Another Grand-Mal & Making A Diet Change

I haven't told you all this, but Henry is still prone to some diarrhea, even since I took him off raw. It's not as often now, but he does still get it from time to time. With Henry still seizing more often than is considered safe, we have decided to try a diet change. Right now we have Henry on Dick Van Patten's Sweet Potato & Venison. We chose this food for a variety of reasons:

~poultry free (poultry seems to trigger frequent focal seizures)

~grain free

~not quite as rich as most grain frees, which may be easier on Henry's tummy

In addition to the kibble, I am adding 1/2 a cup of Veggie Goop. To each meal. This new diet transition started just last night, and last night was the dogs first night of getting the Veggie Goop.

Henry had a grand-mal early this morning. I think it was the diet change. When I took him off raw, he had one within 24 hours at that time too. I really wanted to get it on camcorder, to show how the ice pack worked, but the seizure started out so extremely fast and severe, I just had to stop it right away. Time was of the essence.

I will tell you though, that the new slightly higher up place for the ice pack was extremely effective, The grand-mal, though it was totally full blown, stopped instantly. It is amazing how he went from earth shattering very, very bad seizing, to no seizing. He twitched maybe twice after. He still did need to make his usual bowel movement though, before he could get up, and did a little pacing for about 5 minutes after his bowel movement. Not bad at all! Now, without that ice-pack, considering how that grand-mal started out, it would have been VERY bad. And that seizure would have been quite damaging. I believe he'd be running around frantically, and he'd be temprarily blind, and we would have ended up taking him to the vet either in the middle of the night or as soon as the regular vet opened.

Anyways, we will give the new diet mentioned in the first paragraph of this post a try, and if Henry does not show improvement within a month, we will be trying a full home cooked diet. And if that doesn't work, then I guess we'll have to add phenobarbital. =(

This is the recipe a friend of mine uses for his epi-hound.

1 to 1 1/2 cups brown rice
1 1/2 cups of boiled chicken ( Half a chicken breast in morning and half in evening).
1/2 cup of Veggie Goop
1/4 cup of cottage cheese in morning and 1/4 cup yogurt at evening meal.
1 teaspoon of CALL OF THE WILD.

I'd need to change the meat as it has poultry. I don't know if hamburger would be too rich for Henry though? We live in Michigan, and in the fall, we will be in an abundance of venison here.

If anybody has any feedback to share on the above recipe for Henry's sensitive tummy, and/or suggestions for tweaking, it would be much appreciated! I have it set so that ANYONE can leave a comment. You do not have to be a blogger.