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Discussion on Epilepsy
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New Member:
Yoshi
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Posted on Sunday, Nov 10, 2002 - 10:49 am:
Hello to the board. Thank goodness I found you. I wrote a super long post last night about my horse, Yoshi, and his seizures, but have no idea where it posted as I did not understand the board yet. Since I don't want to re-type it...the long and short of it is that this "free" horse I was given three years ago has been epileptic from the day I received him with the fits worsening over the years. Recently they are problematic because he continues to take out the fence on the property where I board him. It has now happened about four or five times and the family is drawing the line. They also want to move him to a pasture that is fenced with that horrible double strand wire. Like barbed only there are no barbs. I keep having visions of him being ensnared in it. Losing feet or a head. Ugh. The fence that he continues to take down is large cable that leaves marks, but he manages to slip through. The wire really worries me.
I guess what I would like to know from people or Dr. Oglesby is how long does it take for the medication to work? And once regulated can this horse be turned out again. The family has offered for me to turn him out on 1900 acres in south Texas with a herd of horses. My concern is that he may do something down there and he wouldn't be found for days. Yet it seems from many of the postings here that they have breakthrough seizures even once they are medicated so he is just as likely to have a seizure and hurt himself here in town. I am trying to decide what to do with him. I don't have much time to decide what course to take as the family wants something done this week. I had not yet tried the phenobarbitol, as to keep this horse in during the summer heat in Texas was too much. Now that it is cooler it is a possibilty to try that route, but part of me thinks that if they have breakthrough fits anyway that maybe the pasture turnout, away from fencelines might be the thing to do. It is such a hard decision. To take him from his buddy and basically abandon him seems harsh. The worst part is I have tried to help this horse from the beginning, but at this point my hands are tied. I don't have my own property or know of any other situations. And it seems as if the family is making a very generous offer. The horse is a fifteen year old gelding with a super sweet personality. He came to me as a horse someone had abandoned at another barn. I know his history and everyone says that prior to his arrival they didn't know of any seizures. I gave him Quest wormer and it seems to have caused them to occur on a monthly basis. And just when I thought I had a pattern figured out. He commenced to have them at odd intervals. It seems as if there is no ryhme or reason. I have had his blood work done and had him worked up completely. My vet says his fits are bonified epilepsy. Until this point I had simply left him alone, but they seem to have worsened and are occuring more often. I don't know what route to take. To treat or to turn out. Or what seems loathesome to me, to put down. I would be grateful for any advice.
Thank you so much,
Leith
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Monday, Nov 11, 2002 - 7:52 am:
Well the medication works very quickly but may take several weeks to stabilize following each adjustment. You will not be able to know in just a week what works best I am afraid. As to whether he will then be safe enough to turn out I cannot say but you should be able to get some improvement following the regimens given in the article associated with this forum.
DrO
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Member:
Cara2
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Posted on Monday, Nov 11, 2002 - 8:51 am:
Hello Leith,
Dr O is right the medication can kick in really quickly. My mare has seizures every 10 days without drugs and we were able to stop them dead at the first attempt. The horse is quite lightly built, but has good big bones and feet for her size (approx 15.1hh)and is muscular so a weigh-tape says she is about 945lbs. Her initial dose was 30 x 60mg phenobarbitone split equally morning and evening and I was told this is the minimum expected dose for that sort of bodyweight.
Yoshi sounds so lovely. He has already had one lucky break as he found his way to you. I think you now have two choices, medicate him or have him put to sleep. I know there is no way you would see him injured and these horses know instinctively to go and lean on a fence so the chances are he would try to sit on a wire fence too. The risk of injury from even plain wire is large. Incidentally are his seizures random, or at a particular time of day? Don't worry about him too much if you decide to start his medication. He will be pretty out of it for a few days so will need to be kept safe from other horses who might be aggressive to him, and if the dose isn't high enough it should still be enough to at least shorten the seizures and/or make them less violent. Yes, its true that I have had breakthrough problems with my mare, but that was largely down to my ignorance - its a very steep learning curve, believe me and I didn't have anyone to really swap notes with. I didn't see the warning signs she was giving me, now I have to see the scars on her pretty face every day as a result. You might be a lucky person and not have to raise the doseage regularly as I do. You might even be able to reduce it after a while. Its a case of suck it and see unfortunately :\ Do ask any questions, I'll try to help and Dr O is brilliant at sensible suggestions promptly given. I wish all vets were that good!
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Member:
Yoshi
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Posted on Wednesday, Nov 13, 2002 - 9:59 pm:
I really hope this post makes it to the board. Someone has to teach me how to use this computer and posting. I am a very slow typist and twice now I have poured out my heart you both. Explaining the trials and tribulations of little Yoshi's rocky journey through life and poof it goes up in smoke! If this short post makes it to the board I will post more on Yoshi. But until then I am keeping it short. Thank you both for your advice and empathy. I appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Leith
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Member:
Yoshi
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Posted on Wednesday, Nov 13, 2002 - 10:33 pm:
Okay it made it. Therefore I will post more. As of today my Yoshi is going to be turned out in south Texas with a herd of four or five cow ponies. My vet spoke with me on Monday about the phenobarbitol, he said he was very hesitant about putting Yoshi on it since he couldn't rule out other causes ie. possible heart attacks or a variety of other things. He said I would need to take him to our local (four hours away) vet college and put him through a slew of expensive tests. Since I live sort of on the edge financially this is not a possibility. Nor is the twice a day regime that the tablets if I were to medicate require. He said he thought the turn out situation might be the best thing. And I have to admit that out of the three and a half years I have owned him one year he spent at a friends breeding farm( I was recovering from a skiing accident, ugh.) He was turned out in a hundred acre pasture and while he would come up with bumps and scratches he certaintly never took down a fence line because the pasture was so large. At that point I was not aware that he had epilepsy and always thought that the scratches to the left side were from horsing around with the thirteen baby boys he lived with. One time he did scratch his eyeball and I brought him into town for rehab at what I like to call the Kendall County Equine Resort and Spa.  I then thought I would see if I could ride again and took him to a friend's barn. Once he was stabled he promptly started circling in the stall and had a seizure to the left side. I thought it was just nerves from being stabled and took him back to the hundred acre situation and rode out of the pasture. All seemed fine until I I brought him back into town a year ago. Then last fall he had a massive seizure in front of me in the stall. That was when I stopped riding him altogether. That is another thing. The family that owns the property doesn't really want me to put him in at all while trying the phenobarbitol because they don't want their stalls messed up.... not terribly sympathetic. Although they are offering the turnout in the 1900 acres. It is hard. I am attached to Yoshi. Yes, Helen he is super sweet. He is the pretty white that grey horses turn and is very finely built with dainty legs and feet. He comes galloping up when you call. It is great to stand at the fenceline and see a white horse come charging up! He was never a lot of fun to ride because he was kind of a runaway, but he was very willing. And he was just begining to get balanced and happy when I decided I couldn't risk riding him. Plus, he can really jump! This is a really hard decision to make. My boyfriend who likes Yoshi and thinks of him as his said that maybe it was time we(he!) should buy some land. So, I keep telling myself this is a temporary measure. That when we find land he will come home. I have two other horses so I am kind of at the mercy of my boarding situation. I chaperone a little girl in return for very low board. I can't afford to have Yoshi ruin it for the other two at this point. Anyway, I know I have rambled, but I feel as if I know both Helen and Dr. Oglesby well since I have read every last post they have written!!!! And I thank you both for it. I would love to hear more of you, Helen and your mare, Cara. Actually, I was so happy to her that you both were still doing well since it had been awhile since you had posted.
Also, Dr. Oglesby how do I access the article you spoke of in your post?
Again, thank you to you both for your postings. It helps to know thereare othere out there dealing with the same issues. Yay! for support groups!
Sincerely,
Leith
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Thursday, Nov 14, 2002 - 4:31 am:
To get to the article you click on Seizures and Epilepsy at the top of this page. This takes you to the page where you first started this discussion. On that page you will see the article's title and an introduction. The title is the link to the article.
DrO
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Member:
Cara2
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Posted on Monday, Nov 18, 2002 - 8:56 am:
Hi Leith. I wish Yoshi the very best of luck. Is it possible to have someone check on him regularly in case he gets into trouble though? I've emailed you privately too.
Helen
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