# seizures and food relations



## Dreammom (Jan 14, 2009)

Hi Lori,

I have a siberian husky with seizures... I have not heard anything regarding Iams specifically. I did have a consult with Dr. Dodds regarding my dog. She said to say away from any foods containing wheat, corn, or soy products. We do grain free for our dogs. I have read that rosemary which is in a lot of dog foods can be a trigger for seizures. 

HTH,

Julie


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## Claire's Friend (Feb 26, 2007)

They say grains are bad for seizure dogs. Do you belong to any Seizure Forums? You can get great info there about this.


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## JimS (Jan 2, 2007)

Lori, if you haven't found it already, the Epil-K9 mailing list is a great resource for dealing with epileptic dogs. There are lots of us on the list with seizure prone dogs. I've never heard anything about Iams...but most of us never find out what causes our dogs problems.

http://www.canine-epilepsy.com/index.html


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

I had a dog with seizures and when I started keeping a journal, I noticed his occured within 48 hours of giving him his Frontline. Do you keep a journal of when the seizures happen, what he has done and eaten? If you dont, I would recommend you start keeping a journal. It was the best thing I did. If I hadnt, I might not have caught it. Frontline has ivermectin in it and it brought the seizures on. 
I havent read anything about Iams and seizures. But this website has a great amount of information on it about epilepsy. http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/CanineEpil.htm I feel that it gave me a great wealth of information. 

If you are not giving him milk thistle, I would recommend giving him that to help cleanse his liver because the phenobarbital is very hard on the liver.


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## jimla (Oct 9, 2008)

Elliot had seizures about once a month from Nov. 2008 through April 2009. The vet diagnosed idiopathic epilepsy, but wanted to hold off medication until his seizures occurred more often. He has not had a seizure since I changed his food to grain-free.


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

Beau was on grain free food after his bloat surgery and had just as many seizures as he did when he was on ProPlan. So I dont know about the grain as being an issue. There is just so much unknown about what causes the seizures.


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## jimla (Oct 9, 2008)

Elliot's seizures most often occurred when he got very excited as I was filling his bowl with kibble for his morning meal. I used to feed the dogs after their morning walk. Now I get their food ready while they are outside immediately after they wake up. This routine reduces the anticipation excitement about food and may help avoid the seizures.


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## Traz (Jan 19, 2009)

Maybe coincidence but my first Golden had seizures, dog food....Iams. She also went blind & had a tumor. I chose not to use Iams or anything related this time just for my own piece of mind.


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## rmartin (Jan 12, 2010)

Thank you all for your input on my posted thread. I have started champ on a grain free diet. This is the first week that we have completely switch his food. I have kept a journal of his seizure pattern from the time he started them at age 3 years old. I have wondered if maybe this is related to seperation anxiety. I do know that alot of times, he does have seizures after his grooming. I switched his grooming appt. around and he still seemed to have seizures at least once a month. Sometimes it is before grooming and sometimes it is after grooming appt. I don't take him to a groomer, she comes to my house to try and make him feel more secure. Also, I have found the website site for epil-guardian angel. It is a great web site for information. 

Thanks for you help and I will welcome any more information anyone has.

Lori


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## NuttinButGoldens (Jan 10, 2009)

This is exactly how Dakota's were. Once every 4-6 weeks, and usually 3 on the day they hit.

I can't comment about the food, but my Vet did tell me once that abrupt changes in salt levels have been known to trigger seizures.



rmartin said:


> I have a 6year old golden named champ. He has been having seizures since he was 3 years old. He's seizures usually occur about 1 time a month. He usually has 3or more seizures per episode. He is currently on meds to try to control them. They have diminished some but not totally gone. I recently read an article linking Iams dog food to seizures in dogs. I went on line to research this with consumers reports. There were alot of stories about Iams and stomach issues and there were also some with Iams and seizures in dogs. I was wandering if any one else with a golden that has seizures and linked them to food or anything else for that matter.
> 
> Thanks,
> Lori


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

Have you thought of removing the stress of the groomer completely??? Grooming them yourselves is a great bonding time. We do daily brushing as part of our snuggle time and weekly baths. It's also a great way to get your hands all over your dog on a regular basis so as to know when anything is amiss.


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## NuttinButGoldens (Jan 10, 2009)

Dakota was on California Natural, which doesn't have a whole lot of anything in it except exactly what they need and no more. It didn't change his either.



BeauShel said:


> Beau was on grain free food after his bloat surgery and had just as many seizures as he did when he was on ProPlan. So I dont know about the grain as being an issue. There is just so much unknown about what causes the seizures.


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## NuttinButGoldens (Jan 10, 2009)

Another odd thing with Dakota. _Every _seizure he ever had, around 50 to 75 of them over his life, always happened when he was asleep. He never had a single awake-time seizure.

That I know of.


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## rmartin (Jan 12, 2010)

Yes have thought about removing grooming altogether. I do brush him once a day every day and also go in the grooming van with him on appts that he acts antsy.


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## rmartin (Jan 12, 2010)

To reply to nuttinbutgoldens, They do how ever most of the time start when he is alseep. Once the episode starts though, he does not sleep any more until they are completely over and then he is wiped out for the next several days.


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## Tahnee GR (Aug 26, 2006)

NuttinButGoldens said:


> Another odd thing with Dakota. _Every _seizure he ever had, around 50 to 75 of them over his life, always happened when he was asleep. He never had a single awake-time seizure.
> 
> That I know of.


Apparently the most common time of day for dogs to have seizures is at night. This is what I was told when my girl with the brain tumors began seizing, mostly at night.


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## Maggies mom (Jan 6, 2006)

Abbie just started having seizures about 2 weeks ago... She has been on grain free for a couple of years now. Hers have happened first thing in the am after she has woken up.


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## Claire's Friend (Feb 26, 2007)

This would only be if the dog was taking one of the Bromide drugs.


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