Heartbreak after heartbreak after... 
by Wendy Ernst

There are a number of serious health issues facing Swissies and other breeds.  One of the important things to think about with epilepsy is that it is NOT a one-time heartbreak, but heartbreak after heartbreak.

Dealing with epilepsy is such a long, drawn-out and frustrating thing. Seizures happen randomly, sometimes frequently, and NEVER when convenient......as it turns out, many occur while you're not even with your dog. Everyone has their own theory about the cause of your dog's seizures....and most begin with "If only you had/had not done (fill in the blank)...". But the truth is, you'll likely never find a 'cause'. If you're lucky, the seizures are mild - your dog simple falls over and shakes (but some dogs are much more violent, biting through their tongue or lips). Watching your dog helplessly as the minutes tick on, it actually even looks like they're not breathing; many dogs urinate and defecate during the seizure. Finally, the seizure begins to end - you can tell because suddenly the dog's mouth opens from its tight grip and the dog is panting...it takes a couple of minutes until the dog is actually up and, even then, the dog is disoriented and confused. For the lucky ones, this stage (post ictal) only lasts a couple of minutes - but for some it can last for a couple of DAYS and, in some cases, the dogs are extremely aggressive during this time, don't recognize their owners and are dangerous!

That episode is over but when is the next? It could be minutes, days, weeks or months... even with medications my dog, the love of my life, was seizing up to 10 times a month. He had hundreds of seizures in the short 4 1/2 years of his life... and in the end it was the anti-convulsants that contributed to his death - isn't it ironic...

Now try taking that dog in public... and just wait until the dog has a seizure in public. There you are, stuck in one place until your dog comes back from the seizure; with all sorts of stupid and rude people asking you why is your dog in the way, blocking the path or the RING gate (yes even dog show people have walked right by me looking completely oblivious to my dog's seizure). Of course, you don't have to deal with the public, you could keep your dog hidden - but my dog loved competition obedience and I decided that he should be doing what he loved (and he earned his CD) , so I chose to deal with that... but many others are afraid to take their dogs out.

Now try talking about your dog having epilepsy...until just very recently NO ONE wanted to talk about it... honestly it felt like you were a leper, it was a deep, dark secret.

Oh, and then there are the anti-convulsants: first your vet goes with Phenobarbital - your dog spends weeks adjusting to it, falling over, wobbly, drinking lots of water and becoming ravenous. Maybe it helps, maybe it doesn't even touch the seizures.....did I mention that pheno has to be given every 12 hours (and that really means every 12 hours, within 15 minutes... if you're late it could trigger a seizure). So the pheno doesn't work alone - you add potassium bromide - luckily given just once a day. Unfortunately, many dogs have GI problems with the KBr... you can try different formulations, capsules, liquid. Don't forget that with each of these medications it is necessary to run blood work to test the levels.

I'm not even sure that any of us who have dealt with a seizure disorder in our dogs can completely explain the experience to someone else. I simple cannot express the complete sadness that I felt every single time I sat next to my seizing dog. I've sat next to him at home, in the yard, on the beach (luckily he came out of the water first), at training class, at obedience trials (never in the ring though), in the car, in the park, in the field and woods... and I'm sure I've missed a few. I've sat next to him and just cried, and I'm sure I'm not alone.

Is epilepsy more important than the other issues facing the breed - no. However, epilepsy IS a horrible tragedy... a continual tragedy for the family - it is a long-term and expensive life-long problem. It has been a long-time unmentionable subject (unlike bloat and some other issues which have been common topics for discussion for quite some time now) and it deserves the attention now... NOT in place of the other issues, but along with them.

Wendy Ernst

In memory of my loving dog Kirby, who taught me a great deal about compassion and led me to my career choice of veterinary medicine.