Tuesday, June 26, 2012

06/21/2012 - Seizure #21

6/26/12 - Seizure #21.  Cletus had his 21st seizure last night.  This one was different than others being that he did not have the typical grand mal type but rather froze.  Cletus has had several different types of seizures but this was the first type of this kind.  It lasted between 30 seconds and 1 minute and we rated it a 4 out of 10 on our scale.  8mL of Diazapam given. 

The doctors have raised Cletus' prednisone from 20mg every 48 hours to 20mg every 12 hours try to combat his increased seizure activity as well as the increased weakness in his hindside.  If this increase does not help resolve his issues, the next step would be to run another MRI and place Cletus on additional medications. 

Cletus is already on many medications including Phenobarbitol, Prednisone, Omeprazole, and Potassium Bromide.  I hate to put him on more and the doctors say the cost of the other medications could be very ezxpensive.  The MRI alone would be around $2,500.  It is sad to say but we have spent $6,267 on Cletus' treatments and tests so far this year and we are running out of money.

The doctors have also taken him off of the hypothyroid medication due to the fact that it has not helped the situation.

As far as Cletus' doctors are aware of, Cletus has the only known reported case of open lipped schizencephaly in a canine.  The key word here is reported.  Most vets are not aware that schizencephaly exists or they are not aware that this condition is possible in an animal.  Cletus is living proof of this possibility.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, there are 78.2 million dogs in the U.S. (http://www.humanesociety.org/).  Some sites state that schizencephaly affect 1.54 per 100,000 people. According to rightdiagnosis.com, schizencephaly affects 1 in 2719 people or 0.04% of the population (http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/lists/preval.htm).  The fact is that no one is sure how many people schizencephaly truly affects.  If we assume these same statistics in dogs, it equates to somewhere between 1,150 and 31,280 dogs out there with schizencephaly in the U.S. alone.


Please help me to get the word out about Cletus and schizencephaly.  Contact your local news organization about Cletus or have your local news organization contact me directly at dsilber27@hotmail.com

Thank you for your support,

Doug & Cletus

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

6/13/2012 - Seizure #20 and a diagnosis of Hypothyroidism

6/13/12 - Seizure #20 - Lasted 1 minute, moderate, rated 4 out of 10. 8ml of diazapam given to try to avoid cluster seizures.

Cletus was diagnosed with hypothyroidism today which would account for his massive weight gain, weakness, and skin issues. Began a new medication and had a seizure 20 minutes after 1st time receiving medication. Dr's are assuring me that there should not be a correlation between the medication and seizures but the timing is very odd. I will give Cletus his medications including the new medication in the morning but he will spend the day at the vet under a seizure watch while I am at work.

As far as Cletus' doctors are aware of, Cletus has the only known reported case of open lipped schizencephaly in a canine.  The key word here is reported.  Most vets are not aware that schizencephaly exists or they are not aware that this condition is possible in an animal.  Cletus is living proof of this possibility.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, there are 78.2 million dogs in the U.S. (http://www.humanesociety.org/).  Some sites state that schizencephaly affect 1.54 per 100,000 people. According to rightdiagnosis.com, schizencephaly affects 1 in 2719 people or 0.04% of the population (http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/lists/preval.htm).  The fact is that no one is sure how many people schizencephaly truly affects.  If we assume these same statistics in dogs, it equates to somewhere between 1,150 and 31,280 dogs out there with schizencephaly in the U.S. alone.


Please help me to get the word out about Cletus and schizencephaly.  Contact your local news organization about Cletus or have your local news organization contact me directly at dsilber27@hotmail.com

Thank you for your support,

Doug & Cletus

Friday, June 8, 2012

6/8/2012 - The tests begin again...

6/8/12 - Cletus' bloodwork pertaining to his levels of Potassium Bromide and Phenobarbital are within normal range.  We were actually hoping that one or both of these levels would be low to account for his recent seizure activity.  We are bringing Cletus in tomorrow for another set of tests (bloodwork/urinalysis) to be run as a first step to try to come up for a reason for his very weak hindside.  Cletus has had this weakness since going on his medications and we thought that the weakness would go away with time but unfortunately it has been getting worse.  He has a lot of trouble getting up, frequently is not able to get up if he is not on carpet, and often falls or his back legs slip out from under him.  He has no strength at all in his back legs.  The past few weeks, this weakness has been noticeably worse.

Next week Cletus will be going back into the University for a re-check and they may raise his Prednisone dosage.  Our main concern at this time is the weakness.  He is very happy, does not act like he is in any pain at all, and constantly wants to play, but we hate that he has so much trouble with his legs/hips.  A two year old puppy should not have to deal with all of this.

As far as Cletus' doctors are aware of, Cletus has the only known reported case of open lipped schizencephaly in a canine.  The key word here is reported.  Most vets are not aware that schizencephaly exists or they are not aware that this condition is possible in an animal.  Cletus is living proof of this possibility.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, there are 78.2 million dogs in the U.S. (http://www.humanesociety.org/).  Some sites state that schizencephaly affect 1.54 per 100,000 people. According to rightdiagnosis.com, schizencephaly affects 1 in 2719 people or 0.04% of the population (http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/lists/preval.htm).  The fact is that no one is sure how many people schizencephaly truly affects.  If we assume these same statistics in dogs, it equates to somewhere between 1,150 and 31,280 dogs out there with schizencephaly in the U.S. alone.


Please help me to get the word out about Cletus and schizencephaly.  Contact your local news organization about Cletus or have your local news organization contact me directly at dsilber27@hotmail.com

Thank you for your support,

Doug & Cletus