Author Topic: My Neo is having seizures  (Read 8579 times)

Offline Kimberly9528

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My Neo is having seizures
« on: September 06, 2006, 10:15:20 pm »

My Neopolitan Mastiff (Jaxs)has had two seizures now. Hes fine one minute and having a seizure the next and when its over he is disorented and you can't even be around him because he could turn on you. They have been a couple months apart does any one no if this is common in this breed or is it just my dog.

Offline Imani's Mom

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Re: My Neo is having seizures
« Reply #1 on: September 07, 2006, 01:51:36 am »
 :( I am sorry you and your baby are going through this.  I don't know enough about neos to say if it is common, but I do know it is seriously considered by most to be hereditary.  Did you get your baby from a breeder?  If so, you should contact them and tell them what is happening, not only to find out if they have any knowledge of others in your guy's pedigree having had seizures, but to let him/her know that other dogs in your pup's litter and siblings from other litters are at risk.   The next thing you need to do is start taking notes... write down when the seizures occur, how long they last, and what activity you observe during each specific seizure.  From there, a vet appointment for bloodwork to rule out typical causes of seizures, and your vet will probably want to work with you on ruling out environmental causes as well.  Usually, when you go to the vet for the first appointment, they will ask you to start keeping a record, with all the factors I mentioned previously, and the two of you will follow up from there.  If you go to the first appointment already armed with a record in detail, it will speed up the process by several weeks/months, and get your baby on some meds that will help keep him seizure free hopefully for a long time.  Good luck!

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cricket36580

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Re: My Neo is having seizures
« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2006, 01:54:37 am »
No advice, just wanted to say you'll be in my thoughts.  Good luck.

Offline navarre1316

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Re: My Neo is having seizures
« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2006, 03:30:30 am »
Keeping a record is a must.  Note any treats that may have been given on the day of the seizure, where you cleaning, was there a storm, etc, anything even slightly out of the ordinary.  Also look at the ingredients of the food you feed, is wheat the main ingredient.  In people with epilepsy when wheat is removed there is a significant drop in seizure activity, some vets are looking into this in regards to animals.  If he's having seizures every couple of months they more than likely will not medicate him.  They typically only medicate when the dog has more than one a month over a period of time.  Meds WILL NOT make your dog seizure free, but if he starts having seizures on a regular basis it will help with frequency.  My GSD had seizures, and was on phenobarbital and bromide.  If he is put on meds, ask about bromide first.  Make sure your vet is familiar and up to date with info on seizures, it has been changing over the past few years.

While Jaxs is having the seizures just make sure he is not doing any harm to himself (my GSD used to flail with his legs, he had one in a doorway and was slamming his legs into the frame, I had to drag him out of the doorway, I was afraid he'd brake a leg).  Keep yourself away from his face.  Be soothing as he's coming out of it, and make note if his disorientation gets better or worse after the seizures.  Good luck     H
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Offline Kimberly9528

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Re: My Neo is having seizures
« Reply #4 on: September 09, 2006, 09:13:06 pm »
Thank you all for your help!  I will start writing things down when this happens and hopefully we will get to the bottom of this.

Offline newflvr

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Re: My Neo is having seizures
« Reply #5 on: September 10, 2006, 03:25:03 am »
Everybody has given great advice.  Cowboy, my big Landseer is epileptic and it took about a year to get the meds right. He's now been 14 months seizure-free.  I cook for him so I know exactly what is in his food (meat, veg and Coco's Cuisine).  Your doc will probably want to do either an ultra sound or an MRI on his head to see if there is a physical reason for the seizures (a tumor, abcess, etc.).  If nothing shows up it's considered idiopathic (no known cause...assume d to be hereditary).  There are many good drugs out there so don't lose hope if the first ones don't work out.  There's a couple of websites I'll forward to you that were a tremendous help to me, both with information and support.

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Re: My Neo is having seizures
« Reply #6 on: September 10, 2006, 07:14:30 am »
I've read alot on Neo's and I haven't read anything about seizures being common.

Offline newflvr

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Re: My Neo is having seizures
« Reply #7 on: September 10, 2006, 08:19:32 am »
Okay...here's a wonderful site with lots of info. on canine epilepsy.  You didn't mention the age of your pup, but idiopathic epilepsy usually shows up at around a year.  If he's much younger than that, it may be something else.

www.canine-epilepsy.net

In looking over the breeds represented in the study that's being conducted by this group, Mastiffs are listed, but not Neo's per se.  The Newfoundlands listed are from Cowboy and his breeder's dogs so this is not an indicator of the frequency of a particular breed being affected.