About The Foster Zoo

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We have decided to blog our adventures again. So much has changed since we last blogged. Bella and Shiloh both went to their forever homes and they are in wonderful families. June Bug got adopted. We quit fostering dogs after those adoptions because Tanker's epilepsy got bad. We quit doing therapy dog work because Tanker's epilepsy got bad. Tanker passed away June 9th, 2013. We adopted a senior border collie named Shania Tankerbelle in his memory. We still have our two cats, Sweet Pea and Little Bit. Wes has started rescuing pitiful bettas from Wal-Mart and we currently have seven. We have a camper. We camp. We have focused on giving our animals the best lives possible. We are The Foster Zoo Crew and we like to have fun.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Tanker's emergency



Yesterday, Wes and I said to each other that it was about time Tanker was due for a seizure.  He has normal seizure cycles and he hasn't had one since January.

Topher woke us up at 1:45 to tell us Tanker was having a seizure.  He then had another, and another.  Pretty typical of his normal cycle.  We gave his meds, went back to sleep, and he was fine.  Throughout the day, he ended up having five more.  They were all spaced out and he was normal in between.  We ended up giving him a lot of Valium and extra Phenobarbital.  At the end of the day, we thought he was done, but at 8:45 he ended up having another one.  We called his neurologist.  She advised us to take him to the emergency vet.

Although Tanker was walking, he was pretty clumsy from all the extra meds today.   He was able to jump up into the back of the SUV on his own.  We took him to the emergency vet because we couldn't risk him having another seizure.  Eight is too many in one day. 

When we got to the emergency vet, Tanker's neurologist had already called ahead and talked to the vet who would be treating Tanker.  She advised to start him on a Valium drip for several hours to shut his brain activity down and prevent further seizures.  She also advised us to start him on Keppra.  We disagreed on starting the Keppra because I don't feel we need to start such an expensive drug when he still as room to go up on his Phenobarbital and Zonisimide.  (Adding Keppra into his daily medication regimine would cost us an extra $300 to $400 a month.)  The ER vet agreed that we needed to first work on adding more Phenobarbital and Zonisimide.  He used to be on a higher dose of Zonisimide and he did really well on it.  The neurologist felt it made him too "drunk."  That's why the dose was lowered.

Tanker is staying the night at the emergency vet.  He is currently on a Valium drip to sedate him and the ER vet is giving him an extra 50mg of Zonisimide.  (on top of the Zonisimide, Phenobarb, and bromide already in his system.)  If he does well without any seizures tonight (which I expect he will), they will slow down the Valium, wake him up, and he'll be able to come home tomorrow evening.  If he has more seizures tonight, he will stay longer.  I am expecting him to do well.

Kris met us at the vet tonight.  She is very, very sweet.  She was there with Topher while we talked to the vet.  (Topher is, I am not kidding, like Tanker's seizure service dog.  It would have been really hard on Topher to leave him home while we loaded Tanker up in the car after having so many seizures today.)  Topher loves Kris very much and he was calm and collected as he always is.  Tanker and Wes, obviously, will not be able to test for their therapy dog certification tomorrow.  Kris told me that if Topher seemed stressed tonight with Tanker being gone, that we could reschedule our therapy dog test too.  Right now, Topher is curled up next to me on the couch.  I think he is going to be fine.  Actually, it will probably help him to get out and test tomorrow.  Nothing makes Topher happier than being around people.  It will be good for me too. 

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