Cocoa's Story - Brain Tumor or Epilepsy?

by Charlene Swift
(Bokeelia, FL)

On July 22, 2011 we put our little Cocoa of 15 years to sleep. We should have done it sooner. I am hoping that someone can learn from this story.

In March of 2011 our little toy poodle who we found wondering the streets 15 years ago, had his first seizure. He had always been an active, healthy little guy, never ill. He continued to have seizures for the next week. I took him to the vets office. They ran blood tests which came back normal. They were checking for organ failure. Their belief was that organ failure could cause seizures in older dogs. Since the blood test came back normal, his diagnosis was "Epilepsy".

They prescribed Phenobarbital for the seizures. Over the next month the seizures had subsided, however his co-ordination was getting worse. He was starting to run into walls, and fall over. He would pace excessively, just walking and walking, until he was so exhausted that he would just drop. At this point my vet didn’t have any answers other than he was old and it was time to put him down. But since he was still having good days, I couldn’t do it.

Looking for answers, I researched the side effects of Phenobarbital and the drug alone could cause confusion and unsteadiness. I was relieved when I read this, thinking that could be the problem, I reduced his dosage in half.

Another month went by, he had days where he was doing good, almost back to normal. His walking was steady, he would go outside to do his duty, and he always had a good appetite. His bad days would consist of: walking into furniture and walls, getting lost and tangled in the legs of tables and chairs, getting behind doors, not being able to get out, pacing and walking, never relaxing, relieving himself on the floor (something he never did before), staring at the ceiling, falling off the couch… but through this he always had a good appetite.

Another couple of months passed and his bad days became more frequent. Added to the list was a slight panting and moaning. My husband and I contemplated having him put to sleep almost every day. As soon as we decided it was time, he would seem to come out of it, and have a good day. Then on Friday, July 22 at around 4:30 pm everything changed.

His day started off as usual in the morning. Excessive walking and pacing, walking into walls and furniture, but then he followed me in my office and laid under my desk for hours sleeping peacefully. Later in the afternoon he started panting and moaning excessively. He seemed more out of it, not really knowing where he was at all. His breathing became labored, he was dripping saliva from his mouth, and when I held him his head would drop. I knew it was time. It was already 5:00 and our vets office was closed. I called a different vet that I knew might be open, that Cocoa had never been to. This vet came highly recommended to us by our neighbors. We took Cocoa in to be put to sleep. When we walked in the door, this new vet did an examination of him and saw his symptoms. He said he believed it was a brain tumor. This is the first time we had ever heard this diagnosis. Never even thought of it as a possibility, but it seemed to make sense. We proceeded to put our little Cocoa to sleep as the vet indicated it would be the best thing to do.

After coming home from the Vet, I started to research on the internet his suggestion of a brain tumor. I have come to the conclusion that Cocoa did have a brain tumor. My problem is, I believe he did suffer at the end. I have tremendous guilt for not realizing that he had a brain tumor at the beginning. If we had known, we would have put him to sleep earlier. Knowing that a time would come when he would have pain.

It is websites like this that help to educate all of us to make the right decisions for our pets, even when they are seeing a vet, our own research is still a must.