my 2 year old staff suffers with epilepsy he is on phenobarb when i take him for a walk he sometimes has a fit or he will have one when he gets back it only happens if i take him for a bit longer he dosent foam at the mouth he just goes really stiff and his legs go on him why is this?

Incorrect dose?  How often do you retest bloods?

And I would think it wise not to take the longer walks if it is over exerting him.  What does your vet think?

he has not had a blood test for a while he is very hyperactive and wants to go out longer i cant take him for a run on the field with the other dogs because he will have a fit he is due back at the vets next week to review his medication so i will mention it

My bitch has been on the same meds as your boy for years.  She has to be blood tested every 6 months.  This assesses if a change in dose is required.  Last time, my vet said I had to up her dose by a quarter of a tablet.  It hardly sounded worth it.  Yet the improvement is great.  I know she will have to have these tests for the rest of her life, but it's worth it.

how many tabs is your dog on? mine has 1 in the morning and 1 at night how long has your dog been having fits mine has had them from a pup

How many tabs doesn't tell you anything, as it depends what dose tablet you have been prescribed.  As my bitch is a considerably smaller breed, I'm guessing that makes a difference.  My bitch started at 5 years, and she is now almost 8 years.  So there is already a difference.  If a dog starts as young as your boy, it is going to be genetic.

I'm surprised that your vet didn't advise regular blood testing.

I'm at a loss to understand why you say that your boy is hyper.  Phenobarb makes them slow down.

the vet said it could be genetic but i have the mother she is fine and the father is my friends dog and he is fine to his dosage is 30mg he is always jumping about and when we get visitors he jumps all over them i have another 4 dogs and he wants to play all the time he does not stop at all

> the vet said it could be genetic but i have the mother she is fine and the father is my friends dog and he is fine to

It could still be genetic, the tendency to fits and/or epilepsy is not fully understood in all breeds as yet. Some genes can produce affected dogs that never have fits but will pass the tendency on to their offspring which may or may not have fits. Unless you know all the health details of the mother's littermates, parents & grandparents and their littermates, plus the same on the father's side and any others he has sired, you can't rule out a genetic cause.

oh no i dont rule out genetic at all my vet is not explaining his situation properly i have seen a few vets 1 told me he aint gonna live long 1 told me he will live a happy life

>oh no i dont rule out genetic at all my vet is not explaining his situation properly i have seen a few vets 1 told me he aint gonna live long 1 told me he will live a happy life

Yes he can if his condition is managed well :)
If you bred him yourself, have any of his relatives or littermates, or others sired by his father had any similar episodes? Are you in touch with all his family members and any half-brothers or sisters from the same dad? It would be wise to tell them just in case it's in the lines, I am sure none of their owners would want to breed puppies that might have a chance of developing this condition.

its the 1st time the father and mother have bred i asked my friend does any of her dogs suffer with epilepsy and she said no and the rest of the litter have been fine im not sure about the father but my vet said it normally comes from the mother the mother of him only had 2 pups and i kept them both she had a boy and a girl they both had fits as a pup but the female grew out of them

> my vet said it normally comes from the mother

What a ludicrous statement for a Vet to make.

> the mother of him only had 2 pups and i kept them both she had a boy and a girl they both had fits as a pup but the female grew out of them

So you bred the litter yourself then? Was there any difficulty with the whelping? Sometimes oxygen deprivation can cause neurological problems.

And it seems extraordinary that a vet should say  it normally comes from the mother.  I don't think that's true at all.

I am confused by the information we are getting.

First this vet, they are either useless at communicating in a way that can be understood or they are useless. (from the female side - what nonsense)

And not sure if the OP is saying they bred from an animal that had fits when young or that both the pups from the litter that produced the sire were subject to fits, either way they should not have been bred from and the vet should have explained this.

> And not sure if the OP is saying they bred from an animal that had fits when young or that both the pups from the litter that produced the sire were subject to fits,

I'm not sure either, although if I've got it right, the dog that now has fits had one litter sister, which also had fits but now doesn't.

As I said before, the inheritance of epilepsy is not known in all breeds, so it's quite misleading for a vet to say it 'must' have come from the mother.

One other thing which crossed my mind, there is a certain inherited disease found in Staffies called L2 HGA, which can cause seizures among other things. The fact that a long walk can bring on a seizure makes me wonder, as another symptom is exercise intolerance. From what I have been reading, the disease can vary a great deal in the severity of its effects, which may well explain why the female puppy appears to have "grown out" of the fits but the male hasn't.

Regardless of the cause, I don't think any of these dogs' close relatives should be bred from again, in view of the fact that two puppies have had seizures, and perhaps testing for L2 HGA might be an idea. Of course there may have been an external cause, but it seems epilepsy in Staffordshire Bull terriers is fairly common. Hardly surprising in such a populous breed which is being bred indiscriminately by some from dogs which haven't had any screening for inherited conditions, and especially by many who wash their hands of the puppies as soon as they're sold, and so have little or no idea of any genetic health issues that may arise in their lines later on in life.

Good thinking Sue, L2 is easily tested for and doesn't cost much, £40 odd when I got it done last.

yes it was an accident with a friends dog while out walking, there was no problems with whelping i had to open the sacks and she did the rest herself.

i wouldnt breed my dogs or the pups i have had them all neutered