Dog Seizures and anti-seizure medicine. Any experience please advise
 

hey y'all,

yesterday was a tough day. My lil 4 pound yorki wound up having 14 seizure. The first started at around 530am. She sleeps in my bed with me on a pillow and the seizure woke me up. She continued having seizures every 10 to 20 mins. When she did not have one for over 30 mins i quickly rushed her to my vet. Where she had 2 more seizures later in the day. 12 at my place 2 at the vet. I transported her to a 24 hour facility and she was good all night. They just called to come and get her. I am headed to my vet now and they want to discuss putting her on an anti-seizure medicine. I have read some mixed views on this on google. I was curious if anyone here has any experience with this and could share some info with me before i commit to the medicine.

keep in mind my dog is purebreed, 4 pound yorky. She had kneecap surgery in august but the seizures are not from that. she is also 7 years old. 14 seizures in 1 day is very bad the vet told me. i just want to make sure i do the right thing before i commit to the medicine....

thanks for any info/help/personal experience :thumbsup

i have not had any experience with having a dog on seizure medication, but i wanted to bump this and wish you the best of luck.

Awww I hate to hear that.

:(

thanks... and thank u as well turboangel....

I am guessing that its somehwat rare since i have been talking to quite a few people.... I dropped my baby off at my regular vet where they want to watch her till 7pm. I will also have the test results and the vet will explain the medicine options to me...

but if any1 has any experience, i would greatly appreciate your coments


heres my lil 4pound monster
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/b...DSC00459-1.jpg

Awww how cute she is!

:thumbsup

I have a lot of experience with it actually. It depends on what the seizures are from. If it's epilepsy, then it usually can be controlled and the dog can live a somewhat normal life. If it's something more serious like encephalitis or tumor, you'll have to make some decisions.

My dog was 9 and started having small seizures and one day had a grand mal (where they don't stop). I had to rush him to the vet in a seizure. His first major one forced him to spend nearly a week in the hospital. He had encephalitis and was put on a lot of medication. He would continue to have minor ones every week or so on the medication but it was manageable. Eventually he had another major one and I put him down due to the belief that he probably had brain damage from it.

I think your next step is to figure out why your dog is getting the seizures. There are neurologists if you're willing to put down the money that can tell you. The drugs can work to control it, but they do have some side effects. The dog will be thirsty and hungry all the time and can be lethargic after taking the medication.

Best of luck, it's always tough to deal with this kind of stuff.

Hey there,

Well, I have four dogs total.....and two of them have seizures. My Shitsu "Muffins" who is 15 almost 16 years old just started having them. My Girl "Tessa" a Australian Blue Heeler Mix is 10 years old and has seizures all her life.

I have always used the same vet and with four dogs I see them on a regular basis. My vet had me monitor the seizures and I also video tapped one so they could see. They felt like the seizures weren't bad enough to call for meds and were not frequent enough. My dogs could loose blatter control too! It is common for Tessa to have them almost back to back when she does have them. I hold her tight to prevent her from hurting herself and i have found a light fan helps pull her out of it faster. My Muffins Man is usually pretty quick and over before I know it.......

I also have a friend who has seizures and she recommended not to put them on the meds unless I had too!! She and the Vet said the pills really "dope" the dogs up.

I have choosen not to put either on my dogs on the meds. Of Course! Every case is different. I hope this helps.

My parents have an old dog that was having some really nasty seizures. Her seizures were more the type where she just looked straight ahead and was unresponsive. She's been on both Neurontin and Phenobarbital. She drank a ton of water and seemed to be dizzy or have trouble standing up while she was on Neurontin. She got switched to Phenobarbital and that seems to be working just as well without any serious side effects.

thanks so much for the info and i know what you went through, always tough. i will get the names of the medicine and do my research before i make a decision....

I found 1 neurologist close to Manhattan and the rate was quite high but i never went through this and she explained to me that their is testing and catscans invoved. Quoted me $3,000 so i will wait to see if my vet tells me to see the neuro or not. If my vet recommends the neuro visit i will go ahead do it but i just want to make sure my vet says yes. thanks again!

OOOOH lil trishauptown... if we were to end up together by some miracle and allignement of the stars, we would have the cutest puppies errr i mean kids together... :winkwink: (see pic in profile hahahahaha)

thanks for your feedback. i am definitely going to do some research on the medicine once i know the names my doctor wants to recommend.

when my dog had them, she would shake her head and have saliva discharge foaming up around her lil mouth. sometimes her body would jerk. would last from30 seconds to 2 mins. The last one she had at my house that i was able to watch, was bad. Her head jerked back as if someone was pulling on her and she fell to her side and start shaking and twitching. after every seizure episode, she would get up and walk around in circles or aimlessly.

i did not know if i should hold her or not. thanks for letting me know should this happen again i will hld her and contain her so she doesnt get hurt.

thnx cutie

They would have the biggest brown puppy dogs eyes!!! :winkwink:

I would keep a journal and write down the day, time and how long it lasts. To see how frequent they are.

My dogs are dazed and confused for a little while afterwards also. Sometimes motion sickness medication ( the people kind) helps with that...just like a half a tab....

I suggest holding her for her safety.

We have 3 dogs and one of them is a 3 lb Maltese. For years he was having these "seizures" vets told us he had a liver disorder etc etc. Anyhow, it wound up years later that he had epilepsy. He was put on Phenobarbital (spelling?) for his seizures, a 1/4 of a pill twice a day, and it has cleared up his seizures entirely.

When he would have his seizures he would go stiff, and just look around, then he would sometimes urinate while having the seizure. Getting him on the meds have helped him alot and made him a much happier dog.

my parents have a Boston terror and it had them once every 2-3 months. He would get stiff as a board and looked like he was gonna die. He is on pills now for about 2 years and never had once since. If you need the name send me a message and I will call them and get it . I know they are little yellow pills and he takes them twice a day.

hey thanks everybody for the feedback...

back from Vet and she discussed everything with me. She said to hold out on the neurologist visit unless she starts to have cluster's again and does not respond well to the medicine. She discussed the meds with me and i am going with the Phenobarbital. she wanted me to go with a liquid elixir formula but i think the pill may be more convenient since i travel quite often and take this lil booger with me most of the time.

Definitely some scary stuff when your dog has these seizures and very worrysome. thanks for all the info and feedbck. i am feeling optimistic that my lil baby girl will be ok.

thanks!!! and i wish all your dogs good health as well