truth can be a bitch sometimes, and Iʼve never really liked surprises to begin with.
Iʼm not going to go into details about every seizure V has had, but Iʼll just throw out there that her “tonic clonic” seizures seem to last for hours when in reality they last about 10 seconds. Her “psychomotor” seizures last a little longer, but she settles down after sheʼs had her dose of diazepam. A reiki practitioner and communicator once told me that Sylvieʼs seizures bother me more than they bother her, which is actually a statement that Iʼve tried really, really hard to believe in and not to question too much.
Yes, Sylvie is a rescue, and yes I know where she came from. Supposedly, her sire and dam and every dog before them were totally healthy, which could be true. But, this is coming from people who brag about raising “crop and swine” as readily as they “brag” about breeding dogs. The dogs live in kennel runs, are bred often, and have no health testing, and little to any loving. V was then sold to an oblivious couple just because they had the $400 for her upfront. She was then overvaccinated, had two eye surgeries, had to have her dewclaws redone because theyʼd been butchered the first time through, and then was spayed all before she was 6 months old.
Then I got her. And despite all that (plus ripping herself open going after a goose) V has always been a very, very healthy dog. Iʼve never had any reason to worry about her, in fact, she has always been my steady. and Iʼm positive that sheʼs always the one looking after me instead of the other way around. There goes that baseball to the throat again.
I had everything from total body function tests run on Sylvie, to tick disease tests, to thyroid panels, to anything else I could think of and everything came back negative. At this point, I was secretly hoping we would find that she had RMSF or Lyme disease or a really low thyroid so that I could explain the seizures away. Itʼs hard to understand something so straighforward at times — Sylvie is a seizure dog, is a seizure dog, is a seizure dog…
At first, Sylvieʼs seizures were happening once a month, and bounced back and forth between tonic clonic and psychomotor. They all happened in the early hours of the morning. She would suddenly jump out of bed and either hit the floor and go into a seizure, or start her crazed pacing and manic confusion. I still wake up with my heart racing if I hear her get out of bed or wake up suddenly to realize that sheʼs not in bed. To my relief, sheʼs usually just downstairs getting a drink of water, but you never know, right?
Sylvie is not and has never been on any traditional seizure medications. She gets MinTran, which helps to calm her nervous system, a random dose of acupuncture here and there, which helps to balance her “Qi,” lots of good and fresh food, and heaping tablespoons of romps through fields, plenty of birds, and more love and kisses to the face than sheʼs comfortable with. Weʼve also played with Reiki, in hopes of healing and straightening out her energies. I truly believe that all Iʼve mentioned above has helped us from going to one seizure a month to one seizure every three months. Knock on wood.
After Sylvieʼs first seizure I went into panic mode about “what it meant” and “what it means” for Sylvie to of had a seizure. Would she still be able to go on our marathon hikes, go hunting, and jump off the boat at the lake? What did it mean for “us?” Would she still be able to compete in agility? Train for SDX and senior hunter? Would I ever be able to run her in field trials or fly her to Alaska again in search of long trails and Ptarmigan?
The answer to all the above, Iʼm slowly realizing, is yes. Yes, she can still do all those things, and yes, WE can still do all those things. It may just take us a little longer to get there and a little longer to figure out what all the sidenotes and scribbles in the margins mean, but Iʼm positve that weʼll get to where we both want to be and enjoy the ride just a little more, because it will mean that much more. I knew when I got Sylvie that I was in for a wild ride, and sheʼs still proving that to me at six years old. I canʼt help but wonder where we will be at this time next year? As the saying goes, not all who wander are lost…
Champion tree climber, cover stealer, treat begger, photo poser, and cat chaser
Sylvie Seigʼs Daydream Notion CGC,CD,JH,NSD,NRD,RN,NAJ,NF,CL1-R,H,F, JJ-N
Interested in reading more about Sylvie and other active, versatile, competitive (and even some rescued… gasp!) Weimaraners and a zany GSP? Please visit www.reneesara.blogspot.com for links to dog blogs, general musings, and more photos then you can handle with only one cup of coffee. If you have any questions about what Iʼve shared, or just Weimaraners in general, please send Sara Renee an email at renee.sara@gmail.com or leave a comment on her blog.
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Excellent article Sara! Having had a seizure dog, I know exactly what you are going through and that baseball in the throat feeling. My girl, who was from a great, responsible breeder, with minimal vaccinations and top healthcare, started seizing at age 7, and we never knew why but %^&t happens. But she continued to train in agility and obedience and we cherished each day until we lost her due to something else. Hugs to Sylvie, who I had the pleasure of meeting and can’t wait to see again at the Nationals next year!
My Po started seizing around 6. You know the story, the “I’m only fostering story….” Well Po (Napoleon) came to me as a foster two Novembers ago. He was a chunky monkey and I took about 15 pounds off of him. I then took him trail running to celebrate his new self! Well, he ended up going into a grand mal after we got back. He’s had a total of four full blown seizures over the last 2 years and all of them were my fault. He crashes like a diabetic but is NOT a diabetic and after running a full thyroid Jean Dodds said he was only a “touch” low which I am treating with soloxine. I keep a bottle of honey in my glovebox for the days that I run him hard. You can watch him start to go downhill but honey gets him back to normal within 15 minutes. I’m thankful I know what makes him seize.
Great article Sara! Beautiful writing – we wish you happy and healthy wandering
Karen & Bugsy
That was a very difficult read, just 3 days ago our almost 9 month old, Finley, started having “psychomotor” seizures. I went into the vet immediately and after her having about 10-20 seizures in 3 hours I was able to get her on Diazepam and that stopped them. Well, My Wife and I were starting to get our hopes up as we weened Finley off of the Rx, half a pill last night and half a pill this morning and we got our normal crazy girl back. After 8 hours of no medicine and a 3 mile walk to the grocery store Finley started showing some signs of having “fits”, I gave her her half pill earlier than planned and she kept having them so I gave her the other half and she is fine now. So much for our hopes of a fluke one time occurrence on Thursday, we will be talking to the vet on Monday and also looking for more advise for treatments. Our baby is from a very reputable breeder who has had no other dogs with seizures.
Thank you for this Post and any suggestions are appreciated.
Zach, Sarah, and Finley
Zach, Sarah, and Finley-
I’m sorry to hear about Finley’s sudden onset of seizures. Feel free to email me, as I’d love to touch base and hear more about your girl and what you’re doing to help her out.
Sararenee&Weims&Zig
renee dot sara at gmail dot com
My beautiful weim Joey or JoJo as we like to call him has started having seizures this past year. He started having them few and far between but know is having them more frequently we are taking him to the doctor tomorrow to explore our options. My JoJo has been the most loveable, best running buddy, my daughters best fellow princess during dress up time but that first time he had a seizure my husband was threatening to do the unspeakable. It was about 7:30am my daughter had come into our bedroom throughout the night to sleep between me(my pregnant belly) and my husband and I heard some banging on the floor beside our bed. I jump up and my poor JoJo! Scream out my husband’s name who has just shut the front door behind him on the way to work. My daughter wakes to see her best bud having what she calls nightmares and also starts yelling for daddy. My husband runs in and by know joey has slowed down but he starts growling and barking at us. My husband grabs my daughter and gets her out of the room and I try to talk to joey without luck, he is still growling. My husband reaches out to him to try and comfort him but Joey lurches toward my husband like he is going to bite him. After that my husband wants me out of the room but I am trapped between joey, the bed and a closet door, so I get in the closet along with my other weim and a great dane mix (luckily it was a large closet). My husband tries to call the vet but they are not open yet, calls the 24hr number and no answer. I end up stuck in the closet for over an hour while my husband tries to get a hold of help for our now very violent dog. I was scared and crying about Joey. My husband was more worried about his pregnant wife and was talking about putting our buddy down. I understood at this point Joey acted like he was never going to go back to him self. We ended up waiting it out in the closet me and two giant dogs! finally JOey came to his eyes were jojo eyes not some monster that had trapped me in the closet. We took him to the vet and talked and tested him but doc didn’t want to put him on meds right away until he had had more than one episode. The entire rest of the day JoJO acted apologetic he followed us around more than usual and licked our hands as if saying sorry. Due to the kids we talked about finding a new home for Joey but we couldn’t do it he is part of our family so we kept him in the bathroom at night for a while just in case. We didn’t want to wake up one morning to find him having one on our daughters bed. Luckily that was the only violent one he has had the vet said that they tend to get scared after their first one and that is sometimes their reaction. Hopefully we will find out more tomorrow so he doesn’t have to go through that anymore.
Emily-
How is your Joey doing? Please keep us posted, or feel free to email me at renee.sara@gmail.com
Sara
Jeniroosen, I realize you already have your honey solution for Po, but I’d like to recommend you look into hypoglycemia. Its occurs when insulin works too well in the body bringing down the blood sugar levels. It can be brought on by eating too many simple carbohydrates or exercise and it is serious if left alone but the treatment for when an episode occurs is to give a simple carbohydrate like your honey to temporarily boost blood sugar levels followed by a more complex carbohydrate like your dogs food to slowly release more sugar into the blood over the next few hours. Spreading meals throughout the day can help keep blood sugar levels more constant and prevent an episode. You can also use a blood-glucose montior to get your dogs base readings and then test during an attack and 5 min after you give the honey to see if this really is what is happening.
Sara, thankyou for sharing.