The Day I Found Out My Dog Has Epilepsy

The Day I Found Out My Dog Has Epilepsy

If you ever witnessed your pet have a seizure, you hope it will be a one-time thing. As mentioned in my blog post “Minute of Fear: Seeing My Dogs First Seizure” some dogs can have a seizure one or two times in their life and never have them again. On the other hand, some dogs can have them consistently because of epilepsy. Finding out that your pet has epilepsy can be an emotional experience. Here is the story of how I found out one of my dogs has epilepsy.

The morning started like any other. I got up, took my dogs outside, fed them, and started my school work. As I was sitting there, I started to hear a very familiar heaving sound coming from Hades. At this point, both Hades and Zeus have had seizures before, so I knew what was about to happen. I walked over to Hades and laid next to him as he was having his episode. Zeus also came over and laid next to him. As his body was convulsing, I put my arm around his stomach and kept telling him “Mommy’s right here.” Once he had stopped, I checked to make sure he was doing okay, as I always did after a seizure. After a few minutes, Hades went back to his normal hyper self and seemed completely fine.

 About 5 hours later, Hades had another seizure. This was the first time he had 2 in one day, so I was a little worried. I remembered when I talked to the vet from my first seizure incident not to worry about it unless they have more than 3 in a day. So, I decided to wait a couple more hours and see what would happen.

At around 1 AM the next morning, I woke up to Hades having another seizure. At this point, I was pretty worried. I looked up what time each vet clinic in my area opened so I could rush him in as soon as possible. Once I found one, I decided to stay up with Hades to make sure he would be okay until I could bring him in. 

After another few hours at about 6:30 am, Hades had another seizure. At this point, I was extremely stressed and getting impatient waiting for the vet to open. Right at 7 am when the veterinary office opened, I called and explained what had happened. They told me to take him in right away to get some testing done. While Hades was in the vet getting his tests done, I was an emotional wreck. All I could think about is why this is happening to him, and I am not ready to lose him. Once they finished the tests, I was told to take him home, and they would call with his results. After 30 minutes of being home, Hades had another seizure. I immediately called the vet, and they told me to bring him back in for some medication. Once I got there, I found out he has epilepsy and that he will need to stay on this medication. They went over with me his medication effects and when to give it to him. After that, I was able to bring Hades home and keep an eye on him for the rest of the day.

It has been a little over 7 months since I found out Hades has epilepsy. Since then, he has only had 1 seizure. His medication does have some side effects on him, such as extreme hunger and thirst. But, it is still better than constant seizures. Although he has epilepsy, he is still such a loving and playful dog. 

Hades and Zeus

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