More than a month in on phenobarbital, and I don’t know if I’m doing right by him
I’n crying as I write this. A little over a month ago, my 6-year-old dog, my soul dog, had his first seizure, it lasted about 60 seconds. Two days later, Bruno had another that last a minute and a half and then subsequently, six more within 30 hours.
He’s a rescue. We found him on the road in Bangalore, India, after he’d been hit by a truck. He’s a mixed breed - part mongrel and the other part some sort of hound, about 25 kgs, and still has a leg issue from that accident. That’s actually how we ended up adopting him. He’s been through so much already, and it breaks my heart to see him like this.
Bruno’s been on phenobarbital for about a month now, along with a liver support supplement (Hepa Support). We recently did bloodwork to check his pheno levels and liver values, and everything came back looking positive. But he’s still become a shell of the dog he used to be, so I don’t know what to attribute the sedation to at this point.
My husband and I ask ourselves every day if we’re doing right by him. He doesn’t bark anymore. He barely wags his tail. He used to be so opinionated, so vocal. It’s been 30 days and 5 hours since I last heard a peep out of him. He spends most of the day sleeping in our room, only waking up for a walk or to eat.
Today he fell off his bed trying to get up, and the look on his face was the saddest I’ve ever seen.
Please, if you’ve been through this- does it get better? And if bloodwork looks fine but the sedation hasn’t lifted, what did you do next?