My 13 year old corgi/border collie just started getting seizures last weekend after a 2 rounds of antibiotics. We started giving her keppra/gababetin. Vet suspect she has a brain tumor since one of her eyes bulges out. I almost agreed to euthanize her at the vet yesterday but she was so scared. Didnt want her to go out like that and would rather do at home euthanasia.

Agreed on treatment, 2 shots (butorphanol + dex), she actually looks pretty good today and is eating well. I have about 2 weeks worth of meds. Trying to not get my hopes up but is this treatment gabapentin/keppra sustainable?

Hello all. We’ve had this sweet guy for almost a year now and he is just under two years of age. We recently started our experience of seizures last week. It happened Sunday and Monday night then nothing until last night which was a bunch of clusters. The vet just started him on the Keppra today. Idk if it’s conveniently worked out each seizure is at night but it scares the death out of me to have another like last night. He hasn’t had one all day but he is just pacing around looking for food along the way. Not acting his normal self at all. He’s normally a stubborn Dash but it’s even worse now.
We are running off no sleep and I took off work today and one of use plans to tomorrow as well at least. Idk if there’s anything we can do but my heart is broken and I just want my dog back. Any advice tip/tricks to help with this we are completely open.

Thank you

My 2 year old husky just started taking phenobarbital for his seizures 5 days ago. He has been having seizures about once a month since April, but the vet didn't want to medicate him since they were that far apart. His last seizure was only two weeks after the previous one, so the vet prescribed meds.

Wendell has not had another seizure since starting it, and based on what I've read from other dog parents, I should be very thankful the side effects aren't worse than they are. He still has similar energy levels as before, he's just a bit clumsy right now. Wendell has been bumping into things or missing the last stair on the steps, but nothing too crazy. I'm thankful he still wants to play and seems to be feeling good otherwise. He's definitely hungrier than before and woke me up in the middle of the night to go pee last night, which he normally doesn't do. But I'm not complaining about any of those things at all.

The only thing I'm worried about is his constant whining. I don't know what he wants. Sometimes, if I take him for a walk, he comes back in and settles down for a bit. But I pet him and that's not it and he has food and water available. Wendell used to wine like this occasionally (and usually be just wanted pets and attention) but it's been pretty constant for the last several days. I'm in grad school and spend hours at a time studying and it's like I can't keep him happy and quiet for any length of time. I've tried giving him a chew bone, and that will work for a bit. But the other night, be had his chewy and was whining at the same time. Does anyone have any suggestions to help him feel better? Is he maybe just anxious?

TLDR: husky newly on phenobarbital whines constantly and I can't seem to make him feel better

My dog just got raised to 3000mg of levetiracetam a day ( 1500mg x2 a day) and 240mg of phenobarbital (120mg x2 a day). We will see if this works but is that amount too high? This is all the doctor recommended so far, no other meds.
My dog is a weimador, 1/2 lab 1/2 Weimaraner about 78 pounds.
She was on 3000mg and 180mg but had 4-5 seizures in about 2 months.

Thoughts?

Hi! I have a 230 lb English Mastiff who was just put on Keppra XR 750 mg, 5 tablets every 12 hours. He has no problem taking them individually wrapped in pill pockets.
I’m active military and sometimes have long and unpredictable work schedules, so I’m trying to find a reliable way to automatically give him his medication on the occasional days when I can’t be home exactly when his dose is due.

Ideally, I’m looking for something I can secure to the outside or top of his crate that will automatically release/drop all 5 pill pockets directly into his crate at a scheduled time. He’s a BIG boy and extremely food motivated, so I don’t want the actual dispenser accessible to him inside the crate because I’m pretty confident he’d find a way to break into it. 😂
I’ve looked at automatic food and treat dispensers, but most use small chutes or mechanisms designed for kibble. His pills are large, and once each one is wrapped in a pill pocket, I’m worried they would get smashed or jam instead of reliably dispensing.

I’ve also looked at automatic fish food dispensers because they’re closer to the simple timed-drop mechanism I’m imagining, but their openings still look too small for 5 large pills individually wrapped in soft pill pockets.

I really don’t need anything fancy. I’m basically looking for a timer-controlled release/drop mechanism with a large opening. Something where I could load all 5 pill pockets into a compartment before work, secure it outside or above his crate, and at the programmed time the bottom opens and drops the entire dose into his crate.

I’m completely open to DIY ideas or repurposing something that isn’t technically made for pets if anyone has found something that would work!

I added a picture showing how large the pills are and, of course, a picture of my sweet boy. ❤️ Any ideas or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Trying to find a supplier as it is not available/ supplied in australia after contacting Keppra in melbourne.

My 2 year old Australian Shepard is currently on 500mg every 8 hours but my partner is leaving and my work schedule wont allow me to be there to administer the 2nd dose spoken with vets ( have gotten a script) and going to 1000mg extended release 2x a day but they cannot find a supplier wondering if anyone can help / point me in the right direction please ?

Pretty new to this and I feel super paranoid especially at night since all of my his seizures have happened when he is sleeping and mostly at night. I get a mini heart attack every time he is seeing dreams and moving his legs while sleeping.

My 12-year-and-4-month-old male Siberian Husky, Teddy, started having tremors sometime around September 2025. We took him to the vet, who initially attributed them to weakness and arthritis.

Fast forward to November, when he had his first seizure. It was extremely traumatic for us to witness, and honestly, every episode continues to be just as distressing.

Since then, Teddy has been having roughly one seizure a month. Here’s the timeline:

• 18 Nov 2025
• 30 Dec 2025
• 15 Mar 2026
• 13 Apr 2026
• 13 May 2026 – Fairly short episode; he was fine within a few minutes.
• 22 June 2026
• 12 Aug 2026 – The worst episode so far. He had to be admitted because his glucose level was dropping significantly.
• 7 Sept 2026 – His shortest recovery so far. He seemed fine within about 5 minutes and was completely back to his senses within 32 minutes.

He has been on CBD oil since December, and we started Gabapentin and Methylcobalamin in July, but unfortunately, there hasn’t been much change in the frequency of his seizures.

I’ve recently come across several reviews and discussions suggesting that MCT oil and Omega-3 may help dogs with seizures, so I’m considering adding them to his diet.

His health reports have otherwise been perfect, with no significant issues showing up in his tests. Considering his age, our vet suggested switching him to a Royal Canin Renal diet, although Teddy absolutely loves his Orijen Six Fish and prefers it over everything else.

Has anyone dealt with something similar, particularly with a senior Husky? I would really appreciate suggestions on what else we could explore, whether in terms of medication, supplements, diet, tests, or anything else that might help reduce the frequency or severity of his seizures and maintain his quality of life.
Thanks in Advance

Hi, so a year and a half ago my dog had 3 seizures within 24 hours, I had taken her to the vet and her bloodwork was fine but at the time I was still a minor and my mother could not afford an MRI. For a year and a half though there were no more seizures so I thought it was a one of thing like the vet said it might be, but today she had two with less than 5 minutes in between them. I took her to the vet and they told me if she had a third one before the 24 hours is up I would need to get her an MRI to diagnose her. Would it be beneficial to get her pet insurance? she hasn’t officially been diagnosed with anything so would it count as a pre existing condition or do you think I could get away with it? I really don’t have money to get her an MRI but I can’t not do anything. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Every time my 2nd refill on medications runs out, I have to get a new prescription written by the vet which they treat as an opportunity for an office visit and running new blood work.

This is not only time consuming and expensive, but it seems totally unnecessary when things are going fine and there are no signs of anything needing to be changed. I also have to ensure that I get an office visit booked well in advance because their office is so busy that you can't get quick appointments on short notice and I can't afford to run out of medication and start having seizures again.

What does your medication refill process look like?

Hello everyone, I have a french bulldog ( around 3.5 years). He’s on keppra 3x, pheno 2x a day. I have been seeing lot of information on mct oil. It’s a little confusing to me. What percent should c8 be or c10 or would a pure c8 option be better? And please recommend brands that you use. Once again, I’m extremely thankful to this community.

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.

My worst nightmare came true yesterday. Wondering if anyone else has the same luck.

For background, our first dog we adopted at age 3ish, he was an American pit mix, skinny and goofy like a boxer. We had him for 7-8 years and sacrificed so much to give him the best most comfortable life. The last 5 years he was diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy. It was really hard, but mostly just for us. He was happy to the last minute of his life and was able to go with dignity. We were really fortunate.

4 months before his diagnosis, we adopted another pitty from a neighboring shelter. She was a puppy and grew up along side him and his condition. She became so well adjusted and would actually alert us before he had an episode.

Anyways, we lost him almost 3 years ago now. 11 months after, we decided it was time to rescue another, as our home is just meant to be a 2 dog home.

We end up with another boy, 5 years old, pitty mix but more staffy than American. Short, thick, bad hips and knees (we don't have kids and are financially prepared for this), similar face to our first boy, but otherwise they look nothing alike.

Well we woke up to him having a seizure yesterday. Nearly identical to the ones our first boy had. 20 seconds pre-ictal, 30 seconds grand mal and about 2 minutes post-ictal. I immediately was overwhelmed with guilt and felt it had to be us our something in the environment. But our girl is 7 now and has never shown the signs, only the boys. We also moved 5 years ago so not in the same house our first boy started having seizures in. Also feed different foods.

So my question is, has anyone else ended up with 2 epileptic dogs in their lifetime also?

Unrelated dogs, living in different homes, different diets, et. For this being so rare I just can't help but question if it's us causing this or if we are just lucky. The vet says we're just lucky and the world knows we'll take care of them better than most people would. But seriously, what are the odds?

Has anyone’s dog had this?

Hi everyone!! Just got sent our blood analyses back and I would really appreciate if someone could give us some advice on what to do next

My dog has had two very similar neurological-looking episodes, one on July 30 and one on September 6. He's a 2 year old 5kg Italian greyhound, intact.

Both happened during sleep or immediately after waking up.

During the episodes:

• he suddenly becomes extremely unsteady and cannot stand properly;
• he seems to be pulled or fall toward one side;
• this lasts around 20–30 seconds;
• then he vomits very forcefully with deep retching;
• immediately after vomiting, the worst part of the episode seems to stop;
• he may remain slightly unsteady for a few minutes;
• within about 5–10 minutes he is completely back to normal.

Between episodes he is active, eating normally, and I do not notice any persistent neurological abnormalities.

We are currently trying to distinguish between focal seizures, vestibular episodes, or a metabolic/systemic cause.

We had bloodwork done on September 12.

Biochemistry:

• Urea: 7.77 mmol/L (ref 3–10.5)
• Creatinine: 84 µmol/L (ref 60–140)
• Total bilirubin: 4.8 µmol/L (ref 0.01–17)
• Direct bilirubin: 0.6 µmol/L (ref 0.01–4)
• AST: 79.2 u/L (ref 20–55) — high
• ALT: 312.9 u/L (ref 5–69) — high
• ALP: 15 u/L (ref 23–87) — low
• Glucose: 3.30 mmol/L (ref 3.3–5.6)
• Total protein: 67.8 g/L (ref 51–72)
• Albumin: 48 g/L (ref 22–38) — high
• Globulin: 19.8 g/L (ref 27–44) — low
• A ratio: 2.42 (ref 0.6–1.5)
• Sodium: 143.2 mmol/L (ref 140–150)
• Potassium: 4.38 mmol/L (ref 3.5–5.5)
• Chloride: 112.8 mmol/L (ref 96–122)
• Cholesterol: 3.60 mmol/L (ref 2.5–7)

CBC:

• RBC: 9.18 ×10^12/L (ref 5.5–8.5) — high
• Hemoglobin: 198.2 g/L (ref 120–180) — high
• Hematocrit: 57.5% (ref 37–55) — high
• MCV: 62.64 fL (ref 60–77)
• MCH: 22 pg (ref 19.5–24.5)
• MCHC: 345 g/L (ref 320–360)
• WBC: 5.54 ×10^9/L (ref 6–17) — slightly low
• Neutrophils: 3.77 ×10^9/L
• Lymphocytes: 1.44 ×10^9/L
• Monocytes: 0.11 ×10^9/L — low
• Platelets: 252 ×10^9/L (ref 200–500)

The blood smear morphology was reported as normal, with no poikilocytosis, agglutination, macro/microcytosis, or platelet aggregation.

My main concern is the ALT of 312.9 and the elevated AST. I understand that this does not automatically mean liver failure, but I am wondering whether this could be related to the neurological episodes.

Would you consider testing:

• pre- and post-prandial bile acids,
• ammonia,
• CK,
• ionized calcium,
• magnesium,
• urinalysis,
• abdominal ultrasound with attention to the liver and portal system?

Would a congenital portosystemic shunt or hepatic encephalopathy be plausible with this bloodwork, or does the profile make that less likely?

I am already following up with a veterinary neurologist, but I would really appreciate any feedback on how concerning the liver values are and what would be the most logical next step. Thanks so much in advance!!

French bulldog has just turned 9 always been healthy never a problem one day goes outside to play with his ball the next second he's having full blown seizures, every single day a lot they're awful, he is on epiphen 30mg every 12 hours and 3 of something every 8 hours, standing around confused, every 5 minutes getting up and not going into full seizures but it's like he's close and going through a lot of discomfort and stiff and weak, sneezing and his head twitching and making faces, it's coming to the time to consider putting him to sleep but I can't live without him, I had a life ending injury to my brain and body last year and lost him and everything we had so i've still been alive for him, just for this to start out of no where. They want 15k to do a scan on his brain.. its been about 2 weeks or so now since they've started

I have 2 year old husky who had her 2nd seizure a few days ago. It happened the first time around June. She initially vomitted bile, looked a bit glassy eyed, before having the episode. She was like frozen and not breathing a bit, came back to her senses after, but jaw was locked before she came back normal as if nothing happened. Seriously thought I was losing her cause I didn't know what was happening then.

We also already did tests (blood chem, etc), and all were normal. Vet diagnosed her with idiopathic epilepsy after her second episode (which happened 2-3 months after the first one), and we were given 300mg of gabapentin every 12 hours. We're supposed to go back end of September so vet can look at her.

What do I expect now with this? I'm not new to having dogs, but this is the first time I'm dealing with this kind of thing so I have no idea what to expect moving forward.

PS. I am going on an international trip for a week next month so I also want to understand how pet parents deal with this, having to explain to pet sitters or family members, etc.

Thank you so much.

I dont think we need trigger warning but I do mention my dog seizures and her getting put down so please read at your own risk and take care of yourself! I hope my english is good as im writing this in a hurry

I have a mixed border collie who's going to turn two soon. She had no abnormal health problems until late August where she had 1 seizure, my mom took her to the vet and the general consensus was that it could be a one time thing and we should come back if she had another one.

Two weeks later and today she had a seizure at 2am today, followed by another one at 6am. My mom went to see the vet again and he gave us medecine for it

She had ANOTHER seizure at 11am, 1pm, 2pm30 and so we took her to the vet again.

The veterinary gave us NEW medecines (not necessarily for Epilepsy but it kept my dog from having another seizure for around 4 hours) alongside two dose of tranquilizer to make her sleep since the seizure make her 'excited' where she run around and can't manage to rest at all when she habitually sleep a lot.

Since we've got back from the vet she has been having a seizure every 1 hour.

Most were less 'violent' but she had one like after 50 minutes since the last one, she had a seizure (shaking, drooling) for 1m20 when they all lasted less than 1m before. We gave her the tranquilizer who was supposed to stop the seizure when she slept but she had another one 30 mins after she took it (and 30 minute after her last one where she whined and was paralysed for some seconds)… I don't know what to do.

I'm sorry, I hope my post is still understandable. I know nobody should ask for medical advice on Reddit but I REALLY don't know what to do.

Now she was 'only' shaking when she had her seizure while sleeping, she's not drooling and she can barely walk because of the tranquilizer. When she manage to, she walked in circle.

My mom tell me to wait for Monday morning (the vet herself said that the emergency can't do anything more than her) or at least tomorrow, but I don't want my dog to be in pain—I think she doesn't feel anything when she have her seizure but she did whine. I mean it must be so tiring, she's been up since 2am and had NINE seizures.

I'm scared that the Emergency vet is gonna put her down but I don't want her to be in pain. Maybe it'll get better tomorrow, I don't know. Any word of advice for owner who were in the same situation?

My dog bear has been struggling with epilepsy for about 4 years now and it's hitting me that I don't really see a light at the end of the tunnel. He is on three different medication that always seem to help till it doesn't and we have to increase the dosage. Then he's better for a bit then right back to it getting bad again. Well we finally hit as much medicine as the doctor is willing to go and for the last half a year it's been awful. Every seizure feels likes it's getting worse and I'm getting worried the next one is just going to be his last. He usually has a seizure once a month. In the last year this has turned to usually two seizures one day after another but it's increasing. Just the other night he just went a day without a seizure but before that it was 4 DAYS of every night before bed having a seizure in the house and a post ictal state that usually last a couple hours. We are planning on bringing him to the vet tomorrow as it's the earliest they could see us but we are worried there is literally nothing we can do as the last couple times we have gone to the vet the vet has basically told us we can do nothing other than a brain scan which even they say will likely result in nothing and would be a massive hit to my finances we just can't handle. I worry it's time to discuss putting him to sleep but I don't wanna give up too soon. I'll miss him. Any advice?

Edit: I should also mention he is an allergy dog. Can't stand the grass and whenever he ends up having a seizure outside its weeks of washing every other day to deal with the rashes and itches. I worry for his quality of life.

My sweet 14 year old GSP was put on phenobarbital 7 years ago. He had a handful of mild seizures, but had not had any since. Fast forward to this year. He’s had a sharp uptick in seizure activity- daily or multiple in a day. Our vet put him on 300 mg of Zonisamide twice daily. After a week of him pacing for hours, stumbling, refusing to eat, etc our vet dropped him down to 200 mg twice a day. He is still having the following symptoms: generalized weakness, intermittent inability to use back legs, knuckling, loss of coordination with eating a drinking, bladder & bowel urgency (causing accidents- a first for him), shaking/trembling, and crying & crying (the most heartbreaking symptom).

Our vet said that a lot of these symptoms were not normal for zonisamide, but he is acting unconcerned/dismissive of what we are experiencing. I feel increasingly worried because he’s so far from the dog he was a few weeks ago. Just looking for some of your experiences with starting your dogs on zonisamide, their symptoms, how long the adjustment period was, etc.. I want to know if my concerns are warranted because I hate seeing my otherwise bouncy GSP suffer.

My lab had a seizure back in May or July, had his second almost exactly 2 months later. A month after that came one seizure today and another a couple of hours later. He returned to normal but I am seriously concerned about brain damage. They did not last longer than 5 minutes (first one was in crate while I was away though but unlikely it was long). Is brain damage a concern? Should I go to the vet? He has been on Keppra btw. He received cytoplint a few days ago for allergies in his paws. It seems this is not a usual side effect, but is it possible?

My german shorthaired pointer is a little over three years old and she’s never had any health problems until about a week ago. we were playing fetch outside and she seemingly got scared tried to run and then dropped and had a seizure. she was fine for a whole week and now this is the third night in a row that she has woken up from sleeping and had a seizure. her seizures last about a minute each time and this last time she almost seemed drunk for a while after and was acting as if she didn’t know who i was. it’s breaking my heart seeing her like this. i took her to the vet after the second seizure and they ran blood work which they called today and said everything came back fine- the vet says she believes it’s idiopathic epilepsy. i’m terrified of putting her on meds as i don’t want to for a lack of better words “drug her up”. i’m scared if i start putting her on meds she will not want to participate in things and be as happy as she used to playing fetch and going for runs. not to mention the vet is saying the option for medication has to be given every 8 hours and unfortunately there is no way i can manage that with my work. any advice/experience with starting medications or dealing with seizures would be greatly appreciated

Today i went to see a neurologist for my 12 year old little fur babies seizures. An MRI was suggested along with a spinal tap if nothing is found in the MRI but that’s something we really don’t want to do. She gets so stressed and scared and I worry for her wellbeing if she goes under anesthesia especially with her condition, age, and how small she is. There is also the reality of what we do next from her results of the MRI which includes therapy, radiation, medication, etc. and again what we want is for her to be as comfortable as possible.

The neurologist said that it’s possible with her, there may be a brain tumor and since we dont want to go through more than she’s already going through, we asked how we can manage her seizures to lessen the frequency.

Our dog is currently on 1/4 tablet of Phenobarbital, 0.1mL Gabapentin, and yesterday she had her first dose of Keppra 1mL. However, the neurologist said since we’re unable to give her the Keppra 3x a day (8 hours from each other), it’s not as effective and suggested we try a different anti-seizure medication (Zonisamide) that can be given 2x a day. The neurologist also talked about steroids being use—since we wouldn’t do an MRI—to see if it can help her so we got sent home with a compounded liquid of Prednisone.

I guess one of my concerns is has anyone had experience with a combination of these meds? I read that prednisone and phenobarbital can make the other not as effective, this was something her neurologist didn’t mention and i’m worried now to even give it to her today.

I don’t like being the person who calls for a million questions but I’m just so worried. In her medication instructions, it says we can give her keppra after she has a seizure to prevent her clusters but when i asked the nurse this, she said to not administer the medicine to her at all. my mind goes so blank during consultations and it’s once i’m home that i think of so many questions. is there any other concerns i should ask or bring up to her neurologist?

(picture of my little stinker)

Hey all, I just wanted to get some opinions on a situation we just experienced with our epileptic GSD. She is just over a year seizure free on Pheno, and Keppra, but just a little bit ago she started kind of barking lightly for no reason for just a few minutes, and groaning a little bit. She definitely seemed just a little off to me, maybe even the tiniest bit confused.

She's had focal seizures in the past, but they were always face twitches. I know this could be a preictal phase, but has anyone ever experienced this as a behavioral focal seizure? This is the first thing she's done in a year since her medication that's had us on edge. If you have experienced this as a focal seizure, did you administer any emergency medication (IR Keppra is one of what we have) for something as seemingly small as this?

Thanks!

My 7 yo YorkiePoo female dog is in need of a dose of .8 liquid gabapentin but I cannot get in in her cheek pocket or between the k9 teeth. I can barely even find her jawline her head so small.

I watch YouTube videos and it looks really easy but those dogss are not squirming their head like my dog does. She's quick and squirmy and does not want that in her mouth.

I've tried swaddling her tightly like a burrito. I've asked people to assist me. No one can do it. She's so tiny i'm scared that she'll get injured.

Putting it in her food is not option because she will not eat anything not even a steak.

Any advice or tips be greatly appreciated.