I tried the cannibas oil pills and those didn't work. I'm waiting to hear from my vet about changing meds. Also I thought maybe it could be the heartworm pills. I read that Ivermectin can cause seizures and that's what he takes. So I'm switching to something else

Jason I have heard that all heartworm pills can cause seizures in seizure prone dogs. Let us know if you research and find one that is seizure okay.

The only brands of heartworm stuff I've heard of not having any ivomectin in it is Revolution and Interceptor. Can't remember if you can still get Interceptor though.

Jason, so sorry you haven't been able to find the right combo for Yukon. I will add to Jenn's short list, sentinel contains no ivomectin, another member suspects her dog to have seizure potential after eye surgery, decided to go with the sentinel, she hasn't mentioned how her dog was doing on it, but it is another alternative. From what I have read it is in higher doses, or a combination of ivomctin and some other medicine that causes the issues, and as Colleen mentioned, believe all heartworm preventives are potential seizure inducing. You can read more about this through http://vcpl.vetmed.wsu.edu/ They are the leading university on the study of the MDR1 gene, and can assist you. I e-mailed them some questions, since I suspected my girl, Miya to be seizure prone, after being on heartgard and comfortis, once I stopped the comfortis, symptoms disappeared. They will respond to questions, may take a few days, but will respond. I hope you can find something to help reduce his seizures.

TwisterII wrote:

The only brands of heartworm stuff I've heard of not having any ivomectin in it is Revolution and Interceptor. Can't remember if you can still get Interceptor though.

Selamectin (revolution) is a derivative of ivermectin, probably have similar side effects

I talked to my vet today, and he is going to put a call into Purdue University, that has an excelled veterinary clinic there that handles neurology to see what else we could do. I went over his log extensively and it was interesting what I found.

Last summer he had a pheno level check done; he was on 97.2mg 3 times a day. It came back in the toxic level, and he was still having some breakthrough seizures every 4 weeks, but usually only 1 or 2 seizures at a time (I could only wish that was the case now!). At that time he had to decrease the pheno, so he added the Keppra. Since the pheno was decreased, his seizures went to every 2 weeks, so we kept increasing the Keppra until he was at 1500mg 3 times a day. He started having clusters every 2 weeks, so he increased the pheno a bit, and added Zonisamide. His seizures slowed to every 4-7 weeks, but he would have 4-12 of them in a 2-3 day period.

So, I am convinced that the Keppra has done absolutely nothing for him, in fact, I sometimes find undissolved pills in his stool. So, I asked about KBr, and he will look into that, but that also requires a different blood test every 6 months which is more than the pheno test. But we most likely will be weaning him off the Keppra since it is not helping.

I tried the CannaCompanion for a month, but it did not make any difference. I know you should use this for 3 months to start seeing results, but at $1 a pill its way too pricey with the meds he is on. Perhaps once he is off the Keppra I'll be able to try that.

Thanks all!

I talked to my vet yesterday, he consulted with a neurologist about Yukon. They seem to think that we should keep him on the Keppra, but increase the Zonismide. When I looked a the prescription, it appears that this whole time I have not been giving him the correct dosage. He was supposed to get 200mg twice a day, and I was giving him 100mg twice a day. It must have been mis-understanding or something, because I have told him what I was giving him several time. Either way, hoping that increasing that will help some. I am also giving him milk thistle for his liver.

It has still been a long exhausting two weeks. Again yesterday he peed in his crate, and I did not realize it when I let him out, and it was all over the place again. I had to give him his 4th bath in 2 weeks, and shampooed my carpets. At this point, I think the whole house smells He also is not waking me up to go outside and will just poop on the floor. Other than that, he seems to be getting back to normal, he is just not remembering that he is potty trained. I strained my back lugging the shampooer up the stairs and can hardly walk now...ugh!

Hoping for some better days ahead...
Thank you all for your support!

Jason - have you tried Nature's Miracle for the smell? I also swear by borax sprinkled and worked into carpets (leaving overnight) then vacuuming.

I'm sorry to hear things are so tough for you and Yukon. Hoping for better for you guys.

Yeah, I do use that, and I was able to clean it all, just frustrating. Good news is that he was doing much better yesterday, almost to his old self. And no accidents in the crate yesterday or through the night.

So I am hoping the increased meds work, and things get better, and I get some much needed rest! Thanks again everyone