Seizure #2

Ratchet had another seizure yesterday.

I was so hoping the first seizure was just a fluke thing and he’d never have another one. Or, in the very least, he wouldn’t have another one for a long, long time. But, not the case.

The first seizure occured on July 22 at noon.
This seizure occured on August 26 at 2:20 p.m.

The first seizure was on a day that was in the 90s, cloudy/overcast, humid and it rained later in the afternoon (after the seizure)
Yesterday’s seizure weather was in the 90s, cloudy, 40% humidity and it rained earlier in the day (before the seizure)

So definitely similiar weather. And similar times of the day.

The seizures themselves were very similar as well. They both started with him sleeping in one of the dog beds in the living room and then waking up, agitated. With yesterday’s, he sat up in the bed and started growling at something. I thought he heard a noise. But then he stood up and you could see the obvious unsteadiness, the stumbling and then I knew what was coming.

He stumbled into our TV stand and then stumbled into our Rock Band drum set and before I could steer him away he fell under it and began seizing. Not the best place for a seizure – I was afraid he would bump his head or tangle up in the wires. He had full body convulsions, foaming at the mouth, urinated. I just sat with him and rubbed his back and calmly said, “It’s okay Ratchet, it’s okay.”

When he stopped seizing (I didn’t think to time it. sigh. But it felt about 1 minute) he laid there motionless for another minute or so. Then it wa like he “woke up” and was very excited — circling the room, jumping on the couches, jumping on me. All the same stuff he did last time. It only lasted a few minutes and then he was back to normal.

It really is frustrating not knowing what is causing it.

We switched him to grain-free food when he had his first seizure, because our vet mentioned some people seeing some progress after that. (And I’ve read the same on the ‘net). At first we put him on Wellness Core. Wellness is a great food but I’m thinking Ratchet’s got a poultry or potato allergy. He seemed itchier than normal and his ears got very gunky and he scratched a place on the outside and inside of his ear. Now, he’s always been itchy (no idea what his allergies are) and his ears have always been a problem, but he hasn’t scratched a place inside his ear since way back when he was eating Natural Balance potato and duck. Which was also the last time he had very gunky/dirty ears like this. So….is it poultry – NB had duck, Core had turkey/chicken – or is it potato? Not sure, but I’m avoiding both.

I switched him to Nature’s Variety Instinct which is grain-free and potato free. Initially I planned to put him on their salmon formula (which has salmon and other fish) but the day we went to buy it, the store had gotten an email saying that a certain batch was not dehydrated long enough, so there was excess moisture and people were complaining of mold. SO…that took off every last salmon bag off the shelf. So, I chose the Rabbit formula instead. Which, technically has chicken fat in it, but according to their web site, most dogs are allergic to the protein itself and not the fat, so it should be okay. We’ll see if that’s actually the case.

His ears do look a lot better at least. They aren’t dirty anymore.

But then someone told me (and I’ve read on the ‘net) that rosemary in food can be a trigger for seizures. What is in his current food? Rosemary Extract. ARRRRRGGGHHHH. I don’t know if that could have triggered this seizure or not. It’s very far down on the list of ingredients, very close to the bottom. And, while rosemary extract is in this current food, it was NOT in the Wellness Simple food he was eating when he had his first seizure. Grain was in the first food, but no rosemary.

So did grain trigger the first one and rosemary the second? Somehow I don’t think it’s that easy…..

At least there was a month between the two seizures. Our vet told us if they started occuring more than once a month we would need to put him on medication. But I think if he continues to have one a month we might eventually have to put him on something anyway. That feels like a lot of seizures per year for me. BUT, it’s certainly better than one a week or several a day or something like that, which some dogs experience.

But I sure hope their is a bigger gap between the second and third seizure. But I’ll take a once a month seizure over one that happens sooner. I definitely don’t want that…..

And you know the scary thing? Who is to say this IS the second seizure. What if he had some while we were out of the house? How would we know? I mean, I work from home so most of the time I am here. But what about when I go jump in the shower? What about when I go with Louie to the grocery store or the pet store? We are never gone long at all, but all it would take is about 5 minutes. And we’d never know. I mean, he pees when he has them but, if he pees in the carpet that would dry up and we wouldn’t notice. Same with the saliva he slings everywhere. Unless he had the seizure on the kitchen floor tile and we saw a puddle, I don’t think we’d know. That is worrisome.

My husband might get his wish about setting up a camera and using some of these iphone apps that let you monitor stuff….