Thanks. I did have a hunt around this area but couldn't see anything specific to brain function, but if you know of anything here that would be most helpful.

Sam-e and milk thistle can be used to help improve cognitive function. But please discuss with your vet before administering to Ben to be sure they will not be an issue for him.

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Ben's symptoms sound a lot like what happened to my 10 year old Golden, Ruby last summer; She had pretty good health except for her hips which she was on Deramax for, and one afternoon I was standing at the stove and I looked over at her- she was laying in her usual place but she was kind of curved in a backwards "U" shape, and she looked like she was having a major muscle spasm, I immediately went to her and saw that she had lost her bladder and was in the process of a BM- It took about 30 seconds for her to come back around and look at me, and she seemed very disoriented for the longest time- very scary. She had never had anything like this happen before!

Took her to the vet the next day, told him I was suspicious that it was a grand mal seizure, and we were both thinking maybe epilepsy, or thyroid. So we did the blood panel- (not sure if that's what you had done- usually around 100.00 and it usually takes a day to come back) well, it came back with her liver enzymes off the chart, indicating that there was probably some type of liver cancer, or actually it could have been any type of cancer or tumor that was being filtered through her liver and causing it to fail- the vet said that without an ultrasound and x-rays they couldn't be sure where the problem originated. Unfortunately, as we were pondering our next move, Ruby had another seizure- at home, no notice, same pattern, and again, came back around for another day, and then had such a bad series of seizures that we determined all the additional procedures were not warranted. We said good- by to her that morning. It was awful. From her first seizure to the end was about 48 hours. I still can't believe it all happened so fast.

I'm sorry I should have warned you this wasn't a happy story, but my point in telling it is that Ruby's seizures were caused by something internal that we had NO way of knowing about until it was far too late to do anything about it- Now I'm a big believer in having the senior blood panels done after age five.

I hope your Ben is fine, and you don't experience anymore of the seizures. Keep a close eye on him; Sometimes I wonder if Ruby had had some quiet, little ones that I maybe missed along the way.

I know you are relieved about this not being something extremely major.

As far as supplements helping cognitive abilities, I think you and I have had this discussion before in another thread; however, since then I attended a seminar with a veterinarian who gave me some additional information. I don't know if these things will help Ben or not, but it's worth discussing with your vet:

1. Cholene supports improved mental clarity and cognition. Several of us on this forum use this supplement for it (and they have a good description on their webpage): http://www.entirelypets.com/chca5tach.html

2. Denestra is a new Sam-E formulation for dogs that is supposed to improve mental cognition. Hotel4Dogs here alerted me to a clinical study being performed now about this and hopefully the trial shows it does help. Here is a link to the entirelypets website that describes it: http://www.entirelypets.com/denestra3pk200mg60.html

Aren't you in GB? I'm not sure about shipping policies overseas but maybe there is a source where you are.

I've heard the brain foods sometimes don't work so well on some dogs.

I too think fish oils are great for cognitive function--human and canine. I swear by them. Like Beau Shel said, make sure they don't have soy (allergies increase) and also make sure they don't have Vitamin A in them as it can be toxic in larger doses. A sports veterinarian I consulted for Barkley suggested the formulation is 300 mgs per 10 pounds of weight. for a 60 pound dog it would be 1800 to 2000 mgs per day. Take the DHA and EPA figures and add them up for the omega 3 numbers. Some capsules are in such small doses you have to feed them 10 to meet the 1800 dose! I found a formulation at Costco that is at a much higher dosage that we use--3 per day for Barkley. It also needs to be certified to be free of mercury too (neurotoxin). We were advised to increase the dosage slowly to prevent soft poop and GI distress.

I hope this helps! I'm thrilled Ben doesn't have a cancer.

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How is Ben doing today?

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Sending good thoughts and healing wishes to Ben!

This just happened to my 13 yr. old Starr yesterday, but for a full 24 hrs. she would not get up or stand if we lifted her. This morning after I called the vet with tears in my eyes to say we were carrying her in. I called my neighbor with her "best friend" chihuahua to come visit, and as soon as Starr saw her she got up (very slow and wobbly) and followed her outside to pee. Vet thinks possibly a mini stroke, or over did it playing with the new puppy on Sat. Happily Starr is back home sleeping, and praying she stays comfortably with us a while longer.

We will say a prayer for Starr. Hopefully she just overdid it. Sometimes the old pups forget their age and can overdo it.

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How is Ben doing now ?

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I sent Dog Drops a P.M. and hope he will let us know how Ben is doing.

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