Last weekend Bobbins had a couple of seizures. They were just the normal seizures, but as she was taking medication to stop them Ian thought he’d go to the vet and check if the dose needed to be increased. He wasn’t even going to take Bobbins to start, as it really was just a routine event, but in the end did take her in case they needed to see her.
But on the way to the vet, she started having a huge seizure which was very different to any that she’s had before – it was hugely lucky that Ian had taken her with him as the vet was able to take action straight away. The vet sedated her and she came home later, but she was still having little seizures. Ian went back to the vet in the afternoon and while it was pretty scary for us, the vet didn’t seem that concerned, although he did say the seizure may have caused brain damage.
He wanted us to have some anti seizure medication which we could give her to stop another seizure, but he didn’t have any in stock so Ian had to do a quick run round visiting all the local pharmacies. He eventually found what he needed in Zafra – but thankfully we didn’t need it as she didn’t have another seizure.
The next day she was very dazed and was having face spasms, and not eating or drinking, but the vet seemed to think that was pretty much as expected – and they put down the fact she was dazed and generally pretty much ‘out of it’ down to the increase in antiseizure medication she’s been taking. They talked about reducing the dose, but the priority is to stop her having another seizure so they kept it at the new level – he also said that it takes them a bit of time to get used to change in medication levels.
Then Bobbins stopped being dazed and started manically walking round in circles, which she just wouldn’t or couldn’t stop. The vet said that was a sign of brain damage – but we he didn’t know what was permanent and didn’t know what was medication related, what could be brain damage and what was normal ‘Bobbins’ behavior. She’s always waIked round in circles so again, it’s difficult to really know what’s going on. I guess if we had gone to the vet in Zafra, we’d have got her brain scanned so we could see what damage had been done, but Antonio, the Llerena vet doesn’t have that type of equipment.
But then little by little she’s started showing positive signs of improvement. So small, at first we didn’t really notice them, for example the face spasms stopped on one side of the face, and then stopped on the other. She’s started eating on her own and while she’s still having water through a syringe, I don’t think it will be long before she starts drinking from a bowl again.
Yesterday we noticed that while she still walks in circles, if Ian was close, she would stop and actually follow Ian. Not in a straight line, but certainly following him. We can stop her from circling now, which we couldn’t do when she was doing it manically. If we picked her up then, her legs were still ‘walking’, but now we can stop her from circling with the hint of food or a gentle nudge.
We also saw her start to run again – well with Bobbins it’s more of a trot. It started as a bit of a skip, and then a couple of skips and then it was back to the Bobbin’s trot.
She seems to be constantly looking for food, and has started chewing and biting basically anything that doesn’t move – so that’s something we have to watch and hope she stops. She’s been eating chicken for the past couple of days, but we’ve now put her back onto her dry food again, so hopefully she’ll be less enamored by that and less keen to find some hiding around the house – and the fact she is now set loose in the house is significant as we were having to keep her in the shower room.
So… we’ll just have to see what the next few days brings. The fact she is eating and (hopefully) drinking unaided is a good thing. And the fact the circling is becoming less manic must also be good – although we don’t know what caused the massive seizure, so that’s also something we need to be aware of.
She’s back at the vet’s today so we’ll see what he says.