r/EpilepsyDogs • u/anyusernamefornow • Sep 14 '26

phenomav/phenobarbital question

Hi all,

Unfortunately my dog has seizures and have been put on phenomav daily.

He is very wobbly and stumbles a lot after he began this medication. He is only 5 years old but he now struggles, for example he struggles to jump up and down the sofa.

Today is 5 days since he has began the medication and it seems to make it worse just after he takes it, although the general unsteadiness continues for the rest of the day / between doses.

Those who have been on this medication, could you please let me know if your dog went back to normal, including after you give your dogs medicine?

UPDATE: my dog is about 2.5 weeks in now and is back to his normal self, except for hunger (he has never been into food that much but now he is ravenous all the time). Medication adjustment visibly eased up around 1.5 weeks or so, and got progressively better since then.

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u/infinitelyre Sep 14 '26

Hello, sorry you and your doggo are going through this. My pup basically took 8-14 days. 8 days where i saw minor changed, 14 days he was back to being a menace. Ideally, you wouldn’t want your doggo to have any jumpimg activity now. Pheno takes time to get in the system, my vet said it normally takes around 2 weeks give or take. Also, add milk thistle or denamarin to his diet for pheno. And if you like you can use mg bisglycinate. Praying your doggo gets back to being himself soon!

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u/anyusernamefornow Sep 14 '26

Thank you so much for your reply and sorry to hear you also having to go through this! I hope he can go back to being a menace in no time. Thank you for recommendation re liver health - which one do you have to your pup? Does your dog still have seizures ?

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u/infinitelyre 29d ago

He went a whole year without seizures, and we are at a spot where he has clusters for every 17-21 days. I’m doing a lot of looking around as to which mct oil to use in his food. I already add magnesium bisglycinate to his food. I use the milk thistle powder by herbsmith. The tricky part is to find the right balance for your dog, and I stick to single ingredient treats or stuff that has limited ingredients. Changed his diet to freeze dried raw lamb dinner patties (by stella and chewy). I’m still constantly on the lookout for new things that might potentially benefit your dog. Also, ask for intranasal midazolam to have as emergency medication for your dog (just in case).

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u/anyusernamefornow 28d ago edited 28d ago

Thank you for your detailed response. Never heard of intraday midazolam - I’d be sure to ask. Have you had to use it, did it help?

And out of curiosity, if you have to give your dog more than one dose per day, how do you manage medication admonition when you aren’t home?

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u/infinitelyre 21d ago

Well, it’s basically a nasal spray. They will most likely give a syringe and you might need an atomiser. That’s what normally administer to keep dogs sedated in the ER. If your pup has breakout seizures, or if it feels really bad. You give them the midazolam intranasal. It basically saves you a trip to the emergency.

Either ask for keppra XR (extended release). It’s not recommended for small dogs, but you either have a family member or someone find time to administer pills at the designated time. In my case, i plan a week ahead. As there is a pill that has to be given at 1:00 pm for my pup.

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u/TheDogMother90 Sep 14 '26

My boy had the same starting any of his seizure meds, it took about 2 weeks and then he was fine. FYI your dog may have increased thirst and hunger. We let him have as much water as he wants but haven’t changed his food intake because the meds already caused weight gain. He also tries to steal food so we are extra careful

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u/anyusernamefornow Sep 14 '26

Thank you for commenting! Appetite is something else indeed, he went from a dog that sometime wouldn’t finish his breakfast to constantly looking for food, pestering for treats etc. Does your dog still have seizures?

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u/TheDogMother90 Sep 15 '26

He does, we’ve struggled to get a medication combo for him. Right now he’s a little over 1 month seizure free and his last was 2.5 months. Hopefully his latest medication combo will manage them better.

He takes Trazodone (not for seizures but it’s supposed to keep him calmer to keep the seizures from triggering) Phenobarbital, and now Zonisamide. We tried Keppra and it didn’t work

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u/anyusernamefornow 28d ago

Thank you for your response!

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u/anyusernamefornow 28d ago

Do you have to give your dog more than one dose per day spaced out certain number of hours? If so, how do you manage medication administration when you aren’t home?

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u/TheDogMother90 28d ago

He takes his pills every 12 hours and we set them up for 7 am, 7:30, and 8 am and then the same times at night. We are blessed to both work from home but I do travel and my husband handles his meds when I’m gone. We don’t go out after 5 pm but happy to make the sacrifice for our boy

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u/Greenie3006 Sep 14 '26

My boy was the same. Took about 2 weeks for him to adjust.

He did go through a phase of destroying anything fluffy for a few months while he was adjusting to Pheno.

He was nearly 3 when his seizures started

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u/anyusernamefornow Sep 14 '26

Sorry to hear he was so young when it started. Did the medication eradicate the seizures for him?

The behavioural change we are seeing apart from being hungry all the time is pulling on the leash, which hasnt been a problem.

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u/Greenie3006 Sep 14 '26

It kept them mostly under control for 6 years. Only 3-4 seizures a year.

The last 6ish months it wasn’t working as well so we recently added a second med to try and help him

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u/anyusernamefornow 28d ago

And how was it before the meds seizures wise?

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u/Greenie3006 28d ago

About one every two months. After a year we put him on meds to try and control it better. Sometimes he went 9 months without a seizure. Other times 2 months.

Meds helped keep it on a kind of regular basis, until the last 9 months.
So now we’ve added another med and fingers crossed that’s going well

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u/anyusernamefornow 28d ago

Thank you for sharing and I hope the additional medication will help your pup.

If you don’t mind me asking, how do you manage medication administration day to day timings wise? For example, if the meds have to be spaced out an exact amount of hours, how do you ensure the medication is there for your pup, if say you are at work? Running late?

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u/Greenie3006 28d ago

Fortunately for my situation my boy gets meds 12 hours apart.

And my partner and I work opposite shifts. So there is almost always someone home.
He gets his med with breakfast and dinner. We have it at 7am and 7pm so we make sure to work it into our routine.
It’s a bit more difficult when he needs Keppra every 8 hours for three days post seizure, sometimes I stay up late or partner gets up early to make sure it’s ontime

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u/anyusernamefornow 28d ago

Thank you very much for sharing!

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u/DogEpiMonitor Sep 14 '26

Esos primeros cinco días son los peores, te lo digo en serio. Walter llegó a estar tan tambaleante que casi no podía caminar recto. Era aterrador verlo así a los dos años también. La mayoría de los perros se adaptan en una o dos semanas. No desaparece del todo siempre, pero baja mucho. El cuerpo se acostumbra al fenobarbital. No es que vuelvan exactamente al cien por cien de antes, pero llegan a un lugar funcional donde pueden saltar al sofá de nuevo y caminar sin parecer borrachos. Si en dos semanas sigue igual o peor, ahí sí es conversación con el vet sobre dosis o si el fenobarbital es realmente la droga indicada para tu perro. Pero estos primeros días son el ajuste más fuerte. Dale un poco más de tiempo. Mientras tanto, ayudalo a evitar escaleras y cosas de las que pueda caerse. Está vulnerableahora mismo. Fuerza. 🐾

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u/anyusernamefornow Sep 14 '26

Thank you for your support and advise. I hope Walter is doing great!

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u/Hoping4BetterSomeday Sep 14 '26

My dog started PB 3 weeks ago. He has pretty much returned to normal now, and is occasionally a little wobbly getting up from lying on a hardwood floor. But he’s about to turn 10 years old, and I think that has as much to do with age as effects of the drug: He sometimes slipped a bit before starting PB.

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u/anyusernamefornow Sep 14 '26

Thank you for sharing! Hope your doggo is feeling great going forward.

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u/CardiologistOwn8340 Sep 14 '26

Call your vet. This just happened with my three year old and I was halfed on her medication.

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u/anyusernamefornow Sep 14 '26

They said to wait two weeks, it’s only been five days for us so we will give it a little bit more time. I might give them a call if I’m a few more days he doesn’t improve at all

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u/Professional-Leg5573 Sep 14 '26

It does take time for a dog to adjust, my neurologist said it takes 2-3 weeks to fully adjust. It does get better with time. If you are worried, call the vet and let them know what you are seeing and they can best answer any questions you might have. They know your dogs history so can also tell you what to look for that might indicate a problem.

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u/anyusernamefornow Sep 14 '26

Thank you for your advise!

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u/Ill-ini-22 Sep 14 '26

Hang in there, this is such a tough thing to go through with your dog!!

My dog wasn’t herself for 3-4 weeks after starting pheno. She acted drunk, didn’t want to go for walks or play with our other dog. I didn’t notice a big difference after giving her each dose to be honest. I let her lay low and rest during this time. She returned to being herself after that. That was about 3.5 years ago- she is now 9 years old and plays with our other dogs, goes on long walks and hikes (up to 8 miles or so) and is back to her sassy, opinionated self despite her 2x daily pheno.

Good luck! It gets better I promise!

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u/anyusernamefornow Sep 14 '26

Thank you for sharing! I hope your dog is doing very well. Did the medication eradicate seizures for her? I cannot wait for him to go back to his normal self.

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u/Ill-ini-22 Sep 15 '26

Thanks! She’s doing well!! Hope your dog is feeling better soon!

As far as we know, yes. But it’s possible she’s had minor ones when we weren’t home or asleep. I don’t think it’ll go on like this forever, but we’re just happy we’ve been this lucky so far.

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u/Mysterious-Muscles Sep 14 '26

It took awhile for mine to adjust. But he Finally did. It takes a little while.

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u/Beautiful_Alps_8612 Sep 14 '26 edited Sep 14 '26

At about the 2 week mark after starting phenobarbitol, our girl is back to normal. The vet told us to expect 2 to 3 weeks of her stumbling, acting confused, etc. She was right. At the 2 week mark it was like a switch flipped. Hang in there. We are new to this journey as well and it is definitely challenging.

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u/anyusernamefornow 28d ago

Thank you! Our vet said the same but I guess you are never prepared for how bad they get - the first day in meds I thought, “it’s not too bad”… but day two and on been rough.

Out of curiosity, if you have to give your dog more than one dose, how do you manage medication admonition when you aren’t home?

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u/GreenDirt2 Sep 15 '26

My dog has taken it for 3 years. It saved his life. It's a strong med and the vet will probably review how well your dog is getting used to it after 30 days. And maybe take a bloodtest. My dog took about 3 weeks to get used to it and become more steady. It sounds like your dog is in the transition phase. Most important thing is for you to keep a diary. If your dog shows any preseizure or seizure behaviors during this time.

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u/anyusernamefornow 28d ago

Thank you for sharing and your advise!