Sorry if this is a long post, today my 2 1/2 year old dog (hungarian Wire Haired Viszla) had a fit. Very scary totally out of it for 5 minutes frothy at the mouth and wet himself. Did not recognise anyone for about 10 mins and was quite floppy and distressed, howling and making low rumbly growls. I took him straight to the vet who suspect epilepsy. Apparantly some dogs never fit again so we were told to take him home and keep him calm and quiet for 24 hours. We have to watch him and keep a log for the next 6 weeks, as if is going to fit again it will be in this time scale. My worry is that we are due to have a new pup in two weeks, and I am concerned that this could upset Harvey and make him worse. Has any one any experience of this?  Much as we want the puppy I feel my priority lies with the dog we have. He is a timid boy but friendly with people and dogs. Some one is home all day so the dog is never alone for more than a couple of hours once a week. Sorry this is wordy any advice appreciated.

Jacquie

HAve you spoken to your pups breeder about your dilema?

Personally I would have to put the first dogs health and welfare first and forfit my deposit and ask the breeder if she can find the pup another home........

Hi Digger,

we are ringing the breeder tomorrow, the deposit is not a prob, I guess i am just upset and not sure what to do, and as usual lifes timing is pretty rubish!!

Thanks Jac

Hi
I've had an epilpetic dog. How your dog will cope with a pup will depend a lot on how bad the fits are, especially how frequent. If you're lucky it may never happen again, or it will be weeks or even months in between each. If so you may well be fine with a puppy. However if they turn out to be frequent, and if you find that excitement triggers them, then you will have a problem. With my dog I wasn't able to take her for walks after a while as the excitement was too much for her, she ended up fitting during each and every walk which was awful. But I understand this is NOT the norm at all, in fact most epileptic dogs will start a fit during their SLEEP. In which case you'd be fine. One word of warning though: if you DO take on the puppy (and the trouble as I can see it here is that it is scheduled to be so soon, before you will have any way of knowing what your other dog will be like) -don't ever leave them alone if you leave the house, or at night. One of my other dogs attacked the epileptic one during fits.

Marianne

Hi thanks for the reply,

I think my main problem is that there are too many unknowns in the equation at the moment, I do not know what started the fit as Harvey was just lying asleep on his bed a good two hours after a walk, with nothing unusual at all. I think it would be better if I could pinpoint something that seemed unusual or different.

Thanks for the advice though will post if anything develops.

Jacs

Hi Jacs
What a dilemma. I think if I were in your position (and this is just me, not saying you should make the same decision) I wouldn't get a puppy just now - I would feel the need to put my older dog first. Having recently got a puppy (now 5months) and already having a 2 1/2yr old already, I know just how exciteable it all becomes! It could also be that you become very stressed with the pups activity, worrying that it might cause the other to have another fit, all stress you don't need when your dealing with a new addition anyway!
Kat

Thanks to all who replied,
we will speak to vet again and the pups breeder and take it from there when we are less tired and emontional

Jacs