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Old June 23rd, 2011, 10:27 AM
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Rgeurts Rgeurts is offline
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Hi Islandgirl,

As far as his bark changing, it could be many things. One of Nanooks seizures caused Pulmonary Edema and aspiration Pneumonia. His bark changed and became a bit raspy. He would also cough a lot. The weird bark went away for the most part, but he now has scarring of the lungs and coughs on a regular basis, though is still raspy on and off. Heart diesease and problems with the Trachea can be a cause for a change in barking as well as laryngeal paralysis which can be brought on by a few things.

A couple of other things for your vet to check if your boy does have another seizure is low blood sugar and Hypothyroidism. Both can cause seizures, and he's the right age for Hypothyroidism. I've pasted a few links for you that give some signs/symptoms of different things. It may trigger something for you, some odd behaviour you may have just shrugged off etc. At 7 yrs old, it likely isn't Epilepsy, but again, not impossible. GSD are prone to may health issues, Epilepsy and Hypothyroidism being just a couple. GSD's, just like Malamutes, are also prone to immune-mediated disease (which can also cause seizures/neurological issues), which is what our little Nookie struggles with. I hope yours has no more seizures and you won't have to worry, but just in case, please take a few minutes to read through the links. I understand you trust your vet, and that's wonderful, but it never hurts to get second opinions in something as serious as this if she is stumped (and a lot of vets get stumped, but the good ones admit it!). We went through several before we found 2 that are just amazing! The others just told us there was nothing we could do, or we had done everything we could and to just put him down. That was over a year ago and he's doing far better now than he was then

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/lary...paralysis.html
http://www.bodeus.com/health.htm
http://www.canadasguidetodogs.com/ge...eparticle2.htm
http://www.purelypets.com/articles/epilepsyarticle.htm


This is a GREAT article by Dr. Jean Dodds. Her lab is where we send Nookies blood for his Thyroid panels. Which, btw, Hypothyroidism can also cause laryngeal paralysis. If your vet wants to check the t4 levels, that isn't good enough. There needs to be a full Thyroid panel completed. The great thing about Dr. Dodds is that she will not only run the test, but evaluate it based on the breed/age of the dog as well. She is an amazing woman.

http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-...oidDisease.htm

Good luck!!
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Last edited by Rgeurts; June 23rd, 2011 at 10:38 AM. Reason: Forgot to add links!
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