Your Pet's Health

Tony Page

Tony Page

Well-known member
I didn't see a thread specifically about your pet's health so I started this thread.

My dog Tia had a seizure tonight this is not her first. She has a history of seizures when we first got her she was having them once a month we traced the trigger to a flea and tick pill the vet had prescribed for her. The vet replace the pill with a flea collar and it did the same thing. We stopped all medication related to flea treatments.

She still get seizures but they're not as often every 8 months to a year.

When she has them it scares the heck out of me. tonight's is no different I'm really worried this one has lasted longer than most. she seems to be going in and out of the postical phase, it's described as your dog is likely experiencing the postictal phase, a period of confusion, disorientation, & blindness.

Right now she's laying on her bed looking around like she doesn't know where she is, I'm worried.

While she's having a seizure she gets stiff, shakes, has a wide eye glaze. All we can do is hold her and comfort her.

I don't know if there's a medication for this but she's been to the vet a few times about this, actually two different vets and neither one prescribed anything for this condition.

She just put her head down on her bed and she's resting.

The hardest thing for us is trying to figure out if there was something she ate or came in contact with that triggered this, doesn't mean she couldn't find something in the yard when she's outside.

I will be monitoring her all night.
 
@Tony Page, I am sorry for that and appreciate your concern. I had a cat who had a couple of seizures within as many days after being vaccinated. It's scary, and I was a paramedic for twenty years. However, that same cat lived to be nearly 29 years old. Here's what I found.

Some flea medications, particularly those in the isoxazoline class, can trigger seizures in pets, even those with no neurological history.

Some flea and tick treatments contain active ingredients that affect the nervous system. Isoxazoline compounds, used in Bravecto, NexGard, Simpatico, and Credelio, have been linked to seizures, tremors, and loss of coordination in pets, including those without previous seizure history.

Similarly, pyrethrin or pyrethroid-based spot-on treatments can also cause seizures, particularly in small or sensitive animals. These ingredients target the nervous system of fleas but can inadvertently affect the pet's nervous system.

Safer flea treatment options include:

  • Sentinel (lufenuron + milbemycin oxime): Disrupts flea egg development without affecting the nervous system.
  • Capstar (nitenpyram): Provides rapid flea knockdown for 24 hours, minimizing exposure to neuroactive compounds.
  • Spot-on treatments may be safer than oral medications if not ingested or licked, but caution is recommended.
  • Natural remedies like essential oils are not always safer, and some can be neurotoxic.
  • Consider combining safer medications with non-chemical methods like regular grooming, vacuuming, and flea combing.
At the same time, consider my signature: "Free advice is worth what you paid for it."
 
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Ken,@Ken Anderson
Thank you, excellent information. We were grooming her with a brush and flea comb, I got to be honest we were not grooming her enough, we want to furminate her more also, because she's shedding. We take her to a groomer for shampoos and they would kill any fleas they saw. Fortunately we haven't seen any fleas on her recently. The last time we saw a flea was over a year ago and we killed it with Dawn dish detergent.

Tia, came out of the seizure and was in the postictal phase while I was posting this thread. 15 minutes later she was back to a tired normal, she rested for about half hour, then she followed us to her night time bed at the foot of our bed. She's doing good I just check on her. Hopefully she'll be ok for a long while.
 
Tony Page said:
We take her to a groomer for shampoos and they would kill any fleas they saw. Fortunately we haven't seen any fleas on her recently. The last time we saw a flea was over a year ago and we killed it with Dawn dish detergent.
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I had a cat who began losing patches of her fur because she wouldn't stop scratching and biting at it. I brought her to a vet and he diagnosed it as having fleas, although he had found none. I had been combing her out regularly and didn't see any either, but, like doctors, veterinarians rarely accept anything they're told as factual. I went for a second opinion, and another vet prescribed a steroid medication, which seemed to help some but it made her crazier than she already was.

In the end, it turned out to be an allergy to either corn, soy, or wheat, which were in the cat food that I was feeding at the time. It was drying her skin out, causing the itching and discomfort that led to the scratching. The solution didn't come from a veterinarian, but from a Blue Buffalo representative at Petco. I switched my cats from Science Diet and Iams to Blue Buffalo, and her fur began clearing up within a couple of weeks. She quit fussing with it, and regained a nice coat. She lived to be 24. I had three other cats at the time, and they started looking healthier and livelier, and I hadn't even realized they weren't already healthy. I have also seen only about three fleas in the 20 years since, and haven't used any flea poisons. I was letting my cats outside for much of that time, and would comb them out as they came in, and those fleas were found during these checks.
 
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Sheryl McConnell said:
I have been using Sentinel flea collars for years. I find them very effective and well worth the cost and no
problems with fleas. If I try a new brand of food and my dog begins having itchy spots, it's easy to remedy
now.
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I know it's true for cats, and probably true of dogs to some extent, that they don't digest corn, soy, or wheat well anyhow, so even without an allergy, it's not real food for them.
 
Cats were made to eat birds and rodents, so I can't see where chicken should be a problem. Cats are obligate carnivores, so while it's natural for them to have some vegetable and perhaps grain in their diet, which they would get from their prey's intestines in the wild, they are made to eat meat. I think any kind of meat would provide the taurine they need. To me, it makes sense to consider what they would eat in the wild, allthough people are not inclined to feed rodents to their pets. My cats would eat beef, but it's not high on their list, and I don't think I've ever had a cat who would eat lamb. I ordered a case of an expensive lamb recipe from New Zealand, and, not only was it absolutely refused by both Ella and Bubba, but the feral and stray cats that I feed outside wouldn't eat it either. However, cats are individuals; clearly, many cats will eat lamb because it's a popular brand. Duck isn't high on their list, either, so Ella gets mostly chicken and turkey, and a fair amount of fish. She likes fish but I worry about mercury, assuming that the best fish isn't made into cat food, so I don't give her a lot of fish.
 
Ken Anderson said:
Cats were made to eat birds and rodents, so I can't see where chicken should be a problem. Cats are obligate carnivores, so while it's natural for them to have some vegetable and perhaps grain in their diet, which they would get from their prey's intestines in the wild, they are made to eat meat. I think any kind of meat would provide the taurine they need. To me, it makes sense to consider what they would eat in the wild, allthough people are not inclined to feed rodents to their pets. My cats would eat beef, but it's not high on their list, and I don't think I've ever had a cat who would eat lamb. I ordered a case of an expensive lamb recipe from New Zealand, and, not only was it absolutely refused by both Ella and Bubba, but the feral and stray cats that I feed outside wouldn't eat it either. However, cats are individuals; clearly, many cats will eat lamb because it's a popular brand. Duck isn't high on their list, either, so Ella gets mostly chicken and turkey, and a fair amount of fish. She likes fish but I worry about mercury, assuming that the best fish isn't made into cat food, so I don't give her a lot of fish.
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With Izzy rule of thumb is “great food I love it”. I buy a case it is “been there, all yours”. She is a grazer, very bad eater und underweight. B12 and who knows what.
She loves getting brushed. She will wiggle on her back and ask for more. Furminators is a no as her fur is soft baby fur and long.
 
I have a VERY finicky cat. He doesn't like treats, hates fish, he refuses to eat any canned food, and he won't eat tuna at all. I have never had a cat that refuses tuna, but here we are. :rolleyes: He used to like Duck dry cat food, then the formula must have changed and he began to turned his nose up at that, and would walk away from it. His most favorite dry cat food used to be Orijen. Orijen was made in Canada. Several years ago, Kentucky started to manufacture Orijen for cats and dogs in the US. He refused to eat it; different ingredients. I often wondered if that is why he ended up in a shelter, where I adopted him from. With all his fussiness, he is still a super sweet 12 year old cat the rules the house.😺
 
Krystal Shay said:
I have a VERY finicky cat. He doesn't like treats, hates fish, he refuses to eat any canned food, and he won't eat tuna at all. I have never had a cat that refuses tuna, but here we are. :rolleyes: He used to like Duck dry cat food, then the formula must have changed and he began to turned his nose up at that, and would walk away from it. His most favorite dry cat food used to be Orijen. Orijen was made in Canada. Several years ago, Kentucky started to manufacture Orijen for cats and dogs in the US. He refused to eat it; different ingredients. I often wondered if that is why he ended up in a shelter, where I adopted him from. With all his fussiness, he is still a super sweet 12 year old cat the rules the house.😺
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Have you tried chopped raw calve liver?
 
Ken Anderson said:
Cats were made to eat birds and rodents, so I can't see where chicken should be a problem. Cats are obligate carnivores, so while it's natural for them to have some vegetable and perhaps grain in their diet, which they would get from their prey's intestines in the wild, they are made to eat meat. I think any kind of meat would provide the taurine they need. To me, it makes sense to consider what they would eat in the wild, allthough people are not inclined to feed rodents to their pets. My cats would eat beef, but it's not high on their list, and I don't think I've ever had a cat who would eat lamb. I ordered a case of an expensive lamb recipe from New Zealand, and, not only was it absolutely refused by both Ella and Bubba, but the feral and stray cats that I feed outside wouldn't eat it either. However, cats are individuals; clearly, many cats will eat lamb because it's a popular brand. Duck isn't high on their list, either, so Ella gets mostly chicken and turkey, and a fair amount of fish. She likes fish but I worry about mercury, assuming that the best fish isn't made into cat food, so I don't give her a lot of fish.
Click to expand...
I have feral cats that are on my property, I will feed them cat food but the food they seem to like best is Purina One dog food salmon.? It's a dry food.
 
Marie Miller said:
With Izzy rule of thumb is “great food I love it”. I buy a case it is “been there, all yours”.
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I have at least 15 brands at any given time, and, other than an occasional trip to Petco, most of what I buy, I get from Amazon, so they are all cases. By having so many on hand, not so much goes to waste because my cats don't want the same thing every day, either. After trying to pawn off cans of Zeal Lamb recipe on my cats as well as the outdoor cats, I finally composted the rest of it.
 
I didn't let my son eat whatever he wanted, and I don't let my cats eat whatever they want; well, in a sense I do, but I don't include any junk foods in their choices. Kids and cats will often choose the junk food, then regret it when they get sick and die young.
 
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