Help Needed! 17 month old boy with "Behavioral Seizures"

[dogsrmylife4ever]

Hi everybody! I haven't been on here in a while. I am hoping I can get some suggestions and help with my little boy. Harley was diagnosed with "Behavioral Seizures" about 6 months ago. He had been doing some weird things that my other Bullies had never done; eating/chewing pebbles (or ANYTHING that he could get his mouth around), his nose was constantly to the ground, he was REALLY wild (not just puppy wild- he was constantly moving), staring at the walls and finally, the thing that made me realize that there really was something serious going on- "Fly biting". I took a video of his behavior with me when I went to the vet. He was diagnosed and put on Phenobarbital. We've had to adjust the doseage a couple times but, for the most part he has stopped the fly biting. The other symptoms have not changed at all.He has chewed through 3 couches and a chair. Yes, I do try to crate him when I'm gone for shorter periods, but I don't feel right about doing it for an 8 hour stretch. For those times I keep him confined to the kitchen, with a wood gate across the doorway (which he has also chewed up, along with the island and door frame- **sigh**). He continues to potty and poop in the house, even when I am there. I can hop in the shower and , by the time I get out, he has already done it. I don't have a doggy door but I open the door for him to go out, into my fenced-in yard (of coarse), dozens of times each day. He doesn't do it in front of me, but I can tell right away when he has- he looks extremely guilty. He is neutered. He is on TOTW. He has lots of Kongs, Nylabones, etc., to play with, but his attention span is incredibly short. Just so you don't think I am a newbie to Bullies or dogs- I have 11 1/2 year and 9 1/2 female Bullies and had a male who I lost to CHF. I have been owned by all different types of fur babies, ALL of my life and I have done rescue for 20 years.<br><br>I really don't want him to be on the Phenobarbital for the rest of his life! (Plus, I'm sure his body will adjust to it after a while and it won't be effective, at some point.)  What other types of medications have you found to be effective and not horrible long-term? Any other suggestions, re: chewing, potty issues, etc. (part of Behavioral Seizures?), would be greatly appreciated!!!!! I love the little turd and really want him to have a normal life, for as long as possible. Thank you!!<br><br><br><br>

 

[punky]

i don't have much advise but i did want to say thank you for caring so much for him... i do hope he gets adjusted to the medicine.. wish i could help with the potty training but from the sounds of it you are doing everything right.. maybe his medicine has a little something to do with it by maybe causing him to go more often.. i know my odie was on some once and it made him go alot more often..

 

[ddnene]

I'm going to tag some members w/more experience w/seizures… I'm SO sorry about your boy, and I hope that you can find out what works best for him.

 

[dogsrmylife4ever]

Thank you Gail!

 

[dogsrmylife4ever]

Thank you, Tracey! I really would appreciate it!

 

[Manydogs]

So sorry to hear about this. I have been through this with a German Shepherd. She started out on Phenobarb,also. I chose not to say anymore because it was not a happy outcome, and I am hoping things will be much better for you. I will be praying for you and your baby.

 

[dogsrmylife4ever]

Thank you Lynn. Did she have behavioral or Epileptic seizures? (I had a Brittany Spaniel mix who had Epileptic seizures with a very bad outcome...) How old was she when she was diagnosed? How old when you lost her? Did she get progressively worse? Any info you can give me will be helpful.

 

[Manydogs]

I used to sit and cry, because I just couldn't train this dog. I never had a dog(having had 4/5 at a time) that I couldn't train. She seemed normal as a young pup,and did get house broken. Then at 4 months,she started to get extremely hyper. I just couldn't keep up with entertaining her. My other dogs were small I got another large dog,for her to play with. I even took her to school-the trainers could not get her attention. She started to have seizures,and was put on meds. It seemed she kept getting immune to ,and dosage was upped. At one year old,she had a massive seizure on the night my husband died. I believe she had a brain tumor,but did not have a necropsy done,as there were other stressful things going on at the same time,two deaths and more,at that time. As you mentioned, she went through at period of gulping down rocks(as we had a gravel driveway) swallowing strange things-thankfully she never got mean. I knew a priest, who had a sweet Rottweiler,who went through the same thing-and did have all kinds of test done,and he had a brain tumor(the dog) he died,also. Sorry I can't give you good news, but [MENTION=572]Libra926[/MENTION] has a beautiful dog who has seizures,and she has been dealing with this for quite a while. She has a blog called The Vegas Show, about this.

 

[dogsrmylife4ever]

Thank you for telling me about your experiences. I'm SO very sorry about all you have gone through!!!! Luckily, so far, Harley has not had any of the aggression issues that sometimes occur. (My first male Bully, in retrospect, did have the aggression type behavioral seizures- we just didn't know that's what was going on. He went to the bridge when he was only 3. I believe he also had a brain tumor, but a necrospy was not done, as my ex had custody of him at the time and didn't request it.) If you happen to think of anything that might be helpfull, I would really appreciate the input.

 

[Libra926]

Hey there! We are also on phenobarbital, potassium bromide (which I highly suggest as the next one to try in combination with the pheno) and he is also on Zonisamide. The 3 of them together have taken us to about 1 seizure every 3 to 6 weeks. Since April...they seem to be more spaced apart. I'm hoping he has a new guardian angel up above that has a hand in this.

Vegas was diagnosed with Idiopathic Epilepsy when he was 10 months old. He is now almost 8 1/2 years old. He does tend to have some aggression and behavior issues... sometimes he is so focused on something it gets scary. He's been so zoned on something that he has bitten both my husband and I when we've tried to calm him down when he is literally freaking out. I'm sure this is another type of seizure.... he is normally the sweetest boy.


Here is the story that Manydogs mentioned that I had put together on our sister forum Special Needs Bulldogs. It is a compilation of my blog from this website, EBN.

This goes up until a few years ago.

Special Needs Bulldogs Forum - Bulldog spotlight: TheVegasShow

 

[2BullyMama]

[MENTION=7206]dogsrmylife4ever[/MENTION] I have no experience but wanted to send lots of positive thoughts and prayers to you and your baby!

 

[dogsrmylife4ever]

Thank you so much!

 

[dogsrmylife4ever]

Thank you for your input. I will be reading your blog.I was really happy to hear that he has lived this long! (Not so much about the aggression issues...) What dosage of the Pheno and KBr is he on? What is his wt? (For comparison on dosages) If you happen to think of any other info that might be helpful, I would sure appreciate it!

 

[2BullyMama]

Thank you for your input. I will be reading your blog.I was really happy to hear that he has lived this long! (Not so much about the aggression issues...) What dosage of the Pheno and KBr is he on? What is his wt? (For comparison on dosages) If you happen to think of any other info that might be helpful, I would sure appreciate it!

[MENTION=572]Libra926[/MENTION]

 

[Libra926]

Hey there! We are also on phenobarbital, potassium bromide (which I highly suggest as the next one to try in combination with the pheno) and he is also on Zonisamide. The 3 of them together have taken us to about 1 seizure every 3 to 6 weeks. Since April...they seem to be more spaced apart. I'm hoping he has a new guardian angel up above that has a hand in this.

Vegas was diagnosed with Idiopathic Epilepsy when he was 10 months old. He is now almost 8 1/2 years old. He does tend to have some aggression and behavior issues... sometimes he is so focused on something it gets scary. He's been so zoned on something that he has bitten both my husband and I when we've tried to calm him down when he is literally freaking out. I'm sure this is another type of seizure.... he is normally the sweetest boy.


Here is the story that Manydogs mentioned that I had put together on our sister forum Special Needs Bulldogs. It is a compilation of my blog from this website, EBN.

This goes up until a few years ago.

Special Needs Bulldogs Forum - Bulldog spotlight: TheVegasShow

We are on 64.8 mg phenobarbital twice daily. And he's on 300 mg of potassium bromide twice daily. He currently weighs about 59 pounds


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk