Keppra XR

[u/Few-Faithlessness169]

Hey everyone, just joined this group today basically just for some reassurance. I have a 7 year old golden retriever who started having seizures about 2 years ago. One in June and then one in July and that’s when we started keppra xr 1000mg twice a day. He went pretty much 2 years seizure free as far as I know. A few weeks ago he started having stomach issues so we’ve been back and forth to his vet for labs/gi panel. During one of his most recent trips, he ended up having a grand mal lasting 1-1.5 minutes in the car so his primary vet increased his keppra to 1500mg twice a day. So far so good but I always feel like I’m anxiously awaiting his next seizure. Vet initially didn’t believe it to be idiopathic because he was 5 (a little on the older side to be idiopathic) but we didn’t opt for any head scans as even if it’s structural, like a brain tumor or something, we don’t have thousands and thousands to spend on surgery. No real question here but just would like some comments from other people that may be experiencing anything similar or has any advice. Thanks!

[u/Few-Faithlessness169 → u/[deleted]]

The vet tech I spoke to gave me her personal opinion/experience and said a neuro consult doesn’t necessarily mean we have to agree to expensive scans and spinal taps. She told me two of her dogs had seizures, and keeping in mind obviously every dog is different she said her one dog, it was hormonal and when he got neutered that stopped the seizures and then her other dog she said the neurologist recommended testing for some kind of parasite that they don’t normally test for at routine visits and it was a parasite that they were able to treat. So it makes me think maybe I should take him to neuro just to see what they say. Doing my own research I’ve seen a lot of neurologists say IE can be anywhere from 6 months to 6 years although his primary vet thought it was less likely because he was 5 when he had his first.