So far Iris hasn't had any more seizures. It was just the one on Saturday. She's acting completely fine. If I hadn't been home to see it, I wouldn't have known it happened (which is actually something that scares me. I'm still looking into setting up a webcam).
We got her blood work results today and everything came back normal. That is good news even if we don't have an answer. Iris' regular vet called about her blood work (not who we saw on Sat, we got squeezed in as an emergency and saw their part-time vet), so I got to talk to him a bit about what might be going on. He really seemed to feel that we should take a wait and see approach. Everything about Iris seems perfectly fine otherwise. The vet thinks the two most likely scenarios are that it's a response to some sort of toxin or the beginning of epilepsy (something that's becoming more common in Aussies). The other possibility is that it's a tick borne disease, although Dr K didn't think so because she's showing no other symptoms and her blood work looked good other wise. I still might have her tested.
Tomorrow morning, I'm going to go talk to the leasing office to see if anything was sprayed in or around my building or if anything was put on the lawn. My room mate thinks the landscapers were here recently, but she can't remember exactly when. Also, we used to have a lot of bugs hanging out in the building foyer because it's warm and sunny in there. The bugs disappeared recently, but I don't know if that's a change in the weather or if something was sprayed in the foyer or around the building foundation?
While I'm sitting a stressing about toxins, ticks, and epilepsy, the red dog is stretched out on the couch perfectly fine without a care in the world. I think I'm going to go join her.
6 comments:
Sometimes the have contracts to control the bugs. Are they allowed to just come in your apartement to spray? You might want to check that. Diana
Dr. K is good - at least you can feel confident in that. Have you done a recent 4dx SNAP test? At least the cost of that isn't out of this world. We're keeping you in our thoughts. I am glad right now there has only been the one. Paws crosssed it was an odd reaction and that's it.
Also, find out what type of mulch they use outside and has Iris eaten any of it recently? Coco mulch is highly toxic to dogs and can cause seizures, among other things. And yes 6 is not to old to start displaying signs of idiopathic epilepsy, unfortunately. There is a really good web site on dogs and seizures, I will e-mail it to you.
Hey Melissa, it's your aunt in Maine. Dad told me about Iris. I felt so bad. This may be a long shot but from my work with lead poisoned kids, I know animals can get lead poisoned and often the first sign is seizures. Do you live in an old building? Did the vet happen to test for lead? Thinking of you.
Oh Blue, I'm sorry to hear Iris had a seizure. Glad to hear she's doing well since than. I'll be thinking of you both.
Thanks everyone for the advice! So far, we've been able to rule out just about everything (mulch, lead, insecticide in the building). I think the two big suspects are lawn chemicals (because she could have come in contact with something while I was walking her) or the onset of epilepsy. She's been doing so well lately, I'm still hoping it some sort of fluke thing.
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