Korie (Katon’s Encore V Skico) was born on April 4, 1994 and began having seizures at the age of 14 months. It is interesting to note that she had a litter brother, who also had seizures. His seizures started at the age of 20 months. A repeat breeding of Korie's parents produced 3 more epileptics. Korie plus her family were part of a study at the University of Missouri - Columbia, headed by Dr. Gary Johnson, to find the genetic marker for epilepsy. Unfortunately, Dr. Gary terminated his study due to lack of funds in December 2003.

Korie was purchased as a show bitch. She comes from excellent lines - her mother is from English stock and her father was the top Standard Schnauzer in America for three years running (1990, 1991, and 1992). Her father won Best of Breed at the Westminster Kennel Club show two years in a row and also won the Standard Schnauzer Club of America’s National Specialty in 1992. Every sibling in this litter is an AKC Champion (except Korie since she was spayed because of the seizures). She did have 9 points toward her required 15 point championship and we believe she would have finished her championship. We work very closely with our veterinarian, Dr. Scott Carpenter, who operates the Arvada West Veterinary Hospital in Arvada, CO. He is a graduate of Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine. When trying to diagnose Korie’s condition Dr. Carpenter referred us to Dr. Patricia Luttgen, Diplomat ACVIM, Neurology, who operates the Neurological Center for Animals in Lakewood, CO. Dr. Luttgen is a very knowledgeable and caring individual. Before arriving at the diagnosis of primary inherited epilepsy, she performed a neurologic examination, an MRI and spinal tap - CSF analysis - on Korie .

Korie had her first seizure on June 1, 1995. Then in August 1995, she was placed on 30 mg. of Phenobarbital in the morning and at night. She was spayed in September. In October 1995, .7 cc of Potassium Bromide was added to her evening meal and the Phenobarbital was increased to 60 mg. (Korie is 19+ inches tall and weighs 38 lb.). In February 1996, Korie experienced a set of 3 seizures after having gone without one since she was spayed in September 1995, almost 5.5 months. Then again in mid March 1996, she experienced another set of 3 seizures. After the second set of seizures in March, she was tested for the Phenobarbital and Potassium Bromide levels in her blood. The Phenobarbital levels were satisfactory, but the Bromide levels were approximately 60% below normal. On March 30, 1996, her evening dosage of Potassium Bromide was increased to 1.5 cc. Also, starting in March, we began giving her a vitamin B complex supplement in her morning meal.

In early May 1996, Korie had another complete blood work done to establish Phenobarbital and Potassium Bromide levels. The results showed that the medications were in the proper range for her weight. On Thursday, May 23, 1996, Korie went into status epilepticus. She averaged 3 to 4 seizures every 5 hours. On Friday evening May 24, we took her to the Wheatridge Animal Hospital in Wheatridge, CO for emergency care. Both Dr. Carpenter and Dr. Luttgen were out of town.

A catheter was placed in her front leg for valium injections to suppress any severe seizures. She was under emergency care from Friday evening to Saturday evening. Since the animal hospital did not have 24 hour weekend care, she slept at home on Saturday evening and was returned to the emergency clinic on Sunday morning for all day observation. She slept at home on Sunday night and was returned on Monday morning to have the catheter removed. Korie did not stay at the clinic on Monday. From Thursday afternoon to Saturday evening, Korie had 32 documented seizures in 52 hours. We added 15 mg. of Clorazepate to her morning and evening medication schedule and increased her Phenobarbital to 90 mg. at each meal.

Over the 1996 July 4th weekend, Korie had 11 seizures lasting anywhere from 15 seconds to 4 minutes. The seizures were grouped as 3, 2, 4, and 2. Unlike the seizures in past episodes, Korie seemed to recover from these seizures much faster. On Thursday January 24, 1997, Korie commenced seizuring in the late afternoon. She stopped her seizure activity late Friday evening. She visited Dr. Scott all day Friday where she received 4 injections of valium throughout the day. She had 28 seizures in a 31 hour period. In the following 48 hour period, we were able to observe "fly biting" and facial twitching. As with past episodes of extended seizure activity, Korie’s post ictal period is 2 to 3 days.

Korie has continued to seizure throughout 1997 and 1998. Although the activity occurs more frequently - approximately every 3 weeks - she is only experiencing 1 or 2 seizures, they are always at night, they are shorter in length and her recovery time is much faster. Her drug regiment right now consists of 90 mg. Phenobarbital A.M. and P.M., 3.0 cc. of Potassium Bromide P.M., .450 mg. Soloxine A.M. and P.M., Vit. B complex and Calcium Ascorbate A.M., Zinc A.M. and P.M., Vit. E P.M. She also receives a doggie vitamin (Visorbit) both A.M. and P.M. Korie is fed A.M. and P.M. and eats Flint River Ranch super premium health food for dogs which contains 16% protein.

In August, 1998 Korie had approximately 300 gold beads implanted in her head and back by Dr. Terry Durkes in Marion, Indiana. This procedure has lessened the severity and length of her seizures and made her recovery time faster.

When Korie is fine, she is a fun loving girl who is always looking for and successfully finding trouble. The majority of her waking hours are spent barking at people and squirrels, and playing and running with our other Standard Schnauzers. She does drink more water than normal and has a voracious appetite, but we realize that this is a result of her medication.

Korie’s epilepsy is very difficult for both of us. We found the Internet Canine Epilepsy list in the fall of 1996 which has been a great help. This is a very compassionate group of world wide supporters that are involved with many epileptic issues. The instructions to subscribe to this list are:

We have discussed Korie's quality of life with her doctors and believe the proper dosage of drugs, will keep her with us for many years. Korie is one of five Standard Schnauzers we own - 9 years, 7 years, 2 years, and 2 years (as of May 2004).

In April 2004, we almost lost Korie. She was in a little scuffle with YD and Madison - the other 2 females in the house. Korie sustained a puncture wound to her right calf muscle and had a difficult time walking. We took her to the vet who inserted 2 drain tubes in her leg to allow the infection to drain. After she returned from the vet, she stopped going to the bathroom - she did not releive herself - bladder or bowles for 2 days - and was unable to walk. We took her back to Dr. Patty for a neuroligical checkup. Her diagnosis was a possible herniated disk from the scuffle a few days earlier. She placed a catather in Korie to releive her bladder and gave us some medicine to help her poop.

Gradually, the nerve impulses from her hind end started to get through to her brain. She started to relieve herself, but she needed me to help support her as she stumbled around the back yard. As the days passed, so did other things too. We stopped giving her the medication to verify that she could go on her own. Two days after the medication had stopped, Korie p'ed and then marked a spot in the back yard. This was the sure sign to us that all of Korie's functions were "go". Korie made a full recovery from this incident.

Since Korie’s first seizure, we have spent many many hours researching the causes of epilepsy, how to deal with it, etc. We have a 4 inch thick folder on pertinent epilepsy articles, but none of the articles tell "why Korie?" "why us?". Standard Schnauzers are not suppose to have problems with epilepsy but they do! We have also maintained a comprehensive medical diary of her seizure activity.

We have produced a 16 minute educational video on canine epilepsy. Click here for more information on the video and to see what breeders , educators and veterinarians have to say about Korie’s video .