Medicating for seizures - anyone do this?

[dustypaws]

Hi all,

So one of my male chinchillas has hereditary seizures. He is almost 7 years old and has them quite infrequently - he can go years without having any. They just come at random times and I usually hold him until it passes to make sure he isn't choking or hurting himself while he is out of it.

Recently he's had a bout of them two weeks apart. Saturday's nights episode lasted for a bit with him popping back to normal right after. He was back to normal on Sunday - eating, taking a dustbath, running around his cage (much like he is doing now). I don't think that these are due to a lack of blood sugar or heat, they just happen.

I'm starting to get worried since I've seen him have two seizures two weeks apart, and I was wondering if anyone else out there who has a chinnie who has seizures medicates them? It honestly breaks my heart to see the little guy when he has one.

I'm making a vet appointment and I plan on bringing this up but I just wanted some other opinions. Thanks so much.

 

[ticklechin]

Rather than medicating on a daily basis with phenobarbital, I would treat the seizure as it happend with injectable valium to start, pheno is hard on the liver long term in chinchillas. Has the type of seizure been diagnosed to rule out nutritional seizures or is it truely epilepsy?

 

[Encantadora]

I agree. My rescue that was on daily phenobarbetal was a very severe seizure case. It kept her rather drugged up but whenever we tried to wean her from it she would seize multiple times a day. It was a last resort.

 

[dustypaws]

he has them so sporadically, i'm not sure if they are nutritional. he never does it after he's been bouncing around either. for instance, on sun he hopped out and got scared - and then bam, seizure. so maybe it could be a low blood sugar one?

he eats the same as my other guy (and has been eating the same all his life). mazuri, timmothy hay, occasional treat (raisin sized) and sometimes some oat blend from chin world.

 

[BooBoo*TheKiddo*]

I don't know much about it, but I just wanted to say...I wouldn't keep him medicated all the time. What kind of life is that? You know.

I hope the vet can figure out something to do for him other than 24/7 medication

 

[ticklechin]

I would make sure blood work got done to eliminate the nutritional seizures, is your vet chin savy and worked on alot of chinchillas, you need a really good vet to deal with chinchilla seizure management.

 

[Tanya]

You may consider using Herbal Seizure Remedy. It's safe, and the remedy addresses several possible underlying causes of chronic convulsive disorders. It also provides overall support for the nervous system (more info is listed on the webpage).

 

[dustypaws]

i know, i don't want him to live a crappy life on medicine 24/7 but i guess i don't want him to be hurting, either.

thanks for that link, tanya!

 

[ticklechin]

Humans live on medications 24/7, we are not put down. If a chins quality of life is fine on a long term med why put it down?

 

[dustypaws]

oh i won't put him down unless he is in pain and his quality of life isn't good.