Had similar experience with my son's golden. Vet said wait, dogs have the ability to recover from strokes. Sure enough, he did. Had a few more strokes, recovered from them all. When he finally passed, he just laid down and waited for death. My son called me to come over for the wait. He (the dog) seemed to know it was his time.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
how about adding additional info in the thread title before it gets labeled click bait and then locked

(I didn't open this thread yesterday, because I though it was just some kind of joke, and that's because of the vague and ambiguous subject line.

So, what do you figure, guys? How many more times will I have to say this before it sinks in? Five thousand times?

Clear subject lines. Clear and unambiguous subject lines. Tell members what your thread is about BEFORE they open it. BEFORE they open it.

Clarity over cleverness, please. First and foremost, be clear. If you can be clever while first being clear, more power to you, but first and foremost, be CLEAR.)

quote:

Originally posted by truckola:
Give it some time, try a bit less of the drugs, see if the seizures dont come back, maybe as simple as minor adjustments.

Agree, sounds like a reaction to the drugs.
Maybe something different or a different dose.
Talk to your vet or maybe find one that is better if you feel he is not on target.
Sorry for your dog.

Did your vet float the possibility of Idiopathic Vestibular syndrome? If that's what it was, it will self-correct in several days, so don't do anything rash.

Dogs with this syndrome exhibit signs similar to what humans do with vertigo. It happens most often in older dogs and may only happen once or twice. Recovery may take 5 - 7 days.

I only know this because our GSP had an episode that really freaked us out. Fortunately we live near a great veterinary emergency medicine facility, affiliated with UPenn and they had it diagnosed within 5 minutes of us walking through the door. Our dog's recovery was faster than normal and she has been fine ever since. No medication for the syndrome - just anti-nausea.

Good luck with your fur-kid.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

I don't have much to add to the medical advice others have given.
My experience with the vets is that you have to look them in the eye and ask, what would you do in my situation if this was your dog?
Vets are not just in it for the money, they have to deal with all sorts of owners including emotional, irrational ones that will react very badly to rational advice. You need to indicate that you are not one and them they may understand. Until that happens they only talk about treatment and diagnosis because many owners will go off on them if they bring up reality.
Hopefully your dog will make progress but, if that's not in the cards, having the vet give you an accurate prognosis is essential to making the best decisions.

We just lost our 15 year old dog. He had a couple of bad bouts of not being able to get up before he died. We took him to the vet and, got the appropriate medication and he recovered from both and was his usual bouncy self.

We could tell the last episode was different and he died in his sleep a day later.

Hope it works out for you and your dog.

Anything greater than 12 years with a GSD is a blessing. I would give him a week or so on the phenobarb. It takes a while after a seizure for the systems to reset. If breaks through the PB, then you may have to make a decision about what is in his best interest.

Very sorry to hear your buddy is struggling. I concur that you should give it some time, and stay in close communication with your vet.

We have a 12 year old GSD who has developed some hip issues recently. Give it some time to let the Meds work themselves in and you may even have to try some smaller doses, which has worked for ours for the time being.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
how about adding additional info in the thread title before it gets labeled click bait and then locked

(I didn't open this thread yesterday, because I though it was just some kind of joke, and that's because of the vague and ambiguous subject line.

So, what do you figure, guys? How many more times will I have to say this before it sinks in? Five thousand times?

Clear subject lines. Clear and unambiguous subject lines. Tell members what your thread is about BEFORE they open it. BEFORE they open it.

Clarity over cleverness, please. First and foremost, be clear. If you can be clever while first being clear, more power to you, but first and foremost, be CLEAR.)

Really? You are not wrong that the thread could be better titled, but it seems like perhaps the OP might have one or two bigger concerns right now and perhaps giving him a little grace would be a better approach than being the thread police.

Sorry for the decision you have to make. Just had to put our family dog down last month. It sucks but it was time, med's were not making his quality of life any better and (with ours) the end would not be pretty when it came, no falling a sleep and not waking up.

Sounds like you gave your buddy had a good life. Maybe time to let him (her) go with dignity.

Thirteen is old for a GSD. I had my Harley Girl for 4 years( she was a seinor dog when I adopted her 7yrs) she got cancer and lived 6 months. They were mostly good she had some bad days but they were just a lack of energy and maybe a little wobbly on her legs. Her last day was horrible it was on a Sat night to Sun. I would never want to go though that last day again. Fuck I am crying now and it’s been 3 years!

quote:

Originally posted by slosig:

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
how about adding additional info in the thread title before it gets labeled click bait and then locked

(I didn't open this thread yesterday, because I though it was just some kind of joke, and that's because of the vague and ambiguous subject line.

So, what do you figure, guys? How many more times will I have to say this before it sinks in? Five thousand times?

Clear subject lines. Clear and unambiguous subject lines. Tell members what your thread is about BEFORE they open it. BEFORE they open it.

Clarity over cleverness, please. First and foremost, be clear. If you can be clever while first being clear, more power to you, but first and foremost, be CLEAR.)

Really? You are not wrong that the thread could be better titled, but it seems like perhaps the OP might have one or two bigger concerns right now and perhaps giving him a little grace would be a better approach than being the thread police.

Dude, it's bendable.

Or maybe someone else, IDK.

Kind of hard to tell who it is, maybe bendable channeling his inner Para? Or maybe he cut and pasted it from somewhere.

We had something similar last September. Mine was a 15 y.o Golden Ret.
The vet said if she would take the meds, she might live, but I could not even shove them down her throat, she would cough them up later. She died.

Give it some time, especially if the vet thinks he will recover.

Two seizures is not the end of the world and if you haven't had any more then your biggest problem may be the side affects of the meds.
Dogs are tough critters and can handle a lot.

Wife (vet) says consider dropping the phenobarbital. She had a seizure patient once who had a bad reaction to it who improved immediately after dropping it. Obviously this should all be in consultation with your vet. Messing with the dosage levels yourself was not something she was a fan of.

I would give it a few days. Been through it with my lab a few years back. He was a 100+ lbs dog. His body was falling him but he would always wag his tail and be so happy when he saw me. It was a tough call because of that. Had to carry him outside near the end. When he couldn't stand anymore when I would set him down I knew it was the time. Still one of the hardest things I have had to do.

My best friend had a dog that had seizers and was on phenobarb. I watched him have a seizer once. Took a while before he was back to his normal self.

You will know when the time is right.

I have had several german shepherds over the years, none of them made it past 13.

Both of you will know when its time.

I would not make a life and death decision with the limited information you have. If it's a vestibular (inner ear) type issue, you'd expect to see some eye movement side to side, and a probable head tilt. Strokes can occur in dogs, and they can recover given time.

Talk to your vet, and get more information. In the meantime, try to wait it out a bit more. You can't take back an end of life decision once you've gone that route.