Heart problems in seniors, any help is appreciated.

Lee debbie

I see her trying to eat flies when there are none, abit of licking of nothing and sudden abrupt head turning,

  I think that may be symptoms of a seizure; Callie would probably know.

Lee debbie

Is it safe to watch it and 'see how it goes'?

  I really don't know. There are members who have seizure dogs. If you start another thread describing her symptoms, they may be able to help you.

Lee debbie

Being on porridge and egg for a prolonged period of time can't be all too nutritious?

  No, but dogs on elimination diets eat one protein and one carb for several weeks without added supplements. It's only been a week, hasn't it? I don't really know how long to have Alphie on this diet; that's something you need to ask your vet. Jessie has never had bloody diarrhea, and has only had runny yellow stool with mucus for a few days. When she had the runny stool, I fasted her for a day and then fed her small amounts of her regular food. She was also on metradinazole and probiotics, as prescribed by the vet. Her stool was back to normal in about four days.

We'll be seeing Dr S and the cardiologist tomorrow. I'll remind her on Alphie's odd behavior. I don't know though, how they would check on that. As for her mushy stools, no change for 2 days. She's still on very bland diet, and it's not hardening, other than not being watery and squirty (or bloody). I'm still giving her pro-kolin (a vet prescribed pet probiotics), and I don't dare to overdose on the regular probiotics, and I'm still looking for further improvement. I'm really hoping the ultrasound will not reveal something bad tomorrow. Pray for us. :)

Lee debbie

Pray for us.

  You got it. We faced a similar situation about a year ago when Jessie had a vestibular attack. The neurologist didn't think it was old dog vestibular disease and was almost certain she had a brain tumor. I can't tell you how relieved we were when the MRI was normal. I will pray that nothing serious is found; ((( hugs )))

Things like fly-catching tend to be a form of petit-mal seizures.  There's a point where some of them are  what my TCVM vet calls pre-seizurey behaviors.  The difference being whether or not you can get them to disconnect from the behavior at all easily.  With Kee it was almost impossible to get her attention and stop the behavior.   

Kee Shu literally was in a seizure state like that 99% of the time when she came to us, and we got that totally controlled by herbs.  Tink's are definitely "pre-seizurey" -- she doesn't loose concentration at all -- mentally she's right with you -- her's are more little twitches.  The herbs we use for Tink are no where near as strong (nor as specifically for seizures as Kee's were).

Kee's were bad -- they weren't grand mal seizures but she was literally in a near-seizure state MOST of the time.  We got that to diminish right away with the herbs, but after about a year, Dr. D put her on a different herb which then really radically changed her focus and wow - WHOLE DIFFERENT DOG!!!

 Sometimes with even grand mal seizures you can control them JUST with the right Chinese herbs (NOT Western herbs -- I have to emphasize that-- the Chinese herbs are stronger and more complicated -- there is one that is incredibly like phenobarbitol -- but there are none of the bad side effects you can get with phenobarb.  Thesee herbs are NOTHING you can buy just over the counter -- they are prescription only.

Sometimes you have to do pharmaceutical drugs in addition but usually with the herbs you can at least keep the pharmaceuticals to a minimum. 

 Debbie -- is the fly-catching new or is this something Alphie has done for a long time?

Thank you for praying for us, Janice. We had our appointment today, did the ultrasound and found that Alphie has 95% usage of her right larynx and 100% of the left. It's all good, she doesn't have LP. As for her diarrhoea, it's getting better, firming up slowly but surely. We're giving it another few days.

As for Ashton, his heart contraction percentage is at a stable 40% which is a good level, so we're not changing his medication for now. 

calliecritturs

Things like fly-catching tend to be a form of petit-mal seizures.  There's a point where some of them are  what my TCVM vet calls pre-seizurey behaviors.  The difference being whether or not you can get them to disconnect from the behavior at all easily.  With Kee it was almost impossible to get her attention and stop the behavior.   

Kee Shu literally was in a seizure state like that 99% of the time when she came to us, and we got that totally controlled by herbs.  Tink's are definitely "pre-seizurey" -- she doesn't loose concentration at all -- mentally she's right with you -- her's are more little twitches.  The herbs we use for Tink are no where near as strong (nor as specifically for seizures as Kee's were).

Kee's were bad -- they weren't grand mal seizures but she was literally in a near-seizure state MOST of the time.  We got that to diminish right away with the herbs, but after about a year, Dr. D put her on a different herb which then really radically changed her focus and wow - WHOLE DIFFERENT DOG!!!

 Sometimes with even grand mal seizures you can control them JUST with the right Chinese herbs (NOT Western herbs -- I have to emphasize that-- the Chinese herbs are stronger and more complicated -- there is one that is incredibly like phenobarbitol -- but there are none of the bad side effects you can get with phenobarb.  Thesee herbs are NOTHING you can buy just over the counter -- they are prescription only.

Sometimes you have to do pharmaceutical drugs in addition but usually with the herbs you can at least keep the pharmaceuticals to a minimum. 

 Debbie -- is the fly-catching new or is this something Alphie has done for a long time?

Vet explained about the petit-mal seizure, which is what I was suspecting, but Alphie never loses conciousness. When I call her, she will 'snap out of it' immediately. Her signs are fly-catching, sometimes pretty vigorous and staring at the wall along with panting. She never loses conciousness or get unresponsive. The vet did 2 acupuncture points for her behind her ears, suspecting her Kidney yin deficiency is deteriorating causing a sound in her ear which may be disturbing her enough to cause her fly-catching behavior. I'll try the acupuncture before the herbs at this point especially with her tummy issues. At least till we figure out what is causing her tummy not to agree with what's going in, then we could move on to herbs, it's a real pity she and Ashton cannot take the heart Qi tonic. It's really scary with seizures (i saw an emergency case whilst waiting at the vet, and it was really scary) and I don't wish to have to be dealing with it, I can't imagine your stress when you had to deal with Kee's...

Lee debbie

Her signs are fly-catching, sometimes pretty vigorous and staring at the wall along with panting. She never loses conciousness or get unresponsive.

NEITHER did Kee.  She was simply absorbed in the "task".  You could call her name or touch her and she'd stop and look at you -- but later it would be back -- often as soon as you left her alone (especially at first). 

 NEVER unconscious.  You could "get her out of it" by engaging her attention, but left to her own devices she'd go right back to it.

 The weird thing with hers was they were COMPLICATED behaviors.  Lift head, crane neck to the left LICK LICK LICK LICK, swivel head to the extreme right, LICK LICK LICK, look up, down, ...Lift head, crane neck to the left LICK LICK LICK LICK, swivel head to the extreme right, LICK LICK LICK, look up, down, ...Lift head, crane neck to the left LICK LICK LICK LICK, swivel head to the extreme right, LICK LICK LICK, look up, down, ...Lift head, crane neck to the left LICK LICK LICK LICK, swivel head to the extreme right, LICK LICK LICK, look up, down, ...Lift head, crane neck to the left LICK LICK LICK LICK, swivel head to the extreme right, LICK LICK LICK, look up, down, ...Lift head, crane neck to the left LICK LICK LICK LICK, swivel head to the extreme right, LICK LICK LICK, look up, down, ...Lift head, crane neck to the left LICK LICK LICK LICK, swivel head to the extreme right, LICK LICK LICK, look up, down, ...Lift head, crane neck to the left LICK LICK LICK LICK, swivel head to the extreme right, LICK LICK LICK, look up, down, ...Lift head, crane neck to the left LICK LICK LICK LICK, swivel head to the extreme right, LICK LICK LICK, look up, down, ...Lift head, crane neck to the left LICK LICK LICK LICK, swivel head to the extreme right, LICK LICK LICK, look up, down, ...Lift head, crane neck to the left LICK LICK LICK LICK, swivel head to the extreme right, LICK LICK LICK, look up, down, ...Lift head, crane neck to the left LICK LICK LICK LICK, swivel head to the extreme right, LICK LICK LICK, look up, down, ...Lift head, crane neck to the left LICK LICK LICK LICK, swivel head to the extreme right, LICK LICK LICK, look up, down, ...Lift head, crane neck to the left LICK LICK LICK LICK, swivel head to the extreme right, LICK LICK LICK, look up, down, ...

Defnite pattern -- certain # of times to lick left, and different on the right. and if you interrupted her it was almost "where was it?? Dang, you messed me up!!" (except there was never any sign of any negative temper at all with her way TOOOOOOOO cheerful for a peke).

But the 'severity' of hers was evident in that when you DID engage her the eyes almost were empty. Almost like every part of her had become so much a slave to the behavior that the brain had almost gone slack.

Even after we got the air-licking stopped -- she was still very shut into herself. She had been VERY abused and neglected -- she was probably 14 when she came to us and it was a very sad sad story of neglect -- in fact the original owners were so bad, the neighbors all got together and 'bought" Kee and her brother on a garage sale and literally the pair moved from neighbor to neighbor - whoever had room to keep them at the moment. The woman who was keeping them last, got in a fight with her boyfriend. The "brother" to Kee had just died from cancer (they had him PTS) and this woman's "boyfriend" literally just took Kee and took off for Florida. When he got down here he was living out of his car (he was an alcoholic -- nice but "dim";), and the cops confiscated the dog when he went inside somewhere to go to the bathroom.

He wanted help redeeming her and David and I took her so she didn't get PTS at Animal Control. I think she mourned her sibling horribly. 

After we'd had her about a year, we suspected she'd had a full blown seizure -- she got out during a lightning storm, and was only out less than 2 minutes. But when I was going out to find her she was collapsed at the door. At that point, given what we suspected and her background, Dr. D gave her a Chinese herb blend called "The Great Pulse" -- which essentially is something you give to someone who has gone thru great mental and emotional trauma. She didn't even change the seizure herb - she just added the Great Pulse.

Wow -- it was amazing. Within three weeks we had this amazing new dog. Suddenly when you looked in her eyes SHE WAS THERE. Suddenly she had personality -- and what a cutie. She became the BEST, most rock-solid therapy dog we've ever had.

A peke? a therapy dog? Yep -- and what's even more surprising is -- her special favorites? CHILDREN -- NOT just kids, but TINY children. Babies and 18 -24 month old kids. You know -- the ones who will stick their finger in a dogs nose just because?

Kee loved it.  She LOVES children so much. For the next 4 years her life was probably more fulfilling than it had ever been.  ZERO fly-catching.  ZERO seizures.

I was able at the end to wean her off most of the seizure herb even. She didn't die of any big disease - she just got old, frail and sort of almost faded away. Finally she did stop eating (I thought she was going to become transparent -- she just kept on and on and on and on and on ... and she had to be like 19 or older.  If the original "owner" (the woman whose boyfriend stole her) was to be believed, Kee Shu probably was more like 21 or 22 -- we'll never know.

Fly-catching type of petit mal stuff -- they DON'T lose consciousness Debbie -- that's part of how "petit mal" is defined -- there is no loss of consciousness or big physical involvement. Usually no or minimal rigidity.

Tink's are even less than that -- literally they look like a little gasp of breath -- we call them "twitches" for lack of any better term.  No loss of concentration even -- as a matter of fact, with Tink that is when they are most often apt to happen!! When she's really concentrating on something.

Watch and see if the acupuncture alone does it but don't be worried -- I've never seen any of those herbs cause stomach upset -- and there are always things like "Calm the Stomach" that you can add if you need to.

When did the fly-catching start? is it recent? Did it start before or after the stomach distress? Just that additional stress could exacerbate something like that.

The big deal with stuff like this is TO address it and monitor it -- and see if you can get it to stop and stay stopped. Plot it on a calendar and LOOK AND SEE if it is worse with the full moon (on or near a full moon). That alone can sometimes help identify it.

calliecritturs

Watch and see if the acupuncture alone does it but don't be worried -- I've never seen any of those herbs cause stomach upset -- and there are always things like "Calm the Stomach" that you can add if you need to.

When did the fly-catching start? is it recent? Did it start before or after the stomach distress? Just that additional stress could exacerbate something like that.

The big deal with stuff like this is TO address it and monitor it -- and see if you can get it to stop and stay stopped. Plot it on a calendar and LOOK AND SEE if it is worse with the full moon (on or near a full moon). That alone can sometimes help identify it.

OH gosh, that does sound like Alphie, well, sort of. I noticed it really after Axl got sick. But before the new diet, and the tummy issue. We still don't have answers on her panting, except that she doesn't have LP and she's breathing ok. I'll be watching her whenever I can, especially when I'm preparing their meals. That's when she's right at my foot, and I have noticed this during my food preparation a few times. I didn't take note of any pattern though. I call her name whenever she starts and she'll stand and stare at whatever I'm doing intensely. And sometimes after I'm done with brushing her teeth, she'll stare at the wall and pant, then after I call her, she'll lie down and look at me and stop whatever she was doing.When she tries to swat just once I'll call her again and she'll stop right away.

As for checking her more nearing a full moon? Really? I'm so new to this... Meanwhile I'm still monitoring her poop (getting better)

Lee debbie

It's all good, she doesn't have LP.

  That's good news. I thought the vet was doing an ultrasound of her abdominal area though to see if there were any abnormalities that would cause her diarrhea. I hope Ashton keeps doing well too. 

Lee debbie

As for checking her more nearing a full moon? Really? I'm so new to this...

This isn't just something "holistic" -- it is well=established that the phases of the moon DO have quite a bit to do with seizure activity.  If you think about the fact that the moon's pull is SO STRONG that it dominates the tides (and how much the tide rises or falls is very predictable) -- then remember the fact that our bodies are something like 85% water (dogs too) it's not surprising that the phases of the moon DO impact brain activity. 

 So either use little marks on your calender or write it out in a journal -- how many "episodes" you may identify day by day.  But it's not uncommon to see a dog who has any sort of seizure activity to be more prone to it during the full moon phase (which is a couple of days before, the actual day "of" and a couple of days after the full moon).

Tink's, as I said, also increase when she's at all stressed.  Like if David and I are doing something "different" or the schedule changes.

calliecritturs

; But it's not uncommon to see a dog who has any sort of seizure activity to be more prone to it during the full moon phase (which is a couple of days before, the actual day "of" and a couple of days after the full moon).

Tink's, as I said, also increase when she's at all stressed.  Like if David and I are doing something "different" or the schedule changes.