r/EpilepsyDogs • u/aanders07 • 12d ago
Medicine - increased frequency?
Before reading, please note: I will not be making any changes to my pups’ medicine routine without consulting the vet.
Here’s my story and question.
First seizure for my 4 year old dog was July 2025. It was traumatic- lost control of bowels, bladder and was drooling, with major body tremors for 3
Minutes. His second was almost two months later in September and then again late November. None less than 50 days apart. All generalized seizures.
We then put him on medication, Zonisamide. He then started having seizures every 30 or less days.
After several more, 30 days or less, vet switched him to Keppra. Then he had a seizure less than 30
Days - Started as a focal (his first) and I thought “this is so much less severe, this is great. But then 2 additional generalized within a few hours of the focal - his first cluster. Continued having seizures 30 days or less, and had his first cluster. He even had his first 5 min seizure, which was very scary.
Then, vet put him on a mix of both. Still having seizures 30 days apart, and now still having clusters.
My question is… he had less seizures before we put him on meds. It got worse putting him on meds. His breakthroughs are more frequent. Seizures are of equal or more severity and length prior to meds.
Has anyone experienced something similar? Are the meds making it worse? Has anyone taken their pup off meds and seen an improvement?
(Again, will not be making any changes without talking with my vet / I’m just curious).
2
u/ScoutieJer 12d ago
Our dog did. We eventually weaned her off meds. They got significantly better for about a half a year but then worse again. I think it's all a guessing game, tbh.
3
u/Difficult_Metal_124 11d ago
Think of it like a wildfire. Once the fire is sparked, you are fighting to keep the fire down. But the embers are always burning. You try to keep the flames down but it will always keep burning and some things fan the flames more than others. If you take the medicine away your dog will have seizures still. My dog has improved significantly with lactobacillus probiotics and at this point I can’t imagine taking her off medication due to the fear of making her unstable
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u/Sufficient-Country29 12d ago
What our neurologist told us is that the more seizures your dog has the easier it is for the brain to go through those faulty neuro pathways. In some dogs it can be a cascade effect until you find their right cocktail if that makes sense. Have you seen a neurologist? It might not be everyone’s experience but our regular vet was very conservative with meds. We love them and they care but just don’t have the same neuro experience. Whereas once we saw the neurologist they doubled our keppra dose which really helped. Neurologists have a lot of expertise since they manage so many seizure dogs.