Living with an Epileptic Dog - What to do if your dog has a seizure

If you’ve ever experienced your dog having a seizure you know how unsettling it is. You feel helpless but you aren’t entirely. There are things you can do to ensure your dog’s safety and yours. My most important piece of advice is to try and remain calm (I know easier said than done). The first time my dog Effie had a seizure, I had no idea what was happening and I panicked. If I had known more about seizures, it would have been a lot less stressful.

If your dog experiences any of the following, he may be having a seizure:

• Disorientation or staring into space;
• Bumping into things, stumbling on his feet;
• Temporary blindness or paralysis;
• Collapsing on the floor (drooling, jerking, shaking, paddling motions).

If your dog is having a seizure, do the following:

• Clear the area around your dog of sharp items or anything that could potentially harm him;
• Block any open stairways;
• Remove your dog’s collar if possible (but avoid getting too close to the mouth and head);
• Take a video of the seizure for your vet;
• Document all the information you can (when it occurred, how long it lasted, whether your dog was conscious or unconscious, shaking, drooling, paralysis);
• Call your vet if the seizure lasts longer than 5 minutes or if your dog has more than one in a 24 hour period.

Dogs are disoriented when they come out of a seizure and it takes time for them to get back to normal. It could be anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours depending on the dog. During this time they may not recognize you. If that happens, use a soft welcoming voice but give them space. They will come around. Other dogs seek comfort and reassurance after a seizure. Give them the reassurance they need whether it’s a massage, a cuddle or a particular food. Most of you will instinctively know what will help. Remain calm and do any required clean up quietly.

If and when you decide to put your dog on medication, make sure you and your vet are on the same page. They will need to ensure that the medication dose reaches and maintains a safe therapeutic level by doing blood tests. So it’s more expensive at the beginning. Once the level is reached and the dose of medication is established, you can do blood work just once or twice a year. Life does happen but try not to miss a dose and never stop the medication without first discussing with your vet. Typically once you start your dog on an anti-seizure medication, he will be on for it for life. Any changes to the medication whether it be the dose or trying a different one should be discussed with your vet.

Effie is currently taking 30 ml of Phenobarbital every 12 hours. In order to keep the time as close as possible we decided on 7am and 7pm. I bought a pill organizer and have the two doses in every day so I don’t have to rely on my memory. I set a reminder in my calendar for every night just in case. It sounds scary and overwhelming but we’ve gotten use to it.  I try to look at it like this … when you adopt a dog you have to feed him every day to keep him alive and healthy. Well this is no different. And to date Effie remains seizure free!

June 2016 update: The month of April 2016 was a tough one for Effie as she had four seizures. After the last seizure our vet consulted with a neurologist. It was recommended to us increase her dose of Phenobarbital to 60 ml every 12 hours. We agreed and she has not had another seizure since.

Previous articles:

• Living With an Epileptic Dog - Effie's Story

Articles to follow:

• What is a seizure?
• Canine Epilepsy
• Seizure Triggers
• Canine Seizure Medication and Side Effects

Living With an Epileptic Dog - Effie's Story

On February 14th, 2014 my husband and I adopted an 18 month old Husky mix stray from Iqaluit. She would make us a three dog family. It took some time but she was an amazing addition to our pack. Her name is Effie and she’s sweet, playful, goofy and very affectionate.

That October we headed out on our vacation with our two youngest dogs. That night in a motel far away from home we were awoken at 2 am with a thud. When we turned on the light we discovered Effie on the floor in a pool of drool shaking and paralyzed.  We didn’t know what was going on.

After what seemed like ages we located the number of an emergency vet in the area. The technician on call said it sounded like a seizure. She talked to us until it subsided which again seemed like forever but in reality was under 5 minutes.  She told us if it ever happened again we should take a video for our vet to see and to write down everything about it including the length, the intensity, the symptoms and how long before she’s back to normal. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life. After the seizure Effie was very anxious to go outside. We had to bring her out about four times. And she was extremely hungry. We finally settled her down around 4am and had all had a very restless sleep. Our vacation was off to a rocky start and we still had another long day of driving ahead of us. We didn’t know what to expect. As it turns out she was fine the rest of the time. We chalked it up to reacting to her first trip, the long drive and unfamiliar surroundings. It was soon forgotten, until four months later.

Effie’s second seizure happened but this time it just was a normal Sunday. She had gone to the dog park as usual and had a great time. On the way home in the back of the car just as they arrived home she started to seizure. She came out of it and ran into the house and then a second wave came. She had the same symptoms as last time. This time I took a video and documented the information for our vet. Again it was all over within 5 minutes and Effie was back to normal not too long after.

We decided with our vet to keep Effie medication free at that point since she had only had two seizures and they were four months apart. We ordered blood work to rule out things like liver or kidney disease, or a brain tumor. Thankfully the tests all came back negative. And I found out that ruling everything else out is how epilepsy is primarily diagnosed. That and the dog’s age as epilepsy most commonly develops when a dog is between 2 and 3 years old. Effie was right in between.

I started doing a lot of research to find out what possible triggers could be. We really wanted to keep Effie off medication if possible. It was worth it to avoid anything we could that might be a possible trigger. We were hopeful it would never happen again.

But a little over a month later we came home from work and Effie was in the middle of a seizure but this time it was different. It wasn’t stopping and there was drool in a different location which indicated she must have had a couple of waves. I called the vet and they said to bring her right in right away. She was on her bed so we lifted the whole thing up and put it in the back of the car. This time she also urinated on the bed. The technicians met us out front with a small stretcher and they put Effie on it and restrained her. My emotions were all over the place. They put her on IV and gave her Valium and also started her on Phenobarbital which is a fast acting anti seizure medication. We agreed that we couldn’t avoid it any longer. They monitored her until closing time and we brought her home unsure of whether we’d end up calling the emergency number. We were on edge and slept with one eye open but she made it through the night. She was getting 30mg of Phenobarbital every 12 hours and had no other seizures.

Two months later and still seizure free, after much research and discussions with our vet, we decided to switch Effie to a different medication called Potassium Bromide. It's a slower acting medicine that takes about two months to get into the system at a therapeutic level. Some vets prefer this medication because it isn't processed through the liver and believed to be less harsh on the body long term. We wanted her on that medication. So for two months we gave her both medications and then tested her blood to ensure the Potassium Bromide level was within the safe therapeutic level. When the results came in she was within the safe range.  It was time to start weaning her off the Phenobarbital. There is no one correct way to do this between vets so together we settled on cutting the dose by a quarter every two weeks so within two months we would be only on Potassium Bromide. Everything went as planned and we were feeling very optimistic the day we gave her the last dose.

Unfortunately the very next evening at 3 am we heard the thud. We had been given a syringe with Valium that you put in the back end so we used it right away. It seemed to work very quickly but she did have another small wave. The seizure was less intense with less drool. But we were back to square one and very disappointed. After a conversation with our vet we decided to up the Potassium Bromide by .25 ml and try to wean her off the Phenobarbital once more. This time a seizure came before we got to the end of the weaning off period.

We came to the conclusion with our vet that Phenobarbital is the medication that works for Effie. We wanted her seizure free so we were thankful that we found a medication to do that, even if it wasn't the preferred one. Though we were told that there is no guarantee she would never seizure again no matter what medication she is on.

To date, Effie has not had another seizure since going back to the original dose of Phenobarbital.

Living with an epileptic dog has been a learning experience to say the least. We have had our share of anxious moments but with the support of our vet and each other we have navigated through it and would never trade our amazing Effie for anything.

Stay tuned as I share more information I’ve learned about seizures.

Articles to follow:

• What to do if your dog has a seizure
• What is a seizure?
• Canine Epilepsy
• Seizure Triggers
• Canine Seizure Medication and Side Effects