Epilepsy In Whippets

[Seraphina]

I just received email from lady who has 11 months old Whippet diagnosed with epilepsy. I do not have first hand experience, does anybody here have Whippet with epilepsy, or advice or info? Thanks.

I will email her link to this thread so she can read it even if she cannot log in. I have recently helped a friend to join k9 and took us awful long time to get him registered, we kept getting the code wrong over and over again :b - pobably 20x :lol: .

 

[rocky]

Hello

My ex racing 10 year old whippet developed epilepsy the beginning ofg 2007.

To start with life was devastating and bad fits came every 2 or 3 weeks.

Life altered drastically and I have 2 other whippets who were very upset by this, I tried everything, not leaving him alone, no excitement, diet as advised by the epipepsy society. But in the end it was getting the medication right to control these fits that mattered. I started on phenobarbitone but the dose was too low, even higher nothing controlled until I started him on potassium bromide together with the epiphen. At last he started going months without a fit, instead of weeks or days. The latest large fit was boxing day, then a small one on good friday.

I don't panic so much now and my boy Jed leads a normal life. Goes for his walks, loves his food (chappie and biscuit meal only)

You can get your dog controlled on his drugs. I expect the vet has given all the tests to eliminate other causes, i.e. tumour, renal or thyroid troubles.

Epilepsy is a nasty condition, not an illness and a young dog I believe can grow out of these attacks

Good luck

Audrey

 

[zilloot]

Try:

http://pcfce.org/

and

http://www.canineepilepsysupport.co.uk/

They are both very helpful organisations and can answer many questions about medication and day-to-day fit management. They're lovely people.

My little whippet died from the severity of her epilepsy. I hope they can find some support because it's not an easy condition; getting the right balance of medication can take some time and trial and error.

:luck:

 

[The Bruvs]

Hi there, I have had 2 whippets that have had Epilepsy, and both were controlled by medication, the 1st one got it when he was 2 yrs old through having a racing accident breaking his leg and they said it was the shock that done it and he lived till he was 15 1/2yrs old, and the other which is still alive who is 10yrs old, on medication, but still has fits betwen 10-14 days, so the tablets I don't think rearly work????

If you want to PM me I will be happy to talk to you.

Tina :thumbsup:

 

[whippetwise]

My mother has a whippet x greyhound that developed epilepsy a year ago. It was only mild, the tremours were just her head, not the rest of her body. Very scary tho when it happened the first time. She was put on medication by the vet and the tremours ruduced to nothing. We slowly weaned her off the pills and she has not had a fit since. Good luck :luck:

 

[suzyb]

Our whippet, Pip, was diagnosed with epilepsy when she was six months old - we noticed her head was shaking and she would stop for a few seconds and stare. She was put on medication and she is regularly checked and apart from her being getting tired - which is difficult to tell with a whippet on a sofa, lets face it- she's absolutely fine. She's now three and a half and a little star!

 

[Seraphina]

Thank you everybody for the encouraging words, I have not heard from the lady back again, so I do not know if she was able to look here. I hope she will be able to register with k9 and tell us how is her little girl going.

Lida

 

[Geofdon]

I just received email from lady who has 11 months old Whippet diagnosed with epilepsy.  I do not have first hand experience, does anybody here have Whippet with epilepsy, or advice or info?  Thanks.
I will email her link to this thread so she can read it even if she cannot log in.  I have recently helped a friend to join k9 and took us awful long time to get him registered, we kept getting the code wrong over and over again :b   - pobably 20x  :lol: .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

​

Hi

We also have a whippet, Hudson, who suffers fre epilepsy. He is five years old and it first showed when he was three. The seizures start with him vomiting a dark brown fluid , he then starts to shake and then goes stiff and falls over. Next he fits and pees himself, froths at the mouth and this last for two to three minutes but it seems longer. Immediatly after the fit he goes down the garden and has a dump. Then for several hours he sticks very close to either me or my wife. The fits seem to be fairly regular at about either 6:30 to 7:30 in a morning and 17:00 t 18:30 in the evening. They were at about 4 week intervals but then we had a break of about 6 months, then 2 within three weeks.

He has not had an attack now for 6-7 weeks but we always keep a couple or doggie towels close by. Our vet has recommended that we keep him off medicine for as long as possible due to the fact that the medicine can damage their kidneys.

Hope you dog grows out of it soon but apart from the attacks he is still a very healthy and fit and pain in the neck dog.

Cheers G eoff and Sue

 

[Carole Honner]

Hello to all the very kind people who replied to Lida's post via "Seraphina" re Epilepsy in Whippets. Literally, within minutes of emailing a request for help, I received replies plus Lida's offer to make my request known on your forum.

I am truly grateful for all posts received, as well as the associated links to other sites.

Our two girls, Jazz and Sass, are 11 mths old. It's only been a few days since Sass was diagnosed and it is heart-breaking to see the difference the illness has made to both pups.

Time and medication will tell I guess.

In the meantime, I thank you all again for sharing your experiences with us.

Cheers

Carole Honner

Cairns, Far North Queensland

Australia

Email: honnerservices@optusnet.com.au

and cho01288@bigpond.net.au

 

[Whippets Rule]

Although i am owned by whippets i do not have a whippet with epilepsy....however i do own an epileptic beagle( as many on here will know :b )

I think initially the very worst thing about a dog with epilepsy is the first ever seizure is so shocking and disturbing for the dogs owner and any other dogs in the house.

it took us a few days to come to terms with Parkers first fit and the aftermath.

The best advice i can give is try very very hard to remain calm, there is much that can be done and many many dogs live a full life with their condition under excellent control.

it will take time for the phenobarb levels in the dogs blood to reach the required level, i think it's four weeks as far as i remember.

expect your dog to still have the occasional fit up until the levels are stabilised within the required range....if your dog continues to fit the levels can be increased quite a lot but again each increase needs a few weeks to get to the right level in the blood...for example Parker started on 30mg twice daily but continued to fit...after six months of increases he then had 120mg twice daily(he hasn't had a full blown seizure for around seven months).

My dog has not so far needed to have KBR tablets alongside his epiphen, but if epiphen alone doesn't do the trick then the pottasium bromide is another option. The only issue with KBR tablets is that some dogs cannot tolerate them and they cause severe diarhoea in which case they cannot be used.

Also with our dog( and i imagine other peoples)we have rectal tubes of Diazepam at hand so that the instant a seizure starts we administer it and this minimises the severity and length of seizure...occasionally if fits are severe then two tubes have to be administered but either way within a few minutes the main fit is over.

I find the aftermath of a seizure much more challenging than the fit itself. Parker is totally blind for several minutes after a fit(due to total pupil dilation during the seizure) at this point he is very frightened and can be rather aggressive...once he can see again and he's said hello to all of us he then paces the house and whines and is restless and distracted for a few hours.

a difficulty with epilepsy in multi dog households is the effect on both the dog with the problem and it's housemates.

we always remove the other dogs from the room when a fit starts, firstly so that the other dogs do not attack the fitting dog and also to reduce any extra stimuli from the dog who is fitting.

the other risk is that when the dog comes round from a fit it can attack the other dogs while it is disorientated and unable to see.

My parents own a collie who started fitting when he was two and he's now ten and very healthy..he takes both epiphen and KBR.

We have managed so far to keep Parkers seizures under control and he leads a happy life...the only change in him is a bit of weight gain (this though is partly due to his food as he has special dietary requirements as he also has congenital liver disease)and he tends to be more hungry and thirsty.

The very best of luck with your dog...sorry this was so long but i hope some of it helps.

Once seizures are under control things do get easier and any fits tend to be less shocking than the first one you see. We don't know what the future holds for our dog due to the effect the anti epilepsy drugs have on the liver because he already has liver disease BUT in general terms in a healthy dog there is no reason why it shouldn't

live a long life.

just as a footnote it is always worth remembering.....if your dog ever needs to have surgery, remind the vet not to use ACP as although any anaesthetic will lower the brains fitting threshold, ACP is contra-indicated in epileptic dogs.

 

[Carole Honner]

Although i am owned by whippets i do not have a whippet with epilepsy....however i do own an epileptic beagle( as many on here will know :b )
I think initially the very worst thing about a dog with epilepsy is the first ever seizure is so shocking and disturbing for the dogs owner and any other dogs in the house.

it took us a few days to come to terms with Parkers first fit and the aftermath.

The best advice i can give is try very very hard to remain calm, there is much that can be done and many many dogs live a full life with their condition under excellent control.

it will take time for the phenobarb levels in the dogs blood to reach the required level, i think it's four weeks as far as i remember.

expect your dog to still have the occasional fit up until the levels are stabilised within the required range....if your dog continues to fit the levels can be increased quite a lot but again each increase needs a few weeks to get to the right level in the blood...for example Parker started on 30mg twice daily but continued to fit...after six months of increases he then had 120mg twice daily(he hasn't had a full blown seizure for around seven months).

My dog has not so far needed to have KBR tablets alongside his epiphen, but if epiphen alone doesn't do the trick then the pottasium bromide is another option. The only issue with KBR tablets is that some dogs cannot tolerate them and they cause severe diarhoea in which case they cannot be used.

Also with our dog( and i imagine other peoples)we have rectal tubes of Diazepam at hand so that the instant a seizure starts we administer it and this minimises the severity and length of seizure...occasionally if fits are severe then two tubes have to be administered but either way within a few minutes the main fit is over.

I find the aftermath of a seizure much more challenging than the fit itself. Parker is totally blind for several minutes after a fit(due to total pupil dilation during the seizure) at this point he is very frightened and can be rather aggressive...once he can see again and he's said hello to all of us he then paces the house and whines and is restless and distracted for a few hours.

a difficulty with epilepsy in multi dog households is the effect on both the dog with the problem and it's housemates.

we always remove the other dogs from the room when a fit starts, firstly so that the other dogs do not attack the fitting dog and also to reduce any extra stimuli from the dog who is fitting.

the other risk is that when the dog comes round from a fit it can attack the other dogs while it is disorientated and unable to see.

My parents own a collie who started fitting when he was two and he's now ten and very healthy..he takes both epiphen and KBR.

We have managed so far to keep Parkers seizures under control and he leads a happy life...the only change in him is a bit of weight gain (this though is partly due to his food as he has special dietary requirements as he also has congenital liver disease)and he tends to be more hungry and thirsty.

The very best of luck with your dog...sorry this was so long but i hope some of it helps.

Once seizures are under control things do get easier and any fits tend to be less shocking than the first one you see. We don't know what the future holds for our dog due to the effect the anti epilepsy drugs have on the liver because he already has liver disease BUT in general terms in a healthy dog there is no reason why it shouldn't   

live a long life.

just as a footnote it is always worth remembering.....if your dog ever needs to have surgery, remind the vet not to use ACP as although any anaesthetic will lower the brains fitting threshold, ACP is contra-indicated in epileptic dogs.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

​

 

[Carole Honner]

Although i am owned by whippets i do not have a whippet with epilepsy....however i do own an epileptic beagle( as many on here will know :b )
I think initially the very worst thing about a dog with epilepsy is the first ever seizure is so shocking and disturbing for the dogs owner and any other dogs in the house.

it took us a few days to come to terms with Parkers first fit and the aftermath.

The best advice i can give is try very very hard to remain calm, there is much that can be done and many many dogs live a full life with their condition under excellent control.

it will take time for the phenobarb levels in the dogs blood to reach the required level, i think it's four weeks as far as i remember.

expect your dog to still have the occasional fit up until the levels are stabilised within the required range....if your dog continues to fit the levels can be increased quite a lot but again each increase needs a few weeks to get to the right level in the blood...for example Parker started on 30mg twice daily but continued to fit...after six months of increases he then had 120mg twice daily(he hasn't had a full blown seizure for around seven months).

My dog has not so far needed to have KBR tablets alongside his epiphen, but if epiphen alone doesn't do the trick then the pottasium bromide is another option. The only issue with KBR tablets is that some dogs cannot tolerate them and they cause severe diarhoea in which case they cannot be used.

Also with our dog( and i imagine other peoples)we have rectal tubes of Diazepam at hand so that the instant a seizure starts we administer it and this minimises the severity and length of seizure...occasionally if fits are severe then two tubes have to be administered but either way within a few minutes the main fit is over.

I find the aftermath of a seizure much more challenging than the fit itself. Parker is totally blind for several minutes after a fit(due to total pupil dilation during the seizure) at this point he is very frightened and can be rather aggressive...once he can see again and he's said hello to all of us he then paces the house and whines and is restless and distracted for a few hours.

a difficulty with epilepsy in multi dog households is the effect on both the dog with the problem and it's housemates.

we always remove the other dogs from the room when a fit starts, firstly so that the other dogs do not attack the fitting dog and also to reduce any extra stimuli from the dog who is fitting.

the other risk is that when the dog comes round from a fit it can attack the other dogs while it is disorientated and unable to see.

My parents own a collie who started fitting when he was two and he's now ten and very healthy..he takes both epiphen and KBR.

We have managed so far to keep Parkers seizures under control and he leads a happy life...the only change in him is a bit of weight gain (this though is partly due to his food as he has special dietary requirements as he also has congenital liver disease)and he tends to be more hungry and thirsty.

The very best of luck with your dog...sorry this was so long but i hope some of it helps.

Once seizures are under control things do get easier and any fits tend to be less shocking than the first one you see. We don't know what the future holds for our dog due to the effect the anti epilepsy drugs have on the liver because he already has liver disease BUT in general terms in a healthy dog there is no reason why it shouldn't   

live a long life.

just as a footnote it is always worth remembering.....if your dog ever needs to have surgery, remind the vet not to use ACP as although any anaesthetic will lower the brains fitting threshold, ACP is contra-indicated in epileptic dogs.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

​

 

[Isis]

Sorry - this is a little bit OT:

Maybe someone is able to translate this http://www.epilepsie-beim-whippet.de/index-epilepsie.htm from German to English? The website presents a genetic study about epilepsy in whippets.