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.
