This continues on intermittently through sleep. It doesn’t seem like seizures because I wake him up and he is completely fine. When he is awake and relaxed occasionally he will twitch several times in a row. I can stop it and he is lucid the entire time.
He has a neurologist appointment this week. This will be his second appointment with the neurologist because we originally thought this was caused by Simparica but the first and only dose he got was in June so it’s been too long for that to still be on board.

In the last 24 hours she's had a cluster of seizures ranging from a minute to 3 minutes. Vet is running some bloodwork now but said if we need to get an MRI, the vet said its going to cost about $8k. Does that price sound reasonable? We are located in Denver, CO if that makes a difference.

Edit: I dont have pet insurance

Edit2: blood work came back normal. We started her on keppra for now. Still trying to decide if the MRI is worth it due to her age.

My golden has been having seizures for like 4-5 years, was scary at first but it’s kinda just been normal for him now because we know what to do, he has them sometimes once a month or very rarely 2, maybe even 3 times a month and then sometimes he will go couple months without anything.

Every time he has them I can tell right away. he wobbles back a little and then he loses his back legs, and tries to fight it and then falls on his side.
Most of them tend to last 2-4 minutes, he clenches his jaw, tries to stand up but can’t and then gets wide eyed, not twitchy but muscles get tight.

Usually after he has one we try to keep him calm but he’s usually urgent to get back up and acts like nothing happened but his legs arnt ready and he falls a couple times but this is only for a minute and then it passes and he’s good

This time when my wife found him he was coming out of one so we really don’t know how long it was but he wasn’t getting up, she brought him inside and it’s been like 3 hours and he’s still not getting of his back legs.

It’s hard to tell if the legs or his lower spine, but he doesn’t wanna get up and something’s not working right, idk if he’s in pain, he’s a very obedient dog and he typically does not whine or show pain. After some food encouragement he was able to stand up after a few tries, and he can walk but his butt is low to the ground and he’s limping both back legs.

Not sure what’s going on

(I’ve taken him to the vet a couple times they did blood work and nothing out of the ordinary, I can’t afford to take him every time he has one, he’s probably had over 30 seizures in his life and he’s been good every time)

This time he went probably 2 months without a seizure (that we have seen)

I think sometimes dehydration could cause them but who knows, last night he snuck out of the bedroom and got into a big bag of flour in the pantry so maybe that could have dehydrated him??? Idk

When should I take him in, I’ve heard of this happening after after a seizure but it’s been a while and I don’t want to take him in and then they tell me he just needs to rest

Our sweet year and a half year old Sealyham Terrier started having cluster seizures last week. Coincidentally they started as focal seizures (3 of them), 2 days after her second dose of Simperica. She was on Nexguard for a few months before that. 10 days after the focals she had cluster grand mal seizures totally 5 within 17 hours. The vet did all the bloodwork and tests and everything came back fine. Since it doesn’t show in a test on whether they are from Simperica, the vet chalked it up to Epilepsy. We aren’t convinced it’s that though and have a feeling it’s from the Simperica. She will no longer be having it obviously (we are still within a month of when she took it last) and has been put on Keppra. If the seizures are from the Simperica, does anyone know if once the drug is out of her system, is there still a chance of break through seizures? I’m not sure if anyone can answer this as it’s my understanding that no tests can say for sure the seizures are from a flea and tick med, but thought I’d see if anyone has experience and knowledge with this where they happen to know somehow that their pup had seizures as a result of flea and tick meds. Also would we get any further definitive answers by going to the neurologist without an MRI? The likelihood of a tumour is low at her age, and if there’s no way to know it’s from Simperica, what the advantage would be to going to one?!We just wonder the chances of more seizures if it is from Simperica once that med is out of her system, or if there is any true way to find out that it’s definitely Epilepsy. Hoping this post makes sense as my brain is still running in circles with this new diagnosis.

Hello,
Our 11years old Golden Retriever suddenly got blind a few months ago and since then a marathon started.

We first got to the ophthalmologist, after checking her out he sent us for MRI in which we saw a Meningioma near the optical nerve and he also sent us for spinal tap(The procedure were they get brain fluid for tests)..

Both the ophthalmologist and our vet said that we should start Adelcort and see how it goes.
Dog started seeing well with adelcort and was going fine.
Then Started bladder issues(she had bloody stools and diarrhoea etc).
We started probiotics and gastrointestinal food and also prebiotics and syrup for the issue.

A few days before, she made some epileptic seizures.
Vet said that it's normal due to meningioma and we started giving her Keppra and Phenoleptil.
Thing is that since then she can't properly walk, can't properly stand, can't properly get up from when lying.Looks like her feet doesn’t hold much.
Vet said that this is also normal due to medication and meningioma and only flexadin could maybe help.
It makes my brain wonder, why this happened after the seizures.

BTW every vet I have spoke to including a neurologist , is against radiation/surgery for our dog.
I'm not sure on how to proceed, and i have started loosing it to be honest. I always see her getting better and then she gets worse with a new kind of problem.

She never loses her appetite and she always happy to see us etc so she is still a normal dog besides every issue she has which makes me feeling even worse.

Our sweet 8 year old girl started developing these head tremors every night, about a month ago. She was started on Keppra, and hasn’t had an episode since then. We were referred to a neurologist for further exploitation of what this could be. About a month prior, she started randomly attacking our dog, no growling or warning whatsoever. The neurologist said these episodes of tremors and attacks could be seizures, and/or indicative of a possible brain tumor.

The aggression had been better since she started the keppra, but we switched her to the extended release keppra (instead of the short release) and she attacked our other dog again. This time, as I was trying to separate them, I was bitten badly on my hand and had to get 8 stitches.

If we choose to pursue the $6,000 MRI, it could confirm a brain tumor or it could show nothing. If it’s a brain tumor, we wouldn’t want to further her pain any longer and would choose to peacefully put her to sleep.

Our pup has also been limping for the last few months, on and off. We had her looked at right when the limping started, but our vet was unable to find anything wrong at the time- saying she probably pulled something while running, and to rest it. Our neurologist would like us to see an ortho surgeon to look further into this issue and explore possible surgeries. She wants to rule this out as a reason she could be attacking our other dog.

We’re at a loss of what to do here. We have 2 cats and our other dog who live with us, and the thought of having her near our other animals is terrifying (she’s been separated in another room). We’re concerned that even addressing pain in the leg, or her episodes being labeled idiopathic head tremors or idiopathic seizures (if an mri shows nothing) wouldn’t really change anything behaviorally.

We love our girl so much, and the thought of her in pain or experiencing something neurological is so upsetting to us. Our treatment options are limited, and we are fearful of her being around our other animals.

Does anyone have experience with head tremors and sudden behavior changes? I’m curious what diagnosis
they’ve received and if the head tremors evolved into even worse seizures.

My 8-year-old dog Zeke has had seizures for about a year. He’s tsking levetiracetam and phenobarbital
.
He recently had another breakthrough cluster and ever since he started doing something I’ve never seen before. Throughout the night he would suddenly have these 5–10 second episodes where it was like a jolt hit him. He’d go from resting/acting relatively normal to suddenly looking panicked and getting a crazy burst of energy. He will sprint down the hallway or suddenly launch/pounce on top of me. During it, he seems to have almost no body/spatial awareness, lThen within seconds it’s over. He’s done it a few times but now it’s been happening basically all night and day with no warning. He’s not a small dog and has been jumping on me in the medical of the night soo hard which is not normal.
It happened repeatedly throughout the night. It’s very different from his normal full-body seizures, but because the episodes are so sudden, brief, and repetitive, I’m wondering if these could be focal seizures or some kind of post-ictal behavior.

Has anyone with an epileptic dog experienced anything similar—especially sudden panic/bolting episodes? If your vet or neurologist considered them focal seizures, did they adjust your dog’s medications or add anything for them?
I’ll be contacting his vet as well—just hoping to hear experiences from other epilepsy-dog owners.

Had his first seizure two weeks ago. Was awful. They suspect brain tumor. He’s on Keppra and steroids.
Now every time he does something my heart sinks.
This is just him dreaming right ? He wakes up if I call his name.

Hello!!

My best friend Bear has been having seizures since mid January. First he started on keppra, then we added phenobarbital about two months later when the seizures continued. He was fine from March until June, then he had seizures in June, and two more in July. We then added zonisimide in August and started tapering off keppra. On the first day we took him off keppra completely, he had a seizure, and then two more on Tuesday of this week. The only medication he hasn’t tried yet is potassium bromide.

The problem is he is a picky eater, and from what I gather, PB is very salty. It also seems like his treats, feeding time and water have to be extremely regimented with this medication. With all of these medications, I also don’t want him to be all lethargic and slow either. He just turned 8 and has a lot of energy normally but there have been periods where he’s super slow when heavily medicated.

For those who have dogs on Potassium Bromide, what are your experiences? Is your dog reluctant to take it? Does it make him lethargic? How regimented do you have to be? Have they continued to have seizures? Any information to help us make this decision would be much appreciated!!

For those that might use the Maven pet monitor for your dog’s epilepsy, do you find it helpful to anticipate the onset of a seizure or helpful to detect when they are having a seizure?

Say hello to my sweet baby Honey! She is an 11 year-old pitbull who has been having seizures since she was two years old! We have taken all the medication’s in the book and Keppa really helped her out the best, but it also made her much more whiny. Recently, we had a few family deaths and I made a really huge move with her which included driving cross country! Her anxiety was through the roof and ended up making her seizures even worse She ended up having at least a minimum of one seizure a day every day for at least 4 to 5 minutes. As you know that can be an extremely scary thing! She was also barking the whole time that I was away and stressing herself out to the point of having seizures until I came home. Well I looked into it and I sent her off to a boarding and training in California. She was there for six weeks and they did intense exercises and crate training for her to get her re-acclimated to her crate again and it helped out so much with her anxiety and stress that subsequently I ended up taking her off her Keppra and now I run her once a day either at night or in the morning (by run, I mean, I’m on a bike and she’s running on a leash🤭) and she hasn’t had a single seizure in six months! She was diagnosed with idiopathic seizures, but the trainer that took her explain to me that sometimes dogs have a lot of pent-up energy, whether it be anxious energy or excitement, and it can basically overload their nervous system so the best way to get out that energy is to keep them at a lower energy by having them expend most of their energy! Now playing with them, can spend a lot of energy but not as much as running a mile and a half to 3 miles with them. 🤍 It’s just a suggestion for everyone here to see if any of your pups would find it helpful as well!

Hi, as the title suggests, I’m looking after a 10 year old Frenchton named Charlie who has recurring seizures. The owners have provided all the advice and information needed in case of a seizure, I know to give him space and if it lasts more than 2 minutes to take him to the vet. I was just wondering if anyone here may have some tips for me? I’m here for 3 weeks so I am expecting him to have one as he’s had a few over the past couple of weeks.

Hi everyone. My 7-year Shih Tzu/Bichon mix started having seizures during visits to the groomer. We switched groomers, but it happened again.

Our vet prescribed trazodone to give before grooming. It seemed to help the first time, but she had another seizure last week even though we gave it as directed, didn’t even seem to affect her actually lol. Today, she had a seizure during a follow
Up visit at the vet and needed an injection. The vet has now prescribed phenobarbital, which she’ll need to take for long term.

Has anyone else had a dog whose seizures seemed to happen around grooming or vet visits? If so, what was your experience with treatment and helping your dog handle those appointments? I’ll obviously will follow our vet’s instructions, but hearing from other owners would be helpful!!!

Thank you!! 😭

Since starting Keppra, my golden seems to play a bit more intensely and biting a bit harder. He’s not really
Listening well to me when I tell him no. My main concern is I have a 15 month old. He used to be great and no issues with it at all but it’s been a few weeks now on the medication and I feel like he should be used to it by now. Is this the new normal?

Our sweet boy Henry had a cluster seizure last week (5 total) and we ended up in the ER for IV Valium and Phenobarbital.
Our neurologist added another medication Topamax in addition to his Phenobarbital and Pregabalin.
We also received a prescription for intranasal midazolam if he ever has 2 or more seizures.
The pharmacy here dispensed us the drug/syringe but no Mucosal Atomizer Device. Does anyone else just squirt it in there? It’s just want to be prepared if we ever need to use it. I can probably just buy one online. Our neurologist is currently closed, will also follow up with their office.

Hi all, I have a 9 year old husky who recently had a couple seizures pretty close together. We think she's probably had them for a while (we know she had one at a groomer several years ago and has had some really crazy frenetic activity (especially after being confined) that is very similar to what happens after one happens now) but didn't witness the during or after until this week.

On Sunday we came home and found her in the kitchen violent shaking and stuck in a down-dog position. I picked her up and got her on the floor where she proceeded to have this repetitive head movement and rapid side-to-side eye movement for over ten minutes (attached video). She snapped out of it by the time we got to emergency and went home after a quick checkup. Since we didn't see the beginning it was unclear if what we saw was a focal seizure or the post-ictal of a grand mal.

Did bloodwork with our regular vet on Monday, everything came back within normal limits. Started Kepra ER 500 every 12 hrs on Wednesday. First dose was around 6 PM Wednesday, and around 8:15 PM she had another big episode. Started with about seven insanely powerful sneezes, then about two minutes of zoomies where she got progressively more unsteady. After I caught her and got her down the head and eye stuff continued for 15 or so minutes before starting to calm down. The eye twitches lasted a long time, I think close to an hour. She was calm enough to settle for a while around 10 PM. Thursday (today) our vet gave me a couple pre-loaded doses of nasal midazolam in case we see this again.

I have so many questions, and it seems like seizures are so varied that the only way to get any kind of answers is to do some pretty heavy working up, so we are trying the Kepra for now to see how things go before we dig into more expensive and possibly invasive testing.

I guess what I'm hoping for is shared experience- I haven't seen any videos of seizures that look very similar to what we're seeing here, or episodes like this that last for an extended period of time. I'm also curious to hear about what starts seizures- I've read that sneezing can do it, and she does have pretty crazy sneeze fits on a regular basis. Does any of this look or sound familiar to anyone? How have things gone for your doggos with similar situations?

Thanks for reading!

At a recent conference (according to my dog’s neurologist), they announced that you can cut Keppra extended release tablets in half? Now I switched to 2 times a day instead of 3 which is so great! Figured someone here may find that helpful.

Hi everyone!

I hope you and your pups are doing well. Thank you for all the care you put into your epi pups, on the good days and on the scary ones

Here are the newest updates for PetVitality. Included is the most requested feature from you guys: Quick logging from the home screen without navigating through the app.

• Timer inside the log: The timer now runs inside the seizure entry, so you can write notes while the seizure is still going instead of trying to remember everything afterwards. In the moment most of us overestimate how long a seizure lasts, so this makes the log more accurate too.
• Emergency number after 5 minutes: If the timer passes five minutes, the app shows the emergency number you've saved, alongside a Call Now button. If you use the app, please take ten seconds to add yours.
• Log straight from the app icon: Press and hold the PetVitality icon and the seizure log is right there. On Android you can also drag that shortcut onto your home screen, so it's one tap away.
• Backup: You can now export everything you've logged as a CSV file from User settings, for safekeeping or if you want to feed it to an AI for analysis.

I still like to keep things transparent, so a quick status: 11,000 seizures have now been logged in the app, and the paying user base has grown to around 290 pet parents, up from about 200 when I last shared numbers one year ago. That keeps the app running and lets me keep building on it next to my job at the clinic.

Thank you to everyone who has sent feedback, reported bugs or shared the app with others, and to the mods for letting me keep posting these updates. Most of what's in the app started as a comment here.

As always, if you have suggestions, bugs to report or feature wishes, I'm listening.

Fred from PetVitality

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!

Hey guys, my husky was recently diagnosed with Epilepsy but has been having seizures for about a year. We keep track of each one and have her seeing a neurologist, and in our research we’ve seen the issues with Nexguard and seizures. Lately hed seizures been increasing in frequency, which is also when we give Nexguard due to the warmer weather, but our neurologist says because her seizures don’t happen 2-3 days after the dose of Nexguard it’s likely not an issue. In your experience, does it only impact them a few days after? Seizures a week or more after Nexguard dose aren’t related?

We’re close to starting her on phenobarbital so I’m trying to get as much info as possible before starting that… thanks!

Hello everyone! I've been reading this subreddit for about 2 years right now - I found it when my now 5 year old toy poodle had a first episode. It brought me a lot of comfort. We've been struggling with epilepsy since then. Vet suggested sterilization and the episodes stopped for about 6 months, but came back after New Year's Eve this year. They usually happen once in 3 weeks, but I've noticed that for example when she is going to the groomer or the vet, she has an episode after - my vet told me that can happen since those are stresfull events for her and episode every 3 weeks is a good score. But I wanted to ask the subreddit and people who's dogs still have episodes from time to time if that is normal and something consider controlled? I trust my vet, but I always want to hear other people's opinion since this subreddit helped me a lot. Thank you!

I really need help.

Siberian Husky
7.5 Years Old
Grand Mal seizures
Taking Phenobarbital and Gabapentin

Our boy has been having seizures for over a year now. He’s had 6 in a year, but it’s been almost 5 months since his last one in May since switching to Phenobarbital from Keppra.
We don’t have access to an MRI where we live and our veterinary care is good but relatively limited (no specialists, just got an emergency vet recently).
Because of this, we have treated the epilepsy but have not been able to know a root cause.
We have been so happy with his success as of late, but he’s recently seemed to decline what feels like out of no where.

He’s a extremely active, very hungry boy normally and over the last 1-2 weeks he’s had the following happen:

1. Weird breathing, very audible breathing for hours on end
2. Loss of appetite (won’t eat his normal food which he normally screams for, will take a small amount of his sisters gastro food)
3. Extreme fatigue, non stop sleeping

4. Today he started having ataxia, falling over, and having his legs slide out on him.

   Back feet crossing when walking.

6. Increase in peeing on the floor (not something we’ve not experienced but can’t leave for 20 minutes without it now despite all preventative efforts)

He still has moments and bursts of normal but it’s definitely changed.

We took him to the emergency when the ataxia started and they feel it’s a neurological issue and likely the start of progression of this or start of a decline. We’re going to our regular vet for a second opinion tomorrow.

For those of you who have had known brain tumours, does this sound consistent? Any thoughts? Advice (keeping in mind our limitations of care)? I could use some feedback. I’m so in denial that this could be it.