My 5 year old dog won't eat

[Zadadog]

About 1 month ago my dog Zada started to have seizures and got very disoriented so we took her to the vet immediately and they put her on Phenobarb. Ever since she's been on the medicine she stopped eating and is very lethargic. She just smells the food and doesn't eat. So we have to hand feed her and she does not like that. We've tried cooking her chicken, eggs, broth, baby food. We don't know what else we can do for her.  Can anyone give us any suggestions as to what to try with her she is getting very skinny and we feel so bad for her.
We have been to the vet and we can now feel her ribs.  She has lost 3 lbs down to 36  from 39.  

[Misfits4Me]

Hi Beasty.....Here are some links to information on this forum about seizures....Read through them & see if they help you out......Karla

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Dogs/Seizure-and-Erratic-Behavior/show/1788757

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Dogs/Phenobarbital-side-effects--how-long/show/1525013

[beasty323]

Hi! my dog is 4yrs old and he just had his first seizure 3days ago. he started off with 1 seizure that made him collapse to the floor and start shaking..the 2nd one happen the next day almost about the same time,but only instead he didn't drop to the floor. he started foaming from his mouth and his head began to shake.beasty was continuously experiencing the foaming and the shaking of the head for about 9hrs..he was experiencing the seizures straight thru,but they were coming every 5 to 10 mins apart.I finally rushed him to the vet and they told me he was experiencing epileptic seizures..they kept him over night and ran some tests on him. when i arrived the next day they had prescribed him (phenobarbitol) for his seizures and (amoxicillin) for a slight infection..my baby has been home for a day now and he doesn't want to eat,and he's barley drinking water. what should i do? hes very tired n weak.he also urinated on himself,is that normal for him to go thru that? im scared for my baby beasty...someone pls help!

[Zadadog]

Hello

The Vet seems to think that Zada has Brain Damage which is preventing her from eating.  I am not a vet nor a Dr, but Zada recognizes our voices, comes when we call her name and not when we call our other dog's name, knows what it means when we say go to bed, and lay's in her same spots that she did before.She contiues to be Daddy's girl, and now has more pep in her step, since we lowered the pheno barb.  SHe reacts and lifts her head and eyes when we talk to her.  I owuld think that if the brain damage is so severe to affect a vital thing like eating that some of these others would be affected as well.  Now she stil has not barked, since her seizure.  Soes anyone have any ideas?  The Vet is suggesting that we consider putting her down, because of quality of life.  Zada gives us no real indication of Pain, and or suffering, however she is losing weight, and I am continiuing to hand feed her.  PLEASE HELP...

[Zadadog]

Thank you for your response.  We really don't know exactly how many because we both work during the day.  When we came home from work she was foaming at the mouth and real lethargic. Then we witnessed a seizure.  We rushed her to the vet and the vet told us she probably seizured all day while we were working.  But noone knows that for sure. I think our vet is baffled as to what is going on with our Zada.  Zada also has not barked since all this is going on with her. SO I don't know if the seizure did something to her vocal cords or not.
Thank you again

[Zadadog]

Thank you for the suggestions.  We took her to the vet yesterday for her follow-up blood work.  The vet told us to not give her the night dosage of the phenobarb which is 64mg and see how she does.  She said the bloodwork will be in by Wednesday and we will go from there.  
Thank you again.
Zadadog

[Ghilly]

I spent 20 minutes writing a response to you last night and when I hit "post comment" I got a popup page that told me that MedHelp would be back by 1:30 am, that the site was being serviced.  It wasn't until now when I came to see if you had responded to my response that I found that it hadn't even posted!  I'm so sorry for not checking earlier!  

Fortunately for me (AND for you), Savas was board hopping and gave you some EXCELLENT advice.  Phenobartibal can be a very difficult drug for a dog to adjust to.  It not only affects the sense of smell in some cases, it can make them very lethargic and it takes them a while to learn how to fight the effects of the drug and go on like normal.  Depending on how high a dose the vet has them on, sometimes they are never able to totally fight it off and it changes them totally for the duration of the time they are on the drug.

How many seizures did your dog have, and how far apart were they?  I honestly think that some vets are too quick to prescribe anti-seizure meds, and phenobarbital in particular.  If an animal has one or two seizures, unless they are seizuring every week or even every couple of weeks, in my opinion they should wait to see if the seizures form a pattern.  I have known vets that prescribed phenobarbital after one seizure, never bothering to wait to see if there would even BE more seizures without the use of the drug.  If the seizure was unique, or if the dog is only going to have two or three a year without the drug, in my opinion it's better to not put the dog on the medication since it's not going to totally prevent them from having seizures anyway, it's just going to knock back the frequency of them, so it's best to wait to see how frequently they're going to occur in the first place.

There are so many new anti-seizure drugs on the market these days, ask your vet if you can try something other than the phenobarbital.   Savas gave you some good options to write down to ask your vet about.  Let us know what happens when you talk to the doctor, if he switches the meds or what he ends up doing.  If he is relulctant to prescribe another med, I would get a second opinion.

Ghilly

[Savas]

I'd suggest asking your vet to switch your dog to a different anti-convulsive medication.

Usually phnobarbital causes increased weight gain, but I have heard of instances where it can affect a dog's sense of smell (which can cause a lack of interest in food).

Also, phenobarbital can have a serious negative impact on the liver if used for an extended period of time.

Ask if you can switch to a medication which should have less impact, like primadone, potassium bromide or felbamate or gabapentin (both of which DON'T cause drowsiness).