3/22/2012 - Seizure #16

3/22/12 - Cletus just had his 16th seizure about 30 minutes ago. Below is the entry into his journal:

3/22/12 - 8:44PM - Seizure mild - moderate (3 out of 10) in DR. Lasted less than 1 minute. No pre-seizure signs noticed. Magnum also did not show signs of knowledge of pending seizure. 8mL of Diazepam given rectally.

Normal practice for dogs with seizures is not to give Diazepam with each seizure but in Cletus' case the doctors want to protect him from the cluster seizures he is prone to which is the reason why the drug was given to him during this seizure.  We will keep an eye on Cletus throughout the night and if he should have more than 2 seizures within a 24 hour period, we will bring him into the ER.  I expect (hope) that this was just a random event and the rest of the evening will be uneventful.  Fingers crossed.

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