Coco is a very special dog in many ways. When she was young she was specially selected to be bred to produce guide dogs. She was the doting mother to three litters of puppies bred to transform the lives of their humans. Guide dogs are world renowned for enriching the lives of the vision impaired.
At the age of 4 she retired from breeding and settled into a life of leisure with her family. Not long after she began having seizures, so she went to her vet and was diagnosed with canine epilepsy.
Coco began having a grand mal seizure every 8 weeks, she is unusual in that her seizures were remarkably consistent, recurring with regular frequency, always happening in the middle of the night. As her human said ‘you could set your clock by her’.
Once the seizure ended Coco would be restless for hours, crying, panting and pacing around the house, despite the best of care. She and all her humans would be up nearly all night. Just before daybreak Coco would fall into a lovely deep sleep and catch up on her ZZZZ’s while her poor humans were dragging themselves out of bed and starting their day.
When dogs with epilepsy have a gap between seizures longer than 6 weeks, and the seizures don’t last too long, daily epilepsy medication is often not recommended. Coco has not had to take any medicines and her epilepsy didn’t get any worse.
Even so, it’s heartbreaking to watch your much-loved pooch having seizures, so when Coco’s humans heard that acupuncture can help with epilepsy in dogs they decided to give it a try. They brought Coco, who by then was 11 years old, to Beaches Pet Therapies in late 2023 for acupuncture for epilepsy.
Dr Marianne assessed Coco from both Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western veterinary medical perspectives and put together a treatment plan. We were really excited that as soon as she started acupuncture, Coco went over 14 weeks without a seizure.
At first Coco had weekly acupuncture treatments. We gradually spaced her visits out so that now she comes in once every 6 weeks or so to enjoy acupuncture accompanied by a peanut butter licky mat.
Now Coco’s seizures happen every 12 to 18 weeks, the seizures are shorter and she recovers much more quickly. After a seizure she is not distressed and pacing for hours. Coco and the whole family get to go back to sleep, and she is still drug-free.
If you know a dog with epilepsy who might benefit from having fewer seizures, shorter seizures and quicker a recovery, call or message us for more information.
