Hmm, what you want to do is to give him food and something to cool him down. Will he eat ice cubes? (some dogs do, some don’t.) That, and some honey or something might work.
I feel for you so much. Seeing a much-loved pet having a seizure is a horrible experience. When Sasha started having seizures, we were beside ourselves with worry. Finding out more info on what was going on and working actively to try to take as much control as possible helped. It sounds like you’re doing that.
You can handle it. Hang in there, and love your dog.
Puppy hugs –
Another update.
This weekend was really good for us. He seems to be about 90%. He still has a little stumbling and a few accidents. Sunday he shook his head for the first time in about 3 weeks. I was SOOO happy.
I’m not sure if the meds are helping, or if he’s just improving on his own.
Thanks to everyone for their support and kind words.
Krista
Good deal, Lady Venom! I hope Spike continues to improve!
Very best wishes to you both–
Unfortunately, a turn for the worst. I fear I have spoken too soon.
Spike’s been having back to back seizure’s since yesterday afternoon. His worst was at 1:55 this morning. It lasted 2+ minutes. 
I spoke to the vet this morning, and baring any unforseen circumstances, Saturday we will be letting him go. She said we could try anti-seizure meds, but she and her colleagues are unsure if they’ll help, and if they do, how long they’ll help for.
We can’t be there during the day for him. It’s not fair to him. I am so afraid that he’ll die alone. I can’t let that happen.
We are going to spend the next few days loving him as much as we can. He is our baby and he will be missed horribly.
I just posted a picture of Spike on my webpage for those of you who want to see him.
http://www.cyberus.ca/~khamilton/Spike.jpg
OMG, Lady Venom, don’t do anything hasty! Jeezopete, dogs with seizures can live long happy lives! My Ivan dog has been well-controlled with medication for 7 years, and my Sasha is doing pretty well for almost 3 years now. It took some time to get her meds adjusted, but it was worth it to us.
You might consider getting a second opinion.
Of course, taking care of a dog with seizures does take some time and commitment. Not everybody is able to do that, for time reasons, or financial reasons, or whatever. If you chose to let Spike go, I can understand that.
But if you’re willing to try something different, check with another vet. I’m really surprised your vet is telling you there isn’t much that can be done. That’s not my experience.
Please understand, I am in no way criticizing you or your vet or how you choose to take care of your dog. I’m not in your situation, and if my situation were different, I might not have been able to take care of my dogs in the way that I have.
But if you’re willing to try, there are almost certainly other things that can be done. Did you check out the canine epilepsy web page? Sometimes too breed rescue groups will take on a seizure dog if the owner is unable to care for it.
Just a thought…
[Archergal]
This isn’t hasty. We have put a lot of thought into this. I’ve spoken to the vet we take our cat to, as well as his vet.
He came VERY close to dying on us at 2:00 am this morning. To see him in so much pain. He is home alone during the day (with a neighbor letting him out at lunch).
He’s old and he’s suffering. Both the vets we’ve spoken with do not believe this to be epilepsy, for various reasons. She hasn’t said there isn’t much we can do. She is saying that it will be timely, and costly and he will only go down hill from here.
We have to let him go…we just have to be unselfish and let him be at peace.
As for letting someone else care for him…that would NOT work. He has seperation anxiety and the only one he is fine with is my grandfather.
If he were younger…this would be a different story, but when your 11 1/2 year old dog is seizing in your arms at 2 am, and you can see he is visibly in pain…you have to do what is best for him.
That last post didn’t make much sense…a lot of incomplete thoughts. Sorry, I just can’t think straight right now.
Actually, most people say that dogs having seizures are NOT in pain. It looks terrible to us, just like human seizures do. But as far as I know, most humans don’t report pain during their grand mal seizures.
Putting him down now is not what I would do, but I’m not you, and Spike’s not my dog. Everyone has to do what’s best in their situation.
I wish you both the best, and I’m sorry things haven’t turned out better.
Whimpering = pain. He is constantly in pain. He will lay there and yelp for no reason, Archergal. You can’t tell me that’s not pain. That is why the vets believe this is a lesion on his brain caused from either a fall and a bonk on the head, a seizure with brain injury or even a stroke. He can barely walk. He limps all the time.
I’ll update again tomorrow.
K
oh no. i was hoping for better news than this. i’m so very sorry lady venom. i’ll be thinking and praying for y’all.
Ok. He may have something else going on that’s causing him pain.
Like I say, you’re there, and I’m not, and you know your dog.
I wish you both the best.
Well…Spike has just gone from really bad, to worse.
We were up all night with him. Literally. He started seizing at 8:30 and kept going, every 1-1 1/2 until 4 am this morning. There was nothing we could do for him.
This will all be over for him at 9am on Saturday. It won’t be over for us though…not by a long shot.
We are going to be taking a hord of pictured tonight. I will be posting a memorial page.
Thanks to everyone.
With the rapid worsening of Spike’s condition, I have to say now that I think you’re doing the right thing. A visit to the emergency vet would probably have cost several hundred $$ and done nothing except maybe temporarily stabilize him. They can give valium to stop cluster seizures. (That’s what they had to do with Ivan. Our first seizure experience with him was when he clustered. But we were lucky – he’s never clustered since. It could have been very different.)
I’m so sorry. Try to keep him cool and calm till Saturday.