Ebon had a Seizure

For those who are not already aware, Ebon has epilepsy. Today he had another seizure. As I begin to write this it's been less than ten minutes since it ended. As usual, it was quite minor, as a seizure goes.

I had just come home from grocery shopping and took him out to potty, and then when we came back in. He was sniffing around when he started to walk oddly. He was unsteady, gripping at the floor with his toes as if he thought he would slide off of it. In the past, this scrabbling sort of walk has been the first sign of the seizure starting. His back was hunched, and his muscles quivered. I went to him as he swayed there and gently touched his side, trying to keep him from moving around too much. I worry so that he will bump into something and hurt himself. Since I wasn't really restraining him (as that's one of the last things you are supposed to do when someone is seizing), he managed to make his way to the water bowl and took a drink. I nudged him away, worried he might choke. However, he seemed far less worried about the situation than I was and he swallowed the water fine. I pet him gently, telling him he was a good boy. After a few minutes, his muscles stopped shaking and his posture returned to normal. The whole ordeal lasted less than ten minutes, and it's quite possibly the mildest seizure he's had so far. This is also the first seizure that he has had immediately after a walk.

When Ebon had his first seizure over a year ago on May 3, 2010 at around 5:30 in the afternoon, we took him into the veterinarian immediately and had him checked out. He was in their waiting room less than twenty minutes after the seizure, blood being drawn almost as soon as we arrived. They did a full blood panel checking for toxins, and gave us phenobarbital just in case he seized again within the week. And then we waited. His blood work was normal, and he did not seize again. The discussion with the vet was rather interesting. She spoke of how sometimes it's a one-time event, and other times it isn't, and how epilepsy rarely has an obvious event that sets it off. She also said that the phenolbarbital was only going to be necessary if the seizures were severe and/or frequent. After he had his second seizure, she repeated this. It's been decided that he doesn't need medication since any  benefit he would get out of it would be outweighed by the side effects. The seizures are just too infrequent and too minor, and the risk to his liver too great. I still have the medication, though.

Right now he's taking a nap. I've never had a seizure, but I bet that it's a tiring experience. The last seizure that I witnessed was actually on October 25, 2010 and it happened in the early morning. He was terrified during the whole experience, laying down on the floor for ten minutes after he stopped shaking, clearly thinking something bad would happen. It took me several moments to coax him to get up and walk it off. I suspect that he probably had a seizure sometime in the past year when he was kenneled while I was away at class. It's difficult to say, though. Since they are so minor, there is really no sign that would be left. No puddles of drool or other bodily fluids, no injuries, or anything like that.

Here he is, about five minutes after he was back to normal. I'm glad he came out of this one so well.