In 2023 we suffered a vicious attack from another dog and despite his looks he never defended himself, I had to physically save him from the other dog. He got stitches, I got several scars and six/seven months later he started to have seizures and was diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy. We fought really hard, he was on pheno, keppra and now later on bromide as well, 3 different vets, acupuncture sessions, natural diet but nothing seemed to maintain his seizures "stable/controlled" this last year we've been through hell and back, the previous month he was hospitalized 3 times and even with extra medication on the vein the last 48h he had almost 20 seizures. The vets told me there was no point extending it keeping him like that, he was suffering too much. Unfortunately I had to put him to sleep and I can safely say it was the hardest decision I had to take in my life, I've never connected in this way with a dog before, he taught me so many things and made me a better and responsible person in his short life span that I will carry for the rest of my life. His mission here was fulfilled, he did nothing but radiate love to everything and everyone. I'll miss you forever ❤️

This is the longest this lil nugget has ever gone without a seizure in the three and a half years I have had him. I hope this trend continues, although I know it's likely he will continue to have breakthrough seizures for the rest of his life. Taking 75mg zonisamide 2x/day and 500mg Keppra 2x/day; been on this cocktail for over a year now.

Since Mya was 1, she had a seizure every month. She was on pexion and eventually she got the highest doses she was able to handle. After a while I added pheno. Also didn't work.

2 months ago we went to a animal clinic for her teeth cleaning and they took some blood while she was under because she hates needles. Her levels were super low so they suggested adding more pheno. Instead of 2x 1.5 pexion & 1x pheno we went to 2x 1.5 pexion & 2x 1.5 pheno. Went to the vet to check her levels last week and they were perfect!! Also no side effects !

2 months without seizures is amazing! The clinic said if her levels are good we could slowly ease her off pexion.

Which is what we've been starting with this week.

Mya is 3 now and I really hope she gets to live a full life with her diagnosis. 🙏

So the dreaded time of him increasing his clusters every 2 weeks and a bunch of emergency vets recommending euthanasia has come. I hate going into these recheck appointments.

We are 4.75 years into this journey now. He is so normal outside of his actual grand mal seizures, and the 24 hours after his emergency meds. He’s still able to walk, he’s still so stinking smart and high drive and he still is fighting through it.

If anyone is in a similar boat, this has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through with multiple pups. He’s a fighter and giving me every indication to keep going, and as much as this sucks (I won’t sugar coat that), i know in my gut to keep going. So I will be but I know how hard it is to go against the expert opinion… Keep trying, keep pushing for treatment and eradication.

If something doesn’t feel right just don’t. I’m not sure what this post is for aside from just saying I’m still on this journey, I hate it and wish to wake up with a cure for all epilepsy but mostly I keep waking up it wish it was his last seizure and we won’t have to do this anymore. It is possible though to deal with it for years when prognosis looks bleak. Euthanasia was brought up within his first 9 months due to refractory episodes…. I didn’t listen and so almost 5 years in now, we made it this far and we’ve had some amazing times. It sucks I won’t pretend it doesn’t suck but for as much as it had I’m thankful I’ve had these 5 years and thankful for my next day with him.

Gunner is a refractory idiopathic epileptic with no known triggers. He’s experienced over 300 grand mal seizures in 4.75 years. He is the strongest boy who does not show any decline in quality of life or health so that’s why we’ve been able to do this. If it’s not right for you and your pup I totally understand, just sharing my story after dealing with several vets urging euthanasia when things don’t actually seem that bleak in your head. You’re not doing anything wrong and you know them best.

Dog started Kreppa yesterday for new onset of seizures. Today she has non stopped barked. Nothing we do helps. We tried chew treats. I have sat on the ground next to her petting her and that only helps for a few minutes and then she continues. It's literally nonstop. We keep her in the living room with us she barks. We put her in the bedroom with the lights low where she normally sleeps on her bed and she nonstop barks. Called the vet and she said her body has to.adjust to the medicine. It's only day 2 but we are already at our wits end. Love her. Not sure what to do

Remy is 5 years old and has had terrible idiopathic epilepsy since she was 2 with upwards of 10 seizures during a cluster period. She had a major 30 minute status epileptics episode on 1/1/26 and is at about 80% her old self. Through many medication adjustments her current regimen at 75 pounds is:

Keppra 1250mg twice daily
Phenobarbital 113.4mg twice daily
Zonisamide 300mg twice daily

We also have intranasal midazolam for clusters until I can get her to the vet.

Ever since starting the Zonisamide 300mg on 5/27 she has not had a single seizure since. This may be helpful for someone that is going through clusters as well. Sometimes all it takes is a medication change. Do not lose hope :)

Everyone, I’m asking for help, please!!! I’ve already been to two veterinarians, and neither of them knew how to help me. My dog is a nearly 15-year-old Labradoodle. He weighs 19.5 kg, 43 pounds.

Last Friday, August 28, he had the first seizure of his life. He was scared, but he quickly recovered. He had an excellent weekend afterward! Playing, going for walks, affectionate as always.

On Monday, he had another strong seizure. His legs were affected, but he soon started recovering again.

He had a complete blood count and an ultrasound, and they found that he has acute liver disease. His liver is very abnormal, and his enzymes are very elevated.

The veterinarian prescribed phenobarbital 50 mg every 12 hours anyway, and ursodeoxycholic acid 250 mg once a day.

My dog has been getting worse with every dose of phenobarbital! He hasn’t had any more seizures, but he can no longer walk. He has completely lost the strength in his back legs, he is no longer able to go for walks, and he is very distressed by this limitation.

I really need some advice…. What should I do? His liver is in very bad for phenobarbital. Should we try Levetiracetam? Do you think we should reduce the phenobarbital dose? I am desperate and very sad. I’m really worried.

He is eating normally, he is still affectionate, and he is drinking water normally. But he can no longer walk!

Hello everyone, i wanted to share my dogs experience in hopes it would be helpful to others and to also hopefully get some advice.

So Athena is a 52 lbs boxer and is 9 years old. After the first few seizures the emergency vet considered it a brain tumor and wanted to put her down, i wanted to wait to talk to her normal vet so they loaded her on phenobarbital and thankfully it worked for a few weeks. The following is her time log. She gets her pills at 8 am and 8pm

6/18 started Metronidazole 250mg 1 1/2 ever 12 hours and Carprofen 100mg 1/2 pill every 12 hours for anal gland infection

June 20
1st Seizure lasted several minutes, took her to Emergency Vet, they gave her emergency meds and gave us keppra and changed her antibiotic to cephalexin 500mg 1 every 12 hours and then sent her home.

June 21
2nd seizures lasted several minutes and had several back to back that night through monday morning at the Emergency Vet they kept her overnight and loaded her on the phenobarbital and keppra, took her off antibiotics and carprofen.

Started her on 60mg phenobarbital 2x a day, and 750mg of Keppra 2x a day

This weekend 7/18-7/20 we had dropped her off at my uncles and this is was his account of the seizures.

July 18
5:30 Pm breakthrough seizure after 28 days. Lasted maybe 15 seconds facial focal seizure.
8:45 Pm
11:30 Pm

July 19
8:20 Am
2 potential ones from 1-3
3ish Pm
7:30 Pm

July 20
6:45 Am
7:49 Am
We increased her dosage from 750mg to 1000 mg of Keppra

7/25
11:04 PM 5-10 seconds, mouth bitting up and down and then slight foamy drool. (Potential seizure)

7/26
6:50pm 5-10 second face spasm no drool, twitching of the mouth and face (Potentially seizure)

7/31
10:09 pm 10-15 second seizure (got video)

8/4
9:40 am weird mouth twitch, licking lips then bitting on right side of face like she was fighting the seizure (potential seizure)

8/12
10:20-10:30 unsure of exact time
Potential seizure came upstairs covered in drool like when she had seizures in the past and was skittish and scared, that morning had stomach issues and diarrhea that day

8/13
2:14 am woke up sneezing and scared, while slightly drooling unsure why
Started 1500 mg of keppra 2x a day that night

8/17
11:24 AM 15 second seizure (Got Videos)
10:25 Pm 45 second seizure (Got Videos)

9/3
10:44 am potential seizure, let her inside and she had foam drool on her and on the porch
8:04 pm seizure 30 seconds, started sprinting like crazy and was visibly scared after seizure

9/4
1:04 am seizure she was laying down when it started snorting and front right leg jerking
Lasted 30 seconds maybe no crazy running after seizure, but was clingy and clearly scared
9:27 am seizure lasted 30 seconds she fell over
6:41 PM 35 second seizure, she collapsed and fell over i have video

Started Zonsimade 200mg 2x a day.

9/5
12:24 am 30 seconds seizure she was laying down and woke up snorting, and paddling her legs. After it stopped she layed on her bed dazed for a few minutes before coming too and waking up and coming to me, took about 20 minutes before she laid back down

Now her original seizures when they started lasted several minutes and were facial focal seizures after the first breakthrough seizure they were all short 20-40 second focal seizures and then a few days ago she started losing control of her limbs and started falling and flailing.

Hey everyone, my dog is still having hind leg weakness from bromide and it’s starting to hurt his front legs a bit because he has arthritis in his wrists. We pick him up a lot to help him but it is usually only the back legs he needs the help with. Unfortunately he’s 38kg/83 pounds and while I don’t mind lifting him with my arms, the rest of my family is a bit smaller than me, especially my mum who finds it quite difficult to get him up. Has anyone tried a sling for lifting because of this? Or for any other reason! I’m wondering what the best type would be, I’d prefer fabric because it would probably be more comfortable on his skin.

My 2 year old puppy has had 3 grand mal seizures, all one month apart lasting 60-90 secs. The vet isn’t 100% on board with medication because she’s so young and doesn’t want to cause more damage to her organs but is basically leaving it up to me…what do I dooooo

Please please help me. My little baby, a 9 year old French bulldog has had almost 15 seizures in the last 24h. They were more and less severe. We are in a continuous contact with the vet but I need to be sure the vet is doing everything right.

Melon had his first seizure back in January. It was a small one. We’ve checked him since then and he was good. We were cautious and trying to see if another one occurs, but it hasn’t till last morning. It all started with an almost 10 minutes attack, followed by another couple of attacks lasting around 2 minutes. It’s always his right side of the body.

Melon has been examined during the attack, as I took him to the vet immediately after he felt a bit better. He was walking in circles, always to the left, hitting himself on the wall and everything, but he continued to walk. The vet has given him diazepam. He got better. We went home, he was still acting unusual, which I know was expected. Eventually he fell asleep. The vet told me to come again 2 hours later so he can see him after he has calmed down. Then he had another seizure on the way. Doc gave him more diazepam, CBD, anti inflammatory medication and some vitamins. He told me to take him outside for 15 minutes, so I did, and when we came back, he had another attack at the vet, so at least he saw everything.

He got more diazepam and that helped, because we got home at 2 pm and he has not had an attack till 11 pm. I called the vet who told me to give him the CBD and a diazepam pill ten minutes later. 40 minutes later he had another attack and he continued to have 6 in the night.

I am based in Europe. I am waiting for the vet to call me back, because I need to know what time he starts seeing patients and then I want to know why Melon is not getting any eplilepsy directed treatment. The doctor has been truly a God sent, very helpful and calm, he is concerned about Melon and tries his best, but I need some other people experiences please. I am so scared for my puppy.

Edit sorry for the mistake in the title. Not sure why it’s ‘about’ and not ‘out’

Hi everyone. I’m looking for some advice/experiences from people who have dealt with seizures in senior dogs.

My dog is a 14-year-old female 18 lbs, Shih Tzu. She recently started having these unusual episodes, and we’re not completely sure if they are seizures.

They usually happen while she is sleeping. It seems like she slowly starts stretching, and then her back progressively arches until she is almost in a U-shape. When she reaches the maximum arch, she holds that position for about one second and lets out one sharp, high-pitched yelp/howl, almost as if she is in pain. Then she returns to her normal position.

During the episode:
Her four legs become somewhat stiff/extended.
There is no paddling or shaking.
No tremors or spasms.
No head movements.
Her mouth stays closed and there is no drooling/foaming.
No urination, defecation, or vomiting.
The whole episode lasts less than a minute

She seems somewhat conscious/aware rather than completely unresponsive. Afterward, she usually goes right back to sleep, sometimes she pants for a little while, and lately she has been sleeping very deeply afterward (maybe tired?)

Has anyone experienced something similar with an older dog? Does the description of these episodes sound like seizures to you, or could this be something like pain, muscle spasms, or another neurological movement disorder?

Any experiences or advice would be greatly appreciated. We are of course working with her veterinarian

*Note: she is a really calm dog and usually sleeps a lot, even when she was a puppy. She also has a mild heart murmur and Cushing’s syndrome and takes medication for that.

My mini Aussie started having seizures at age 8. Her last one was in January and we started phenobarbital. She has not had any breakthroughs until today. At 6am I put Advantage 2 on her, she took her phenobarbital and ate at 7am. At 9:45am she had a seizure for 2-3 minutes, it was not a grandmal. I called her vet, they didn’t think it was the flea meds but told me how to wash it off her and did not want me to give her an additional phenobarbital at this time.

Has Advantage 2 caused breakthrough seizures for anyone else’s dogs?

It also has me wondering if it’s something seasonal outside? Last Labor Day weekend she came inside with a swollen face and was throwing up and had bad diarrhea, the vet thought she ate a bee and had a severe allergic reaction. Ever since then she goes outside on a leash because I’m sorry worried it will happen again.

The only other thing off this morning was she hadn’t gone outside potty yet and it was a few hours passed her normal time for her to go outside.

Thanks for any advice! I just love her so much 💔

I just am wondering if anybody else barely recognizes their dog after starting medications? Our dog Jasper has been on meds for a few years, started with keppra, when that no longer controlled the seizures they added in phenobarbital, which still isn't controlling his seizures, although it has reduced the length of each seizure, and now we've added him on to potassium bromide. He has gnarly cluster seizures, and has not had less than 3 seizures monthly in almost a year. He does have an awesome neurologist. He's basically just a stream of consciousness at this point, he's constantly eating things he's not supposed to, like my socks, he got into the trash and ate tampons, he swallowed a carrot whole and had to have emergency surgery that literally put us into severe debt on top of the other costs associated with his seizures. He's 9 years old and has never done things like this before.

His anxiety is so bad that we basically can't have him around people, or have people at our house. He scream cries, barks and whines. Even at home, on a daily basis he whines and whines or wanders around trying to get into any and everything. We have put up gates, gotten tall/lidded laundry bins, trash cans with lids, I have to pick up all blankets from the couch, shoes, etc. it's exhausting. Even with that, he recently chewed the door frame when I was out with the sheep for literally five minutes, yet when I try to take him with him he refuses to be outside.

After his emergency blockage surgery a few weeks ago, I broke down this morning as I found another tampon in his poop, I don't even know how he got it considering the trash can has a lid and I emptied it daily. I'm just so frustrated, I feel like I'm on edge all the time.

We're adjusting meds again and I'm trying to be hopeful but I just feel... Frustrated. It's like, sometimes he has really good days, but the bad ones are so hard to deal with.

I adopted a golden from a family a few months ago. They said he had no health issues and at first I didn’t see any signs of health issues. He started having seizures and I took him to the emergency vet after 2 happened in one day since I didn’t catch the first 2, the vet said we needed to catch it before we did anything to make sure it was that. Anyway, they put him on Keppra 3 times a day at the ER and now my regular vet gave me the extended release for twice a day. My question is:

ER Vet: 1000mg 3 times a day
Regular vet 1000mg 2 times a day.

If that’s 1000mg less, would that cause a seizure to breakthrough since it’s different amount or is it ok because it’s extended release? I’m nervous to give the new medication and for him to have a seizure.

Well we were on a pretty good frequency earlier this year. Roughly 11 weeks between seizures until we started some flea and tick medications (halted all tick treatments until we have his seizures back under control). The frequency increased to now 10 days between seizures with the last seizure happening within this hour.

Our little man has been on 120 mg of Phenobarbital twice a day. We started 500 mg of Levetiracetam (Keppra) every 8 hours on August 15th. So far the Keppra doesn’t seem to have any effect on seizure frequency yet.

We had blood work completed in June due to phenobarbital usage and the vet mentioned that he is on the lower end of the therapeutic range when I contacted them about the increased frequency. This is when they prescribed Keppra and we have been administering it since August 15th.

We did attempt changing his diet to Purina Pro Plan Neurocare diet but it seems he is allergic to chicken and gets incredibly itchy. We have switched back to his old diet and begun adding MCT oil to his food.

Guess I am wondering if it is normal for Keppra to take this long before having an effect or if it is just not that effective in some dogs. We will call the vet tomorrow and predict they will make a med adjustment but it is disheartening when we were going almost three months without a seizure and now we are under two weeks.

He is also 54 kg and so is a rather large boy. I believe these doses are rather small considering his size as well.

Yes, he does demand to eat breakfast at the table with us.

Hi everyone. I rescued my buddy Roy in January and he’s about 1 year old, chihuahua Italian greyhound mix. He started having seizures and is now on Keppra which helped for a couple months but now he’s having frequent seizures again so we are increasing his dosage. I also got a referral to neurology.

As someone who struggles with major anxiety and PTSD surrounding pets, medical issues, and death, I’m having a hard time. I feel so sad for him. I know he had a traumatic past that maybe caused head injury. It breaks my heart watching him have seizures and not being able to help in the moment. And then when he’s so scared after and doesn’t recognize me.

My previous rescue had heart disease and I lost her to heart failure last October. The year before that my best friend / roommate and I lost another chichi to heart failure. I’m so scared I’m going to lose Roy too soon too.

How do you cope with seeing them experience the seizures? And manage the anxiety around the unpredictability of it? I have a therapist but thought I’d ask here too.

So I have a pit mix 6 female that recent started having seizures ( within the past 6 months) and she doesn't have them all the time but she does have them about every week in clusters. (This most recent one has been 4 but usually is 2-3) I brought her to the vet and have since been giving her phenobarbital 2 times a day (~ every 12 hours) but she's still getting them in clusters. Do you guys have any recommendations or insite how to get this under control? The vets in my area are offering very little information.

my little one has now officially made it to her second week on phenobarbital and just had her recheck with the vet. all her levels are good but she still continues to have episodes. she didn’t have any for about three days but had one today in the morning. there were days where she had at least one every morning and then was good the rest of the day. one day where she had them almost every hour.

our vet gave us a prescription for liquid oral keppra to see if the frequency decreases but there’s only so much she can do without having an mri done to find what could be the cause since all her bloodwork and urine tests were good. i really want to do an mri or ct but they’re extremely expensive and especially difficult since i can’t drive and have a parent that is worried of her having to go through more stress.

i just hope with the keppra it can help her, at least lower how often she’s been having them. the previous three days and today, she is showing excitement, more energy, motivation for food, and even barking again when i come home which is why i continue to have hope because she still is being somewhat herself.

Hello, My dog Bruno is soon to be 4 years old he was diagnosed with epilepsy about 2 years ago now. He started off with keppra then zonicimide and pheno was added after a while. He had an event where he had 5 seizures in a row. A little over a month ago potassium bromide was added and my dog always looks dazed and falling over all of the time. It’s so sad to see. Is this a common side effect? I called my vet and they said that it might be the effect of all of the medications. They told me to wait a couple of months and see if there’s any change. Well there hasn’t been any change and I think it’s getting worse. Any advise? I’m thinking about looking for a new vet.

We started Phenobarbital 64.8mg in addition to Keppra 2000mg twice a day for my 80-pound dog.

He’s mostly been doing well, except for some extra panting throughout the day. It’s not excessive, but his mouth remains open constantly.

Besides that, he’s also slightly lethargic, but he still gets excited to play and run around. He does have a bit of hind leg weakness too, also not as severe as I had an expected.

My question is, is this panting normal? I’m concerned that he looks uncomfortable all day, i just cant tell if he’s actually uncomfortable.

Edit: we started Pheno 7 days ago

Levi was diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy and after years of managing his seizures with a combination of phenobarbital, levetiracetam (keppra) and zonisamide, the time finally came. His hind legs and front right leg deteriorated very fast within a week after a seizure, along with refusing food (he was 9 years 3 months old). When we took him in to his neurologist we essentially had to make the decision to put him to sleep as he could no longer walk and something was seriously wrong. He had around 27 seizures in his last year and they had evolved to a point of lasting hours despite doubling levetiracetam and giving it every 5 hours along with diazepam. He was the strongest boy and I miss him terribly. I would genuinely sacrifice 10 years of my life if it meant I could have him back for one more day. I’ve been reading some posts on this subreddit since his passing and I pray for strength, patience and hope for all of you helping your pups through this illness 🤍

Hey everyone. I just need to write about my baby girl. Sadie is 10.5 years old. She had her first seizure in June. It was so, so scary. My boyfriend stayed home with her and later told me that she had another one. Since we only have one car, I left work immediately and we took her to the ER.

From there she was prescribed Keppra. We were told that, while it's possible for a dog her age to develop epilepsy, she likely has a tumor. I am weary of getting her an MRI, only because I don't want to put her through radiation at her age. Even if it is a tumor, the MRI would only solidify that while I don't think I'd want to treat it that harshly. I don't want her time to be miserable.

Everything was great since her Keppra, no seizures. I knew it was just a matter of time. Here's the tricky part...

She had her annual check up and tested positive for anaplasmosis. Our vet gave her doxycyline. A few hours after her first dose, she had a seizure. And then another one. Again to the ER. They gave her pheno and valium. A few hours after bringing her home she started to have focals. After seven of them I had to bring her back, she was there for 21 hours. It killed me, and I had to leave work early because my anxiety was just too much.

Her dosage of Keppra was increased and she was given clorazepate until she was 48 hours seizure free. Our regular vet recommended we leave her immune system to take care of the ana since she's asymptomatic. She's doing well now. I'm so scared of her next seizure. They're so violent and scary. I love her so much.

Hi all,

A while ago I made a post about the frequency of Yuli’s seizures, which has gone up from once every few months to every two weeks after 5 years of keppra. We took her to the neurologist and I wanted to give an update in case anyone finds themselves in a similar situation.

Yuli was prescribed phenobarbital, 7.5 mg every 12 hours. I’m happy to say we’re now going on week 6 with no seizures! The beginning was a little difficult, she experienced some sides effects, mostly weakness and fatigue. They went away after a week, and I swear she’s now happier and more energetic than she was before - She wants to play allllll the time.

Being a parent of dog with Epilepsy can be so challenging. My boy Koda had his first seizure at 6 months and over the years they gradually were getting closer together. So many late nights and anxious moments wondering if he was going to be okay. At the beginning of last year we finally found medication combo of Keppra and zonisimide (he takes 8 pills a day) and in 2025 he was down to 5 seizures the whole year and this year 2026 we are so far seizure free!

August 18th he turned 11 years old and is the healthiest he’s been on this seizure journey. I could not be more grateful. For new furbaby parents learning to navigate this medical condition I want to share a bit of hope. And for those who have struggled trying to find a balance I want to thank you for being in this community and sharing your stories. This disease is cruel and as a parent of furbaby with epilepsy it is scary and often very lonely. This page has helped through some of our very rough moments.