Life with a seizure dog isn’t great. As you may recall, our boy Tate began having seizures about 6 months after we got him in 2011. He was about 3 years old, and the first one rocked our world. Since then he has had a lot of seizures, a lot of different medications, and a lot of “no-fun” nights. Last night was one.
The last seizure, a cluster of 4 seizures, found me using the rectal application of a dose of Valium after the third seizure. It didn’t stop them, but it definitely broke the pattern.
This time, at 2:36 AM I didn’t hesitate, I grabbed the syringe and into the anus it went, a 1/2 dose of valium.
It didn’t stop the seizure instantly as the vet has intimated, but it really smoothed out the recovery time. Tate was a bit stoney, but a lot less whiny, and the shaking subsided quickly after the injection.
About 90 minutes post seizure, he settled down to sleep on the grass (and I joined him in a sleeping bag).
We are again adjusting medications, backing off the Keppra, and increasing the phenobarbital (the only thing that has consistently worked). Alas, the phenobarbital is long term going to destroy his liver. But we will cross that bridge when it comes.
This seizure came 5 weeks after the last one, a definite improvement in timing. We would like to get it longer, but if I can keep them at this level of intensity, I can live with 5 weeks.
Now he is at my feet, begging for breakfast.