Sheepdogs and seizure medications
His death has hit everyone who knew him very hard, he was a well-known and loved sheeper in his home town of Barrie, Ontario. I wanted to pass on what we learned about seizures to anyone who is out there and is experiencing the same issue with their sheepdog. After much exhaustive testing from numerous vets, our experience led us to believe that the seizures were caused by chemical issues related to diet and diet related triggers. Although some of the anti-seizure medication can reduce the incidence of seizure activity, it often does so by blocking neuron activity (effectively numbing the brain into submission). This results in a narcotic state which reduces the dog's ability to be a dog. The use of Phenobarbital or kBR against seizures has such a detrimental effect on a dog.....there are other drugs out there which do not cause such effects (Gabapentin, Keppra, etc). Lastly, if your dog has seizures and the seizures worsen in severity, *get help*.....they can kill your dog, contrary to what your vet might tell you. My Waldo died when his heart simply couldn't take the punishment that multiple seizures produced. Waldo was a wonderful sheepdog, a gentle giant with extraordinary intelligence. While his life was a short one I'm hoping that others might be able to learn from his misfortune. |
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Welcome to the forum and very sorry to hear of the loss of your special boy, 3 1/2 is a life too short. 
Thankyou for passing on Waldos story I am sure it will benefit people who's dogs do have seizures. Waldo sounds like a very special boy and I know when the pain of loss subsides a little, the wonderful memories of him will flow strongly. He has given you that special gift of warm memories in his short time with you. |
| I am so sorry for your loss.
Some users have reported good results controlling seizures with a drug called Bacopin. Had you run across this drug at all? The big boys are special, aren't they!? Our first was 106 and everyone loved him, too. Regardless of size, they all leave a very large hole when they leave us. 
Welcome to the forum -- I'm sorry you've found us under less than ideal circumstances, but I do hope you'll stick around. When you're ready we'd like to share in your joy of your new sheeper. We have lots of members in Ontario! |
| I'm so sorry for your loss.... he looks like he was a very special boy.
Thank you for posting and sharing your experiences, it may help save many dogs in the future. |
| We didn't try that one, although we did pursue several herbal probiotics. Bacopin claims to promote memory retention by encouraging the growth of new neural pathways. Our research seemed to point to a food specific chemical change which lead to toxicity buildup and ultimately seizure activity. The problem was, how to determine what combination of foods caused the toxicity. One thing's for sure, most of the commercially available dog foods caused *very* frequent seizures. Moving to natural or raw foods reduced the incidence of seizure activity by weeks, however.
The more that we learned about Idiopathic Epilepsy, the more variables we found with respect to it's cause. Waldo's seizures were also triggered by two main sources: eating or sleeping. In fact, we found at one point that every week or so, we could be guaranteed that he would have a seizure immediately following (or even sometimes during) his meal. That graduated to siezures which would occur during sleeping. The frequency was reduced with diet changes, but the severity increased at the same time which is what lead to his death. His seizures were incredibly violent (strong grand mal), lasting 40-70 seconds. They were heart-wrenching to watch, all that we could do was to try and prevent him from hurting himself during one. I miss him terribly, but at least he no longer has to endure those horrible episodes....... |
| I'm sorry for your loss. You're doing a great thing by spreading education regarding such a serious condition. |
| I'm so sorry for your loss of your precious Waldo. Even though his life was short, I'm sure you have enough memories that will carry you through your lifetime.
Welcome to the forum! |
| Welcome to the forum from down-under you.. Milton, Ontario...
I am so sorry for the lose of your beautiful Waldo..
Thank you for sharing your experiences here. |
| Welcome, and sorry about the loss of your dog. Seizures that can't be stopped are bad. It had to be agonizing watching it happen over and over.
I love your picture - Waldo was a very handsome boy! |
| Thank you for posting all the info on Waldo's seizures. Maybe by posting all the info you have you will save another sheepie. Your Waldo sounds like he was a magnificent boy. We are so sorry for your loss.
My Merlin is the same age as your Waldo and I can't imagine how you feel losing your boy. |
| Thanks, everyone for your kind thoughts. Waldo was a big, wonderful sheeper, who was taken from us far too soon. I can only hope that wherever he is now that he is getting lots of treats and beef tenderloin.....next to car rides, those were his favourite things in life.
Fittingly, he died in the back seat of my Avalanche. He loved to go for car rides. No matter where he was in the house, all you had to do was say 'Go for a car ride?' and he'd come running as fast as he could, knocking over everything in his path to get to the truck. In fact, there were many times that I'd take him for a short ride and he wouldn't get out of the truck when we got home. I'd have to drive around the block a few more times before he would get out. He'd basically tell me, "....that wasn't much of a ride.....I want more!!..." He passed away on his final car ride on November 21st at approxiamtely 6:15 pm. I have lots of pictures that I woul like to post on this site, can anyone tell me how do I setup a photo-album attached to my profile? |
| Welcome and thank you for sharing Waldo's story. What a sweet boy he was. I can just picture him running for a ride in your truck.
We would love to hear more about him and see more pictures. You can read about how to post pictures here: http://forum.oes.org/viewtopic.php?t=1119 |
| When you post to the photo gallery, it is automatically connected to all of your posts and to your profile.
The camera icon like this  will appear at the bottom of all of your posts and on your profile once you've made your first upload. |
| Waldo sounds like a wonderful, charismatic, lovable, laughable sheepie. Thanks so much for sharing his story. I can't wait to see pictures. I am glad you joined us here. . . |
| Hi Everyone.
I put up some pics of Waldo. He was a wonderful sheeper and is deeply missed by all who knew him. He touched many lives with his gentle charm. I am looking forward to sharing my life with another sheeper again, although I know that he can never be replaced....his special character was one of a kind. Godbye dear friend, I hope to see you again at the bridge..... |
| Hi,
Welcome to the forum. You're doing a good thing by offering advice and your experiences what you went through with Waldo. I'm so sorry for your loss. Over 2 1/2 years ago I lost my Shaggy and while it wasn't her seizures that contributed to her passing she did experience them. Her illness was Immune Deficiency Thrombocytopenia and it was only the last month of her life she had them. I did the same thing as yourself..felt that her life was important enough to me to help others whom may find themselves dealing with the same illness. Knowledge is power. You'll find this forum is amazing for the people and information you find on here. We all help each other out and if through any of our dogs illness we can either prevent or help those that are going through the same thing - there is bonding in that. Thanks for posting photos of your beautiful boy, it's obvious he was much loved in your household. I realize they are irreplaceable and each is so unique. With Shaggy's passing I was able to help another boy that desperately needed rescuing out of Asia. Although I had two others in my home at the time, Shaggy's passing allowed me to help yet another that desperately needed a home. Please visit often as you'll eventually come across many sheepies that need a good home such as yours. Waldo will find it an honor that you chose to help one of his own and may he be smiling down at you from the Rainbow Bridge. Take Care Marianne and the boys |
| I am so sorry for the loss of your beautiful sheepie Waldo. I toured through your gallery and can see what a special boy he was. It is so sad when someone so special as Waldo, has to leave us too soon. Please take care during this terrible time.
Tears, |
| Welcome to the forum. I am very sorry for the loss of your Waldo. He was one big beautiful boy. I can imagine the hole in your heart because of his loss.
That is very considerate to use your knowledge to help others. Maybe a sheepie will be saved because of it. Thank you. I would love to see pictures and hear stories of him. It also helps the grieving process as well. |
| I am truly saddened by the loss of your Waldo. He was beautiful boy and I know you must miss him terribly.
Thank you for sharing what you learned. It will help others when they are searching for answers on how to help their dog. Welcome to the forum. When the time is right for you, we'd love to hear some of your favorite Waldo stories. |
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