*EPILEPSY in dog - urgent help requested

[kshitijk]

hi,
every one, i am an owner of an 1.7 mnths male old Labrador, who is currently suffering from epilepsy. and i wish to know if any vets or other dog owners who might have gone through the same plight.
Actually my dog has been a weak one as a pup itself (current weight of approx 19 kgs). I have changed 3 vet doctors and strangely non have been able to clearly eliminate or diagnose his problems and it is very painful to see your dog suffer such pains.
currently ie: since past 2 weeks he has been having FITS, which generally last from 2 - 5 mins and during this attack the dog usually stretches his body, the eyes dilate and turn black and he stretches his neck towards his tail, almost whole body stiffens and he literally cries in pain. as per doctors advice i have put him on GARDINAL-30 mg dose (which i fluctaute to 15 mg depending on the days). The maximum number of fits he has had were 8 fits on one single day. and till date in the past 2 weeks he has had 4 days when fits occured.
So i wish to know if there is something i should do. I have had his BLOOD examined and following is the report.
I sincerely request if any vets can give me a second opinion because I am strangely finding it hard that doctors around here aren;t able to do much.

DETAILS of Blood report:
Haemoglobin - 10.4
TLC:- 11,900
DLC
Neutrophils:- 88
Lymphocytes:- 12
Eosinophils:- xx
Monocytes:- xx
Basophils:- xx

T RBC:- 3.8 Million/mm3
PCV (haematocrit):- 32
MCV:- 84.2
MCH:- 27.4
MCHC:- 32.5
Platelet Count:- 2,15,000 / mm3
ESR (1st HR) :- 27 MM BY W/G
SGOT:- 77 U/L
SGPT:- 98 U/L

I hope this helps.
also to let you know, that when the pup was young one of the vets here advised me that he has DYSTEMPER as he was largely suffering from fever and breating problem as a kid. Howver the latter vets refused the ruling.

I know changing vets so often shouldn't be advisable but once the fits started i was finding the previos doctors giving up on him. however the current vet seems to be confident to what he is doing and it is he who advised me to get the blood tested.

Thus to cut the story short i would realy really appreciate if some one can give me a second opinion based on the blood report.
YOUR HELP WILL BE HIGHLY APPRECIATED.
searching for answers online seems to be the last hope left for me.

Regards
Kshitij

[kshitijk]

Tragically... during one of the seizures yesterday, my dog got PARALYSED.
and now both the hind legs aren't moving. though he is getting treated... however if there is any further precaution or treatment method i should adopt please advise.

regards
kshitij

[vet]

Dear Kshitij,
Feeling sorry after hearing about your dog. The first thing I would want to know is about the exact age of your dog. Whether it is 17 months or 1.7 months? Anyways I assume it is 17 months.

The blood reports of your pet are quite normal. I don't see any drastic change in it. To me it looks nothing but a nervous disorder which could be because of various reasons causing your pet to have fits quite often and for longer periods as you have mentioned. Unfortunately we don't have facilities which could confirm the real cause but to treat him symptomatically. Your vet is right in prescribing the phenobarbitone (Gardinal) which will control the fits and it can be used for longer periods and later can be tapered down. I would personally prefer to supplement it with some gluco-corticoid like prednisolones and nervous tonics which will help in rejuvenating the damaged nerves and it should also take care of the paralysed hind legs. I feel here that the paralysis of the hind legs has not much to do with this problem. It should be looked upon differently or it may be sequel of this nervous excitement. Also your dog would need some sort of physiotherapy like mild massaging and hot fomentation which will definitely help. Lastly you may get a stool test of your dog done for successive three days and if possible let us know the report. In case of any doubts it's best to get in touch with your vet.

Wishing your dog a quick recovery.

[kshitijk]

Thanks for your response @ vet
sadly my dog passed away last week, during one of his siezures.
he wasn't able to recover back. i tried my best to save him