Most know Stella is the (second) love of my life. My sweet hubs being my first.
Out of the blue, early Sunday morning (3am) Stella had a grand mal seizure on our bed. A few minutes later she vomited. She's also been drinking a lot of water.
Even though she's only 3 1/2 years old, the horrors of numerous medical problems ran through my head.
I contacted our vets office and brought her in on Monday for some blood work.
Everything seemed relatively normal. Except her ALT was slightly high, her ALKP was slightly low and her AMYL was low. What I find more odd is these levels have been the same with the last three blood draws I've had done.
The vet isn't concerned with it. Nor were they (there's a group of vets in the practice we go to), but it is a concern with me.
So the neurotic dog owner that I am, was determined to research and research until I could possibly pinpoint something to that seizure.
Then I turned to what I'm feeding her. I do home cook some of her food and mix it with a quality, grain free, kangaroo based kibble. But if I run out of her home cooked food, I feed her straight kibble until I cook up another batch.
I chose kangaroo because it's a novel protein. Being a Boston Terrier she has all kinds of sensitivities to proteins and carbs/starches. But the chance of her having an issue with kangaroo would most likely be slim. I started it in February and she LOVES her kangaroo.
Yesterday, I hopped around other neurotic dog owner forums and found out many who were feeding the same brand as I, noticed their dogs drinking a lot more water than usual. Hmmm. In my best Arte Johnson impersonation, "Very interesting..."
Since dog food companies don't list sodium amounts in their food, a gal contacted the company. Come to find out the sodium amounts in all their food were high.
Not only does high sodium intake make one thirsty, in some cases it can cause seizures. Again, in my best Arte Johnson impersonation, "Very interesting..."
Now could this be Stella's problem?? I'm not sure. But I will say I believe it's the cause of her excessive trips to her water bowl. Since she has no body fat, maybe the high sodium caused that seizure. Who knows?
I do know she is a physically fit healthy and strong little dog and I love her to pieces!!
I'm about ready to toss all the commercial dog food I have on hand and stick to home cooked food only with added supplements.
But I'm still not ready to go completely raw though.
Happy Thursday, all.
:> )
6 comments:
Oh no!!!!!!! Pray sweet Stella is ok.... My Shih Tzu takes seizures every so often, wonder if her food, she drinks lots of water too.... Will have to see, thanks Karin for the info.Hugs Francine.
Francine, if she doesn't have any metobolic problems anything is possible. If the food we eat is causing many medical problems for us humans, it makes sense it would cause problems in our pets.
It also makes sense that small dogs could have more of a reaction to high salt in food more so than a large dog.
The vet basically had no answer or gave me any direction for what happened to Stella. That was unacceptable to me.
The same happened when I took Gracie a few weeks ago. I figured out what was wrong with her. They didn't think she had EPI because she didn't have loose stools. But I've got her on the panceratic enzymes and she is like a young dog now! She's been hypoglycemic free too.
♥
The vets don't always seem to be too clued up on nutrition do they. I have friends with dogs who say the vet either can't answer their nutrition questions or simply suggest they switch to the brand the office is stocking. I hope both your girls are better soon.
Thanks, Ali. Nutrition is the key to a healthy life. There's no getting around it. I could go into great detail about this past visit with the vet, but I won't. Let's just say I wasn't a "happy camper."
Oh, that is just terrible, Karin! Poor little Stella. My Denver had bad allergies to many different dog foods. I wound up feeding him homemade chicken, beef, so forth. He could eat some grain free dry food but not much. I am praying for Stella and for you! These vets drive me nuts. They told me to give Denver Robitussin for his allergies, he had awful diarrhea from it. The dr told me it didn't cause that. Oh, yes it did. He never had diarrhea until he took that stuff. I'd rather research things myself. Praying Stella is better soon. Big hugs to you both!
Hoping Stella is doing better every day. She is a strong gal.
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