anyone have experience with seizures in dogs?

Believe it or not, the closest Petco is 25 miles from here! Love living in the boonies!!! PetSmart is only 12 or 13, but as you know they don't have the same products.

I get the analogy about the bucket!!! I am much the same way, particularly in my stomach. I get migraines and sinus headaches, nothing helps them but ibuprofen. When I take the ibuprofen, it makes my GERD get terrible, so I have to take a Zantac. The Zantac in turn, gives me a headache and the cycle repeats.  Add in stress, and maybe having pizza and it makes things all the worse.  Sometimes, I'm a huge mess! I can deal with it, but I hate to think about my kids or my dog being sick in any way.

The vet's office did tell me to keep a diary of her seizures, so I intend to. I'll put it in a word file and just add to it, if there are more to follow.

Thanks again everyone.

Oh, Misty gets very few baths...she was groomed in September and again at the end of January. I will probably bathe her myself as soon as the weather warms up (outside) so I will check the bottle to make sure the ingredients are good for her.  We have some natural coconut oatmeal stuff...not sure what it's called though.

Also, I forget who mentioned her breed but we have it narrowed down to these possibilities:  collie, aussie, border collie or english shepherd, with possibly some sort of bird dog/hound/hunting breed thrown in because she "points" and has a very houndly body shape. Her sisters all looked exactly like her, and her brother was a red merle.

Red merle brother, eh?  I'm betting on Aussie genes there, which could easily explain either hypothyroidism or seizures.  If she does have Collie or Aussie, they (as well as other herders) can also be susceptible to reactions to certain medications if they carry the mutant MDR1 gene.  The test is relatively inexpensive (about $75-80, I think) and you can get it here, plus lots of info: http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/depts-vcpl/

The book, "Canine Epilepsy" is authored by Caroline Levin.

The thing with herbals and dietary changes, it takes about 10 days to see if they are making any difference. Potassium bromide does have side effects, but it is not instantly addictive.  In fact, it takes several weeks for it to reach therapeutic levels in the bloodstream, which may not be helpful if the dog is experiencing multiple episodes in a very short time, or is clustering.  In clusters, time is of the essence.  And the more seizures a dog has, the more they potentially will have because the neural pathways are opened.

My point, Lisa, is to learn as much as you can, get second and/or third veterinary opinions (Eastern & Western), work with the vets, and weigh out every option.  And I hope Misty's story ends successfully.

Thanks spiritdogs...

I will look into doing that test. She was on ivermectin as a puppy for scabies when we first got her and did fine on it, but I realize that could change at any point. There are plenty of medications I used to take that give me bad reactions now. She hadn't taken her heartgard for 2 months this winter, and I gave her a dose of it on Feb 20th, and she seemed fine. It would seem like if there was a problem with it, it would've happened sooner than 18 days, but maybe I'm wrong?  She can not use Frontline as it causes a terrible skin reaction (like a burn) so I do know she's allergic to that. Whenever I get out the Advantix tube, she puts her ears back, tail between her legs, and goes and hides in her crate. For that reason, I don't use it on her as often as they recommend. In the summer, we go 6 weeks, and she hasn't had a dose at all since probably late October.  I may start looking for more natural flea preventatives for her, because I just hate that the stuff makes her run and hide. Maybe she thinks it's the frontline that burned her skin, or maybe it just smells a certain way....she's a smart girl though, so I am paying attention to her cues.

 The Advantix paperwork specifically states that a chemical in Advantix can CAUSE seizures. I would never, ever use it on a potentially seizurey dog. Advatage is different, and doesn't have the same "oomph" added to it. Comfortis, for SURE, lowers seizure thresholds, and should never, ever be given to a seizure dog, either.

Emma was epileptic, and I had to be super careful what I used on her. The wrong thing would send her into a tailspin. Rabies shots got her, every time. Wrong shampoo? BAM. Floor surfing? Yup. She had to learn to never eat food off of the floor without permission.