The dog musing/vent thread

There's no way I can never crate him. He needs to be able to be crated and I do not trust him not crate when no one is home. I can't tether him to something instead because he will wrap himself up in a tether. Plus I can't leave him loose with my cat in the house unattended. How did the dog get stuck in a crate? Like literally stuck in a crate? Wonder if an airline would be safer?

We did blood work up today at the vet. His blood results came back normal and no signs of any toxins which was a concern the vet had.

My vet said he doesn't want to prescribe medication just yet. They want to first get an idea of how frequently he is having seizures and if there are any common denominators before they put him on medicine. My vet asked me to keep a log of every detail regarding his seizure episodes and to call him if another seizure occurs.

I'm hoping this doesn't ever happen again. Unfortunately though this is something that is a worry with this breed and considering I'm pretty positive he probably came from a byb I wouldn't be surprised if his parents weren't health tested.

Saw the holistic vet today and asked her about Pepper. She now has "Chinese Herbal Prozac." We're giving it a try and going to see if it helps her. The holistic vet is also looking into some other options and I'm going to check into getting a different food, because there might possibly be a component to the food she's on that doesn't help.

She listened to Auggie's heart, I asked her to be the tie-breaker between my old vet and new vet. She said she'd call it a three. Old vet said 3-4, new vet said it was hard to hear and maybe a 1. She said it's not hard to hear at all, but I asked if maybe it's easier to hear when he's excited, and she said that's definitely possible. He was VERY happy to see her hahaha. He was grunting and whining because he had to wait his turn and was quite unhappy about that. He's definitely not that excited to see anybody else, but we got there and he could hear her voice and he knew, so he got very excited and happy. Silly boy. So I asked about the dental and she said she really wouldn't bother - not because of his heart murmur, but because his teeth are in great shape. He doesn't need it. So... okay. You don't have to tell me twice not to spend money or put my dog under. =P

Baby Pay weighs 20.7 pounds. I think he will be best in the 21-22 range, so if I can get just a bit more weight on him that would be good. I'm just not sure how much more I can put on him. He's still terrible at being able to actually gain weight. It's pretty clear he'll never be able to go in the show ring, I doubt I'll ever be able to get enough weight on him that he'll look like anything more than a dirty little working dog. x_x But it's at least something, he's up from the 19 pounds that horrified the e-vet in Springfield like he was REALLY REALLY UNDERWEIGHT. He's skinny, okay, he just is. That's Payton. He's one of those lucky little dogs. Don't hate him just because you aren't perpetually skinny.

That's terrifying. Is there health-testing for seizures now, though? Or is it just something you assume they don't have if there are no signs?

I hope Joey's okay, Amber. <3

My sweet, biddable, loves-to-train-and-snuggle, actually sleeps voluntarily puppy has returned to me after two weeks from hell. Yay.

I'm not 100% positive. Maybe someone with a little more knowledge in this department can add input. I don't know if there is a specific test for breeding dogs as far as testing for seizures but since it can be genetic most breeders avoid breeding dogs that show signs of epilepsy. I do know that it seems to be one of the main health issues that pop up in Ibizans health wise and breeders work hard to try and keep it out of their lines.

He has been a bit off today. He derped out a little at the vet but most of the day he has been conked out and when he is awake he's been pretty sullen.

No, there is no genetic test for epilepsy. It's a very confusing thing to try to figure out how it's passed on, and there is no line of border collies free of epileptic dogs. Last I heard, they were not at all close to pinpointing genes for it.

Yeah unfortunately there's no test for epilepsy.

Hope he's doing better.

I do know there is a test to check phenobarb levels...if his seizures are related to that.

I am unsure, I heard it was a gruesome death, but I did not get all of the details and did not ask out of respect. I heard something about breaking legs, not sure if it happened or was a "this is the only way he would have came out" type thing... He WAS in a wire crate, but after it happened, a lot of dog people got on her case for crating a known epileptic dog at all. I don't know if a vari kennel would make a difference for whatever safety reasons they had. It sounded as though he needed emergency medical attention because of something that happened during it, he was clustering, who knows... and couldn't receive it because he was stuck in the crate. A dog could just as easily get stuck in a vari kennel in that case, once they go stiff. His legs slipped through the crate wire since he went stiff causing him to get stuck, and now that I think about it, vari kennels come apart in two, so I guess I wouldn't see the issue?

Definitely no genetic testing for it... unfortunately most dogs w/ seizures are labelled with idiopathic epilepsy - no real cause for it as far as other medical issues, so all you can do is manage it, with or without meds to control it.

Can you/are you feeding raw? My friend did and it did make a huge difference for her dog, along with a VERY strict routine. The log is a great idea. I am hoping it was just a fluke, but if your SO said he did it earlier as well, it may be something that you will have to manage. Seizures are so scary, I wouldn't wish them upon anyone. I've never had a personal dog with seizures since I was very small, but a lot of dogs that come through the shelters have had them and it's very scary/sad - much like a dog fight in the feeling, really.

Would he stay in an ex-pen?

Usually dogs will be a little out of it anywhere from a few to 24 hours later. Also being a bit lethargic afterwards is common to.

When Tsuki had hers she would sleep a lot, act confused if you tried to coddle her during/after one, and wouldn't really be more back to normal until the next day. Hers came out of nowhere, happening every other day usually in the evening. We put her on phenobarb and it seemed to help for a bit, she bounced back quicker and was more herself. Then suddenly she was having them everyday, we were upped it and were going to put her on another medication, and then she started clustering and didnt come out of it.

I would get a second opinion if the first vet thinks a wait and see approach is best, especially if he's already had two in a matter of days.

My male Shiba was epileptic and I was worried about crating him as well because he had some very violent seizures so I got him a MUCH bigger airline crate then he required (xl furrari rather then the medium) and I never had him injure himself. I also got a piece of plexi glass and tie wrapped it to the bottom half of the door so he didn't have anywhere to push his leg through while having a seizure. I'm not sure if that's an option for you or not though. But this is the Crate I have for Gage (170lbs)
http://ca-en.hagen.com/Dog/Home-and-Transport/Carriers/76745 and I can crawl in, turn around and get out.
Is he calm in a crate? Would he be reliable in a soft crate?

Well looks like I'm heading in to a forever crate/rotate situation. Pen will not let up on Jari no matter how many calming signals Jari throws at him. They almost got in to a legit fight over I don't know what as I had my back to them in the kitchen and then Pen went and playbowed at Jari, then started something when Jari went to play back. I watched them for a while longer but I can't stand it. Pen will NOT leave Jari alone. Even when Jari lays down and offers look aways. For no apparent reason (I'm sure there's a reason though). Nothing is different, there's no food out or anything like that. I'm so upset right now. They were fine this morning and fine when I got home from work. Normal outside, played chase and all of that. Fine after I let them out after I taught a cello lesson.

Pen is now in his crate and Jari is rubbing up against the crate and Pen is fine with it. Now Jari is laying down in front of his crate. I just don't understand what is going on.

It's like Pen is throwing out play signals, Jari is taking them, Pen is freaking out. They did a few of the "Scar/Simba from Lion King" type of deals with much more noise than I've ever heard and neither would let go until I redirected them with a runaway recall into another room.

Has Pen every lived with an intact male before?

Nope. He's never lived with other dogs besides mine. But he has been fine on the conformation show circuit with other intact males, including staying overnight in hotel rooms not crated with them, so who knows. But I think that was also before he was attacked by that dog outside the show ring.

Maybe Bubby is coming in to season. She would be really early, but it's the only thing I can think of that would change their dynamic so dramatically in such a short period of time.

Some dogs get what they call an 'aura' after some of their seizures, they are funky for a little bit (can last up to a week, I believe). Boomer started seizing his last 6 months of life, but I don't think you can really relate a senior dog suddenly developing a seizure disorder with a young, healthyish dog that develops one. Idiopathic epilepsy is frequently easily controlled with meds in young dogs. I hope the seizure was a one time thing and there are no more!

Traveler's starting in Flyball, Didgie's in Agility and hopefully soon I'll be able to go outside and play some disc! Life is fun.

Merlin has alerted (correctly alerted) to every seizure I've had in his presence for the last 5 months.
That's over 100 seizures! 100!
Which officially makes him a... *drum roll please*
"Reliable seizure alert dog"

this is also the longest I've gone without a seizure related injury! Woo!

I know I can be hard on him and there are moments where I'm not the best trainer and we fall behind and he can be naughty and I feel all is lost..
but I'm just trying to take a moment to appreciate what a gift he is and how lucky I am to have him he really is a good boy.
Him alerting, and learning to so young and just being a natural, is a miracle within itself so props to Merlin

I'm still a fainting goat, but now at least I've got a pretty great sidekick that keeps me out of harms way.

So much awesome.

This is fantastic. Thread worthy, even. I"m really happy you not only got a great companion but that Merlin is able to help you out with your condition.



Gwen peed on a pole tonight. Like she lifted her back leg and peed on this pole. I'm not sure what to think about this. Maybe she needs a male dog in her life?