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
I am Douglas Silber and I was the owner of Cletus, a bloodhound who is reported to be the 1st dog with open lipped schizencephaly (OLS). Even though he has the only reported case of OLS in a dog, he can't be the only one with the condition. This blog began with the purpose of following his life and to help educate about OLS in an animal. Cletus may no longer be by my side but I will continue to push for schizencephaly education and awareness... in the name and memory of Cletus the Bloodhound.
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