Vinney’s battle with canine epilepsy…

In the fall of 2014, just after Steve had moved to North Carolina, our 2 1/2 year old Cavapoo Lucy developed cutaneous lymphoma and had to be put down.
If you don’t remember, you can read about that here.

Twenty four hours after putting Lucy down, the kids and I traveled 5 hours to pick up a new puppy (you can read more about that here).

We intended to get a male Cavapoo that we would name Vinney (below on the right) but once there we saw he had a sister and after some snuggling we decided to get them both! The sweet little girl (below on the left) we named Gigi!

(The only way to tell them apart was Vinney had a white patch on his chest.)

 

 

They were so tiny…

 

 

and they were inseparable from the beginning.

 

 

They loved snuggling with each other…

 

 

and with Gabi.

 

 

Life was a bit hectic with two new puppies and trying to sell a house but they filled our hearts with such love it was worth every minute.

That’s my sweet Vinney-

 

 

Vinney very quickly attached himself to my side and became known as my shadow.
We were inseparable!

 

 

He loved his daddy too!

 

 

Napping after a long day of working on the house!

 

 

He loved to participate in silly games with Papa B and Zach…

 

 

He loved watching outside (he is on the left) …

 

 

but mostly he loved playing ball and hiding it from his sister.

 

 

He loved playing tug with it and he always won.

 

 

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On March 12, 2018 Vinney had a ~90 second seizure with rhythmic movements of his fore and hind legs, paddling, they call it. During the seizure I had no idea which dog it was, they looked so much alike, and when I realized it was my special guy…

I lost it.

Later that night he had a second seizure with a staring episode followed by neck thrusting and chomping of the jaw.

The vet couldn’t find any obvious cause for the seizures so he was diagnosed with canine epilepsy. He explained that once a medication was started, Vinney would be on it for the rest if his life. Medications typically work for awhile and then stop, so a second medication would need to be added and so on. I chose to hold off on starting something until he had another seizure.

Twelve days later it happened. It was similar in his movements but it was different in that he lost bladder and bowel control and he had an identifiable post-ictal (or post seizure) period with significant agitation that lasted nearly 60 minutes and sleepiness for about 24 hours.

We started his first anti-epileptic medication Potassium Bromide the following day.

For the next year we battled his seizures with the addition of Zonisamide, CBD oil and a ketogenic diet. There were months without any seizures and then last fall things changed. He started having clusters of seizures with 3-4 in a 24-36 hour period and they lasted up to 3 minutes, he was more vocal and his post-seizure agitation was almost as bad as the seizure.

Phenobarbital was started and given if we knew he was going to have a seizure (his affect would change several hours before a seizure) or after he had the first seizure in attempt to stop the clusters.

We used the Phenobarbital three times in September and it worked!

No seizures at all in October and only one in November but it was really bad.

He was very vocal, yelping and whining, bit his tongue and was writhing so wildly he fell off the edge of the bed. It was pitiful but the phenobarbital that we gave afterward  prevented his classic cluster.

After 18 months and 57 seizures, I was so hopeful that we had finally figured him out!

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On December 13, 2019 I was talking to Zach, while on my way home from work, and he told me Vinney was having a seizure. Zach described the same viscous symptoms as his previous one and he planned to give the Phenobarbital once the seizure stopped.

When I got home Vinney didn’t come running to greet me! Even during his agitated post-ictal period he would come running, something was dreadfully wrong!

Steve was in our bedroom sitting with Vinney. Vin was laying on the bed with a visible whole body tremor and was staring. He wasn’t even aware we were in the room.

Eventually the tremors stopped however the staring continued with brief moments of alertness where he recognized me and his tail would thump.

He woke up Saturday morning with an ear piercing bark that I had never heard before and then fell over and seized. It was very similar to the previous two but lasted well over 4 minutes. He was very quiet after and staring.

Our vet was able to fit us in to evaluate Vin. I wasn’t ready to part with my buddy and was hopeful they could stop the seizures. (He had the cutest under-bite, you can see in this photo from the vet visit that morning.)

 

 

Vinney laid on the exam table and just stared at me like he was trying to tell me something was wrong. It was pitiful!

 

 

After labs and xray/ultrasound she couldn’t find any reason for the constant seizures (status epilepticus) other than just a progression of his disease.

The vet loaded him up on Versed as a last attempt to stop the seizing.

Later that evening Vin began whining constantly and started rubbing his head into my leg, arm and into the mattress. It was pathetic! Obviously something in his head was hurting him.

I gave him more Phenobarbital and a leftover pain pill from a muscle strain Gigi had had and they did nothing to help.

He just whimpered and whined and wouldn’t settle down.

About 10 pm I made the decision that we’d done everything we could to help him and it was time to put him down.

I got as far as the back door and I sat down on the floor with Vinney in my lap, like a child having a tantrum, crying and saying I couldn’t do it.

Steve, my very rational and loving husband, who had been so patient with me all day knowing that I needed to make this decision, helped me up and and gently coaxed me out of the house into the car.

 

 

We went to the Emergency Vet and a very compassionate Veterinarian, who’s name I cannot remember, put him down.

He was finally at peace …

We still miss you sweet Vinney!

 

 

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Gigi had a rough time for a couple of weeks really, but the first couple days were the worst. She sat looking out the window for hours and I would find her going through the house searching every room, over and over again.

 

 

We went to WI for the holidays and when we got back she did the room checking thing a couple times and then it stopped.

 

 

She’s finally found her way without her brother and she’s not complaining at all about being the center of all our attention!

She’s also really happy to have the ball all to herself!

P.S. It’s motorcycle season, so look twice and save a life!