Doggie Siezure

My poor pooch, Jassie had a sierzure yesterday. She was scared, I was scared, the vet was no help. Talk about freaking out but trying to stay calm for your "child". My vet was out of town, and the other local vets couldnt get us in for 2-4 hours, what part of URGENT! We need to see a vet NOW! dont they understand? This is my baby here! I'm sorry if a few patients who are getting routine checkups are delayed, but this is an emergency! .... At least that's what my vet's assistant told me, that I needed to get her to the vet IMMEDIATELY if it happened again ... and it did to a lesser degree 5 minutes later, it was more like cramping that time than siezing. In my freaked out state of mind I couldnt think of what Karo syrup was and for some odd reason the assistant couldnt explain it. Give her Karo syrup? What do you mean by give? Rub it on her? Let her eat it? What is Karo syrup? The corn syrup you bake with, or some other dog product? The assistant couldnt tell me if it was corn syrup, she didnt know. *snort* Repeating Karo syrup doesnt clarify anything. She finally said most people have it in their house, it must be the corn syrup ... but light or dark? Which one do I give her light or dark? She hadnt a clue there were two different kinds. Either would work I guess, she said. I guess? You're telling me "I guess" at a time like this?!? How much do I give her? I had to ask, she never offered. Let me tell you, she didnt help me out much in that paniced situation. The siezure lasted nearly 3 minutes, but it felt like 15. By the time I made my way to the pantry to get the KARO LIGHT CORN SYRUP her muscles were relaxing and she could follow me with some effort. And she likes corn syrup, oh yes, she likes it a lot. I cancelled the appointment with the other vet after 2 hours or resting peacefully and no reaccurance, maybe that was the wrong thing to do. Jasmine (& Luke) get so worked up and tramatized at the vet's it's nearly impossible to control without sedative and in her state I was extremely hesitant to dope her up on sedative. I hadnt a clue what triggered it in the first place, maybe dropping her blood pressure we trigger another siezure, I had no clue.

Late in the afternoon (the siezure happened at 11:24 am) I was able to tear myself away from my dog long enough to come up to Dixie's and let her out to run for a while. Searching the internet resulted in several possibilities, but most likely low blood sugar in this case ... somehow the vet assistant didnt bother to tell me that part. What causes low blood sugar? When you run out of energy? Arent eating enough? Often enough? I'm tempted to give her corn syrup every day to prevent it. It was probably more tramatic for me than for Jasmine. What I read online didnt give a whole lot of information expect there is nothing you can do during the siezure except to comfort and stay calm for the dog.

Brad came home to help me. He's so good about that. His animals mean the world to him. He said he drove 90 to get home, that's all country roads no highway. By the time he got home Jassie had pulled out of it and greeted him at the door. He stayed home the rest of the day and worked around the farm so he'd be available if it happened again. I never told him how much I appreciated that, I really should.

One more reason why I dont want kids (we're up to 1011 reasons now ;) ). I can hardly handle a doggie episode and babies cant tell you what's wrong either.

If you're dog ever siezures I hope your vet tells you to feed them 1 Tbs light corn syrup instead of using a brand name like Karo (and I even had Karo brand in my cupboard). Though I would never wish that on anyone, or any dog.

Have a lovely weekend, hug & kiss your dog everyday ... I do, many times. ;)