Hey all,

Before I ask my question i'll give you a brief history. When our
dog was 9 months old and under the knife to lose his family jewels he
had a grand mal seizure. The vet said the cause could have been the
stress from separation or the drugs used to knock him out. They are
known to lower the seizure threshold, thus dogs who are epileptic may
have a greater chance to seizure.

About 1.5 years ago he had 2 small petite mal seizures and he's now
almost 6 years old. 3 weeks ago I woke up to my wife yelling that he's
having a seizure. I have to say, i've had an epileptic friend and am
no stranger to seizures but this one scared the hell out of me. He
foamed at the mouth and it seems like an eternity but were guessing it
was just under 5 minutes. He seemed to be coming out of it, looked
semi-concious but another seizure set in. Immediately we rushed him to
the hospital and admitted him over night. In the end they said unless
he's having more that 1 seizure every couple of months then they
wouldn't normally medicate him.

Exactly 1 week later he had another seizure. We brought him to our
regular vet for a full blood workup (to check for tyroid problems).
Everything came back ok and other than the seizures he's a perfectly
healthy dog. I believe it was the next day that he had another seizure
and after a call to the vet he said he need to start him on meds.

That was 2 weeks ago. This past thursday night I drove my wife to the
store and when I came home Mylo had knocked over a chair and managed to
get my kids halloween stash. Were not sure how much he ate but it was
at least 1 bag of cheeses and a bunch of suckers. At about midnight he
started to have tremors/shakes. It was the same symptoms that he had
a couple of years back when he had chocolate poisoning. (He managed to
eat 3/4 a box of after eight mints.) So we decided to keep an eye on
him and see what the next day brought.

The next day he seemed to be getting worse so yet another trip to the
vet (an expensive month at over 800$ spent). He did a test of
pancreatitis and it came back positive. So now he's off his Pheno
(sp?) for the seizures because it could be aggravating his
pancreatitis. We have some meds to keep him on for the next 10 days
(I believe) and after that the vet will determine if he can go back on
his meds for the seizures. He's also on a special diet.

As you can tell, we've had our hands full... BTW, Mylo is a pug and we
have another as well, his name is Jett. Jett is mylo's uncle and
besides bad breath and anal gland leakage we have had no problems with
him (he's 9). Pancreatitis makes sense because Mylo has a horrendous
appetite.. He'll snatch food our of the kids hands, drag stuff off
tables, eat garbage, etc. We hate crating him while were out but it
looks like thats whats going to have to happen from this point on.
With kids its just too hard to make sure there's nothing out he can get
his paws on. Tonight he ate a pack of mini-eggs and a pack of
starburst candy.

So if you managed to get this far, here's my question: Should I be
preparing my wife for the worst with Mylo? She's his baby.. I think
i'm ranked last in the house... 1. the kids, 2. the dogs, 3. me.
She's probably divorce me before getting ride of the dogs. Has anyone
had a dog that had both these problems? If they past away, how long
did they live? Does it get worse and worse over time? Is it
possible he will life a full life?

I've had dogs before, but none had the sort of health problems this
poor little guy has. I'm just looking for personal experiences to help
try and prepare myself but most importantly my wife. I've already told
her to prepare for the worst....

tnx.

"stone" said in rec.pets.dogs.health:

Should I be
preparing my wife for the worst with Mylo?

Not at all, but y'all have to take way more control of Mylo's
intake. With many dogs, diet plays a huge role in frequency and
severity of seizures.

Am I right in that Milo isn't getting anti-epilepsy drugs?
Sure, some vets have cut and dried cutoffs like the one-per-
month you mentioned, but your situation with Mylo cries out (to
me) for drugs.

Anti-epilepsy drugs are wonderful - more times than not, they
work. The most important thing is to stop your dog from having
seizures. Later, you can work on weaning him from the drugs.

I've had wonderful success with a combination of two epilepsy
drugs, a fairly strict diet, and frequent exercise.

She's his baby..

A lot of people dote more on dogs with medical issues, I
certainly have. As you know, seizures are scary. On my web
page are a bunch of links to epilepsy resources, including two
email lists. From what you've written, and from my experience
with both lists, I'd suggest the second as a starting point for
you and your wife. First, though, I'd suggest scanning through
the pages referenced in the first link.

Anyway, scan down to the dog health links he
http://www.rocky-dog.com/Links/LinksMenu.html

If they past away, how long
did they live?

It doesn't matter. There wouldn't be a frame of reference,
anyway.

Does it get worse and worse over time?

It can. Though, I'm lucky in that Rocky's has gotten better.
On the down side, his litter brothers died a few years ago from
epilepsy complications.

Is it possible he will life a full life?

Well, yes. I'm pretty egotistical in thinking that my dogs have
a pretty good life and that I (now) treat Rocky no differently
than my other dog (other than watching his diet and drugs).
Check out my links and pictures - epileptic Rocky has been in
"Dog World" magazine (though they got his breed wrong) and has
competed well in agility, including the 2001 Canadian agility
nationals.

At 7.5 years old, he's still going strong, and, in fact had some
sort of "resurrection" a couple of years ago. He's doing just
fine. Don't give up on Mylo.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

Thanks for the response... I just want to clarify that Mylo is off the
anti-convulsives because of the newly discovered pancreatitis. The
vet thinks its part of the reason it flared up... So for now he's off
the meds and we have no idea when he'll go back on. The impression
we got from the vet was that if he has another seizure, or if it flares
up again then were screwed.