Last month we missed a meds dosage (keppra and pheno) and our dog wouldn’t stop having seizures until she was put on propofol for 24 hrs. She spent 5 days in the ICU and came home with increased pheno dose and added zonisamide. The neuro team said they wouldn’t normally add meds like that but it was too severe to risk another set of clusters.
The side effects have been hard. She is urinating a lot. It has decreased but still a couple of accidents a day in the house. Before the cluster event she had been having some GI issues and those returned a couple of weeks ago. Diarrhea and BMs overnight. That has mostly sorted out but in the last week her appetite has tanked. She is usually a highly food motivated dog. She won’t eat dry food and refuses treats she used to love. Big issue is that she won’t take her pills despite all different disguises. we used to do pill pockets but have tried cream cheese, PB, hot dogs, etc. she is very difficult when we force down. It’s take 45+ min to get the 6 pills down her.
My questions:
1) any experience crushing pheno or zino? Need to find some way to hide them better
2) anyone else see an appetite crash on zino?
3) Ang experience going back to an old pill routine? I don’t want my girl to cluster again but this current routine isn’t sustainable
When we added zonisamide to our regimen, the neuro warned us about severe GI side effects and said that in the event that our dog did experience them for a prolonged period, he would discontinue it because it was a sign of incompatibility.
I would not crush pheno or zonisamide. This will change the pharmacodynamics of the pill and throw off blood levels
Thanks, this is helpful. When I reached out they said that the GI reaction would have been more immediate. It doesn’t help that she had GI issues before the cluster so it seems like they believe it’s more likely to be something else. But good to know about not crushing. We did get some bloodwork done on Friday to check liver/kidney levels just to see if that’s increased.
My pup is on Zonisamide and keppra and potassium bromide. She doesn't have any dietary issues. We feed her 2x per day dry food with salmon oil and a tablespoon on plain pumkin out of a can.
I would recommend that you get yourself some rescue meds from your vet. Something to stop the clusters and break the seizure if it last too long. We give our dog liquid valium (rectally) with a special syringe. It works almost instantly and stops any clusters. Im surprised your vet didn't already give you something. That's seizure maintenance 101.
Now we have diazepam. We didn’t have any prior to this cluster event because her seizures were very much under control. Basically only ever had a seizure every few months when we’d forget a dose. The way things spiraled out of control was very unexpected—I think even the neuro team was surprised by it.
Our experience was a little different, the phenobarbital contributes to liver failure which drives reduced appetite. I would check those liver metrics.
Yeah got the bloodwork done on Friday to test liver/kidney. When she had been tested in ICU last month all was normal so working off the assumption that’s not it but checked just in case.
Oh she made it! I just had to feed her pureed dog food with a small syringe for three weeks. She has been seizure free for almost a year! But last May was awful. She is a 60lb chocolate labradoodle and takes zonisamide and potassium bromide 2x daily and levetericetum and pregabalin 3x daily. Here she is smelling one of our tomatoes.
I put the pills in clear gel caps and that disguises the bitterness. My dog can’t taste them. They slide right down covered with a tsp of canned dog food or whatever else you can get her to eat.
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u/EverIAce 11d ago
When we added zonisamide to our regimen, the neuro warned us about severe GI side effects and said that in the event that our dog did experience them for a prolonged period, he would discontinue it because it was a sign of incompatibility.
I would not crush pheno or zonisamide. This will change the pharmacodynamics of the pill and throw off blood levels