Flashback Photo of Gibson 2010
November marks Epilepsy Awareness Month and along with my posting FiveSibes #LiveGibStrong Epi-tips, resources, books, and some fabulous Epi-Stars throughout this month, November also sees the end to Daylight Saving Time, a time for clocks to "fall back" in many areas on November 4th at 2 AM EST.
So, my first important Epi-tip of the month is if your Epi-dog (dog with Epilepsy) is on specifically timed medications, you will want to adjust his schedule a few days ahead of time, or at least for the first day of the new time change, stagger the dosage times. For example, if your pet typically gets his medications at 7 AM and 7 PM, for the first day of DST, give the AM dosage at the new fall-back time of 6:30 (true time would be 7:30, a half hour later than usual), and give the 7 PM dosage at 6:30 (true time would be 7:30). That way, while their internal clock says it's a bit late, their system can adjust to the "new" time and won't be going too long without the meds, thus risk upsetting the internal balance.
I always preferred to ease Gibson into the time change and keep those seizure meds as close to on-time as possible. Some pets may need a slower and longer adjustment period, so take a few days prior to the time change to initiate it. Why do this? For an Epi-dog, specifically timed medications is an absolute must. Sometimes even the slightest change can set their system akilter and become a trigger. We are not really gaining an extra hour (although it is fun to think of it that way), as Winston Churchill once said that Daylight Saving Time is “An extra yawn one morning in the springtime, an extra snooze one night in the autumn is all that we ask in return for dazzling gifts. We borrow an hour one night in April; we pay it back with golden interest five months later.”
Oh, but how glorious is it to think of an extra hour of sleep! Hopefully, the time change will not affect your Epi-dog other than that hour of sleep!
My Flashback photo of Gibson above is from 8 years ago...and yet, it feels like just last year.
Do you observe Daylight Saving Time?
Is your pet(s) on any medications?
Will you be adjusting them for the time change?
YOU'RE INVITED! Come join in our weekly stroll down Memory Lane in our weekly FiveSibes Flashback Friday Blog Hop! Whether you share a photo of your pet (fave family, vacation, and landscape flashback pics welcome, too) from yesterday or yesteryear, let's have fun looking back over the amazing lives of our pets and past memories! What a wonderful way to kick off the weekend, too! We know how busy everyone one is, so the blog hop is open all week, so join in any time! Simply grab our badge below and add to your post along with a link to us, and let's see those wonderful photos! Be sure to hop along and visit other blogs, too!
Layla bless her sleeps till like 9 every morning so I have no worries when it comes to daylight savings LOL and thank goodness no medications involved
ReplyDeleteThat's a great suggestion for administering timed meds. This whole silly DST conundrum with epi-warriors always flummoxes me.
ReplyDeleteGood idea. We didn't realize about the timing of the medication but it makes sense.
ReplyDeleteI love that photo of Gib with the clock, that's so perfect! He was such a beautiful boy who had a big mission - to help you spread awareness about Epilepsy in dogs. I never thought about the time change effecting dogs & their meds. My dogs don't need to take meds, thankfully.
ReplyDeleteLove & Biscuits,
Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them
Doh! It makes sense that pets depending on timely medication are even more affected by the time change. Thanks for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteWe are lucky as the time change doesn't seem to bother any of the pets too much. I am usually the one who gets confused and messes up appointments, etc. with the time change. I also admit that our kitchen clock is still not set back. LOL
ReplyDelete