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Meet Mickey the beagle! This goofy boy entered my partner, Chris, and I’s lives during the summer of 2018. Mickey enjoys fetching sticks and has plenty of tricks up his sleeves! Rumour has it that he can give you a kiss if you ask politely ;) His ears would instantly perk up whenever you say “dog park” or “treat”. And just like any other dog, Mickey has been nothing short of a ball of sunshine who brought so much love and laughter to the people around him. Unfortunately, Mickey has been diagnosed open for seizures on November 18, 2020.
Our Goal:
We need your help to rule out the cause of Mickey’s seizures - idiopathic epilepsy vs intracranial disease. This will allow us to find the right treatment for Mickey and achieve a fuller quality of life. 100% of your donations will be allocated to fund advanced diagnostics for Mickey; including physical examination, neurological examination, complete blood count (to be conducted quarterly), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis, and infectious disease testing. The estimated cost for all this is over $3000CAD.
Mickey’s Case:
Mickey was initially seen by the AHP emergency service on November 16 for seizures, at which he was prescribed Levetiracetam - 1000mg every 8 hours. Since Mickey’s first discharge, he has been pacing a lot. He has not slept since he left the hospital. Whenever he tries to sleep, he wakes up within 2 minutes and starts having a seizure. While Mickey seemed to be recovering between seizures in the morning, it worsened at night. At this point, Mickey’s seizures spiked in intensity and frequency. He was averaging one seizure every 10 minutes (merciless!). Chris and I did not even think about the costs. It was coherent that Mickey deserves immediate attention.
Mickey was hospitalized in the intensive care unit, ranking highest in risk and priority. Turns out, Mickey was caught in a refractory seizure cycle; meaning the seizures became resistant to the initial anti-epileptic medication. To break the seizure cycle, Mickey was placed on a constant rate infusion of Diazepam which was weaned over 24 hours. He was also supported with medications to decrease his intracranial pressure through intravenous fluids. Mickey was then loaded on Phenobarbital. Thankfully, he has not had any seizures since being admitted to the hospital.
Currently, Mickey has been prescribed with Levetiracetam 1000 mg, Phenobarbital 60 mg, and Midazolam 5 mg/ml.
Our ever so strong warrior Mickey stays diligent by reminding himself to eat and drink water despite being heavily sedated. Seeing our boy’s tenacious survival instincts, it only seemed fitting that Chris and I followed suit. So we toughened up and sucked in our tears. Mickey is not giving up, neither should we!
Information about seizures:
A seizure results from excessive electrical activity in the brain. Seizures can range in appearance from a moment of mental blankness to a focal twitch of the muscle, to a full grand mal seizure characterized by an inability to stand, paddling, drooling, urination, defecation, and altered mentation.
Seizures due to genetic epilepsy usually have an onset of between 6 months and 6 years of age and commonly occur in particular known dog breeds including beagles. Diagnosis is reached by ruling out underlying metabolic disease and underlying structural brain disease (i.e. normal MRI and CSF tap findings).
Although there is no cure for epilepsy, we can still manage it! Many dogs with seizure continue to have happy and fulfilling lives. Management of epileptic dogs involves long term, usually lifelong administration of anti-convulsant medication. Medications are considered effective if they reduce the frequency or severity of seizures by 50%. It is therefore expected that even with anti-convulsant medication on board, Mickey will continue to have occasional seizure episodes. As such, we might require further testings to find the right balance between the dose of medication to adequately control Mickey’s seizures and limit adverse side effects.
We thank you for your generosity.
As a token of appreciation, I will personally draw a custom digital art portrait for donations above $100. Portraits will be made as donations are received. Please allow 2 - 4 weeks for delivery. Feel free to email me with reference photos or questions.
Of course, no sum is too small! We understand that this may be a huge undertaking for some. Even sharing Mickey’s story goes a long way. Let me know how you have helped and I will send you a cute surprise as well :)
Our love for Mickey outshines any doubt in tackling Mickey’s disorder. We thank you for your generosity and will forever be grateful to all of you who recognize the power of loving a dog.
Our Goal:
We need your help to rule out the cause of Mickey’s seizures - idiopathic epilepsy vs intracranial disease. This will allow us to find the right treatment for Mickey and achieve a fuller quality of life. 100% of your donations will be allocated to fund advanced diagnostics for Mickey; including physical examination, neurological examination, complete blood count (to be conducted quarterly), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis, and infectious disease testing. The estimated cost for all this is over $3000CAD.
Mickey’s Case:
Mickey was initially seen by the AHP emergency service on November 16 for seizures, at which he was prescribed Levetiracetam - 1000mg every 8 hours. Since Mickey’s first discharge, he has been pacing a lot. He has not slept since he left the hospital. Whenever he tries to sleep, he wakes up within 2 minutes and starts having a seizure. While Mickey seemed to be recovering between seizures in the morning, it worsened at night. At this point, Mickey’s seizures spiked in intensity and frequency. He was averaging one seizure every 10 minutes (merciless!). Chris and I did not even think about the costs. It was coherent that Mickey deserves immediate attention.
Mickey was hospitalized in the intensive care unit, ranking highest in risk and priority. Turns out, Mickey was caught in a refractory seizure cycle; meaning the seizures became resistant to the initial anti-epileptic medication. To break the seizure cycle, Mickey was placed on a constant rate infusion of Diazepam which was weaned over 24 hours. He was also supported with medications to decrease his intracranial pressure through intravenous fluids. Mickey was then loaded on Phenobarbital. Thankfully, he has not had any seizures since being admitted to the hospital.
Currently, Mickey has been prescribed with Levetiracetam 1000 mg, Phenobarbital 60 mg, and Midazolam 5 mg/ml.
Our ever so strong warrior Mickey stays diligent by reminding himself to eat and drink water despite being heavily sedated. Seeing our boy’s tenacious survival instincts, it only seemed fitting that Chris and I followed suit. So we toughened up and sucked in our tears. Mickey is not giving up, neither should we!
Information about seizures:
A seizure results from excessive electrical activity in the brain. Seizures can range in appearance from a moment of mental blankness to a focal twitch of the muscle, to a full grand mal seizure characterized by an inability to stand, paddling, drooling, urination, defecation, and altered mentation.
Seizures due to genetic epilepsy usually have an onset of between 6 months and 6 years of age and commonly occur in particular known dog breeds including beagles. Diagnosis is reached by ruling out underlying metabolic disease and underlying structural brain disease (i.e. normal MRI and CSF tap findings).
Although there is no cure for epilepsy, we can still manage it! Many dogs with seizure continue to have happy and fulfilling lives. Management of epileptic dogs involves long term, usually lifelong administration of anti-convulsant medication. Medications are considered effective if they reduce the frequency or severity of seizures by 50%. It is therefore expected that even with anti-convulsant medication on board, Mickey will continue to have occasional seizure episodes. As such, we might require further testings to find the right balance between the dose of medication to adequately control Mickey’s seizures and limit adverse side effects.
We thank you for your generosity.
As a token of appreciation, I will personally draw a custom digital art portrait for donations above $100. Portraits will be made as donations are received. Please allow 2 - 4 weeks for delivery. Feel free to email me with reference photos or questions.
Of course, no sum is too small! We understand that this may be a huge undertaking for some. Even sharing Mickey’s story goes a long way. Let me know how you have helped and I will send you a cute surprise as well :)
Our love for Mickey outshines any doubt in tackling Mickey’s disorder. We thank you for your generosity and will forever be grateful to all of you who recognize the power of loving a dog.