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I read your posts and CONCUR. I have had dogs all my life. Grew up with dogs that made it to 17 yrs. Had a Sheltie that got to 14, I put her down after a stroke. Now have a Sheltie that is coming up on 17 yrs. Let me relay my experience with dog seizures. The pet store ran out of my usual brand of dog food last year, and I picked up a small bag of another well known premium dog food. Within 1 hr my Sheltie had a seizure. She has ALWAYS been hypersensitive and allergic, but usually it meant vomitting up whatever didn't agree, but seizures are the WORST. I am a researcher and I immediately went online and found a great article about Rosemary and how it was NOT good for many dogs. BINGO this temp food had Rosemary...but then my regular dog food started adding it and BINGO another seizure. It is popping up in all kinds of stuff that DIDN'T have it before. Ok, my adorable little girl is aging. she suffers from stiff joints and arthritis. By the way, have had GREAT success using green lipped mussel and boswellia, if we miss a dosage, she doesn't get around well. Found that remedy on a UK post, works for her. But seizures have become the concern, and more frequent. But I can ALWAYS trace it to something she ingested. Canadian bacon from a McD's egg mcmuffin, seizure withing an hour, awful one-nitrates? not sure but won't let that happen again. Trail mix she got into....seizure within 3 hrs, had rosemary extract. The last 6 mths I have been cooking for her as kibble didn't interest her at all. I had tried every type I could find w/o rosemary nothing seemed to interest her. My dog is an eater, but is kinda picky. I figure if you get to be 16 yrs old, and your breed usually expires around 12 to 14 yrs, then she deserves whatever makes her happy, ha. I do find that she will have seizures that are WORSE during a full moon. I do find that the ice pack remedy cuts them down faster and the daze afterward is averted. I would NEVER use prescription meds on a dog, EVER, research the whole drug industry- it isn't acting in anyone's best interest. I believe in herbs, and even essential oils. My dog is healthy, bright eyed and her coat is so glossy, she is just having issues with seizures lately, and like others I am trying to make sure she still enjoys a quality life. I don't know if it is just old age causing them now, or if she is deficient. She gets filtered water, organic food. I am going to try the magnesium and coconut oil suggestions. I use dulse flakes as a flavoring and she LOVES those. Pets add so much to our lives you just want to make sure they are well cared for. My mom thought dog food was TRASH, she cooked for our dogs and they never had any health issues and had longevity. I think she KNEW something, ha. But my family lived into their nineties, sickness wasn't in our family, they all expired of old age not disease, most died in their sleep peacefully, they didn't believe in Drs unless you broke a bone. They didn't believe in anyone "practicing" medicine on ya. Most of the top notched vets in my area seem clueless, and expensive, so NO thank ya. When my current sheltie was a puppy she chewed a rock and broke a tooth, a baby tooth, and one of those FINE educated vets told me I had to pay for a tooth extraction. Last time I took her to that vet, because she LOST that tooth naturally, I wasn't about to put her under and have him extract something that was coming out soon anyway. I told him he was a quack and a thief. He later was brought up on pet abuse charges, this was supposedly an exceptional vet-BUNK! GREED motivates more unnecessary procedures-I know, I volunteer in hospitals and hear and see awful stuff.
So please be an advocate for your pet, and choose wisely.
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The seizured continued, usually once or twice a week, on bad days 3-4 times in a couple of hours. I would bathe him all the time because after each episode he would look absolutley pathetic. It was horrible. With each seizure, he would go partially blind for hours. Felt really, really helpless.
Then I came across a cute little blog (http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/taurine.htm) which reasoned that it was the lack of muscle meat in dog (and cat) food as pet food industry kept evolving to maximize profit; resulting in today's mostly corn/junk/chemical filled pet food.
As for my dog, his seizure would come when we started to get ready to leave the house. My dog would sense that we are about to leave, get nervous and would start to pant rapidly, then seizure usually followed.
According to the blog, the lack of muscle meat in today's pet food meant TAURINE deficiency, a vital amino acid which controls seizures. Well, I ran out (by now I was desperately trying anything) and bought a bottle of Taurine and immeditately started giving him one (1) 500mg capsule a day, divided to 2 doses.
It's been 2 solid weeks without even a hint of an onset of seizure!!!!!!! I couldn't be happier. My dog is much calmer now, rarely gets nervous and much less anxious. It's like magic.
Taurine is all natural with no known side effects. And since it has many benefits, I give them daily to my dog, cat and my family.
Hope my experience with Taurine helps someone and somepet out there!
Taurine
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My dog had his first seizure at age 7 and had another one about one year later. Both were unexpected and the vet could not figure it out. After the dog food poisonings I wanted to find an all natural dog food. That dog food caused a seizure in my dog but at the time I did not connect the two. My vet did not either. It wasn't until my Dad stopped by and took some of the food home to try on his dog. Within 3-hours his dog had a seizure. Then I knew to look at food consumption as the cause. I searched the internet all day and finally found something alarming.
The internet stated that there has been an upward swing in dogs and cats both getting seizures. If you look at pet products today, there has been an over whelming amount of ALL NATURAL products and many of them contain ROSEMARY.
I checked the label on that expensive dog food and there it was... ROSEMARY. I then racked my brain to figure out why my dog had a seizure the year before. I then remembered that I was on this kick of eating Triscuits with the Olive Oil and Rosemary flavor. I remember giving my dog a few crackers.
When looking back on both seizures that my dog had, there was the same 3-hour window from when the dog consumed food to having the seizure.
I read every single label including people food before I give anything to my dogs. Neither my dog nor my Dad's dog has had a seizure since we both started reading labels. It's been over a year now. And for the record, the two black labs are not related to each other so it wasn't genetics.
Dietary Changes
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After about four days of distilled water and the phenobarbital, the seizures kept getting worse. We stopped the distilled water and went back to putting regular tap water in his water dish. The seizures stopped and we stopped the phenobarbital too. We never had a problem with seizures after that.
I learned to have a lot of respect for distilled water and to be very careful how it is used after that.
Hemp
★★★★★
Soooo...In my never-ending search to help my little guy, I found a hemp supplement that isn't an extract or oil but is 100% hemp. It is called Canna-Pet and is actually developed by veterinarians for dogs and cats. http://www.canna-pet.com
There have been major improvements in Diesel. Not only way less seizure events, but he is more alert, has a better appetite and sleeps better.
So I started reading and learning about phytocannabinoids, terpenoids and flavonoids, the important parts of cannabis. I learned that the process to make the oils and extracts (heat, alcohol, chemicals) could destroy some of the natural things in the hemp, which are beneficial. The new product doesn't use any of these methods.
For anyone who would like to learn more about the important parts of cannabis and hemp and why they are important, here are some of the links I came across while educating myself. Keep in mind that some of the links are about medical marijuana, but the same important things are in hemp such as CBD.
Here is an article about the Canna-Pet product and the vets who developed it. http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/10/prweb11276477.htm
Here is a link to the "white paper" from Canna-Pet - If you scroll down you can learn about phytocannabinoids, pharmacological actions of non-psychotropic cannabinoids, terpenoids, flavonoids, cannabinoid profile of medical marijuana and cannabinoid profile of Hemp #112 and their "golden Ratio" and references at the bottom. Tons of information. http://www.canna-pet.com/technical.html
Importance of Terpenes http://www.hightimes.com/read/talking-terpenes
Difference between Industrial Hemp and Cannabis (I never knew...) http://hempethics.weebly.com/industrial-hemp-vs-cannabis.html
Interesting and fun facts you didn't know about Hemp (I didn't know any of this) http://hempethics.weebly.com/i-bet-you-didnt-know.html
VIDEOS
An excellent video about CBD... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31SrjjgPbhU#t=22
For those that did not see...I know it is about marijuana but the CBD is the important part... WEED - CNN Special Dr. Sanjay Gupta 2013 Documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4GUkzTnFG0
And...
WEED 2 - Dr. Sanjay Gupta 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAFu-Ihwyzg
Diesel is still on phenobarbital, Kbr and Zonisamide along with the hemp. These medications have never given control to him. If the hemp continues to control/eliminate seizures, these medications will be reduced with the guidance of my vet.
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We started doing Acupressure once every two weeks and now once a month. The seizures are occurring only once a month, with it being just one at a time AND we have lowered his meds three times. Acupressure works! This is pure fact as dogs can't have any kind of placebo effect. We are hoping one day to get him off most of the meds and get his quality of life back!
Acupressure
Acupressure
Coconut Oil
Fish Oil
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They had seizures for several years until we found out that fish oil would stop them. Within a few weeks of giving them fish oil daily the seizures became so mild that the pups would just shake. Eventually they stopped completely. My pups lived to 14 and 15 years old. They never got another vaccination after they were one!
I know people may already know this can happen, but I did not, neither did any of my friends in similar situations. For twenty years my dogs have been in the compost bin from time to time, and a couple times I recall a wake up call in the night to go outside from them eating it.
We could have lost her to this. It required IV fluids and flushing the toxins from her system. I can do a lot at home, but I am not skilled enough to administer IV fluids. Without this she may have died.
The reason for this post is to give people info about this. Fence off your compost, or if you live near forest where your dogs maybe eating deer or other poop in the woods- they could get this, or it could be why they keep having seizures. I am not implying this is every seizure situation by any means. Most people don't watch their dogs to see what they are doing outside every minute. It will cost us nearly $2000 for this, but more importantly we almost lost our newest family member to something that could have been avoided. Years ago I knew someone that adopted a dog who was on all sorts of these seizure meds, and would have these prolonged episodes (like Lily) and now it makes me wonder if she had this. While finding info online about it last night it did say continued seizures can be misdiagnosed when it is actually these mycotoxins which are causing the issue.
I give her grain free puppy kibble, fresh raw and cooked meats & veggies, bones, coconut oil, probiotics and pumpkin puree daily. She spends a lot of time outside and is also walked daily. She is going to pull through, but it was a real scare. I hope people will share this and read more about Mycotoxin poisoning because I am sure I am not the only one on Earth Clinic composting in my yard.
Heartworm Meds and Seizures
Dietary Changes
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Seizure Tips
1) The type of seizure, and
2) What type of medicine to be used, (either holistic or Vet-prescribed. )
They all also suggested that I "talk her through" the seizure. They said that she will be very frightened, even though she is accustomed to what is happening to her body because she's been through it before, they are like children who are nervous. The littlest bit of reassurance that everything will be OK makes a world of difference. I read in previous posts that some people were frightened to go near their dog during the seizure because their mouths were open and their teeth may have been exposed - but that is a naturally occuring phase of some types of seizures. Basically, I suggest that even if you are intimidated by the look of your dog during the seizure, and you don't feel comfortable approaching her, just make sure that they can hear your voice. With my Fudgie, I just simply tell her (during the seizure) "It'll be ok, Fudge! , " and that seems to make a world of difference. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at AveryMeyer89(at)gmail.com
Hope this helps!! :)
Taurine
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Fish Oil
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instant pot
1 1/2 cup brown rice
6 frozen whiting fish (get at supermarket)
or one chicken breast cut up
1 tablespoon quality oil. Coconut, olive, salmon
1/2 cup - 1 cup veggies green beans, carrots, peas
Cook high pressure 18 minutes, natural release
Stir up to shred protein. Bag and freeze.
Add some chicken liver freeze dried additional.
My dogs eat half kibble half homemade.
Dietary Changes
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About 15 years ago my husky/Shepard mix began having seizures and a trip to the vet diagnosed epilepsy and drugs to slow him down (he was having about 3 episodes a day). I didn't want him slow, he was a great dog. At the time the internet was pretty much forums so I started searching for the cause of his affliction. I came across others who recommended a dietary change to something more natural than the Science Diet "poison" I was feeding him. I don't quite remember what brand came next but it reduced the seizures to about 3 a week. Another change reduced them to about 3 a month until the final brand "Natures Balance", eliminated them entirely. He lived a long and relatively healthy life to the ripe old age of 14. I believe he could have gone longer had my ex wife continued to give him filtered water that removed the chlorine and especially the fluoride from the drinking water. She's a believer that our great medical community knows it all and that I'm a kook... That may be true but my best friend helped save me as much as I did him. RIP Rascal 03/27/2009
I was researching today about canine seizures because my girlfriend's 13-year old dog just experienced her first seizure. It was one day after ingesting a heartworm pill. So now their dog will never receive that drug again.
I have stopped all vaccinations except rabies because it's the law. But I'm seriously thinking about stopping that too. I read an article from an Veterinarian Immunologist who stated that the initial immunization lasts for life. Repeating every year weakens the immune system. It's no different than our childhood immunizations. We received our shots once and that was it.
Even heartworm pills are scarying me. I was researching to see if there was a mercury preservative in heartworm. I've read that a mercury preservative in vaccines was the cause of autism in children. While doing the search I stumbled upon this site...
http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/Plant-induced_seizures.htm
It is so informative and talks about a case study whereby plants do cause seizures in people and in canines. Rosemary was listed, as was a bunch of others.
As for heartworm preventative, I'm now searching for an alternative. I cringe knowing that I have been feeding my dogs poision. Heartworm is from mosquitos and it's not every mosquito that carries the disease. So for now if they are outdoors in the evening, I use a safe mosquito repellant.
