Dog having seizures- any vets about?

[SirVixofVixHall]

My initial thread here www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_doghouse/2671026-My-dog-is-really-unwell-any-thoughts?
Am posting this new thread too, as maybe someone will have some knowledge of this.
So upshot is my dog, aged 2, was bitten by an adder four weeks ago. She was critically ill, partly because although she saw a vet promptly she presented atypically so it wasn't obvious until the next day what had happened. She spent nearly a week on a drip, on steroids, 3 diff antibiotics, and an antihistamine. She was also on opiate pain relief which continued for a while after she came home. She's now just on an antibiotic . She's been sedated every few days to have her bandages changed as there has been tissue damage to the limb and it is still very raw. When she came home from her sedation on Tuesday she didn't seem great. On Friday she didn't seem great post sedation either. She then had an odd choking episode, we assumed she was choking on a biscuit at the time, but within a few hours she went on to have two seizures, again we missed them as we were in bed, heard thumping about and came down to find her foamy mouthed, thought perhaps panic at being in her (hated ) cone, but took her in to the vet first thing on Saturday anyway, vet thought she seemed fine. Then at half past two yesterday she had a major seizure while I was with her, it was extremely distressing, i thought she was going to die. (She has a congenital heart condition which made me panic even more, but really it was terrifying). Took her to the vet, she ran bloods, all normal. We were told to keep her quiet, no walks, nothing stimulating (she'd been playing with a doggie friend when the first cough/frothy/chokey episode happened). We have to sleep next to her in case she fits again and not leave her alone, obv. She is meant to be having another sedation and wound re-dress on Tuesday but we are obviously worried sick in case the frequent sedations are a factor. Will speak to the vet tomorrow anyway, but I'm posting as sometimes someone on here may have some specialist knowledge . Adder bites can cause seizures but seemingly only in the first few days? I am so frightened she will start to fit again and be left brain damaged or dead. Thank you to anyone who has got through all this!

How's it going with her this week vix ?

Well no more seizures as yet. I have slight concerns that she may have some motor issues, she slipped earlier and grazed , of all places, her raw skin-less leg. She seems not totally sound somehow, but today is the first day I've thought it, so although I am worrying about brain damage, I am also wondering if it is simply that she's a bit slower because of the medication. She is also more food obsessed than is normal for her, she tried to get a slice of pizza off a plate dd was holding last night! We have an appointment with the vet in the morning, so will update with what she says. Thank you so much for asking about her. to you.

It's such a worry for you ,take care and please do update when you get time x

It can take a while to get the dosage of phenobarb right. It often causes initial sedation/ clumsiness and often ongoing increased appetite. Best of luck.

She is clumsier, yes, slightly less so today I feel. And massively increased appetite, she took my toast out of my hand this morning. She's an Irish terrier, not a labrador! She doesn't seem sedated though, thankfully. I was worried she would seem doped up on it, but she's on the lowest dose now and seems reasonably perky. The vet said that they can get neurological pain for up to two years post-bite. Anyway vet thinks she will be fine, her leg is taking a long time to heal but is slowly improving. The skin on a lot of the leg is very very thin and fragile though. I think she'll have large patches with no hair.

How is your dog getting on this week vix ?

So kind of you to think of her! So far no seizures. The vet is now reducing the dose of the Epiphen, so she's on three quarters of the original dose, and we just have to see how that goes and then reduce further. Her leg still has an unhealed area, and the skin on a lot of the leg is still very thin, fragile and shiney. This is the leg on Tuesday. So no walks/play yet. She is very fed up, and we keep waking in the night thinking she's having a fit (she's had a couple of possible odd little moments where she could be dreaming or it could be the start of a seizure that doesn't progress, hard to know, esp as it is at three or four am ).

Poor thing ,that leg looks really painful , good news that she's had no further big fits though , can she not do short lead walks ?

Yes, we've been doing short lead walks. She does seem to tire easily, it is hot so that might be part of the reason, but we are slightly concerned about her heart. She will obviously have lost fitness as she's been so ill, but we are going to mention it to the vet anyway. Treatment has come to almost £2,000 so far- thank goodness she is insured. The unhealed area is literally just flayed flesh- horrible, but the area is very slowly shrinking. I took a photo last week, and comparing it with this week's picture you can see she is improving. Here is the pic from August the 2nd.

So both those pics are August the 2nd.

It looks a lot better than the previous pic , is it still being dressed ?

Ths first pic I posted was Tuesday just gone (Aug 9th ) and the second two were taken a week before, so August the 2nd. It is improving, but it is quite slow going. I can see that today it is a little bit better than the pic earlier this week. Vet felt it was better left unbandaged now, to hopefully speed up the healing. She is licking it a little bit, but not madly , so we've just left her be and not put the cone on. Her toes have scarred, scabs have fallen off and she just has scarred skin. The area around that last patch really looks like stretched cling-film, so I don't know if she will ever have any hair there again. Her leg looks like the leg of a very moth eaten old mohair teddy!