Epilepsy
Garnet had her first seizure at 4 years of age. Although
I don't know for sure what caused it, I have a hunch.
Circumstantial evidence indicated that she had fallen
off the kitchen table while I was at work one day.
Within a week of this incident she had her first seizure.
This occurred in the middle of the night (she sleeps on
the bed so we were immediately aware of it).
Description of seizure: body rigid and shaking
eyes wide open, dilated and glazed
jaw clenched
spastic movements (running her nose
into the ground)
Needless to say this was absolutely horrifying. I took her
to the vet the next day.
The first thing the vet asked was what kind of food she was
eating. I had switched her to Nutro Natural Lamb and Rice
about 6 months before. He said that was good, because he
recommends a lamb & rice base diet for dogs with seizures.
(something to do with allergies to beef and chicken based foods).
Unless the seizures are very frequent, Garnet's vet does not
prescribe medication. He did recommend some vitamin therapy
which included, lecithin, vitamin B and thiamine, along with
foods like grated brocolli and carrots. These things were
included in Garnet's food for a year and the seizures did not
increase in frequency. She has one about every 6 months or so.
The seizures have changed a little over the years (Garnet is
almost 8 now). They seem to last a little longer, but she
seems to be more aware of what's going on. I hold her close
to me while she's seizing and talk very calmly and softly.
A couple of my close family have epilepsy, and they don't
have any memory of their seizures, so I imagine that Garnet
doesn't either. She recovers very quickly and doesn't show
any signs that anything unusual has happened to her. The
episodes are more disturbing to me than to her.
If her seizures start to increase in frequency, the medication
of choice is phenobarytol. This would be a last resort, though.
The vet did say that epilepsy is very common in all types of
dogs, cats and rabbits. Kathy Shattuck