epilepsy dog meds

[bmac1994]

Hi guys,

 

Just wondering what has helped your dog with having seizures? Phenobarbital or Pexion, anything else?  

[Mairead]

What sort of epilepsy is it, how often are the seizures, at what age did they start, what breed? Have you notified the breeder?

Has your dog ever had acepromazine? (Can lower seizure threshold).

No personal experience but answers to these questions may help with advice from others.

 

[Papillon Kisses]

In case you’re new to seizures, be aware that sometimes vets just have you keep an eye on things and come back in if they keep occurring. It’s not uncommon for dogs to have one seizure and then no others for the rest of their lives, or have them at some other low frequency, and it’s decided that the risks of medication (side effects) would outweigh the benefits. This is not to make you fear medication if your dog needs it, just to explain that there is a tipping point like with other medications.

[sandgrubber]

Many years ago used phenobarbital.  Mild seizures only once or twice a month.  It worked.  I reduced dose and eventually stopped giving it over a few years. 

 

 

[Loving my Oldies]

31 minutes ago, Papillon Kisses said:

In case you’re new to seizures, be aware that sometimes vets just have you keep an eye on things and come back in if they keep occurring. It’s not uncommon for dogs to have one seizure and then no others for the rest of their lives, or have them at some other low frequency, and it’s decided that the risks of medication (side effects) would outweigh the benefits. This is not to make you fear medication if your dog needs it, just to explain that there is a tipping point like with other medications.

That is what happened with my first little dog over 30 years ago and is what my vet at the time told me.  It was pretty scary as I was new to dog ownership.  

 

Fast forward to today and I now have a little foster dog who went for years without any treatment as his owners thought he was just having spasms and did not have him vet checked   .  He came into rescue and was immediately taken to a specialist.  He was initially prescribed Phenobarbitone and it took a bit of juggling to get the dosage correct between controlling the seizures and little dog being a zombie   .  After he'd been with the rescue group for approx 3 months, he came to me and he was having seizures regularly, so back to the specialist who prescribed Epibrom to add to his mediations.   

 

Since then (29 October 2024), he has had only three episodes.  They are very mild, but last for about 20-30 minutes.  He just shakes, stiffens his legs, fair bit of head shaking.  No drooling, eye rolling, incontinence or loose bowels.  He is a 6yo Pomeranian.  

 

@bmac1994 I really think seeing a specialist is the way to go.  Where do you live, so a DOLer will probably be able to make recommendations.   Good luck.  

[Mairead]

Most importantly has your dog been seen by a vet? 

It might seem obvious that it has been but who knows what medications are available over the internet these days? 

[Little Gifts]

I had a stafford who developed it out of the blue at 6 months of age. His seizures were extreme and he was on the maximum dose of phenobarb. It reduced the number but the severity was the same. Long story short, I had an amazing vet who also did homeopathic work and she worked with someone else to develop drops for him. Over a period of about 2 years of treatment he stopped seizing and was off all meds. We had nothing to lose in trying. He'd spent the first 7 years of his life in a drug induced haze so was quite scared of a lot of things (which we managed) and he lived to 11.5 with no further seizures or health issues.

[Deeds]

We had a Giant who had cluster seizures up to 5 seizures a night.  He was on phenobarbital ,epibrom as well as keppra.  

[~Anne~]

My beautiful boy Monte had clusters of seizures throughout his entire life. He lived to 15 years. He had tonic clonic seizures. 
 

He was on phenobarbitol and bromide. We also gave liquid valium rectally to break his clusters. He often had 4-5 seizures within an out 60-90 minutes and he usually ran manic between them. 
 

Epilepsy itself means seizures with no known cause. He eventually went into what is known as status. We couldn’t break the seizures and he was euthanised after having seizures nonstop over a period of roughly 14hrs. I was heart broken. 
 

His medications made him sleepier than the other Pugs, and he suffered ataxia which caused issues if we walked him on concrete as his nails would bleed from dragging his feet. It sounds worse than what is was. Monte loved life and loved a good one. 
 

If you search this forum for epilepsy and for his name you’ll likely find a lot of posts about his life and epilepsy journey. 

Edited Saturday at 06:33 AM by ~Anne~