Depressed dog?

My 10 year old chihuahua has seizures and 10 days ago she had one but didn;t recover as normal and was still twitching, walking in circles and falling over. The vet gave her shots of valium to relax her but the next day she was the same again so they gave her the usual phenobarbital but on a drip to get it into her system and stabilise her. 9 days late she is now stable on her feet but she seems really depressed and nervous when you go near her. She is eating and drinking more than normal but when she has a full bladder and you put her in the garden she doesn't pee like normal, instead she sits down and no encouragement will make her go. she later goes inside the house which is really out of charactor. She doesn't bark or wag her tail anymore. Do you think she could be still recovering or if it may be a problem that won't rectify itself? It is really upsetting to see her like this and I don't want her to suffer. x

Our resident vet will be along soon to give you some helpful advise, I know it can be very distressing when you see your companion in this state, I would think she is feeling very much like we would after a traumatic event. I do hope she recovers well and quickly.

Thanks. Thats what I was hoping. I just wanted a professional opinion as I don't have much faith in our vets and just wondered if it was common.

You're right it is awful. I would never like to think she's hurting. x

Hello Vea44, although this is actually an electricians forum...

we do have the BEST qualified VET who is also a top amateur DIY electrician on here...

Apache is the man you want.....

Looks like he's not been on yet today (except for the early hours 0:45)

View Profile: Apache - Talk.electricianforum.co.uk... a forum with a difference.

So he'll be around later most likely, once hes finished his real 'Day Job'

Don't be put off by all the other electrical bits & questions...

Either pop back later or in the morning, to see if hes logged on.

I know nothing about Dogs..

But hope all gets sorted for the best!

:x :coffee

Hello Vea,

Our resident vet must be very busy, as I know he gets alerts from his vet forum here, direct to his mobile.

If je could have popped in sooner, I can assure you he would.

I can assure you that you will received a reply from him very soon.

Best regards,

Admin.

Sorry for delay guys - have had a manic day. On call now and just been out to birth a calf who's mother was intent on killing us. All good fun.

There are a number of possibilities that could be going on here.

1. The drugs that she was given by drip can take a while to get out of the system. Without knowing exactly what she had it's difficult to say how they would affect her blood levels of the drug. Assuming that she was given more of the phenobarb she is on here blood level could be a lot higher than normal and you could be getting some increased sedation from that. We usually wait 2 weeks for the blood levels to stabilise before taking a blood sample to assess the levels so it could take another week [easily] if this was the case. This could be exacerbated further if they increased the dose of the phenobarb.

2. If the beastie was fitting for too long then it is possible some permanent brain damage may have occurred. This is less common, but can happen. It can be as a result of the seizure activity or as a side effect of high body temperature. The longer the fit went on the more likely this is [more than 30 mins]

3. There could be something else going on in the dog. The vet who examined the dog would be best placed to decide if this was an issue. Another problem elsewhere in the body could make a seizure more likely, as can certain other medications. Further tests (bloods?) would be needed to clarify.

What to do?

If it was my dog and it's just a bit down then I would give it another week and see what is happening. In another week if the problem persisted some bloods to check liver/kidneys etc and see what the phenobarb dose was would be a sensible move. If you are really worried about the dog then see a vet sooner.

How long ago did you last get the phenobarb level checked and do you remember if it was low, normal or highish? Have the vets increased the dose or added any other drugs into the mix that you haven't mentioned?

Hope things work out ok for you.

And to think Apache knows how to do cable calculations, could probably pass a Part P assessment, and still has time to be a full time Vet, and probably one of the best at that.

Thank you so much for your reply and your time. I really appreciate it. She had bloods taken at the same time and a couple of months before and they seem to think that there is plenty of room to increase the phenobarb if necessary in the future. At the moment she is on 22.5mg twice a day but I'm not sure how much they gave her to stabilise her.

The fit lasted a couple of minutes at the most but instead of coming out of it quickly she was still twitching her face to one side, foaming at the mouth and walking in circles. She was aware of her surroundings but couldn't stop. She has improved greatly but as I said before she just seems a bit nervous and never wags her tail or barks and let me tell you....she always barks... haha

I had looked online and seen an article on vestibular syndrome that seemed to fit her symptoms???

Anyway we will give her more time and see how she improves. She is 10 years old and overweight so she doesn't have that on her side and maybe her recovery is slower because of those factors. My only concern was that I didn't want to prolong something that could be cruel to her.

Thank you so much for your opinion. I will keep on waiting with her and hope she fully recovers (and starts peeing outside again!!! ). I'm in the early stages of pregnancy so I think the hormones don't help seeing the situation clearly.

Just one more question.... we have another dog (jack russell x border terrier) and normally they got on really well but when our chi has a fit the other dog tries to attack her. We are keeping them totally seperate at the moment as she can still sense something isn't right and becomes agressive. Do you think this is a fear thing?

The dose of the drug is almost irrelevant. Different dogs metabolise it differently and it is why we need to keep testing blood levels. Some dogs are worse than others at getting rid of the drug and so it can accumulate to toxic levels. What is more common is the liver building up a tolerance to the drug (like your ability to drink more alcohol without getting drunk if you drink regularly) so as time goes on the drug dose may need increasing to keep the blood level the same, especially if the dog is still having frequent seizures. If the level falls too low it becomes insufficient to dampen the brain activity and a seizure can happen more frequently. Does that make sense?

I had looked online and seen an article on vestibular syndrome that seemed to fit her symptoms???

Click to expand...

It is possible. Vestibular syndrome is where people think their dog has had a stroke and we usually refer to it as that for simplicity. It's really a misnomer as a true stroke in a person is a bleed into the brain, whereas in a dog it's a disruption in the balance apparatus.

It could be that, but you wouldn't expect fitting. Vestibular syndrome dogs tend to have a head tilt, circle and often vomit. The already existing epilepsy is much more likely!

Anyway we will give her more time and see how she improves. She is 10 years old and overweight so she doesn't have that on her side and maybe her recovery is slower because of those factors. My only concern was that I didn't want to prolong something that could be cruel to her.

Click to expand...

Do work on the weight! It's not good for the dog.

Just one more question.... we have another dog (jack russell x border terrier) and normally they got on really well but when our chi has a fit the other dog tries to attack her. We are keeping them totally separate at the moment as she can still sense something isn't right and becomes aggressive. Do you think this is a fear thing?

Click to expand...

Dogs are funny things, especially terriers. My dog has a need to join in with fights and I expect it's a similar thing when the other dog has a fit. The terrier is misunderstanding the behaviour as either aggression or play. I would try reintroducing them to each other as the separation could be a cause of anxiety for both dogs (initially under close supervision)

Congrats on the bump! Let us know how you get on.

Thank you. Yes we are definately working on the weight measuring out doggy diet food.

Thanks again for your help. I think patience is the key and yes we will reintroduce them slowly.