Dog Epilepsy

In 2002 we got our first dog.A female Bullmastiff,10 months old called May.She was a typical pup for that age, always wanting to play and with too much cheekiness for her own good! She was full of life and fun and plainly she just wanted to enjoy herself. At the time, my wife and i had no children so we made her our little baby ,so to speak.Where ever we went she went and i can even remember taking her to work with me, although having a Bullmastiff around a house you're trying to paint was too much of a challenge for me and never happened again! After 18 months we had a weekend away in North Wales and took May with us. It was there that she had her first seizure, although we didnt know what it was at the time. In fact she had several so, when we got back, we took her up the vets.The vet said it was probably epilepsy but to keep an eye on her to see how severe it was. Over the next few months her seizures got worse.She was having siezures every 7-10 days and they were clusters, as many as 20 in 2-3 days.So we went back up the vets.This time he diagnosed her with Clustered Grand Mal.The symptoms were too severe to go unmedicated so we were told to give her Phenobarbital,300mg daily.Within a couple of weeks her seizures had started to ease up and within 3 months she was only having them every 3-4 months.Sometimes clusters, sometimes just one, so things had improved.

This was pretty much how it continued, but with one big difference, she lost the urge to play. In fact whenever i took her out for a walk, although fine on a lead, when i let her off, her head used to go down as if losing all interest in the walk. Now for anyone who hasnt had a Bullmastiff they can be incredibley stubborn at the best of times.Generally doing only what they want to when they want and not a moment before! This said she had always been obedient and well behaved but now it was taking just a little more effort on my behalf. I noticed that she was starting to sleep more in the day.With the only thing possibly affecting her like this being her medication we slowly started to reduce it. We ended up reducing it down to a third over time with her still only having seizures only every few months.This seemed to make a big difference in her, so much so that she seemed to have a bit more of her old self coming back.

All the blood tests every few months to test her liver, apparently were fine, so the medication was working ok. We continued with it all even though bit by bit our dog was slowly changing into to someone we barely recognised.We were told by the vets there was no other option and if May didnt have her medication she would probably die from a heart attack caused by her seizures. Now im assuming you have already read the article about our daughter Becki, so i wont go into that, but it goes without saying that my wife and i changed our diets over night when our daughter passed away, due to everything we learnt about the importance of eating the right food. Whats good for us must be good for animals, i thought and so tried to think of a way to improve our dogs diet.

From day one we never gave her any tit bits or food we thought would be bad, with her main meals being EUKANUBA. Over the years we tried several different complete foods but none of them seemed to give her a shiny coat like Eukanuba did so we kept her on that with a few bits of fruit and veg thrown in now and again. I went on line to read about Eukanuba and it seemed like it was one of the better ones to use. If this was so who am i to argue.So with the knowledge of that, i decided to keep her on it as it looked like the best option for her.

In July 2009 i discovered something that looked like a tick on May. We treated it with natural oils but after a few weeks it was clear it wasnt a tick. By now May really couldnt be bothered about going for a walk. Not one for being beaten by a Bullmastiff i still took her, regardless.
A month or so later i noticed that the growth on her back was getting bigger and turning darker. 48 hours later and there were another 2 lumps coming up under her rib cage. 48 hours after this another 3 lumps came up under the other side of her rib cage.She now had 1 growth that was getting bigger by the day and slowly turning black, as well as 5 lumps under her rib cage!

Oh my god, i thought. Not again......With having gone through all we did and more importantly what we learnt through Becki, there was no way i was going back to the vets. Whatever this was, or wasnt, i was going to treat it myself. With some advice from a special someone (you know who you are) i began treating her with suppliments left over from Beckis' treatment. All the suppliments were to boost her immune system and to basically fight any susspected cancer that she may have. I want to stress she was NOT diagnosed by the vets for cancer, this was only my assumption.
Along with the suppliments, i was using DMSO, SUPER-SILVER and MSM to treat her growth and lumps topically. Within 48 hours of using these, 3 of the lumps had gone and havnt been back since. With things looking good i wanted to try and find out what had caused this SUSSPECTED cancer.

PHENOBARBITAL

It wasnt long before i found out that prolonged use of this drug can and DOES lead to liver toxicity. One of the leading causes of
DOG CANCER!
Something the vets dont tell you when they issue you with them for your dog! Its all starting to sound familiar again eh..........
It was also clear that true dog epilepsy is very rare if at all possible.There is no medical proof anywhere to back up TRUE DOG EPILEPSY.
True epilepsy is when a neon miss fires in the brain, something that happens more in humans.
To come to a conclusion that a dog has true epliepsy a vet (and owner) must first rule out a number of other possible causes for the seizures.

Toxicity of any kind, brain, heart, liver etc
Enviroment
Stress and or Trauma
Genetic backround
Bad diet
Hyperglycemia and several other things.

It is only when all of these other causes have been ruled out that epilepsy can be diagnosed.The blood tests and scans involved in all this can take many weeks if not months to get the results of.This is also the same in humans. In other words NO human or animal should be diagnosed with epilepsy without everything else being ruled out first. In fact one of the most common cause of seizures in dogs is Hyperglycemia.

I know for a fact none of these tests were done on my dog. If you look up the medical term for CANINE EPILEPSY you will find that it means
DOG SEIZURES BY UNKNOWN CAUSES!
In other words your wonderful animal loving vet couldnt be bothered to find out the cause and so has just thrown you a packet of pills (that kill)  to give to your dog hoping it will help with the seizures.

I was fuming. I couldnt even be bothered to go and talk to the vets, we all know what they would have said anyway! Well at least by now i knew what the cause was and so it was clear that one way or another May HAD to come off her medication. Another thing the vets dont tell you is that Phenobarbital is highly addictive! Not knowing how i was going to control her epilepsy was worrying, but getting her off the Phenobarb was crucial to making a start on detoxin her body. Over several weeks i managed to reduce it to just one tablet a day, still with no fits. Great, i thought, the suppliments are working and everything going in the right direction. I started to find out a bit more about the dietry needs of dogs and stumbled across something that shocked me. COMMERCIAL DOG FOOD KILLS. Im not going to go into the ins and outs of it but in a nut shell commercial dog foods are not good, fullstop.They lack good protein, vitamins and amino acids that are VITAL to your dog.They also have alot of additives and preservatives that are known to cause cancer. Moreover, the proteins used are from the leftovers at the  SLAUGHTER HOUSE. Bits which include, CANCER INFECTED LIMBS, UNBORN FETUSES, DEFORMED LIMBS and many more nasties!

It was clear that Eukanuba was not as good as i first thought!

I had to get May off this and swap her over to food which i was going to cook. With any dietry change it has to be done over a period of time and so over a couple of weeks i started to introduce more veg and less dried dog food. May has never had a problem with food and as with most dogs she took to the change in diet well.

NOVEMBER 2009

With May now off the medication and no fits as of yet, all is going well.That is until i noticed the growth getting bigger again. Her coat wasnt as shiny and i knew something was wrong. I kept on with the suppliments and treating her topically. I was also aware that her mood had changed, but why. Treating any dog, or human for cancer isnt to be taken lightly.There are alot of does and donts, and to be honest with you, if it hadnt been for what we learnt through Becki i may not have tried it myself.Through detoxin, the body can go through many changes. One of which can be severe weight loss. I was prepared for this from last years experience with our daughter. If the diet is good along with the right suppliments, then treatment should continue. Stopping just because of weight loss can be fatal and so was not an option.

November 8th 2009.

I noticed that one evening May had left her tea. Not thinking too much of it i left it out and checked next morning. It was still there so i swapped it over and gave her some fresh breakfast. She didnt eat this either. I was about to find out why.

Saturday afternoon and she started to have a fit. Not a big one but never the less a fit. By the evening she had several more. By the night May was having clusters ,the likes of which i have never seen. I stayed up with her until early hours of the morning. I made sure she was as comfortable as possible and tried to get a couple of hours sleep.The next morning, with tears in my eyes i had a stomache churning feeling my dog was dead. I went to check on her in her kennel. What i saw sickened me beyond all belief. She was layed out almost dead, frothing at the mouth and about a stone and a half lighter! I'd seen her have clusters before but nothing on this level. One thing was for sure, i had to get some food into her.So with that in mind i liquidised some fruit and veg and forced fed her.She didnt want it, who would in that state! But i knew with the weight loss if she didnt eat, her chances werent great. I kept this up all day, every 2 hours. Along with her suppliments this was full on round the clock care.To my shock the fits got worse and more intense. So much so that she was now "fitting" every 2-3 minutes.

Within two and a half days my dog had over 100 fits!. I didnt know any living thing could endure this!

Monday morning and i'm now preparing to watch my dog die. I was at a stage i thought would never happen again. It happenend last year with treating our daughter. There comes a point where things are so critical and intense that you start to doubt what you are doing is right.I  knew if i gave her medication the fits would stop withhin 12 hours or so. But back on Phenobarb would CERTAINLY kill her. I  was also aware that if she kept on going as she was, she was going to die from a heart attack! I didnt know what way to turn but one thing was for sure. My dog was not going to die through more lies from the so called medical experts, she was NOT going back on her medication.

I had faith in what we were doing but it just didnt seem to be working quick enough. From last years discovery about the importance of diet i can remember reading about the Budwig Diet.This diet proved in 1957 by Dr Johanna Budwig that cancer and most chronic and degenerative illnesses  can be reversed, cured and even prevented by providing the right proteins and amino acids along with major lifestyle changes.This protocol is in my opinion the number 1 protocol anywhere. It can reverse just about ANYTHING if followed strictly. I will come to the diet later in a seperate article. With all this in mind i made a mad dash out to buy all the things. It is important to know that at this stage my dog was not swallowing on her own. Which was causing complications of its own! (Ever tried force feeding a Bullmastiff who doesnt want to swallow!)
I kept feeding her with the Buddwig diet every hour.There was no differece first of all with her still not knowing what was going on. I remember sitting down with her, holding her head in my hands and just crying. I swear that there was a tear role down her eye. She knew things were very wrong. No matter how bad things would get i was going to stand by her AND my beliefs in diet! That afternoon she had a fit when i was with her. I rushed for the honey as i know this helps bring her round after a fit. She was still having the fit when i managed to get some in her mouth, OOOOOOOOOuch.....
Her jaw clamped down on my fingers and wouldnt open. I was wresstling with a Bullmastiff with my fingers stuck in her mouth while she was having a fit! Stupid mistake, NEVER put your hand in a dogs mouth while having a fit. ALWAYS either do it just before or just after. Needless to say im now nursing a crushed finger!

Within a few hours her whole body was twitching with a glazed look in her eyes. But there was something different about her. She seemed slightly more aware of what was going on. Could this be working i thought.Then she had another one. No its not, i thought, yes it is, no its not, yes it is.

I didnt know what the hell to think! I had to keep on going even if there was a slight chance. Still syringe feeding every hour round the clock and only 48 hours after starting the diet her fits slowly started to get less and less.Since all this started on Saturday, May hadnt had a poo for 5 days. She obviously didnt know how to work one bit of her body. She is having a colon cleanse - ROYAL TEA and so i knew sooner or later there would be something come out the other end! Yesterday she had her first poo! I dont think she had a fit yesterday and i know for a fact she hasnt had one all night and still nothing today (Friday). With another poo today and and an alertness in her again it was time to see if she was up for a gentle walk. Sure enough, when i got her up with her lead on we were able to go down our road. It was only a short walk but it was like walking on a cloud! This was the same dog who had by now endured between 100-150 fits over a 5 day period. By all accounts this dog should be dead!

Now im not saying that everything is going to be ok with May, but for right now she seems to be making a remarkable recovery. As i write this she is sleeping for the first time in 5 days .I guess she will do this for the next several days after what she has been through! She is still on the Budwig diet and will remain on it for good.

Whatever happens i know that this diet has already brought her out of this nighmare.Will it continue to work. I cant answer that but what i will say is that im under the impression that with the RIGHT diet and suppliments great things can and DO happen.

So lets just see ...............

S.Hunt