Seizures in Pup

**AmyK** · 04-04-2005, 11:56 AM

I have a 4 month old collie/sheppard mix and wondred if anyone has younger dog that they think has epilepsy??
They put her in Phenobarbatol after a cluster of 6 and it has them under control forthe last 3 days or so.
I have heard of this in older dogs, but not one so young.

**Logan** · 04-04-2005, 12:10 PM

Amy, I have never had an experience like you describe with any dog I have had. I do hope that your sweetie will be better with proper dosage of the medication.

Logan

**wolfsoul** · 04-04-2005, 01:01 PM

Aww poor girl. Hope she doesn't have any more seizures.

Is it possible that there could be some environmental stimuli causing the seiuzures? Did you give her any parasite control medication? Ivermectin can cause alot of problems, including seizures, in herding breeds, especially collies. Vaccinations can also cause seizures -- you might want to ask your vet to give her vaccinations at longer intervals than is usual to give her time to recover from the last one. You should also get her blood tested for hypothyroidism. There may also be mold in the carpets or something, or possibly she ate something bad and the toxins are still in her body? What kind of food do you feed her?

**AmyK** · 04-04-2005, 02:29 PM

I asked the vet about a possible reaction to Advantage that my regular vet told me to use on her last Monday-the seizures started Wednesday. I have changed to the shelter's vet due to lack of response from my regular vet.
They said that they have never seen this-the lady at the shelter thinks it may be from the Advantage. I guess we will be able to tell after awhile when they check her dosage of Phenobarbatol. I have read things all over the internet about seizures being caused by this type of product. We had her for 5 days before she had a seizure-my husband was out sick from work for most of the week and was with her at all times. Neither vet thinks this is the cause.
She came from a shelter and had a rather large run-not crate trained-we are trying to do that now and she has had a few accidents-Ok at night for a few hours at a time, but not during the day for some reason. 1 accident in the house in a week-doing good that way. Maybe her crate is too big??
Any suggestions on this also???

**lv4dogs** · 04-04-2005, 03:03 PM

I have known of a few very young dogs that have epilepsy.

I don't know too much about it though. I wish you luck.

**dragondawg** · 04-04-2005, 06:23 PM

the idea of decreasing the Phenobarbital dosage over time. Avoid Advantage while decreasing the Phenobarbital.

Collies have a genetic defect in a gene that encodes for the cell membrane P-glycoprotein pump. This pump protects the brain from a build up of such drugs as Ivermectin, and Immodium A/D. When defective the drugs build up in the brain to toxic levels. Even part-Collies can be affected by this genetic defect.

Collies and drugs

Thus it's possible the active ingredient in Advantage could have caused the seizure. If you are able to wean the dog off of Phenobarbital without any more seizures occuring then that would be suggestive the Advantage caused the problem.

However, if the seizures start to return in the absence of Phenobarbital, then the bad news for you is that both the German Shepards and Collies have an increased incidence of epilepsy in their genetics.

Unfortunately even mixed breeds are not safe from the genetic defaults if both parents were carriers and/or had the defect phenotype.

**AmyK** · 04-05-2005, 09:01 AM

According to the vet, they haven't seen any cases of problems with Advantage in dogs. They have had two cases of young dogs with epilepsy however. Both are over a year old and they are controlled with medication.
From what I have read about Epilepsy, it is very treatable. This is the route that the vet wants to take at this time. They did suggest trying to wean her off of it after a period of time to see the reaction. If it is epilepsy, the seizures will more than likely return. If not, then we will know that it is a reaction to something.
I will not be giving her any more Advantage. Our other dog of 14 years had the heartworm medication without the medication for fleas and ticks and she never had either. She was a house dog also.
Thanks for all of your help

**Cincy'sMom** · 04-05-2005, 09:31 AM

I admit I didn't read responses, but one of my mom's dogs is being treat ed for Epilepsy. He is now 3, and had his first seizrues last summer. Not as young as your dog, but still a young dog. His first, he had about 5 seizures in a 36 hour time period. He was put on Phenobarb, and went seizure free for about 7 months. Then, Easter weekend he had 3 more. The vet checked his phenobarb levels (which were fine) and at this point, since he seizures have been so infrequent, they have deicded not to change anything.