October 7, 2003
Shaking all rover.
This week we confirmed that Indigo, our Whippet-shaped hound, has mild canine epilepsy. Last week, my wife noticed that Indy was sitting on the floor in our home office shaking his head, almost as if he was shivering. Visually, it looked like a simple muscle spasm, but it lasted several minutes. She ran him over the vet, by which time the tremor had subsided, and they put him up on the hoist for a thorough once-over. There apparently wasn’t anything physically wrong — a picture of health really — but the doctor said to keep an eye on him in case it happened again. It did. We phoned. The vet didn’t seem concerned. We stopped worrying a little bit. We didn’t notice anything again for a full week. He had started shaking again. Now we were getting freaked out. This time, the doctor told us what was happening. Three is the magic number when it comes to seizures. A subsequent round of blood work confirmed that there wasn’t anything physical or fluidic or otherwise functionally wrong with our dog. It was all in his brain. As with most forms of epilepsy, it’s not curable, but treatable. Indy will be enjoying twice daily dosages of Phenobarbital nestled in chunks of cheese for the rest of his doggy days. And the vet figures he has at least 13 or 14 more years worth of those ahead of him. We’re still a bit freaked out. We’re still a bit worried. But at least now we know what’s wrong with our smelly little friend.
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