herbal help for dog having siezures?

[canesisters]

Hello everyone. I wander in here every now and then but I havent posted hardly anything.

I am wondering if anyone could recommend something to help my dog who is having seizures. Hes a shelti/beagle/who-knows-what that is about 8yrs old. Ive only observed about two a month of the full-blown ones. Those last no more than 2 mins and he is up and back to normal within 5mins afterward. I have noticed that he has small tremors in his face or legs MUCH more often. Sometimes several in an hour.

My vet says that we will need to do several hundred dollars in tests and that regardless of the results he will be put on 1 of 3 common anti-seizure meds. I dont understand why we cant simply put him on the meds if that is what the result will be anyway.. However, it is what it is.
I asked on The Easy Garden and was told that I would surely find help here.

 

[canesisters]

I just 'found' this old thread and thought I'd update.

Several folks suggested that commercial dog food could be a cause (for everything from preservatives to GMO ingredients). I pulled him off of 'grocery store' dog food and found a locally milled one instead. The huge, scary seizures stopped immediately. I accidentally did an 'experiment' when I ran out and couldn't get 'his' food for 3 days so I picked up a small bag of one of those 'single ingredient' specialty foods. He had a huge seizure within an hour of eating. Poor baby got bread and eggs for the next couple days and has NEVER had any other than the local mill food since.
Also, I found that a product called Relora, powder filled capsules available on Amazon, keeps the tremors down to barely noticeable.

 

[baymule]

More details, Bay... please. Backs and necks, bone and all?

I put a cup of COOKED rice in a quart jar. Then I put in two back pieces. I always cut the back into two pieces, so basically it is the back from neck to tail from one chicken. Then the neck, liver, gizzard and heart. We like the fried livers and gizzards, but only from young chickens. Sometimes we win, sometimes the dogs win. LOL In season, I will put in green beans or squash (raw) and then boiling water to fill, then can per instructions for canning chicken, bone in. After 90 minutes of pressure canning, the bones are pretty much mush. The dogs ADORE it.

I also keep hog liver and heart, sheep liver, heart and kidneys and can the same way. Cup of cooked rice, veggies if in season, and the dogs like it, not as much as the chicken, but they like it.

I do not do raw pack with the chicken or the pork/sheep liver, heart. The meat shrinks when cooked, so I guess I am pre-shrinking so it will fit better.

Veggies, zucchini, yellow squash, green beans, peas, carrots, whatever you have available. They take on the flavor of the meat.

I call my husband the gourmet dog food cooker. He mixes the home canned with their kibble, a little milk, maybe some meat grease, I make "dog gravy" when I fry meat (we sure don't need it LOL).

 

[baymule]

I am glad that you figured that out for your dog. Mine get Victor dog food and I also can chicken backs, necks, heart, liver and gizzards for the dogs with a cup of cooked rice in the quart jar. They love it!

 

[canesisters]

No suggestions?

I started him on a Benadryl each evening and although that has nothing to do with brain activity, it seems to be calming the small tremors. I haven't seen another full blown seizure since the first post either.

Another question... could this be something seasonal that he's getting into????? I checked with the vet to see when I had taken him in the first time for this - it was last December. He had started up just like this time, having seizures with increasing frequency. Went to the vet, but before I got enough saved up to start tests, they tapered off and stopped.
Nothing in his environment has changed (same food, same cleaning routine & products, same flea stuff, same yard, same playmates, etc.) So I got to thinking... if this became a problem last year - at roughly this same time - could it be something in the yard????? And WHAT should I be looking for????

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I wish I had an answer for you, but I don't. Perhaps there is an environmental aspect to it so it sounds like you're doing the right thing by thinking along those lines.... I think Shelties fall under the Collie umbrella and they do tend to have issues with certain medications... Good Luck - I hope you find the problem.

 

[snapshot]

My Buddy was put on phenobarb- low dose. It worked well. Pretty sure his were a result of fluconazole for Valley Fever. The last seizure he had was the day after the County sprayed for mosquitos. After an hour and a half, we had to let him go as he still had not come out of it.

One thing we did find was that placing an ice pack (covered with a cloth) on his lower back, while he was having a seizure, seemed to lessen the symptoms.

 

[Marianne]

I know this thread is old, but...
my 11 yr old boxer has an occasional seizure. My vet said they wouldn't do anything unless he was having them on a regular basis. He had one just last week, but it was pretty mild. I bet it had been two years since he'd had the last one. The only thing that's different here is that I make more of the dog food. I'm quite okay with giving the dogs the leftovers from supper, meat, veggies, eggs, most things. They occasionally get some raw meat, or a can of salmon. Oh, and I give each dog a salmon oil capsule every day --they think it's a treat.
I don't know if he was having a reaction to something in the brand of dog food we use (Purina) or what. One thing that's certain is that the seizures are pretty rare now.

 

[LilacSpring]

Not sure this is the case in your dog.. but I have a friend who had a dog that starting having seizures, the only thing
that was different or new, was the flea/tick medication that she had put on the dog neck. The dog had an allergic
reaction to it, and had a seizure, and continued to have them until she washed it off.

THe dog has not had any seizures since stopping that flea/tick medication.

 

[LilacSpring]

OH My, I didn't realize that this was an older thread. Well, I hope the dog is ok!!