Cory's Story

If you read Sandy’s last blog post, you’re aware that Cory’s health is declining. For the last month or so, he has lost the ability to stand up on his own, and he can’t take more than a few steps without his hind end collapsing.

But to our complete shock and amazement, this weekend Cory stunned us. Apparently driven by his undying love for water, he swam for the first time in months. But the fact that he could swim wasn’t what really shocked us. It was when he actually exited the water and began walking with a little spring in his step. He proceeded to grab a tennis ball and demand that we throw it for him, fetching it numerous times and bringing tears to our eyes as we witnessed the sparkle and life returning to his. Take a look… we would have never expected this to happen.

And here’s Cory walking on his own for the first time in months.

As I promised earlier, here are some videos of Cory swimming in his golden years. We used to throw things out as far as we could for him and we could still never tire him out. He was always full of energy! These days he’s not nearly this spritely, as arthritis has caught up with him. But he still perks and wags his tail at the mention of “going for a swim.”

Does your dog love swimming too? Leave a comment!

Just found another great informational video on dog seizures.

I just found this great video that explains what to do when your dog has a seizure. This is great information and it largely echoes what we’ve written in our articles:

• 5 Ways to Deal with Canine Epilepsy
• Canine Epilepsy Treatment

I just wanted to give an update on Cory’s back. This photo was taken about 15 weeks after he had surgery for Cauda Equina syndrome. As you’ll recall from an earlier post, we started using DERMagic skin care lotion to help speed the healing and hair regrowth process.

It’s definitely working. Take a look and you’ll notice a light layer of hair growing back almost all over the shaved area. Interestingly, you can also see some small patches of hair that seem to be growing faster than other areas. We’re hoping he gets his entire coat back soon!

Hey everyone! One of Cory’s favorite activities when he was young and invincible was scootering. Sandy covers this more in the upcoming book “Cory’s Story” but I thought it would be nice to show you what it looks like in case you’ve never seen a dog scooter before. This video turned up miraculously from one of our good friends, Johanna. She captured some priceless video of Cory swimming, running, playing, and scootering. We’re SUPER excited to share the videos with you! For now, here’s a video of Cory scootering. By the way, if you haven’t tried this, it’s absolutely a BLAST!

As anyone who follows this blog already knows, I believe that commercial dog food is a culprit for many illnesses in a dog, and that it contributed to or may even have caused Cory’s seizures.  The reason I came to that conclusion is that Cory’s seizures gradually were reduced once we stopped feeding him kibble and canned dog food, until they stopped completely over 5 years ago, without ever putting him on anti-epileptic drugs.  But, did you know that there are other foods that can harm your dog’s health, even causing seizures?   Some of these caught me by surprise!

• Chocolate.  Almost everyone knows that chocolate can cause seizures and even death in a dog.  One day Cory got into Jayson’s stash of Halloween chocolate.  He had consumed quite a bit of it when Jayson discovered him, with Cory’s head deep inside the bowl of chocolate bars and his tail wagging with exuberant glee.  Jayson called poison control and was advised to pour Hydrogen Peroxide liquid down Cory’s throat, which made Cory vomit.  Happily I had Hydrogen Peroxide in the cupboard where I keep first aid supplies. Jayson took Cory outside for this messy task.  We were very lucky that Jayson found out about it soon enough so that no harm was done.  If you suspect your dog has consumed chocolate and you are not sure when it happened, call your veterinarian immediately.  If you catch your dog in the act, then try the Hydrogen Peroxide treatment.  Dark chocolate is more dangerous than milk chocolate.

• Onions or Products Containing Onion Powder.  These contain sulfoxides and disulfides which can cause damage to the red blood cells, resulting in the dog becoming anemic.

• Raw Fish.  Especially here in the Pacific Northwest, salmon and other fish often carry a fluke which in turn carries a bacteria which can cause seizures and death if consumed raw. The danger is completely eliminated if you cook the fish first, although you have to be careful to get all the bones out of the cooked fish before allowing your dog to eat it.  I’ve been told that freezing the fish at a certain temperature will also kill the fluke & eliminate the problem, but I’m not enough of a scientist to know what that temperature is or how long the fish would need to be frozen in order to be comfortable feeding raw fish to my dog.

• Nutmeg.  Not that it ever occurred to me to sprinkle nutmeg on Cory’s chow, but apparently it can cause tremors, seizures and death.  Just don’t share any of your cookies containing nutmeg with your pooch and you should be OK with this one.

• Mushrooms.  Some mushrooms contain toxins that can cause problems for a dog, especially wild ones.  I knew this and was alert to keeping Cory away from mushrooms on our walks.  “Leave it” is a great command to teach your dog early.

• Cat food.  Cory is not going to like it that I found out about this one, as he loves to lick the kitty’s plate after she finishes her canned food.  It turns out that cat food is too high in protein and fats for dogs to eat.  OK, maybe he can still lick the kitty’s plate, but don’t substitute cat food as meal for your pup.

• Apple seeds.  Apple seeds and other pits from fruit contain the poison cyanide, which can cause seizures.

• Grapes and Raisins.  When I first learned that grapes and raisins can cause kidney failure in dogs it was at the same time I was reading a training book for dogs that actually advocated giving raisins as treats!  I contacted the author with my concerns and she was very defensive, saying that she had always used raisins as training treats for her dogs.  All I can say is be aware of the risks and do more research before giving grapes or raisins to your dog.

• Egg whites.  It is OK to feed your dog a whole egg, but there is a danger in splitting the egg whites off and feeding them without the yoke, because they contain a protein known as avidin, which can actually deplete your dog of one of the essential B vitamins. Apparently the yoke contains the antidote to this protein, so if the egg is served whole, there is nothing to be concerned about.

If your dog starts having seizures it is important to get him in for an evaluation by a veterinarian as soon as possible. If the reason for the seizures is a diagnosis of epilepsy, the following are some of the ways that the seizures can be treated. It is important to understand that epilepsy is not the cause of all dog seizures, however. For example, certain kinds of brain tumors or an injury to the dog’s brain can cause seizures, as can certain toxins in the environment. In such cases, treatment for epilepsy will be completely ineffective.

The purpose of this article is to explore treatment options so that you will have a better understanding of them once your veterinarian has determined that the cause of your dog’s seizures is epilepsy. Generally no treatment is recommended unless the seizures are occurring at least once a month. You should keep in mind that the purpose of treatment is to reduce the frequency and intensity of the seizures, and that in many cases the seizures will continue in spite of the treatment, so don’t give up and don’t get discouraged.

• Anti-Epileptic Drugs, or “AED’s” are usually the first choice of treatment options, with Phenobarbitol and Potassium bromide being the two most commonly prescribed drugs, sometimes independently and sometimes together, if administering just one of them does not produce sufficient seizure control. Diazepam (a/k/a Valium) is used for treatment if the seizures go into what is called “status epilepticus” or “cluster seizures” which is where the seizure goes on for more than about 5 minutes, or one seizure quickly follows another. In my research for this article I was surprised to find that Primidone is still on the list of potential treatment options; however, because of the high concentration of liver enzymes that have been reported and other side effects such as lethargy and excessive hunger and thirst, I was always told that this drug should never be considered, and I knew it by the nickname of “Primadon’t” among my fellow owners of epileptic dogs. There have been studies done in the past 5 to 10 years that have shown that Neurontin (a/k/a gabapentin) can also be useful, and anyone considering using AED’s should do further research about these studies. The caution about using AED’s is that they can cause liver enzymes to become elevated, and dogs on these drugs need to have regular chemistry panels done to be sure that their livers are not being damaged.

• Acupuncture or Gold Bead Implants, involve the placement of needles throughout the dog’s body, or placement of gold bead into the acupuncture points. I would try acupuncture before AED’s, but gold bead implants would be a last resort for me, to be considered only if everything else failed.

• Diet, Homeopathy and Vitamin Therapy. I believe that diet plays a critical role in the treatment of canine epilepsy, because many commercial dog foods are full of chemical dyes and preservatives. Preservatives have been known to cause seizures in dogs that have a lower seizure threshold, and should be eliminated completely from their diets. I believe that the benefits of feeding fresh, raw food and fresh pulped green leafy veggies actually stopped my dog’s seizures without us ever having to use AED’s. I recommend that you work with a holistic veterinarian to ensure that you are providing the right balance of food, vitamin and if recommended, homeopathic treatments. Serving filtered water may also be helpful, especially in states where the water has fluoride added.

• Rescue Remedy and Ice Cream. I found the Bachs Flower Essence called Rescue Remedy, which is sold in most health food stores, to be very useful in lessening the severity of a seizure if you can get 4 or 5 drops of it into the dog’s mouth as soon as the seizure starts, and after a seizure, a spoonful of Breyers All Natural vanilla ice cream (preservative free!) can help to quickly restore blood sugar levels which are compromised by the tremendous amount of energy it takes a little body to experience a seizure. My dog got to where he would go to the refrigerator after his seizures and look happily up at the freezer, wagging his tail expectantly.

In England they often call them “fits” – what happens when the brain loses control of the body. In America, they are more commonly called seizures. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief summary as to some of the many causes of dog seizures.

EPILEPSY. The primary cause of dog seizures is epilepsy, but it is important to make the distinction that not all seizures are attributable to epilepsy. The most common form of epilepsy was made known to the world by a group of idiots walking through the woods one day and they all found themselves on the same path, and collectively observed a wolf in a clearing doing the hokey-pokey. They reported this unusual sighting to the forest rangers and the term “idiopathic epilepsy” was coined. Well, that’s not exactly true, but the scientific reason is a bit more boring and doesn’t make any more sense. In short, the term “idiopathic epilepsy” is a catch-all for when the experts just don’t know what is causing a dog to have seizures.

TOXINS. Unfortunately for dogs, there are all kinds of toxins in their environment, many of which can cause seizures. These toxins range from poisons to get rid of rodents or slugs to flea powders or chemicals that are actually meant for dogs to wear as collars. Antifreeze, insecticides and paint products are also known toxins which can not only induce seizures, but can kill the unwitting animal that ingests them. With early treatment and intervention, most animals have a good to fair prognosis of making a full recovery if they have a seizure as a result of an environmental poisoning.

BRAIN TUMORS. Obviously, one of the easiest things to rule out, as a cause of dog seizures, is whether there is an abnormal growth in the dog’s brain. Growths cause pressure on the brain tissue, which in turn can cause seizures and other neurological abnormalities. Fortunately, there are diagnostic tests (MRI or CAT scans) that can determine if that is the problem; however, only a very small percentage of dog seizures are caused by tumors or head injuries. In either case, anti-epileptic drugs would not be effective for dogs suffering from seizures caused by either of them.

TICK INDUCED DISEASES. The bite of the bloodsucking arachnid known as a tick can cause Lyme Disease or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, both of which can cause dog seizures. If the tick is discovered within the first 24 hours after it has attached itself to the dog, the chance of infection is greatly reduced. There are antibiotics that can kill Lyme Disease, and most dogs respond quite well in general to antibiotics.

DISTEMPER. Distemper, in which a fever develops, then diarrhea and dehydration, can cause seizures in dogs, especially puppies, when they lose their maternal antibodies at about the age of 3 months. Only through the use of vaccinations can this debilitating disease be prevented, and once a dog has acquired it, they have a fight ahead for their very lives.

Yesterday I covered the 2nd cause of dog seizures: Toxins. Today is the 3rd cause:

BRAIN TUMORS. Obviously, one of the easiest things to rule out, as a cause of dog seizures, is whether there is an abnormal growth in the dog’s brain. Growths cause pressure on the brain tissue, which in turn can cause seizures and other neurological abnormalities. Fortunately, there are diagnostic tests (MRI or CAT scans) that can determine if that is the problem; however, only a very small percentage of dog seizures are caused by tumors or head injuries. In either case, anti-epileptic drugs would not be effective for dogs suffering from seizures caused by either of them.

Check back again tomorrow for the 4th cause of dog seizures! And don’t forget to sign up for our fan club on the right sidebar =) You’ll get a sneak-peek at Chapter of Cory’s Story as our thank-you!