Memphis the lab rat: The Results

Memphis has finished the Keppra study at NCSU. The principal investigator spoke with me about the study when Memphis was "deblinded". We learned that she was on the placebo during the first 16 weeks and Keppra the second 16 weeks. She had 14 seizures during the placebo period and 7 during the Keppra period. Apparently, the study is not going so well for Keppra in general. Memphis is only the second dog to show significant improvement on Keppra. (0ut of 15-20 dogs)

That is good news for us, especially since some rich dude in California gave NCSU a bunch of money to provide Keppra to dogs when it is shown that it helps. Since they are having a hard time finding dogs it helps, they were happy to give us some. So we get free Keppra for 3 months at least. Woo-hoo! (Keppra for Memphis would cost about $200-$300/month if we paid for it. I like my dog, but no way...)

On the down side, bloodwork during the study showed that the phenobarbital she regularly takes is damaging her liver. We will need to investigate the possibility of cutting the dose or getting her off it completely.