# My English Bulldog is having seizures, HELP



## Rosered1999 (Sep 21, 2007)

I have a 7 year old English Bulldog, who up until 3 weeks ago was healthy. I have a great Vet and we have put him on phenobarbital .05 grains and potassium bromide. It has only been 5 days but he is still having them on an average of 2 per night. He can't get up to eat or drink, I am hand feeding him water and food. He potties where he is laying, and I know animals don't normaly lay in this. From being on the pheno, and potassium he is not having the seizures like he had with the spazams, but he starts panting, which he never did before. I go get the ice cubes and he lickes on them and then goes back to sleep. Last night 2AM, he started yelping and crying. I just don't know if this is normal until the phenobarbital and potassium get into his system. Does anyone know just how long it takes for it to gets in their system? I don't want him to suffer and have concidered putting him down. My vet has run all the normal tests and there is not wrong that she can fine, all his blood work is normal.


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## Shalva (Mar 23, 2007)

Rosered1999 said:


> I have a 7 year old English Bulldog, who up until 3 weeks ago was healthy. I have a great Vet and we have put him on phenobarbital .05 grains and potassium bromide. It has only been 5 days but he is still having them on an average of 2 per night. He can't get up to eat or drink, I am hand feeding him water and food. He potties where he is laying, and I know animals don't normaly lay in this. From being on the pheno, and potassium he is not having the seizures like he had with the spazams, but he starts panting, which he never did before. I go get the ice cubes and he lickes on them and then goes back to sleep. Last night 2AM, he started yelping and crying. I just don't know if this is normal until the phenobarbital and potassium get into his system. Does anyone know just how long it takes for it to gets in their system? I don't want him to suffer and have concidered putting him down. My vet has run all the normal tests and there is not wrong that she can fine, all his blood work is normal.


the potassium bromide can take up to 3 mos. to get to therapeutic level 
the phenobarb can take up to 2 weeks..... you can ask your vet for a loading dose of the phenobarb and potassium bromide to get your pup up to level faster. My 65lb flat coat takes 1.5 grains in the morning and at night and 
375mg/mil or KBr (potassium bromide) morning at night. I dont know how much your dog weighs but .5 grain seems like a really really low dose to me. Many dogs live long health lives with seizures...... my cuinn is one of them.... don't give up hope and don't put your dog down at this point there are lots of medications and time to get your pups seizures under control...... I have posted a picture of my seizure boy Cuinn at the bottom and he has a page on my website if you want to see more of how a dog with epilepsy can live a normal life.... I am also going to give you some suggestions and a link to another website especially for epileptic dogs. 

unfortunately epilepsy is becoming more of a problem and you should let your breeder know. 


there are many reasons for seizures.
from ideopathic epilepsy to vaccine reactions to low blood sugar. I agree wtih your breeder about not jumping to conclusions. Most vets do not prescribe phenobarbital for a dog that has just had a couple of seizures over a period of time. Phenobarb has some nasty long term side effects regarding the liver and while it is a valuable medication most vets want to wait to be sure a dog is going to have more than a few seizures before they prescribe.

The anesthesia can exacerbate seizures and a seizure prone dog should not be given acepromazine, instead I find that with my epi-boy we mask him down using sevoflourane and that allows the vet to get him under fast and bring him back up quickly. That is just my vet though ......

With regard to seizures themselves..... couple thoughts.
your dog should never be around water that is more than a couple inches deep alone, only under supervision or when wearing a life jacket,,,,,

keep some breyers vanilla ice cream in the freezer as that will help your pup come around after a seizure and get the blood sugar back up

do not ever put anything in your dogs mouth

log the seizures and how long they last

get soem ice packs, ice packs put over the eyes will often decrease the length of a seizure

get some emergency valium, I have some premade syringes of valium so if my dog has a seizure that is lasting longer than I think it should (usually a minute or so - feels like forever) then I can squirt half up one nostril and half up the other and that will stop the seizure... this can also be done rectally..... I find the nose to be an easier target though.... might be harder in a bulldog.... I keep two preloaded syringes on hand at all times.

stay calm and count.....

also if you havent done it already.... a full blood panel should be done within 12 hours of a seizure so if that hasn't been done then have it done the next time he seizes..... if there are any changes you will see them after 12 hours things go back to normal

run a full tick panel

run a full thyroid panel (the kind that gets sent out to a university labratory)

don't freak out.... many dogs like my own live good long lives. My cuinn has had epilepsy since he was 2.5, he will be six in November and he is a bit drugged (he takes phenobarb and potassium bromide twice a day) but he is a otherwise healthy happy boy who just loses control of his body periodically.

I would be happy to help in any way that I can feel free to private message me...... I am pretty busy right now and not around much but I do check in most days. I would also encourage you to go the the http://www.canine-epilepsy.com Canine epilepsy site, there is a email list that is full of very knowledgeable people and the web page itself is a wealth of information.
good luck
Shalva and Cuinn








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