Valium, Butorphanol, and Phenobarbital- adverse reaction? (regarding my husky)?

Question

I hope there's someone out there who can help me with this. My dog, a siberian husky, had 4 seizures throughout the night Monday - into tuesday. This was from a loud noise (it happened before in Feb and he was on pheno for a short time but then was able to come off of it). We took him to an ER vet Tuesday morning around 6:30 and he walked into the clinic, acting mostly back to normal. They gave Valium. He reacted hyper to it. THey gave more, with the same result. They then gave Butorphanol. After that, he was a wreck. He was not able to move, walk or do anything. He was breathing rapidly, eyes dilated, and whimpering excessively. This is basically the state he's been in since. We took him off ALL meds yesterday and he is now able to somewhat hold his head up and eat from a tongue depressor and drink out of a bowl (with his head resting on it). He still cannot stand up and is very distressed. He has also been running slight fevers. Please, if someone has any idea what is going on or what we can do to help I'd be so thankful. The doctors don't really know what to do. Thank you.

Answer 1

Both the Phenobarbital and Valium are central nervous system depressants, the Butorphanol is an opiod-like medication that can raise the threshold at which central nervous system depression occurs.   While I understand they wanted to counteract the hyperactive reaction from the valium, all 3 appear to have created the sedated state that you're describing.

I am honestly in no position whatsoever to second-guess an ER vet, but I would take him to your regular vet or a specialist.  Valium is given for seizures, as is the phenobarbital--did they still have him on all 3 concurrently until you took him off everything yesterday?

Answer 2

Seizures can cause brain damage. Could this be what has happened?

Answer 3

Call another vet immediately. ER vets aren't really that great.

Don't waste time on this site for something as serious as this.. We are just everyday people here for the most part. People may have an opinion on here but unless one of them is a real vet then they are just guessing. It could be anything from an overdose to an allergic reaction to one of the drugs.

Good luck to you and your dog.