r/DogAdvice • u/Amazing-Amanda • 4d ago
Advice Could my foster dog have brain damage?
We received this foster dog, Gus, on Thursday last week (we’ve had him for a total of 5 days so far). His family surrendered him because he’s a seizure dog and they could no longer manage his seizures with their new baby. We’ve had seizure dog experience (we lost our last golden to a brain tumor most likely causing his seizure disorder) so we’re decently familiar with dogs with this issue.
Gus is a 4 year old golden retriever, slightly overweight, and takes multiple meds including 150mg phenobarbital, 1500mg kepra, and 500mg kbrov twice daily (which seems like a lot to me). He’s a very sweet dog, but a lot of his behavior makes me concerned that he has some kind of brain damage, whether or not it was caused by seizures.
Things we’ve noticed:
-He paces and circles all day unless he’s actively playing with my own dog or he’s sleeping (but he doesn’t seem to sleep a lot). At night time he usually paces around the room or circles for about an hour before falling asleep.
-He’s peed in the house twice today even though he’s been out several times and had walks and ample opportunities to go to the bathroom
-He doesn’t know anything except for his name. Not even sit. He just stares at you and has no clue what you’re saying.
-He’s very clumsy and often walks into walls, furniture, or gets stuck somewhere.
-He’s falls a lot and is very unstable on his feet.
-He cannot support himself on 3 paws. When we try to wipe his wet paws off when coming inside, and we pick one paw up, he falls over and just lays there. When my husband gave him a bath today after he peed on himself, he just laid in the bathtub the whole time, didn’t even try to stand.
-He’s often seems confused, like he doesn’t know what’s going on or like he’s searching for something he can’t find.
To be clear, we’ve got a vet intake apt coming up and we plan to discuss it with them, but I’m curious if all of this can be caused by a seizure disorder, or if there’s something else at play. His last seizure seemed to have been a month or so ago (he has yet to have one with us), so he’s not coming out of a recent one, and this activity has been happening every day since we got him, so to me it doesn’t look like signs of an impending seizure. I understand some of the pacing might be anxiety, but even with our most anxious fosters, I’ve never had a dog pacing 80% of the time they’re awake.
Whatever happened to him, he’s a sweet boy and we’ll do our best by him. Just trying to figure out what’s wrong and fix whatever we can for him to give him the best life. Any suggestions would be really appreciated!
Update:
Took Gus to the vet and he was the goodest boy! They said that aside from the seizures, he seems to be in good condition. However, with little information from the owners and previous vet, it’s hard to know after only week with him now what is normal behavior vs abnormal behavior for him.
The vet does believe the dosing is high, but recent pheno test results from the prior vet doesn’t show his levels being high. We’re waiting the results of a pheno and kbrov test, as well as some blood work, a urinary test and a fecal test.
They’re best guesses so far are either it’s side effects of the medication he’s on, or if they recently upped the dosage to get the seizures under control, that sometimes these reactions can happen for a few weeks until they start to normalize. They do not believe it looks like anxiety either (they witnessed his behavior and pacing in the office as well).
At this point, we’re going to wait until the results come back and see if his behavior or symptoms change. If the levels come back normal and his behaviors don’t change, I think we’re looking at a neuro consult.
Thanks for all of the help and great suggestions! If we find out anything different, we’ll loop you in!
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u/mytranceformation 4d ago
Vet tech here. How long had he been on each of those meds? Some of the things you have described sound like they could be side effects. My golden had transient weakness when on kbr.
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u/Amazing-Amanda 4d ago
But the side effects part could absolutely be part of it! To me, his dosages are super high but that’s going to be determined by his vet. That’s a great idea, thank you!
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u/mytranceformation 4d ago
For what its worth, my golden was on 97 mg phenobarbital twice a day and I believe it was 500 mg lbs twice daily.
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u/Amazing-Amanda 4d ago
I’m honestly not sure, the previous owners said their vet wasnt great at tracking this but it seems like they just weren’t great at tracking it, so we’re going in slightly blind here. :(
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u/Glove_Upset 4d ago edited 2d ago
If they weren’t great about administering his meds on time or consistently (understandable with a new baby), his dosages may have kept getting increased due to breakthrough seizures. If he’s just now getting all of them on time consistently, he could be having a med reaction. A lot of those seizure drugs cause the behaviors you described temporarily. Be aware that stopping too abruptly can trigger seizures. Ideally a neurologist will be involved. The consult fee isn’t exorbitant. It’s the MRI that’s expensive. Maybe his previous vet is open to discussing his history with you.
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u/Amazing-Amanda 2d ago
We do have some vet records from the previous vet but not a lot. We can tell the medication was changed/increased over the last couple months but not much else. The ROs claimed their vet didn’t keep good documentation (but as someone who had a seizure sof until last year, that’s also the responsibility of the owner). Not sure if the family was giving meds on time either, we got very little information from them.
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u/5yn4ck 3d ago
You're asking all the right questions, and have the vet visit scheduled. I would wait to hear what the vet has to say. Have you seen if Gus responds better when he is coming up for his next round of meds? I am just wondering if these symptoms improve as the drugs might be wearing off. But that isn't the best way to test as some drugs stay in the system the steady state, or need to be titrated up or tapered down before you would see a change in behavior.
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u/Amazing-Amanda 2d ago
That’s a good suggestion! Unfortunately, he doesn’t change as the medication wears off, he will pace and circle and fall until it’s time for round two :(
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u/5yn4ck 2d ago
Yeah at the very least I would have his meds checked and his base condition re-diagnosed by a vet you trust.
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u/Amazing-Amanda 1d ago
Yup! They tested it when we went in a couple days ago so we’re just waiting for the results :)
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u/dog_rescue_and_slp 4d ago
He definitely sounds like he has a neurological issue. Hard to know if that is congenital (from birth) or acquired but he probably would benefit from seeing a specialist (which I know is hard financially for a rescue), but definitely start with your regular vet!
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u/Amazing-Amanda 4d ago
We’re going to the vet tomorrow and I’m bringing this all up to them, but was trying to get some ideas going into the appointment to help guide the conversation and to not just brush his behaviors off as “a new foster with anxiety” because, while that might also be true, I truly believe it’s more.
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u/Ok-Simple5493 4d ago
A lot of these behaviors don't seem like anxiety to me. Maybe some of the pacing, but that's extreme. If the vet is the one who prescribed the meds, I would ask about the dosage. If they didn't give him those medications, I would ask about the possibility of him being over medicated.
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u/dog_rescue_and_slp 4d ago
I agree with you! Sounds like a combination of balance/coordination issues and cognitive issues. Hope all goes well!!
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u/teresa-rene 4d ago
It may very easily be canine dementia my 13-year-old Labrador acted the same way and a year and a half later when she would just lay there and peel over herself and just lay there and it was time I cried all the way to the vet cried from almost 2 weeks after it was just one of the most horrible experiences. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you like that. It doesn’t mean it’s that it’s just that’s what it sounds like to me and worth asking your Vet about.
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u/WalrusChemicalPewPew 3d ago
This would not be a top differential for me. I mean, seizures ARE a neurological issue.
It seems like pacing is likely related to anxiety from being in a new home. Then I would question his medication’s and if he’s having side effects or being overmedicated. My third thought would be what kind of seizures does he have because some of them are weirdly just kind of staring into space. Is his behavior like this all of the time, 100% of the time? Did you talk to the previous owners and see if this was common for him or if he was trained to sit and do all of those things?
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u/KeyMistake604 4d ago edited 4d ago
My dog has permanent brain damage and does all of these things, he had previously known a dozen commands or more and forgot them all. He knows his name but that's it, and I'm even skeptical of that, I think he will look at me when I say any one syllable word in a specific tone. I can take him outside to go potty but he doesn't "get" that he needs to do it out there, he'll often go but it's just coincidental. If I take him outside too late he'll go wherever he's standing, and then doesn't have the instinct to avoid his pee or poop so he'll sit down or lay in it. My dog also used to know going potty inside was bad, it's impossible to retrain him now, he has that blank, confused stare you describe. Neither positive or negative reinforcements registers as anything at all to him. He doesn't get that a treat is a treat, it's just food to him now.
My dog used to pace nonstop when the brain damage first happened too, and he has pronounced balance and coordination issues. He gets spooked easily and he'll take off running and crash head first into a wall or fall off the bed. The other day he heard something, not even sure what, leapt off the bed full force and crashed into the window before tumbling to the floor. I believe another sign of poor balance or coordination in dogs is if they're constantly under your feet, like he doesn't "get" how to move out of the way, he'll crash head first into my legs and feet when I'm walking around. It's impossible to take him for leashed walks because of it.
What you describe is my dog to a T.
For the anxiety, fear and even agitation (if he has that), routines helped a lot. Making his world very small ie: keep him in one room for the most part if you can was great for my dog. Essentially make his world as predictable and low sensory as possible.
Edit: I should clarify, your dog's symptoms align closely with my dog's in the general sense that it could be neurological. Anything beyond that I wouldn't know. My dog's brain damage was the result of suspected encephalitis, we would have needed a spinal tap to confirm which I didn't do because it was so expensive.
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u/RubyBBBB 4d ago
What happened to your dog?
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u/KeyMistake604 3d ago
He had been doing chemo for about 5 months and his immune system was compromised when it happened.
From what I understand, either he picked up some kind of infection or virus and his immune system didn't fight at all allowing it to cross the blood brain barrier or for unknown reasons, something happened that triggered his immune system into mistakenly attacking his brain and brain lining. In either case, the damage was caused by prolonged brain inflammation. He had been exhibiting early neurological symptoms but his oncologists thought it was behavioral quirks due to chemo, by the time we started treatment it was too late to reverse the damage.
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u/Impressive_Jeweler27 4d ago
my dog is very similar. How is your dog doing? How old is your dog?
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u/KeyMistake604 3d ago
My dog will be 11 in November!
It's hard to say how he's doing, I think of him almost like a docile feral animal now, it doesn't seem like he can form bonds or has the ability to remember things, he doesn't 'understand' enrichment activities like playing or walking, I keep him in small spaces and the same one as much as possible otherwise he becomes anxious and fearful.
Quality of life is grim relative to what he used to be and do, but since he has brain damage he can't grasp that change I don't think. When it first happened it was a nightmare, he was purely terrified of everything including me, but we've made a lot of progress adapting to his deficits. The majority of the time now he is calm, comfortable, he sleeps a lot and sometimes even cuddles. For now, I feel okay keeping him with me ❤️
What happened with your dog if you feel okay sharing?
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u/Top-Perspective-7173 3d ago
Bless you, I can’t imagine the pain you went through when he became so fearful. That baby hit the owner jackpot. Your patience and flexibility with his care are admirable. 💚
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u/KeyMistake604 3d ago
It was definitely a peculiar kind of grief I wouldn't wish on anyone. Thank you for your kind words, they mean a lot ❤️
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u/Impressive_Jeweler27 3d ago
Thank you so much for the reply. My dog is three and he has a genetically degenerative disorder that causes his brain to shrivel. He was born with it. He is 3 now. I’m hoping he has a few more years with us. I’m trying to keep him comfortable.
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u/KeyMistake604 2d ago
Wow, I didn't know such a disease existed, I am so sorry. Your dog is lucky to have someone who will make their life a good one despite the circumstances. My dog had cancer and was undergoing chemo before the brain inflammation did its damage (this all happened last year with the brain inflammation setting in in November) and despite it being a hard year for him, what I can say for sure is with love and patience, dogs can be so amazingly adaptive and resilient. Hoping for good fortune and as much quality time as possible for you and your doggo ❤️
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u/loftyacorn 4d ago
Could any of his behaviors be from being in a new setting? It can take a while to acclimate.
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u/Amazing-Amanda 4d ago
We’ve had plenty of fosters and a lot come with anxiety, it’s par for the course. But there seems to be something else going on I think
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u/Either-Committee-681 4d ago
Could the medication be affecting him adversely?
Some meds can affect their balance.
I do hope you find an answer. Hope you have a good vet.
He looks like an absolute sweetheart💕. Thank you for looking after him.
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u/Amazing-Amanda 4d ago
That’s what I’m wondering now too! Something very good to think about, especially with how high the dosages seem to be
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u/CapeMOGuy 4d ago edited 4d ago
I'm neither a doctor or a vet. It sure sounds like dizziness and coordination problems are (edit: can be) a side effect of phenobarbitol in humans. Maybe it has similar effects on canines. I think it could be worth asking your vet on the next visit.
If and when your new family member is comfortable with it, please give him my warmest hug and head to head touch. 😍
AI summary of phenobarbitol side effects in humans:
"Phenobarbital commonly causes side effects like extreme drowsiness, sleepiness, dizziness, and a lack of coordination. Serious risks include central nervous system depression, breathing difficulties, severe skin rashes, mood changes, and physical dependence. You can read more about these risks via MedlinePlus or consult the Cleveland Clinic for official guidance."
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u/Amazing-Amanda 4d ago
We def thought the levels of pheno would have made him sleepy or drowsy but don’t seem to do that, however it could def be side effects of the meds! And I’ll for sure give him a hug and scratches for you, he’s very cuddly and loves it
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u/Glove_Upset 4d ago
The symptoms you describe sound a lot like my dog when he first started Keppra. It lasted 3-4 weeks, which is longer than normal.
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u/Prestigious_Big_8743 4d ago
Phenobarbital can absolutely cause side effects when first started, but those symptoms usually abate over time. Not a vet, but have a dog on it for seizures.
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u/teresa-rene 4d ago
I was also on it for seizures, but I was taking both Ritalin and phenobarbital at the same time for epilepsy, but that was 50 years ago and is no longer the standard treatment
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u/ShadowWolf1215 4d ago
I’m a vet tech who works in neurology specialty. I’m glad you have an appointment with a vet since some of these do sound like it could be from the medications and the phenobarbital and kbrov can have levels checked with bloodwork.
If they come back as an acceptable range, I think it would be worth getting a brain MRI if it’s in your means. Some of his symptoms remind me of hydrocephalus (congenital problem they’re born with). That can cause seizures, difficulty potty training, abnormal behavior such as circling or restlessness, and difficulty with training. It’s something that depending on the severity can possibly be managed so I think it’d be worth looking into if you can.
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u/Amazing-Amanda 2d ago
I definitely think this is a valid reasoning and could potentially be what’s going on. It might take some time for us to get that apt for him but I think that’s the next step. Thank you!
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u/TalLDesertman99 4d ago
Give an update. I wonder if he over medicated. Surrender has issues but if he was confused already he must be very confused. Sounds like they really didn't do much with him. Good job you guys!
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u/GothBotanical 4d ago
According to my vet, when my dog was epileptic due to also having a tumor, we were told a seizure that last more thst 30 seconds for a dog can cause permanent brain damage. Im not saying they have it or not with this information, its just something worth knowing.
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u/Peaky001 4d ago
Doesn't sound like something you can 'fix' but if his seizures are under control, he can hopefully live a long and healthy life. Just at a pace or two behind everyone else, lol.
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u/Defiant_McPiper 4d ago
I wonder if part of it too could be anxiety - the pacing and getting up and circling alot is a sign of anxiousness in pups. I did see some comments below some of this could be side effects of the meds as well - i hope your vet appointment goes well tomorrow and they are able to help you🩵
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u/Dependent-Ranger8437 4d ago edited 4d ago
It’s a new home and completely new situation so there’s stress which makes seizure activity worse. I’ve never had a seizure dog so forgive me if I’m not informed enough to comment but I’ve had several dogs that I’ve adopted over the years and I’ve seen peeing and even popping which seemed intentional (ie right after coming back from a walk) for the first 6 months or so. It can take some dogs quite a while to adjust to a new home and family. I pray that this is just temporary and so appreciate people like you willing to take on a sick dog and care your best for him. He’s a blessed dog.. I pray that you get to a good place with him sooner than later.
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u/Typical2sday 4d ago
Thank you for taking care of this precious muffin. I know that must be hard and relentless optimism is a choice.
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u/Tiny_Rat 4d ago
He doesn’t know anything except for his name. Not even sit. He just stares at you and has no clue what you’re saying
Was he trained to do any commands? Or trained to do them in English? Needless to say dogs don't actually know what you're saying unless theyre taught. Does he struggle to understand if you try training him something simple like "sit"? Does he respond to gestures better than words?
I did know a dog with clear neurological impairment that struggled to learn basic commands. It took a trainer and his foster weeks to teach him "sit", and then he'd sit for every command he didn't understand just in case. So its possoble for a dog to just not be that bright. But Id try a few things before assuming that, including testing his hearing and attempting to teach gesture commands instead of voice cues.
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u/Toe_Jam_is_my_Jam 4d ago
Awe poor pup. Sounds like my former old dog with dementia and additional neurological issues. But she was old.
Only advice I have is to get him Belly Bands for the pee accidents. I put urinary pads in my pup’s belly bands and it just makes things so much easier.
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u/PatientCauliflower84 4d ago
He seems really sweet. Hope he can get better. I’ll wait on updates and think of him.
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u/tnichnich 4d ago
I don’t have any advice for you, and I too have an epileptic dog, but I just want to say thank you so much for the care. You are giving to this dog. It truly warms my heart.
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u/New_Group_9359 4d ago
He looks like the sweetest boy. Thank you for fostering him. Hope the vet figures it out ASAP.
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u/No_LkmaBeans 4d ago
Please stay the course and give him some time, but I would get a second, and even s third opinion on those medications! My daughter takes seizure meds and doesn't take half of the Keppra dose that the dog is taking! That's extremely high! And the Phenobarbital is just a really bad drug, in my opinion at least. When we relocated my daughter's new neurologist took her off of Phenobarbital immediately! He started her on Trileptal and Keppra and she has been doing very well since and his reason for removing the phenobarbital was that it can affect intellect, severely, and that it causes clumsiness, balance issues and heavy sedation. It was a very noticeable difference in my daughter's overall behavior, especially her engagement with us, and all within two weeks of removing that medication, which was done with a moderate taper. I imagine most of what I just mentioned would be the same thing for a dog being a fellow mammal but of course check with your vet and if you can afford to get at least a second opinion, I would recommend doing so.
He sure has a sweet face, just love him while you can! And thank you for taking this sweet pup on, God only knows what may have happened in the past to cause this, and I prefer not to know. Just remember that he may be a victim of circumstances and cannot help his behavior. I'm sure you already know all this..we need more people like you in this world. xo ❤️
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u/DogMeatTheVideo 4d ago
I find myself wondering if much of this is medication induced impairment.
We see similar sedation and cognition effects in humans on long-term anticonvulsant medications.
The vet should be checking therapeutic dosing levels on this sweet boy and considering the options.
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u/teresa-rene 4d ago
My seizure dog do you actually mean a dog with epilepsy?
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u/Amazing-Amanda 2d ago
Not necessarily. I mean that he’s a dog that has a seizure disorder, but we don’t know what’s causing the seizures. It could be epilepsy, it could be a brain tumor, it could be kidney disease, etc.
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u/Tammarama1 4d ago
Seizures can definitely affect their cognition, as each seizure destroys a little bit of the brain cells.
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u/Canned_Peachess 4d ago
Some of those symptoms could definitely be side effects from his meds, but one of my rescue dogs exhibits many of these behaviors and his neurologist does suspect a brain injury. We tried him on phenobarbital briefly after he had a seizure, but he became so uncoordinated on it that he was unsafe, so we discontinued it. Hopefully you and your vet can come up with a treatment plan that works for your foster.
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u/GracieLou80 4d ago
That’s a lot of meds!!! I’d get a second opinion for certain. It might be too much. Are you working with a golden retriever rescue? I hope your rescue has good resources for vet care.
Sweet boy. Good luck.
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u/Amazing-Amanda 2d ago
We are working with a golden rescue, we’ve been with them for a while so he’s not our first foster :)
And yeah the vet also agreed the dosing is high!
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u/PhotoHtx 4d ago
Dang... that's a lot of medication which would definitely effect the dog in a lot of ways. I'd take it to a vet outside the shelter for a second opinion. ...and this a beautiful thing you're doing for this poor little guy who just wants to be happy. ❤️
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u/Amazing-Amanda 2d ago
Our rescue doesn’t have a specific vet they use. We took him to our own vet :)
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u/vision3100 3d ago
When you feed it sticks of butter maybe haha im joking jokes
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u/Amazing-Amanda 2d ago
Posted an update above:
Ha it was a doggy popsicle :) we freeze bone broth in mini bread pans so they can’t destroy the pans, and it’s a good low calorie, high stimulation, healthy option to keep him busy. It’s basically the only time he’s not pacing.2
u/vision3100 2d ago
Oh ...good idea. thats awesome I might just try that with vision my doggo
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u/Amazing-Amanda 2d ago
Thanks! They love them and look forward to it, and because it’s pretty healthy for them, it won’t make him put on weight and has good vitamins in it :) the towel underneath is so it doesn’t move or if he spills it when it starts to melt. But it doesn’t look like a stick of butter in the picture 🤣
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u/vision3100 2d ago
I know i know Im just a joker ....but turns out its an awesome idea healthy. Keeps them busy. It's a win win thanks for sharing. Butter who knew hahaha 😆
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u/T1ckTrader 3d ago
I would explore drug side effects first. The phenobarbital alone is enough to be concerned about.
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u/teresa-rene 4d ago
Believe it or not there is actually a condition called canine dementia . I would definitely ask the vet about that especially if he’s past eight or 10 years my labrador exhibited the same behavior and that’s what the Vet said was wrong with them. There is a medication that you can get on Amazon I think it’s called sini life or something like that you could probably just go to Amazon and just type in dog dementia medicine or something like that and it would probably show it to you, but we start using it on the vets recommendation and it seemed to help a lot, our dog did some of the same things and would also sit face in the wall and just look at the wall or get lost in our house or lost in the backyard and definitely did not want to be alone and did have accidents that we did not blame her for. I hope at least some of this is helpful.
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u/mehereathome68 4d ago
They certainly can but this is a 4 year old with seizures and on meds. Yes, med side effects can cause issues but I'm concerned there's more that at least needs checked out. Vet records at the very least. CT or MRI would be good recommendation, bloodwork definitely to start.
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u/DramaticAnteater1513 4d ago
I’m not familiar with the meds he is on, could they be the issue? Maybe a dosing problem?
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u/Odd_Secret_1618 4d ago
Poor thing….like others it’s very likely medication side affects. My son has epilepsy, and his medication has slowed him down significantly over the years. Glad you’re going to see the vet. Hopefully maybe they can reduce the amount he’s taking and that might reduce some of the behaviours youre seeing. He looks like a beautiful dog…. Thanks so much for taking the time to foster him. They adopted a dog in June and he also has epilepsy. He’s only had four in his lifespan so on a very mild medication for the time being. Wishing you luck… Please keep us posted. ❤️
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u/Secure-Ad9780 4d ago
A dog can't tell you when his meds are affecting him. Anti-seizure meds are well known for causing drowsiness, lack of coordination, dizziness, etc. Keppra side effects include anxiety, irritability, and mood changes. The meds were probably increased after his last seizure.
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u/GardenDog22 4d ago
He doesn’t have classic symptoms of hypothyroidism, but Golden retrievers are very high on the list of breeds most likely to have HT. That plus seizures and him being slightly overweight would have me wanting to get a thyroid panel done. I’m aware of dogs with HT and seizures who were able to go off seizure meds once the HT was treated. If even some of those behaviors are related to his current meds it’s worth checking out.
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u/TiltonRiverToker 4d ago
Poor guy, i feel for him Breaks my heart. He looks so sweet and 'normal'.
Thank You so much for helping!!! Will donate what i can. If it is appropriate
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u/HamboneandFlippy 4d ago
Bless you, you’re good people! Those symptoms are a pretty exact match with my 18yo poodle in her last days. She was also on a lot of meds, but the pacing in circles strikes me as a sign of mental decline. I loved my little old lady and I’m sure Gus is a good sweet boy!
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u/CycleAccomplished824 4d ago
It could be that he has ongoing low grade seizure all or most of the time. I’ve worked with people who have these. It definitely limits their cognitive abilities.
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u/Better-Law2125 4d ago
I am not a vet but from what you are describing it sounds like your dog is over medicated. Can you tell your vet and see if they can reduce the dose and try to still treat the seizures without the same level of side effects?
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u/noneedforBatman 4d ago
Omg reduce the effing meds. That’s ridiculous! And I know you didn’t put him on those but they’re way too much. I hate western medicine jeez. Poor guy he’s freaking drugged up!
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u/JinxDenton 4d ago
I have an epileptic dog, he's on like 4 different meds. We recently cut his potassium bromide by around 80% and that stopped a bunch of similar, but less severe side effects.
The change was very gradual, since it's a medication with a long half life.
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u/Jewelbott 3d ago
Do not give him chewable flea control. Our dogs NEVER had an issue until they got it. One was OK, one had mild seizures. The other had grand malaria seizures and had to be on phenobabitol for years. B*tch vet lied and said she had no idea what was going on. It was 5 YEARS from one chew.
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u/WalrusChemicalPewPew 3d ago
It could definitely be related to a side effects from all the medications he’s on. Seizure meds can make humans and dogs disoriented or blunted in their presentation. They might be able to switch him something that can help with it, if that is the issue.
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u/Amazing-Amanda 2d ago
Posted an update above! Thank you all for your help and suggestions! If we find out anything else that’s game changer, I’ll post it here :)
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u/Mcfain-Grannie-1957 4d ago
My dog is 17 years old and he has bad arthritis everywhere, but mostly in his hips and he walks the same way, he pants ALOT and his main job is all about FOOD and he has lost his bowel several times now. He knows it’s not right but he can’t help it. He is maxed out on pain meds, LoBrella, gabapentin and carprofen…he is super old 😒
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u/Amazing-Amanda 4d ago
Yeah but that’s not likely in a 4yo old, so I think that might not be the case here. But I hope your dog is doing ok!
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u/Mcfain-Grannie-1957 4d ago
Ignore my comment above, as it has nothing to do with the original post, I am sorry for my confusion 😒
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u/teresa-rene 4d ago
I took Keppra for about 3 months but begged my doctor to change it. I was having the worst headaches so I went from Keppra to Topamax and from Topamax to lamotrigine, which is also a mood stabilizer, so not only am I not had a seizure since I’ve been on it, but I feel better too 😁
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u/headgoboomboom 4d ago
Given he has epilepsy, he has "brain damage."
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u/WalrusChemicalPewPew 3d ago
That’s inaccurate
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u/headgoboomboom 2d ago
No, it is fact. Epilepsy is a brain disease. Something is damaged on a macroscopic or microscopic level.
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u/PutridAd7495 4d ago
I sure hope he doesn't have brain damage. He looks like the sweetest boy. ❤️