I posted the other day about my 3 yr old pomapoo who had a seizure... and I'm looking for a little more advice.

Basically, we've had him for 4 months, he's been healthy, never seen him have a seizure before. Christmas Eve he had one seziure... seemed like he was about to have another (stumbled, fell over) but I picked him up and he was okay.

On Christmas day he had another (not as severe as the first) and then another episode of falling over while outside.

The emergency clinic said it may be due to him being underweight and not eating regularly (blood sugar level is causing seizures?) so we've been feeding him small helpings of canned dog food (Natural Life) every 3-4 hours (while we're awake).

My concern now, though, is that he refuses to drink. He usually goes through about three cups of water per day- and between the time of his first seizure Monday night and today, I've only managed to get him to drink about one. We tried doing things to get him to drink- putting his dogfood in his water (he wouldn't go near it at first- looked almost afraid of the water)- we gave him some soy milk (figured it'd maybe hydrate him a little, plus all the added vitamins?) and then mixed some in with his water to add taste, hoping that would work (he took a few sips and backed away)-

Should I be concerned at this point? His appetite is fine (he's actually much more hungry than usual) and he is urinating and deficating regularly- he has been a lot less active than usual, seems pretty worn out from the seizures, so maybe he just doesn't need as much water as usual? I've tried calling the vet- they can't get me in, said just to watch him for now, and the vet will call me back once he reviews his charts... and that was about 3 hrs ago- so I'm just looking for some input.

My ideas were to either try ice cubes once I get home to him tonight, or maybe pick up some gatorade or pedialyte- something with flavor that he will drink so that he has some fluids in him...

Any ideas/suggestions/feedback? Or anyone know why he would be dong this? Thanks, I appreciate any help you can provide.

If you are giving him canned food maybe it is the extra water in that which is helping to curb his water intake. I think 3 cups of water a day is a lot... mine don't drink that much and they are small dogs. Esp in the winter months. Have they tested your dog for diabetes?
I really would not give him the soy milk, pedialyte or the gatorade. If it makes you feel better give him the ice chips. But I would not fuss over him.

They did a blood glucose test when we brought him in and said he was normal, but by that time it would have regulated itself most likely... from what I have read, it seems that hypoglycemia is common in pomeranians and toy poodles- which he is a mix of... so I'm hoping that that's all it is and that it can be regulated and controlled.

Still trying to get in contact with our vet, but he's been 'too busy' to call me back. =( The woman I spoke with in the vets office did say pedialyte would be okay to give him, but I think I may try the ice first and see if that works. Any particular reason why you would advise against gatorade or pedialyte? I've already done some reading about how soy is not good for dogs, and will not be giving him anymore of that.

Do you know what would typically be done to test a dog for hypoglycemia? Is it possible that he has it, even though his bg wasn't low at the clinic?

Well I know in humans that they can do a test to see how the levels are for the past30 days. I'm thinking they may have the same or close to it for dogs. I have hypoglycemia and it was thought I was diabetic in the beginning.
As for what he drinks I just think plain water is the best to clean out the kidneys. esp... given the fact that he is eating well. If he were mine I would give him filtered or bottled water... I would not expose him to more chemicals than I had to... but that just may be wishful thinking on my part. I would not feed him from plastic only out of glass... something that I heard about plastic releasing chemicals when it breaks down... who knows it could be a lot of hooey... but it is not very hard and simple thing to change.
We have a few vet techs on here it would be nice if they could share some info with you, but it seems as though seizures in dogs are a mystery.

This is kind of out of the blue but another thing you would want to know is that I was at a friends house and her dog had a segure(sorry for spelling) but if you got that dog when it was a litlle older then it might have been in a accident or something like that were it experienced something bad and still has thoughts about it and her dog had a sezure because of lowd noise so whatch out for that

I do hope you have gotten through to the vet. As long as he is still urinating, he should be OK overnight. The Pedilyte or Gator Aid seems backwards to me. Without enough water, his electrolytes will go up. Adding more seems wrong. Try some low sodium beef or chicken broth.

If his blood sugar was low, I see no reason to suggest the possibility of diabetes. You look for high blood sugar in the blood test. Any chance he may have gotten into some sugarless gum or other low sugar product? Sugarless gums contain Xylitol which will drastically drop the blood sugar.

I'm not sure about the Xylitol, I'll have to ask my partner if anything was left out that she can think of-

If that was it, what would need to happen? Just wait it out till it gets through his system?

Yes, margog, you would have to wait it out until it ran through his system. Unfortunately, he needs to drink water to flush chewing gum out of his system. I agree with labman. You are in an area where you can easily find some low fat/low sodium chicken or beef broth at a grocery store. Try and see if that tempts your little guy. It won't hurt him.

I posted on here a few times in the past several days about my 3yr old pomapoo who had seizures on christmas eve/day- took him to the vet today where they tested his blood glucose and said that it was pretty low.

The vet said to just increase the number of times per day we feed him- I asked for a recommendation of dog food, and he said to keep with kibbles and bits (which he's been eating) and just feed him more of it and more often. He didn't want to do anything medicinally or perform anymore tests unless he has more seizures, and wants to just try to regulate it with food right now.

Well, he was out of dog food, and I figured something with better nutritional value might at least be better- so I went to a local pet store to see what they recommend. The guy who worked there said that kibbles & bits is 'low-end grocery store food' and that there are specific types of food to feed hypoglycemic dogs- but that they don't carry them (which lead me to believe he was trying to give me honest advice and not just sell me on something he had in the store)- He said that feeding something more complex is better because it takes the dog longer to break it down, and therefore avoid peaks and drops in his blood sugar levels- which made sense.

I can't get a straight answer out of my vet and am pretty dissatisfied with the 'info' he's given. If anyone could point me in the direction of an informative website, give advice on certain brands/types of food to feed, recommend a feeding schedule... I'd appreciate it.

Also, I would like to know what could have caused this, another answer my vet kind of danced around answering. We've had this dog for four months with no previous issues. A lot has been different for him in the past two weeks, however. My partner was out of state for a week and a half, he flew with me on a plane (twice- round trip), spent two days in a different environment (my parent's house, where they have a dog that he did not get along with and we had to keep him separated from)- could all of this change and added stress have caused this to happen as a one-time thing his body just needs to re-adjust to and then he'll be fine? Like I said, we've only had him for four months, but had no previous indication of this being a problem for him.

Since he got back from his plane-trip, he's been acting differently- nervous, clingy, pacing, just gets up and stares at us or stands in the middle of the room- walking more slowly and with his tail down- sleeps much more...

He also has started having accidents in the house more often- he only had them rarely before- but now, if we both leave him in the house, he pees (squats and goes, like he can't help it) when we return. I thought it was due to stress, but now I've read things that if his blood sugar is low, it could cause him to lose control of his bladder... is that accurate?

I'm going to be looking for a new vet, but between er clinic visits and now his regular vet today, I'm running low on money and need to wait a while to take him elsewhere, unless he has another emergency. So if I could get some feedback on here, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!

Is there a Pet Smart near you? They tend to have a large variety of stuff for dogs.
Also the one near me has a dog clinic where you can get your dog taken care of cheaply.
The clerks are also really knowledgeable about pet care.
They tend to say the same as the vets they have at their clinic. You might want to check there if possible.

As I have said, seizures are poorly understood and hard to treat. I would stick with what your vet said. In difficult cases, sometime it is best to see how the dog responds to a fairly conservative treatment. Often it is just as well for the dog as anything, and easier on the owner's wallet. If the dog fails to respond to it, the vet may at least learn enough to help select the best thing to try next. I don't think it is time to change vets yet. ''there are specific types of food to feed hypoglycemic dogs'' Yes, but they are going to cost a lot more than the Kibbles and Bits. I would try 4 meals a day. Morning, noon if you can, evening, and bedtime. Too much has happened with him. Give him plenty of time to cling to you. Spend time brushing him. It will good the nerves of both of you. You can worry your dog sick. Try to keep an eye on him and take him out frequently and walk him around to stimulate elimination.

There may other areas where there are more opinions without facts to back them up, than dog chow, but I can't think of any. I know much of what you read comes from those selling something. Other factors include ''well all the experts say'', ''I have always done it this way'', ''I have my mind made up, please don't confuse me with the facts'', and ''you get what you pay for''. I strongly suspect your vet knows a lot more about what you dog needs than any pet store clerk, even those at Petsmart.

The average dog owner doesn't know enough about dogs to tell good advice from bad. I don't know how good of advice pet store clerks give. I seldom ask them since I have a better source. Most of my dog information comes from the dog guide program. They ask us to feed Pro Plan, but are quite tolerant of using other brands. They have made some changes since we raised our first puppy in 1991. Back then from time to time, I heard somebody's puppy failed due to hip dysplasia. I recently realized, I hardly ever hear of anyone's puppy failing for physical reasons. Now much of that is due to their careful breeding program. However, I would think it is also a strong endorsement of their feeding and other practices. Just how bad can the chow be where you have 300-400 large breed dogs a year rating OFA good or better on their X-rays and show few other physical problems? Yet, most websites I have seen give Pro Plan and other brands commonly feed by other successful dog guide school low ratings.

For a wide variety of opinions, some of which I think are kooky, see Articles 2 Note how few of them have any controlled tests to back them up. I know the service dog schools have compared how dogs do on different diets. I have never seen any studies available to the public comparing how dogs do on different diets. Time after time, I have asked people to point me to studies backing their opinion on dog chow both here and elsewhere. All I ever get are discussions of ingredients and a few anecdotal examples. Well, my anecdotal examples have thousands of dogs in them. I think if you spend hours digging through all this stuff, you won' find one hard fact suggesting there is anything wrong with the Kibbles And Bits.

Margog, I am so sorry you, your partner, and your dog are going through this. I know how upsetting it is when our pets are ill and we feel frustrated that we can't do more. Your vet is actually recommending the usual course of treatment for hypoglycemia in dogs which is: stick with the food you have always fed and give very small meals throughout the day ensure that your dog's blood sugar will remain at as constant a level as possible. This is the first step in seeing how his body copes. If doing this doesn't resolve the problem, he may need to be put on insulin or other medication. It is a step by step process and he needs to be monitored closely by a vet. The vet also should be giving you advice on what you need to do for your dog if he experiences another seizure. If you don't like your current vet, then you should do what makes you comfortable and switch to someone that you feel will do his best to help your dog.

I have heard that feeding a dog with hypoglycemia Purina's Prescription Diet DCO in small portions through the day is something that some vets recommend, but I cannot tell you that it works because I don't have firsthand experience with this. Speak to your current or new vet about that food or see if Hill's Prescription Science Diet has a special formulation as well. Both are foods that are created by Veterinarians that have studied, and have a greater understanding of, pet nutrition. For me, I prefer to purchase a food created by veterinarians. I don't know if Kibbles n Bits is a food that is any better or worse than others. If it is packed with preservatives and additives, I guess it would be a smart idea to switch up to a food that doesn't have so many chemicals in it just to be on the safe side. I don't like recommending websites on this issue because there is such a major range of opinions out there that it is hard to be certain what the best course of action would be. I prefer working with my vet.

Your dog's problem is most likely a genetic one. The stress you described could have triggered the reaction but it is so hard to say why these things happen. You are going to have to monitor him closely, feed him the small meals during the day, and see how he does. If he manages to even out without having to take any medications, then you know that you have to minimize his stress to keep his system on an even keel. I truly hope that is the case.

My dog had a seizure a few days ago from what we believe to be a hypoglycemic episode- his blood glucose was tested at the er clinic that night and was fine. We brought him to the vet several days later, however, and were told it was quite low and the vet recommended feeding him more frequently.

Today I have been doing a lot of research online, and it seems that hypoglycemia is a common condition in pomeranian and other toy breed puppies and that it can be brought on by periods of stress, such as air travel, a change of environment, being around other dogs, etc. (all of which our dog experienced in the course of a week)- However, all of the websites I have read were pertaining to pom puppies. How likely is it that the overload of stress triggered this kind of response in a 3 yr old dog? He is a pomeranian-poodle mix- weigh in at about 10 pounds, mostly muscle- we're working on fattening him up a bit.

Also, many websites indicated this is 'a condition, not a disease'- does this mean that it occurs only occasionally and should not be a constant concern? And that once his body levels out again and he gets back into a routine, he should be fine? We had him for several months prior to this episode, and he never had any indication of this problem.

Thanks for your advice.

Once again, I have merged your new question into the old. I think it is easier for those trying to help to have all the previous posts available.

I don't have much to add. Many of such medical questions are out of the area where my experience, training, and reading is. Some of the answers should come from your vet the next time you are in.

I will admit I haven't read all of the post so this may have already been addressed. I had a yorkie that had seizures like you are describing. It turms out she had a blood sugar disorder. If she didn't eat properly she would seize. It took us taking her to an emergency clinic and making a dr look at her while she was seizing to find out what was wrong. If your vet "doesnt have time" find one that does! If this is what is wrong with your dog it can kill it. We had to put our dog on nutrical. They gave us a tube of it and she would only eat it if she needed it but we had to catch it when she got weak if she seized it was too late. They told us it was a rare form of some type of diabetes. Basically her body used too much sugar and her sugar would drop drastically in minutes. They told us that if we didn't have the nutrical find something like syrup to boost her sugar but no caffine.

Get to a vet before trying this because it can cause more harm than good if it isn't the problem but if your vet doesn't have time for a dog seizing I would find I new vet!