advice for loss of house training due to epilepsy

[princesschloe132]

My bedlington terrier had a fit out of nowehere sept 2010 she was 4 1/2 yrs old, we took her to emergancy hospt where she had many fits over a couple of days before they started to control them, she was on a drip and looked terrible when they let us see her 3 days later. We took her home after another 3 days. She was a completly different dog, she did not seem to know us or remeber her bed, toys, anything. She was scared of being touched and pee'd and poo'd in the house. Over time she has settled down although she does not behave like a dog, she wont interact with other dogs, does not show us any affection, does not sniff things when out walking, behaives like a very old dog. The only thing she seems to enjoy is eating and she has put a lot of weight on even though we cut treats out and feed her on special low fat food. I know her medication causes this. She has about 6 fits a month sometimes going a couple of weeks then a few within another. She is on Kepra, Epiphen and Potassium Bromide.  My main problem is she has not re-learnt to let us know when she needs to go out, I can let her out and she will pee/poo, sometimes, others she will do it in the house 5 minuits after coming in !  I have tried every thing to try and retrain her. I get up and let out a couple of times through the night, quite often I am too late and have to clean up as she has walked up and down in it as well    

[Misfits4Me]

Great questions Tony......I agree that all this medication doesn't seem to be effective....I'm wondering if this dog has gotten worse on the medication? Sounds like she is in a comatose state and/or being poisoned! I hope her mom/dad comes back so we can try to help her......Karla

[tonyb286]

In addition to the questions that Karla has asked, I would comment that if indeed this is epilepsy, the medication clearly isn't appropriate for her as it isn't controlling the fits. So the first question is, how has epilepsy been diagnosed? Did they do a full scan? Is there any evidence of tumours (if there are, these would have been seen in the scan)? I would suggest if it is epilepsy (for sure), then talk to your vet about seeing a specialist vet, so the medication can be reassessed and hopefully the fits cut-back or even stopped completely. The trouble with so many fits is the accompanying amnesia. All dogs and humans suffer short-term amnesia following a fit ... but if the fits are frequent, the amnesia can be continuous too, as there is no time for the memory to re-establish itself. This would certainly explain the loss of house-training, familiarity with yourself and with other behaviours you have already mentioned. Bear in mind, your dog will also be very frightened and nervous about what is happening to her. The key here is to establish a) that this is epilepsy; and then b) get it properly under control with the right medication. I have no doubt Karla will also suggest a number of other things once you have replied to her enquiries. Good luck - and give your girl a hug from me. Tony

[Misfits4Me]

Welcome to the forum.....Do you have any other information about when this started?
Have the doctors ruled out any suspected causes?
What were you feeding her when this began? Has she eaten it for life? How long? What about treats? Any particular ones that were fed any length of time? Names? Is she better now that she is not eating treats.....How about her food now? What is she eating and how long?

ANy toxic chemicals that you use in house or lawn on a regular basis?

Any correlation with the seizures being worse any certain time of month? Such as after flea& tick products Or heartworm medications? Did this happen to start after a round of vaccines?

Was she normal before the seizures started? Get back with me........Karla