Dino, my big redheaded Golden Retriever, had his first grand mal seizure at 4 years old at about 5 am. I remember it so well because at the time I thought he was dying right before my eyes and I was totally helpless. I was returning from the bathroom, about to climb back into our warm bed, when I saw Dino convulsing on the floor with legs stiff, eyes bulging and in a trance. I knelt before him and just held him with tears flowing freely. After about 3 minutes, that seemed more like an hour, he slowly came out of it and his legs and eyes returned to normal. Teddy, our other golden retriever, was visibly shaken too. He went over to his brother and tenderly kissed him. I stayed with Dino all day and held him and smothered him with kisses. We thought this was a unique event and yes we worried but didn’t know what to do for him. I didn’t know that dogs could suffer from seizures (epilepsy) like people. The next one occurred a month later, again about 5 am. This time Teddy jumped on the bed and gently grabbed my arm, saying “get up mom, my brother is in trouble”. After this seizure, we needed to find answers to why this was happening. I visited my vet and he confirmed that he had a seizure disorder. We decided to put him on a seizure medication called phenobarbital. After noticing side effects, I studied the long term effects, namely, the liver is adversely affected as well as a dog becomes a bit loopy. Because of these undesirable effects, I started to research alternative medications, a holistic approach, instead of the use of drugs. We also figured out that his seizures stemmed from stress, which can be measured by the cortisol levels in the blood. Since the biggest successes documented were a raw food diet coupled with acupuncture. We changed him to this diet, did acupuncture and added a natural supplement to help keep him calmer. His seizure episodes improved to less severe and to one 1 every 6 or 7 months. Ok, turn the page, since I had been doing so much research on seizures and trying to keep Dino calm during stressful situations like thunder storms, loud noises, or unfamiliar places, I decided to try to create a treat that may help these issues. I also used my research on cancer preventing foods to create this healthy treat. I liked the concept of using yogurt as my base and adding other ingredients. I originally wanted to use cow’s milk yogurt, but it was pointed out to me that sheep’s milk yogurt may be a better option. I started to read up on sheep’s milk yogurt and all its benefits. Holy cow, this stuff is a “superfood”. After months of formulation studies, Ewegurt was born and the journey began in helping dogs with anxiety issues.
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