Eccles the black lab came from a highly recommended breeder. We already had Walter his older brother from another litter just over a year before. Walter was the epitomy of the perfect puppy, he came from hip and elbow scored parents, had a history of Crufts champions in the family and he was the first every KC registered dog we had owned - this journey into breeders and reputations, scored hips and elbows was a steep learning curve but we did end up with an adorable, healthy, bouncy, easily trained gorgeous dog with Walter and when the breeders contacted us to say the same parents were having another litter we thought why not. Walter had been a dream so we chose Eccles the only black lab in a litter of chocolates and off we set!
Eccles, unlike Walter cried all the way home. He was welcomed by Walter as though he was the best present in the entire world, Walter wiggled an fussed and could hardly contain himself as he took on looking after 8 week old Eccles. All good so far.....
Eccles was, and always has been, quite needy and also quite an anxious dog. He needed more attention than Walter had ever had and was much less indepedant. He seemed to worry about things and would need encouraging to do some things by himself. Fine, clearly they were different personalities. Eccles grew so incredibly quickly, he was a big dog! He seemed to grow overnight and it wasn't long before he was the same height as Walter, soon the same weight and then seemed to tower above him. The 'little' brother was by far the biggest and Walter was quite shadowed by him. Still difference is ok, Eccles seemed to not grow out of the puppy clumsiness, he would barge into things and still to this day does not appear to have any sense of spatial awareness - he will happily try and squeeze into a very small space, lifting coffee tables, knocking over chairs on his way to retrieve whatever he has his sights set on.
Quite early on I can't remeber exactly when but Eccles began having seizures. The very first one was before he was a year old, it was so disturbing. Anyone who has witnessed this knows the shock and horror seeing your puppy or adult dog in a state where they have no control and watching the fear on their face as they as much as you have no idea what on earth is going on.
Eccles would be his usual boisterous self, rushing around and suddenly stop and keel over onto his side, he would go rigid, he couldn't move but the fear in his eyes as he looked around for reassurance was awful. He was scared and so were we. We would hold him, reassure him and talk slowly and gently to try and keep him calm. They probably lasted no longer than a couple of minutes but it felt like a lifetime. He would then slowly relax, his body would soften and it was as though his whole body was going into a big sigh and then he would gingerly stand, look a bit almost embarrassed and begin rushing around again. Completely back to normal while we were on the floor with the after shock!
Of course we sought help as soon as possible from the vet. He was thoroughly checked out but nothing could be found that was obviously wrong. He had blood tests, heart, lungs etc checked over but without the vet seeing what was going on at the time it was hard to diagnose. We were encouraged to keep a diary and log every event and video as much as we could. We recently found the diary and it was quite a shock looking back at how many events he had and how often. We did manage to video a few events and although very helpful it felt awful, to stand and watch and video him while he was so scared just seemed very unkind but it helped enormously and our vet's initial thoughts that it was epilepsy were mostly ruled out - he didn't lose control of his bowels or bladder, he didn't drool and he was aware of what was happening.
We were referred to Fitzpatrick Referrals in Eashing to meet with Clare Rusbridge, Neurologist and Professor in Vet Neurology I had heard really good things about Clare and felt like we were in good hands.
On our visit we met with Clare who viewed the videos and was curious that his seizures didn't seem typical. So he was sent for an MRI scan, to do this Eccles had to be sedated. I sat in the waiting room, I went for a walk, I sat in the car and I got myself a coffee still waiting to find out how he was. Eventually a nurse came out to say that because he was so anxious it was hard to sedate him, his adrenaline was burning up the medication and he wasn't giving in. So we waited some more, eventually dosed up for a baby elephant, typical Eccles, they were able to scan him. Meeting with Clare after the scan I was pleased to hear that there were no signs of epilepsy, no signs of tumours and nothing unusual in the brain that could be detected. And then so surprised to hear that he might be gluten intolerant! To be very truthful I felt a bit deflated and skeptical. It was at a time when the world and their wife claimed to be gluten intolerant, it seemed like a fashionable thing to say and I have to say I was a bit put off.
However, Clare went on to explain paroxysmal gluten-sensitive dyskinesia (PGSD) and known as Spike's Disease. Seen in many breeds, not often with labs but much more commonly in Border terriers. So after finally waking the sleeping beauty as the massive amounts of sedation had finally kicked in at gone 9pm in the evening and they struggled to wake him we set off home planning his new diet.
Eccles had always been fed what we thought was a good balanced raw diet. On reflection we saw a strong pattern with his love of all things gluten. As labs both Eccles and Walter stole food, they have over the years probably stolen one of everything you can imagine but we could see a strong pattern with Eccles of his love of bread. If there was a shopping bag with a variety of food he would go for bread every time, even over and above meat. He once stole an entire plate of french bread sliced up and ready for guests off the dining table. So clamping down on anything remotely gluten we looked into the variety of proteins he was having and made sure that he didn't eat any meat that was fed a grain diet. It was hard but worth the effort, we narrowed it down and were very strict, no treats, nothing he could steal (that was hard!) and the seizures stopped - he went on to have one more after seeing Clare and the diagnosis and that was after stealing bread again. I know it sounds ridiculous that we were so lapse as to leave something that he could steal but ask a labrador owner about their cunning and planning and execution of theft, it is unbelievable. We were told that as he got older and the longer he went without seizures the less likely he was to have them. He is now 10 years old and hasn't had one since he was approximately 18 months - once again all down to diet. That appointment was the best and we are so grateful and feel lucky to be able to access such great advice and support.
We could quite easily change Eccles' diet, without doing this and being in the dark he could have gone on to harm himself when he fell, the seizures were getting more frequent and we just wonder where without this information this problem would have ended.
Eccles has continued being the big, boisterous, clumsy yet anxious lovable boy. Along the way he has had many other issues, a retained testicle so we had to have him castrated. He then developed septic arthritis at just 4 years old, a big op that took an enormous amount of rehab and finding out despite all the hip and elbow scorings that he has elbow dysplasia and possibly hip dysplasia. He has been through too many operations, a lot of painful procedures none of which have left him any less needy and anxious but we adore him, spoil him and give him as much support as we possibly can an he still steals what he can whenever he can, thank goodness he is so loved!