[Vanessa C]

Joan R.
I would consider trying to treat for a neurological issue. I think my dog was on her way to getting an obstruction (the last thing she ate was a 6″ strip of carpet she tore up). I was at my wits end with her after all of the GI medications weren’t helping, so I decided to trial phenobarbital for focal seizures. I figured it was a shot. My vet agreed, and we started it a few months ago. Since then she has had one “breakthrough” episode, and I kind of think she dropped her pill that day. She was having terrible “episodes” every other week, sometimes days in a row prior. I’m am so relieved to have stopped them. We keep her at the low end of the therapeutic range, and that seems to work. It does require bloodwork to monitor liver health and the phenobarbital levels. But it’s cheaper than an exploratory surgery!

[Vanessa C]

I’m confident my dog’s gulping issue was a seizure disorder. She has been on phenobarbital for about a month. The only time she has had an episode was when she didn’t get her pill–I found it on the floor later that day, she had spit it out. The episode that day confirmed the seizure diagnosis.
It’s something to consider.

[Vanessa C]

Thanks for responding. I will look into a neurologist and keppra. I was hesitant to start the phenobarbital due to the side effects, but she was in the midst of a particularly bad episode, and it definitely helped. I rationalized that the side effects of phenobarbital are not as detrimental as a GI obstruction due to carpet-eating. I guess time will tell. I will monitor her closely in the mean time.
Good luck with your boy, I’m glad you have some answers.

[Vanessa C]

Dennis, the symptoms you describe are exactly like the ones I’m experiencing with my 7 year old Doberman. I have also tried various GI meds (cerenia, famotidine, Pepto, sucrulfate), with no improvement. She’s been having an ongoing episode since last night, and has tried to eat my carpet, my ponytail, a fuzzy blanket. And she’s will not stop licking and retching. I finally brought her to the vet tonight and requested that she is treated for seizure disorder. We did baseline bloodwork, and gave her an injection of phenobarbital and she has been prescribed a month supply. She stopped gulping after the injection, we took a nap. When she woke up she gulped a few times, but it did not persist. I guess I’ll see how it goes. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell what is working, as the episodes seem so random–she may not have one for a month or so, then she’ll have a few in a row. I hope it works—my carpet is destroyed, and I’m worried she’ll become obstructed, or bloat as a side effect of her episodes.

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