Sunday, January 6, 2013

JuJu is our January 6, 2013 Pup of the Week

 
When I first came to my home I was met by a beautiful female lollipop just over five years of age, named Blake. I was put on the floor as I entered the strange house that would become my forever home and the man who would become my Daddy Lackey went up the stairs. There was a scent of another dog in the house but I was too busy checking everything out to worry about it.

Then I saw on the last landing of the stairs a beautiful black and white Shih Tzu. She was much larger than me and I didn’t know if I should be scared but this Shih Tzu ran over to me barking, with her tail wagging, and welcomed me into our home. That dog was Blake.

Blake immediately began to tell me all the rules and regulations of the house, and how to be adorable and get around them all. I don’t know if I would have turned into the manipulative monster that I am without her wisdom. But one morning, shortly after I arrived home, Blake’s little body began to move uncontrollably, foam came out of her mouth, and a very distraught Mommy and Daddy held her until she calmed down. Soon she was back to normal.

When our humans were preparing to go to work I sidled over to my friend and asked what had happened.   She told me she had a seizure. The doctors didn’t know why she was having them, but they were becoming worse and more frequent. “That is why you are here,” she whispered to me. “Mommy wants you to learn everything from me before I get called to the Bridge.”

And I did learn everything, how to beg for food, how to cuddle, how to tree a squirrel, how to be there for my parents: I would not be the dog I am today without Blake Bear. A little over a year later, as her seizures became worse, and she began to lose motor control, she told me her time was near, and, on election day in 2001, she made the trip to the Bridge.

Since then I have shown particular concern for any pup that is having seizures which is why I am writing about my friend Ju Ju. She has recently had three seizures that have scared her Mom very much. She had to spend a night in the hospital, and, if there is a Mom reading this, and they have ever had their baby in the hospital for a night, they know that is the longest night ever. The dogtors were not sure why JuJu was having seizures and sent her home.

Two nights nights later she had another seizure, this one longer and scarier.
Juju’s sibling Pepper gets very scared and tried to attack the seizure out of Juju causing another problem: Juju’s Mom doesn’t want to leave them alone, and is considering daycare for Juju.

Now, since Blake passed, there have been lots of advances in treatments and the diagnosis of seizures. Also there were no sites like Doggyspace, the Tanner Brigade, or Dog Bloggers, to discuss what to do when a pup has a seizure and aleve some of the pup’s parent’s fears.

There are dogs that have lived with seizures, Cocoa Puff comes to mind, and there are many more. Medical scientists have learned a lot about dogs with seizures that they did not know when Blake was alive. So I am asking the Heavenly Pack Leader and our other pup friends for help.

First I would like all our pup friends who have experience with seizures and are living normal lives to post here and let JuJu, Pepper, and their Mom know that Juju should be fine, and what medications they are taking to help prevent the seizures. For those with more than one pup she needs suggestions about what to do with Pepper, since the can’t be separated in the house when they are alone and her Mom is afraid of Perrp attacking Juju.  And I would like everyone to pray for JuJu so the dogtors can find what is wrong with her and prescribe the medicine to help her.

My sister Blake has a sad ending but thanks to social media and medical research, if she were alive today she would have had a full long life with our family. And I pray, I hope, and I believe, that JuJu will too.

8 comments:

  1. Thank you, Foley and Pocket, for thinking of and praying for my baby. She is on phenobarbitol now and we have an appointment to see the neurologist on Wednesday. I'll keep everyone posted.

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  2. We hope the meds help Ju-Ju. We are not sure what to suggest. Maybe a large secure crate? Maybe someone on FB may be able to suggest something. Have a marvelous Monday.
    Best wishes Molly

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  3. We've got our paws crossed for JuJu and her Doctor. May they find the answer quickly. We are so thankful that JuJu is in a loving home and that her peep's are taking such good care of her.

    Hugs,
    Lily Belle & Muffin

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  4. We will pray, hope and believe with you!

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  5. My thoughts are with your friends JuJu and Pepper, and their dogparents. Our beloved Hector had seizures for about 3 months and then he died. We think his death was NOT due to a seizure, but it was probably somehow related. We don't know exactly what caused the seizures, they began in June of that year, and he was dead by September. We had him on phenobartital. He was a big dog, 85 pounds, and we had to reduce the dosage because it made him loopy and he would stumble. The seizures didn't stop with the meds, so I don't know what to tell ya. Every dog is different. The day he died, he was running in the back yard one minute, basically dead the next. It still breaks my heart just thinking about it, I loved him so much, I always feel like "what did we do wrong?!" but there wasn't anything we were doing wrong. They said he probably had a brain tumor (we didn't go thru the xrays or CAT scans or anything, we wanted to just enjoy our time with him).

    What about using crates (or just one crate for JuJu when they have to leave the dogs at home?). Any chance one parent could bring JuJu to work with them? I hate to think of the dog having seizures all alone... I doubt that ever happened to Hector, I think all of them he had when we were there, but the aftermath was VERY scary... he did not recognize us, would go temporarily blind, and would become almost puppy-like. He'd try to crawl into the fireplace or other small spaces like closets, bathtub etc. I would hate to think that was happening when we were not home. Also, we have a lot of stairs in our house and what if he ever fell down the stairs. Well, I could go on and on. I think a crate would probably be a good solution. Good luck, keep us posted. (P.S. The first time Hec had a seizure, we were asleep. Our other dog, Hobie, stood at our bedroom door and barked urgently -- a bark like I'd never heard before. I came out of the room and Hector was on the floor seizing. Good dog, Hobie for alerting us to the danger!)

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  6. We hope the meds will help Ju-Ju. We'll keep her in our purrayers!

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