Advice please re seizures in a dog

I don’t have experience of epilepsy in dogs but I have had it myself for over 50 years. It’s completely controlled by phenobarbital and phenytoin. These are old fashioned drugs and different ones are prescribed for humans nowadays but any attempt to change mine might make me have seizures again so I stay on them. They certainly make you drowsy until your body gets used to them.

My phenobarbital dose, adjusted over the years, is 250mg a day but as I said I have phenytoin as well. In your position I would ask your vet if there is a more modern drug available. I would certainly want my dog to have medication to prevent the seizures as they are unpredictable and possibly might increase in frequency. A seizure also leaves the sufferer very confused and vulnerable and biting the tongue is very painful if it happens! Just a matter of getting the right medication and right dosage, which in my case took some tinkering but enables a normal life to be lead. Good luck!

No experience with dogs and epilepsy but as with GSM l was diagnosed with epilepsy when l was 18. I am now 64.
I take topiramate, 250mg.
It might be that he is on too high a dose, or the wrong medication. I couldn't get on with 2 other epilepsy medications but am fine with topiramate.
As GSM has said it is just the matter of getting the right dose and the right medication.
Best wishes and l hope he improves soon.

Have you put your query in Google wiggys52?

Worth looking to see if you can get some free advice from animal shelters or dog shelter homes because it looks as though you live in Oz .
IF you do reside in Oz here is one site
www.australiandoglover.com/2015/11/seizures-and-epilepsy-in-dogs-causes.html

Our female border collie was prone to seizures toward the end of her life (14-15).She was on phenobarbitone for a while but it didn't make much difference.
It was when she saw me arrive back from the shops - she became so excited that she had a fit. As you say it was awful to see her.
Border collies can be very exciteable and emotional. Our vet said he could arrange a brain scan but very expensive, and no guaranteed treatment afterwards.

And a traumatic process for her too, possibly with no result.

I have a tiny Jack Russell/Poodle cross. He's just 10 years old. He started having seizures about 5 years ago, about 2 or 3 a year. They didn't last for long, 10, 15 minutes at the most and once he 'came round' he seemed completely unbothered by the episode. We later found out that his mother had had them and she lived to a ripe old age, so we weren't too worried. Vet pronounced him to be fit and healthy.
We couldn't pinpoint any cause for the seizures, they just come on randomly. Last one he had he was asleep on the sofa just before it happened.

However, about a year ago a seizure turned into convulsions ( and a very expensive overnighter in a local animal hospital). He was then prescribed Epiphen (which is phenobarbitol), 30mg split into am and pm doses. He's had a couple of seizures since then. I have no idea if the medication is helping or not, but feel it would be risky to stop it. The convulsions were frightening.

Have you asked if his dosage should be increased Maizie? My phenobarbital is clearly labelled as such. It doesn’t have another name.

Our previous lab had fits most of his life. Similar to your lab, they usually occurred at about 5.00am and he had about 3/4 per year. Our vet prescribed tablets (no idea what they were as this was years and years ago), but once the fits settled down, the vet stopped the medication. One morning (when the dog wasn't on medication) he had a huge fit that lasted over an hour and he sadly died. He was 10 years old. We spoke to a vet from a different practice who told us that our dog should have been on medication for life, not just for a few weeks after each fit. We were only young at the time and naive - wish we had been more assertive and asked for a second opinion on his medication and treatment. So sad.

My daughter has a pug who has seizures. He's 10 now but has had them since he was a puppy. It's mostly when she coming home and he gets excited to see her. She soon learnt just to ignore him when she came through the door. He also has vacant episodes during the night, where he paces around the bed before he goes down. The vet has never prescribed him any medication

Germanshepherdsmum

Have you asked if his dosage should be increased Maizie? My phenobarbital is clearly labelled as such. It doesn’t have another name.

The veterinary version seems to be marketed as Epiphen, GSM and when I looked it up it said that it was phenobarbitol.

I don't know if a higher dose would stop the seizures altogether. I shall have to get Mr M to ask the vet next time he goes for a check up and a new prescription (the dog is his responsibility, cats are mine ) He certainly doesn't seem to take any harm from the seizures and bounces back immediately they pass. He is a very active little dog.

Do you think he's be better not to have seizures at all? Do they harm him?

4 seizures in 14 months doesn't seem that many & dogs don't suffer from the social side and not being able to drive like humans do. But if they are getting longer as he gets older that may be why the vet started him on phenobarbitone, as the main risk with dogs is status epilepticus, when the seizure goes on for more than 8 minutes, or they have a series of seizures without recovering properly in between. That is an emergency as the blood oxygen and sugar drops, & happens in humans and dogs. Don't stop his medication suddenly whatever you do - with anti-epileptic drugs it's most important to alter dosage gradually,I don't think there are many natural remedies, in humans an "alternative" or extra treatment is a ketotic diet, but it is very difficult to adhere to and I doubt dogs would comply, even if it is safe for dogs. Make sure you tell vets about the epilepsy if they are going to be sedated or anaesthetised as one of the pre-meds is contra-indicated in epilepsy.I used to have a red setter with epilepsy, he was on phenobarbitone but he would have seizures fortnightly without it so that was a clearcut decision. Hoping you find a good compromise with his treatment.

Thank you very much for all your comments, it's very heartening to read of pets who have seizures and have lived good lives.
As I said he's 9 years old and over the last 7 1/2 years he's coped with the seizures well and once it is over and done and he's had a sleep and a lazy day he appears fine.
With vet advice I have reduced the morning doseage by half, with the evening doseage remaining the same and we will see how he goes. I do appreciate it's a bit trial and error to find the correct doseage.
Thank you again for all your comments and taking the time to read such a long post.

Like you curlywhirly we’ve had a couple of sad times with epileptic dogs when we were young, and with more knowledge I’d have dealt with it very differently. We had a Weimaraner who at age 6 had a fit in the middle of the night. We’d never experienced such a thing before but when it was over he suddenly went for us. Didn’t blame him of course because he was disoriented but he had another a couple of days later and as we had a toddler and a baby (he was good with them) the vet felt we couldn’t risk it and the poor dog was put to sleep.
It took us eight years to be brave enough to try another dog - beautiful German Shorthaired Pointer who sadly developed fits at age 23 months. She had so many in quick succession that the vet felt unable to help her and she again was put to sleep - so sad at such a young age. Now many years later I wish I’d asked for a brain scan for her in case there was a tumour.
At the time I wondered whether epilepsy was in the breed. I wrote to the breeder, the stud dog owner, the kennel club and the vet who owned my dog’s grandmother but I didn’t hear a word from any of them. It was as though they closed ranks.

Oh Juliet27 that's so sad - 2 dogs with epilepsy, and your second one to lose his life so young. With wisdom and hind-sight we would have done things differently, but as you say, we were young; we did the best we could. Our dog's death still plays on my mind even though it was over 30 years ago.

Maizie, I don’t think most seizures cause harm in themselves, but as has been said above they can become more frequent and the case of the very big fit was very sad. I believe that once the correct dosage of medication to keep the fits at bay has been found, as with humans it should be continued for life.

Funnily enough I was at the vets yesterday when an older fox red Labrador was handed back to the owner. It was apparently suffering from the onset of fits. The vet explained that certain medication would have to be taken for life and didn’t want to recommend it straight away, unless the dog had more fits.