If your dog begins to have seizures, it's crucial that you get him to a veterinarian immediately for an evaluation. If your dog is diagnosed with epilepsy, the following article will outline some ways that these seizures can be controlled. It is important to understand that epilepsy is not the cause of all dog seizures, however. For example, certain kinds of brain tumors or an injury to the dog抯 brain can cause seizures, as can certain toxins in the environment. In such cases, treatment for epilepsy will be completely ineffective.
The purpose of this article is to explore treatment options so that you will have a better understanding of them once your veterinarian has determined that the cause of your dog抯 seizures is epilepsy. If your dog only suffers from seizures occasionally and not as frequently as once a month, then it is advised that you do not need to treat it. Treatment of seizures will not completely cure the problem, it will simply lessen the amount of times your dog has seizures, so bear that in mind when you are treating your dog and seizures continue, do not get disheartened.
The first line of treatment options with canine epilepsy is usually anti-epileptic drugs (AED's). Potassium and Phenobarbitol are the most commonly prescribed anti-epileptic drugs, and are used either together or independently of each other. Diazepam, more commonly known as Valium, can be used if the seizures come one after another or last longer than 5 minutes. These types of seizures are called cluster seizures (status epilepticus). When looking deeper into the subject to write this article I was surprised to find a drug that I was always told to stay clear of, is sometimes still prescribed to dogs, this is 'Primidone', it is knows to cause issues thanks to the high amount of liver enzymes it contains, such as increased hunger, thirst and lethargy, in fact it is often called 'Primadon't' by many epileptic dog owners. Recent studies indicate that Neurontin can also be a useful for helping your dog cope with its epilepsy, it is also known as Gabapentin. But caution is neededas AED's elevate enzymes in the liver, so if your dog is using one of these medications, he will need to have regular chemistry panels done to ensure no liver damage is occurring.
Another treatment you might want to consider is acupuncture or the use of gold bead implants. Acupuncture is the placement of needles at certain points throughout the entire body, while gold bead implants is the implantation of a gold bead right into the specific acupuncture points. I would try acupuncture before AED抯, but gold bead implants would be a last resort for me, to be considered only if everything else failed.
When trying to help your dog through epilepsy you need to closely watch its diet, you can also try homeopathy and vitamin treatments. Diet can have a big impact upon a dogs epilepsy, most dog foods are crammed full of chemicals, additives, preservatives and flavoring. It is widely known that dogs can suffer from seizures due to preservatives, for this reason you should try to remove them from your dogs diet completely. In my case the change of my dogs diet from manufactured dog food to fresh, raw food with fresh green vegetables did more good than the use of Anti-Epileptic Drugs. You should certainly seek the advice of a holistic vet in order to help your dog have the best possible diet and homeopathic treatments. Serving filtered water may also be helpful, especially in states where the water has fluoride added.
Ice Cream and Rescue Remedy You can pick up 'Rescue Remedy' in most health stores, you should add 4 drops of this to your dogs mouth when a seizure starts, it can help lessen the seizure dramatically. Another great idea is to give your dog some preservative free vanilla ice cream once the seizure has finished, dogs are only small and a seizure can be hard on their body, giving them some ice cream afterwards helps bring their blood sugar levels back up. Giving your dog ice cream after a seizure may help to soften the blow that seizures take, since a dog will learn quickly that he will get a treat after experiencing a seizure.
