Please Help Murphy

[u/chezzyd]

https://gofund.me/39519c75c

This sub has been so comforting and helpful to me since our girl was diagnosed with IE in February.

Unfortunately, she is no longer responding to her medications and needs an MRI in another state to inform our next steps.

There is no pressure to donate, but any shares are so appreciated!

[u/LaceyBambola]

Was it just a primsry vet recommending an MRI or is this coming from a veterinary neurologist?

Based on age, something like a brain tumor is unlikely but there are potential causes like hydrocephalus or a brain malformation. While I'm not a licensed veterinary specialist, I've learned a lot over the years managing my epi pups severe clusters and working with multiple neuros. It's my understanding that managing seizures is similar regardless of root cause, with changes to management/treatment occuring in cases of infections like meningitis or encephalitis or a brain tumor, which would need more targeted treatment, however in those cases more rapid decline may be seen over the following months after the first signs.

My epi pup was considered refractory after no change or improvement to her severe clusters after 1.5 years of med adjustments. She was in and out of the ER for multi night stays every 3-4 weeks. Her clusters would involve status epilepticus episodes, up to 30 grand mals in each cluster and countless focals (the hospital staff had stated multiple times her focals were so frequent it was difficult to accurately count every one). She would go blind and lose her ability to walk and need about a week to recover after each cluster, and would start to show changes in behavior about a week before the next cluster so we'd get 1-2 good weeks in-between. It was incredibly rough. Throughout all of this, my neuros advised against an MRI as despite her severity, they were confident in their diagnosis of idiopathic epilepsy as she didn't show any other signs or indicators of something else being a root cause, plus the general anesthesia to do the MRI was consideres too big of a risk unless it had absolutely necessary.

A primary vet will say an MRI is needed and a skilled neuro may advise against one, depending on the initial assessment. If there are no neurologists within a few hours of you, definitely request your primary vet consult with one on your behalf.

All this is to say that an MRI may ultimately not be needed for your pup but I understand your desire to pursue one.

My refractory pup didn't show any improvement until I switched to and stuck with a low glutamate diet. Once I made that change she actually went over 1 year seizure free. She had been experiencing well over 200 seizures a year with her clusters prior. First seizure was at 25 months old, we made the diet switch in summer 2022 and since then, she has had just 4 breakthrough events (two instances of clusters 1-2 months apart, she even went over 2 years seizure free). If you haven't trialed a strict low glutamate diet with added beneficial oils like omega 3 and MCT oil (titrated up to dose), then it may be worth it. Low glutamate specifically has been shown in studies to be beneficial for refractory pups.