I have so much to catch up! Let me tell you about Nightmare's seizures and how we are managing them.
The first seizure
The first time it happened, I was upstairs and my husband called me to come quickly because Nightmare was having a seizure. She had never had one before, but it was unmistakable. She was on her side, her legs spasming involuntarily, as if she were trying to swim, and she was drooling. We held her head to avoid her hitting it and wiped her mouth. It was thankfully over in about a minute or so.
We of course rushed her to the vet. He examined her and sent us to give her a head CAT scan As you might remember, she had had a deeply infected wound on her forehead when we found her.
The diagnosis and treatment
We went and did the tomography (that was a huge ordeal, I was the one to go in with her and Nightmare doesn't like to be handled and held). The results didn't show much, nothing we were afraid of, such as a tumor, but there was some liquid accumulated.
That is the fluid buidup |
We showed our vet the results and he concluded it wasn't epilepsy, but maybe high pressure in her brain that was causing her the seizures.
He gave us some supplements for circulation and told us to be careful that her gums wouldn't turn purple, which meant she wasn't getting enough oxygen. We wouldn't have to worry about her swallowing her tongue as with humans, in fact, he advised against putting our hands in her mouth, as she could clench her jaws and hurt us.
If the situation worsened, he would prescribe her some epilepsy medication.
The seizures become more frequent
Over the next few months, even with the meds, Nightmare still had seizures, more and more often, even twice in one day.
We went to the vet again and he decided to start on the epilepsy medicine for dogs.
The seizures stop
We were giving her three types of pills every day at this point, but she was a good girl and took it. To avoid shoving the pills down her throat, we put them between two layers of cream or yoghurt and she ate them right up.
And it really showed an improvement. The epilepsy pills completely suppressed the seizures and she hasn't had one in many months now.
The vet stopped one of the supplements and even if it costs us quite a bit each month, we are happy she is feeling ok.
Snoooooore! |