I found some info. for you... sm

Seizures are scary to witness, but sometimes I think they're worse on us than the dogs (unless of course they're having a prolonged, life-threatening seizure). 

With idiopathic epilepsy, I don't think the seizure causes them pain, and I seem to remember that a dog is more at risk of secondary injury (like falling and hitting their head, falling into a swimming pool, etc.) than from the actual seizure. 

I had a dog with idiopathic epilepsy.  She was a fiesty, gorgeous (okay, I'm biased!) dark red and white, blue-eyed Siberian Husky named "Cherokee."  I loved her, adored her, and pretty much catered to her every whim (and created a bit of a monster in the process, but I was happy to get to take care of her and spoil her in her old age).  She was funny, aloof, dignified, super smart, and, of course, mischievous.  Hubby and I still miss her terribly, and we still talk about her hilarious antics.  But I digress! 

She was 10-11 years old when I adopted her, and I got to have her for 5 years.  At first, she was only having a seizure about... twice a month.  We worked her up and decided to hold off on meds since the seizures were fairly infrequent.  But she pretty quickly started to have them more like... once a week, I think it was?  If I remember correctly, my vet said if they are having more than a certain number of seizures a week/month, it's best to but them on meds, so we put her on phenobarbital at that time, twice a day. 

The dose was a little too high at first, and it made her a little groggy and caused her to vomit.  We lowered the dose a bit, and she was fine - never had another seizure again.  Phenobarb is pretty inexpensive, but not w/o potential side effects to the liver.  At Cherokee's age, we didn't really worry about that, but maybe that's the reason your vet is taking a "wait and see" approach?  Your dog is young, so if she has to be on anti-seizure meds, it will likely be for the rest of her life.  Not that I'm trying to discourage you from meds, just saying maybe your vet is thinking about the side effects as a reason to maybe hold off as long as possible. 

I also have a Siberian Husky named Alexxa ("Alex" - sometimes pronouced "Owwhh-licks" ;o).  She's now 15 years old.  She started having seizures at about 1 year of age, but hers are very mild ("partial complex" I think they're called?)  She only has one about every 3 months or so, and all that happens is her head has a little tremor to it.  If you aren't looking right at her when it happens, you could be right next to her and not even know she's having a seizure.  She doesn't even seem to be aware anything is happening.  Vet said they might get worse over time, but they haven't, and she's never had to be on medicine for it. 

Epilepsy is hereditary in some breeds, but it can happend in any breed or mixed breed of dog.

Here are a couple paragraphs from this site:   http://www.asc-cockerspaniel.org/health/news03.asp

>>Epilepsy Treatment

If idiopathic epilepsy is diagnosed, a dog may be treated with anti-convulsant drugs such as phenobarbital or potassium (or sodium) bromide. Since neither of the drugs is without side effects, the veterinarian and owner might choose to wait until seizures become more frequent or prolonged before starting an epileptic dog on them.

Phenobarbital was more effective than bromide in eliminating and shortening the duration of seizures. Thus, for many dogs, phenobarbital may be the first choice for an anti-seizure medication. Though the study did not look at long-term effects of using either drug, phenobarbital can damage the liver with prolonged use. Also, phenobarbital more so than bromide interacts with many other drugs. For that reason, bromide might be a better first choice for older dogs or those on other drugs, Boothe says. >>

Sorry for the length of this.  (I simply must take any opportunity to talk about my dogs.  LOL)

• Seizures in dogs. Anyone have experience with sm - mlstoo
  • My dog had seizures too, - cassie
  • My friend's cocker spaniel had seizures too. SM - Meow Mixed
  • My poor old doggy had seizures - Typingfool
    • I forgot to add - my daughter's cat - Typingfool
  • My husky Cara had seizures, she was never on medication though - sm - Laura E.
  • I found some info. for you... sm - GLF
    • He did say he wanted to hold off since my dog sm - mlstoo
      • Oh dear, that should be the end of our lot sm - mlstoo
      • Oh, poor guy. sm - GLF
  • I don't have a dog but a cat...sm - NC Newbie
  • Our dog used to have them...sm - ILMT
  • I'm so sorry for you and your dog. I am very - Laurie
    • He did see my dog and work him up sm - mlstoo
      • I'm sorry I misunderstood. I thought you were - Laurie
        • My mistake, I didn't state that I first took sm - mlstoo
          • I don't agree with your vet. - Misha
            • I was so sorry to hear about Misha. sm - GLF
              • I just saw this. Thank you. - Misha
            • I agree also, change vets...ours put our dog on meds immediately. nm - ILMT
          • had a chihuahua who had severe grand mal type ones and never came out of her last one; be persistent - LMT

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My son is 8, he's in 3rd grade.

He can concentrate for hours on videogames.  We spend all of our time together, except for the hours he is in school.  Of course, I'm a SAHM MT, so that makes for more time for us.  He talks nonstop to everyone, everywhere, all the time.  However, my dad and my DH's dad do the same thing, so that could be inherited!

I'm not sure if ADD is the right word here, but don't know how else to describe it.  He's not behind by any means in school, however the thing is, it takes him twice as long to complete *jobs*, as his teacher puts it, than the other kids.  I know from my experience with him and homework, and it's like pulling teeth sometimes to get one worksheet done.  He's just extremely social, I guess.  He can't sit still.  He has a hard time focusing, I do know that much. 

Medication is the last thing we want to do (yes, his father is VERY involved in his life...we are an intact family).  I'm thinking about taking him to his ped's office just to talk about some things we can try.  I don't want him labeled with anything unless we know for sure he has it.  I'm just exploring options right now.

Thanks for the advice and responses y'all, keep 'em coming! 

I definitely need to lose the plastic hamster cage.  It has metal slats on the sides and all of their bedding gets pushed out all over the floor.  Who ever thought that was a good idea.  I wish they would have warned me at the pet store. 

BTW, three days after we got them, one of them chewed its tail off or one of the others possibly did it.  Ever heard of that? 

I think my husband could probably change those too, but $100 each bearing, and it's happened several times to you, that would get really aggravating.  I'm considering a different vehicle, possibly.  I like my car alot, but if this is something that could be ongoing, i don't want the headache.  we have a 1994 dodge dakota that we bought brand new and he maintains it and we never have problems with it.  i just think some of this new technology on the cars isn't so great.

thanks for your info!  it helps to know what other people have done.  there is a website i found topix.com that have a whole bunch of people on there that have had this problem and some of them said what they did to help the problem.

i don't even have credit cards to some of these accounts that are open.  i think i will end up closing some of them.  i think there are at least 10 or so of these credit card accounts that are open on my credit report that i don't use at all and haven't used for many years. 

First, her name is Dixie Lucille...she's precious!

Second, I am in no way expecting her to be fully potty trained by now, my thing is she poops in her kennel, then gets it all over herself. She goes out at least every hour on the hour.  She eats at 7, 12, and 5 every day, then goes out to potty, walk, etc. We did not get her from a *breeder* per se, a neighbor had pups so we got one from her. She was kept outside when she was with her family.

We do the whole praise and treat thing when she goes outside. We play with her, we walk her regularly...I am a bit impatient by nature, guess that's something I need to work on.

Anyway, thanks for all the advice. I'm not ready to give her up yet. Our 9 YOS loves her, which is a HUGE accomplishment for him, as he has always been afraid of dogs, but like me, fell in love with her when we saw her.  My DH always wanted a Basset, so held out until he found one. She's a sweetie and I know her accidents are not her fault...I just hate cleaning up the mess and having to wash her off again and again.  I'll keep y'all posted on her (and my) progress!

http://www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-information.html