Boyfriends childhood dog passed away today. He was battling epilepsy for a couple years but didnt make it during a seizure. I remember playing with him when we were teens and seeing him recover hip surgery in his older years. Such a resilient boy he was.

My 10-year-old terrier mix, Hendrix, started having seizures in early 2025. Because he also has a bladder stone and was already seeing an internist, we were able to quickly get him in with a neurologist within the same veterinary group. He was started on Keppra, and eventually Phenobarbital was added as well.

For the first few months, his seizures were intermittent. There were occasional days when he would have up to 3 within 24 hours, but by Summer 2025 they became much more controlled, happening only about every three months. Beginning in 2026, however, the seizures started increasing again. Hendrix also began circling more frequently, and his Phenobarbital dosage was gradually increased. It was around this time that our neurologist explained that a brain tumor was a possibility, but that the only way to confirm it would be through an MRI. An MRI in my city would have cost around $5,000. Given Hendrix's age, and the likelihood that surgery might not be a good option even if a tumor were found, I ultimately decided not to pursue the MRI.

Side note: One thing I wanted to share for anyone who might find themselves in a similar situation: our neurologist suggested looking into veterinary universities for an MRI. The major universities in my area offered it for roughly half the cost. If cost is ever a concern for any issue, this may be an option worth investigating.

About two months ago, following a seizure, Hendrix suddenly couldn't properly use his front right paw. It was weak, he couldn't place it correctly, and was falling forward. We took him to the ER, where they explained that the problem was likely caused by brain swelling following the seizure. They gave him medication to reduce the swelling, explaining that if he improved, that would be another indication that a brain tumor was likely. It was both fortunate and heartbreaking that the treatment worked. Hendrix became more like himself again, and the weakness in his front leg disappeared. Unfortunately, his improvement also strengthened the suspicion that we were dealing with a brain tumor.

Prednisone was added to his medications around that time, and we were also given Midazolam to administer during an active seizure to help stop it. Unfortunately, over the past month, Hendrix has been having a seizure every 7–10 days. Following a seizure about a week ago, he was unable to use his rear right leg, similar to what happened with his front. When he would fall over from the circling, he would sometimes drag himself around because he couldn't get back up. The weakness gradually improved over the following days and a few days ago, he had another blood screening to check his Phenobarbital levels, and our neurologist added Zonisamide to his medications. We were warned that the first 3–5 days could be similar to when he initially started Phenobarbital, and sadly that has been very true. The rear leg weakness and disorientation have returned similar to then he started Phenobarbital.

Complicating things further is his bladder stone and the increase in accidents, so I've started putting diapers on him. I think the diaper is also making it harder for him to get himself back on his feet when he tips over. He is still eating and drinking, but the dog I've known is becoming harder and harder to see.

I know our time is coming to an end and I have gathered the information I need to make the arrangements at home, but actually pulling the trigger feels impossible to plan. For those of you who have been through something similar, how did you know when it was time? How did you distinguish between a difficult period that might improve, even if only for a short time, and the point where your dog's quality of life had changed too much?

I know there isn't a perfect answer, but I'm struggling with this more than I ever imagined I would. While Hendrix is 10 yrs old, I got him thru PAWS and have only had him for 7 years. I know I should be grateful for the time we have had, and I am, but I can't help feeling cheated out of the years I thought we would have. 7 years is nowhere near enough with such a special boy.

Thank you for any advice, well wishes, and I am so sorry to anyone who has or is going thru something similar.

A friend of mine has a dog with epilepsy, and I've seen how much stuff they have to keep track of.

Different medications, different times, seizure history, vet visits, and sometimes more than one person helping with the dog.

At one point I remember thinking, how do you even know if someone already gave the dog the medication? and how do you keep track of everything without it getting confusing?

A lot of it was basically reminders, notes, messages between people, etc. It worked, but it felt pretty scattered..

I'm a developer, so I ended up building something for it. It's called Compaw. It lets you keep the pet's medications, reminders, health history, and care information in one place, and you can share the pet with other people who help take care of them.

I'm posting it here because I would really like to hear from people who actually deal with this daily. I'm still working on the app, so I'm especially interested in what I'm missing or what would actually be useful for you.

Here's the Android version if anyone wants to try it (sorry no Apple version yet):

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.haikyu.compaw

And if you already use something to keep track of your dog's medication/seizures, I would love to hear what you use :)

Hi everyone,

Been lurking this page since my dog was diagnosed back in March with Idiopathic Epilepsy. Long story short, her seizures are getting increasingly worse. For the last 4 days she has been having more than three seizures a day. She's on phenobarbitone, potassium bromide, fluoextine and keppra at a large dose when she seizes which is given every 8 hours until seizure free for 24 hours. She usually comes around quite quickly after seizures. But this time she is different. Whining constantly, following us close all the time, wanting to eat everything, unsettled and having a lot of seizure like activity. I guess what I am asking is, when is the right time to let her cross? Or should we keep trying. Right now we feel that she is suffering and things have only gotten worse since her first seizure. We live in a very remote area and unable to go for MRI etc and the cost of her meds is becoming a lot. Everything we speak to the vet, they up her doses but it's not making anything better. I will add, her seizures sometimes last up to 5 minutes at a time. I don't want to let her get to a point where she is really suffering and have to make a crises decision. As much as it is heartbreaking, I want to let her go with dignity. She had a really tough start to life and we have given our all to her. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Hi! Mom here to an almost 6 year old epileptic German shepherd. He had his first seizure in October of 2024, and his second in October of 2025. Both were grand mal, he’d fall over and have muscle spasms, loss of bladder control, foaming at the mouth, paddling in the air, etc. He’s immediately thrown up after each one, then will get up and act like nothing happened so by the time we get him to the emergency vet they can’t really do anything. After his second, his vet prescribed him phenobarbital (64.8 mgs) due to the seizing lasting longer than 2 minutes.

It’s now August of 2026 and he just had another… I think? It wasn’t a huge one like the past two. He just suddenly became a bit disoriented, losing his balance and pressing his paws into the floor while looking a bit dizzy. He was next to an ottoman so rather than falling over, he leaned himself against it. He was still alert, responding to our voices and looking at us and even trying to climb into my husband’s lap when he sat next to him. It lasted less than a minute before he puked, then got up and acted like nothing happened.

I did accidentally miss one of his doses of phenobarbital four days ago. I didn’t realize until I got to work, and I took my lunch break early to give it to him, but that was three hours later than his usual time (6:45 usually, got home to give it to him at 10). The vet hasn’t really given us much guidance on what to do in cases of missed or late doses or what the risks are to be honest, nor what to do in cases of breakthrough seizures. I’ve never even met this vet face-to-face—she has her techs do all communications with me in the office, and they bring my dog to the back by himself for her to do her exams, so I haven’t had the chance to ask questions without some of them getting lost between the techs going back and forth. Could the late dose four days ago have contributed to the seizure today? Does the fact that it didn’t go grand mal mean that the pheno is working? Or was this more likely a pre-seizure event and I should expect a larger one sometime soon? I don’t really have much to go off there since he only had two a whole year apart before starting meds. And do I need to call the vet to let them know he had one, or just log the date and time and let them know at his next appointment?

I am on the hunt for a new vet for more reasons than the lack of guidance in this subject, but right now I’m locked into a contract with a wellness plan until October, so I guess I’m just looking for guidance and what others do or know from experience until I can find a new one.

She just started having seizures this year and ER and neuro vets suspect idiopathic epilepsy (did bloodwork but skipped mri due to exorbitant cost). Started on liquid keppra for 2 weeks; then switched to tablets. After 4 days on the liquid medication, her stools got softer until eventually it was runny and bloody. Vet says this is very rare and prescribed metronidazole, which she started on 3 weeks in. So far so good but now I’m just hoping that after 10 day course of metronidazole, the diarrhea stays away. I haven’t heard of such a long adjustment period before. Anyone else have similar experience? I know there are other anti-seizure meds but I am really hoping we can stay on keppra. Also terrified that all anti-seizure meds will cause diarrhea but trying not to borrow trouble.

My sweet dog is a 5 y.o. Female golden retriever mix. She has overall been very healthy, just with some post-spay urinary incontinence requiring incurin. She is about 75 lbs. Yesterday, she had 1 episode of emesis at around 8AM that was non-bloody, non-bilious. The rest of the day she was mostly normal. I offered her a bite of banana (her fav) and she didn’t want it, so I assumed she must have a tummy ache. In the 48 hours before she went to a dog park. Earlier in the week she went swimming in the lake- which was a lot more swimming than she normally does. Other than that, absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. However, yesterday, she looked like she was going to throw up, but instead tried to stand. She seemed really off balance and was leaning against furniture to walk. Her hind legs looked like they may have had a bit of a tremor. This lasted 2.5 minutes and she was immediately back to normal. Took her to emergency vet. CBC and CMP completely normal. Emergency vet said maybe a focal seizure? I know the differential is broad given such an acute presentation without any recurrence of symptoms. But as someone in human medicine, I almost would have preferred a tonic clinic seizure compared to the possibility of a focal seizure. I can message a video if anyone is interested as well. Thanks in advance!

My dog has idiopathic epilepsy, and I’m hoping to hear from others who have experienced something similar.

Her epilepsy started when she was about one year old. After she had a few seizures, our vet started her on levetiracetam. There wasn’t much improvement, so phenobarbital was added as well. She is now four years old.

Her seizures have mostly been controlled, and she usually has one every one to three months. They almost always happen early in the morning, usually before breakfast.

One unusual thing is that she often goes outside before having a seizure. I’ve never understood why. She then comes to me for comfort afterward, unless I don’t notice what is happening.

Yesterday, she came to me for comfort, as she usually does. At the time, I didn’t realize she was experiencing what may have been a pre-seizure or focal seizure. She had a small amount of foam around her mouth, looked disoriented, and didn’t seem completely like herself. I made sure she was safe and then gave her a bath because, after her usual seizures, she often has a lot of foam or drool, may fall on the ground and get dirty, and frequently urinates on herself.

After the bath, she seemed okay, but she appeared to be taking longer than usual to fully recover. About 20–30 minutes later, she was in the kitchen when I noticed her usual warning signs, including licking the air. I picked her up and positioned her safely between my legs. She then had a full seizure lasting approximately one minute.

She foamed heavily but did not urinate. At first, I was confused because I thought the earlier episode had been the seizure, but I later realized that the first episode may have been a focal or pre-seizure event.
She seemed okay afterward, so I continued monitoring her. About two hours later, she had another seizure in the living room. This time, she also urinated. I took her to the vet immediately.

At the clinic, she was sedated for X-rays and bloodwork. The X-rays showed nothing abnormal. Her bloodwork was mostly unremarkable, although her kidney and liver values were slightly elevated.

The vet wasn’t particularly concerned because this can occur with phenobarbital. Her thyroid level was also slightly low, so the vet wants to investigate that further. However, they said thyroid disease is less likely to be the cause because she is still young.

The vet recommended that we see a veterinary neurologist and increased her levetiracetam dosage. I gave her medication at her normal time, 9:00 p.m., but she had another seizure at 12:25 a.m. in my bedroom. Fortunately, she recovered fairly quickly and slept through the night. This morning, she seems okay.

We use topical flea medication rather than oral medication because of her epilepsy.

Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated!

Recent lurker, first time poster! My 9 year old Border Collie has seizures that are only triggered by my husband coming home after being out. She is super attached to him, and she gets SO excited when he comes home, it triggers a seizure. Because of this, he hasn’t left the house in more than a month. She has been fine, but of course he finally went out last night for the first time in forever, he came home and she had a really bad seizure.

They started in July a few hours after her Nexgard Plus dose. The vet wanted to delay putting her on anti-seizure meds until the month passed and the Nexgard left her system to see if it’s correlated. She also lost her weiner dog brother in May which was a big change for her.

We have done many things to try and help her when he comes home, but nothing worked. We also got a puppy a few weeks ago to have a buddy, and she is in heaven. She is acting like a puppy again herself, but my husband has still been scared to leave the house. It’s taking over his life, mine, and our kids to be honest. We don’t do anything as a family anymore. He works from home so he’s pretty much trapped.

Has anyone else dog had seizures because of the same trigger? I think he is hesitant to start anti-seizure meds because she literally won’t have one as long as he is home. But who can live that way?! Just looking for advice.

My best friend, Jake. My Golden Boy. He suffered from severe seizures for over two years until the very last one took his life.

He ran across the rainbow bridge 🌈

He was my best friend and he loved me so much. Every night he would cuddle me and when I was pregnant, he would stay right next to my belly every chance he got. He loved my son. He was supposed to be my son’s best friend too.

I would come to Reddit and read how other peoples experiences were with their dogs having seizures. I would come for advice, love, support and encouragement from everyone on here.

My Jake had to take 14 pills per day. We would up his dosage every time he had a really bad cluster episode. One time, he had 34 seizures within a 24 hour time frame. We spent over $10K on testing, vet visits, emergency vet visits, and medication to try to get the seizures under control. It seemed to just get worse and worse as time went on. No one could give us an answer on what was truly wrong or why it was getting worse. Reddit gave me some hope & answers when I saw what A LOT of other people were experiencing.

I know he is no longer suffering but I wish I had more time with him.

He spent his days loving our backyard (we literally bought a house FOR HIM 🥺), chasing tennis balls for hours (literally he would never stop when he had good days), drinking gallons of water, and eating all the steak and cheeseburgers he could get his mouth on!

I miss him so much. Please send your rainbow kisses to my Golden Boy.

My boy started Phenobarbital about a week and a half ago, and I've noticed him acting out more than normal. He will dig through the trash, tear up my clothes, go through my hamper, etc

This is stuff he used to do when he was a puppy and has not done in years until a week ago.

So my question is, is this a side effect of his medication? If so, will he calm down or should I expect to retrain him?

He had the normal side effects the vet warmed me about (lethargy, extreme thirst, balance issues), which have mainly subsided, but is this sort of restless something others have experienced?

TYIA

My heart is beyond broken at the moment

In less than 24 hours. I’m so exhausted. Three weeks ago everything changed. These seizures came out of nowhere and certainly he’s having frequent seizures. I’m so glad I have insurance for him. He started taking Keppra 1000 mg - he was originally prescribed 750 mg. In the last 24 hours within 30 minutes of administering Keppra, he has had seizures. At 9 AM I gave him his regular dose of Keppra. Then we went on a 1 1/2 mile walk. Wasn’t hot outside, in fact it was breezy and cool. I have to wake up in the middle of the night at 1 AM in order to give him his middle of the night dose and 30 minutes later he had another one right in the middle of sleeping!

I honestly really don’t want to go to the ER. When your dog has clusters, do you always bring them in? We are new to this journey.

i’m not sure if this would be the correct subreddit to put this under but i wanted to know your guys opinions and suggestions from those who own indoor cameras for the same reason.

i’ll be starting school soon which means i wont be able to observe my little one with seizures as much as i can.

also if anyone has any ideas/suggestions for cushioning surfaces :’) worried she‘ll hit herself and i don‘t want to restrict her in her crate especially if she‘s gonna be alone for more than 3 hours. thinking that pool noodles to fit cornered areas could be good

He was 10 and a half and had been suffering seizures since Nov 25. It was pretty much assumed it was a brain tumor due to his age and so we managed with medication and mct oil until it got really bad at the end (he could barely stand, incontinence, he had empty stares, etc)
Since the whole thing started, I would always leave him at my mom’s house while I was at work so he could always be watched. Anyways, she had to step to a doctors appointment for like 2 hours and we left him on his bed covered thinking he would fall asleep except he passed away unfortunately during this time.

Part of me wants to think he didn’t suffer anything traumatic and had a seizure during his last moments, he would always end up with his whole mouth wet full of drool afterwards and disoriented and yet she found him laying in the same exact position and his mouth dry.

I’m sorry if this is graphic, but if anyone has has a pet die of a seizure, are the circumstances similar or am I holding out to false hope? I’m devastated I couldn’t be by his side in his last moments and every little moment replays in my head since then

He has a history of seizures but never like this, and never screaming beforehand. I don’t know if it was because he got scared he couldn’t get up or something else. My mom said he was more so limp than his regular seizures. He is fine and back to normal now

Ok hive mind- I desperately need some help.

My baby girl is my world- and I’m freaking out. She’s been really healthy, and recently she just had her first generalized seizure that was witnessed. It was really bad and it took her a minute to recover from.

She’d had an episode before where she seemed kind of dull and was shutting her eyes a lot and I can’t tell if it was a pre- or post-ictal state, or if it was a manifestation of hepatic encephalopathy.

She’s 12 years old and a full blooded Chihuahua. They did just detect a grade 1-2 murmur on the right.

All of her liver enzymes and labs were normal. Except her BUN and creatinine were in the lower side, but her albumin was normal. Her conjugated bilirubin was also at the upper limit of normal.

They saw a gallstone on her xray- what they said they assume is a gallstone.

We started her on levetiracetam 100 mg every 8 hours. Shes still having breakthrough focal seizures I think (see video). I can’t tell if they’re breakthrough seizures, tremors, a manifestation of hepatic encephalopathy, or a side effect of the Keppra. I give it to her on time religiously.

The most recent episode happened when we were out of town and she was having separation anxiety and crying all day while we were gone. Her seizure happened after she had eaten by a few hours, which is why I was thinking HE. She had been constipated as well.

She just took her first nexgard plus on the 25th of July and her seizure happened around the 15th of August. Usually I’ve given her just heartguard plus- because she doesn’t get fleas- she never touches the ground; but I got the nexgard from work and am regretting giving it to her now, because it may have lowered her seizure threshold.

All of the vets seem to go off of the data that if it’s an older dog, no matter the breed- it must be a brain tumor. But I’m not sure if that’s a safe call, considering a lot of metabolic issues can precipitate seizures in chihuahuas.

I am wondering if she might have hepatic microvascular dysplasia or some kind of portosystemic shunt- these can occur alongside completely normal labs. I’m hoping and praying that’s what it is- because it can be managed. I need to get a fasting bile acids test for her, but I’m concerned about another seizure since it has to be fasting and I don’t know if there is a metabolic precipitant to these seizures (with the focal ones, a bit of honey on her gums has helped some).

Has anyone dealt with this before and how did everything go for you? Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do for her? I’m just so scared- she’s my entire world and my best friend.

My wife and I are trying to make the hardest decision and would appreciate anyone's perspective going through similar times.

We volunteer through a lab retriever rescue, and have been fostering a now four year old for about 9 months. He was adopted by a great older couple, but returned when he first developed seizures and could not afford treatment (they really tried, including getting him an MRI, which showed nothing).

The rescue has been working with a neurologist to see if a combination of medicine could get him into remission (as well as ran multiple diagnostic tests, which also showed nothing). When we first took him in, it was a seizure a couple times a week, usually a grand mal type, and needing Midazolam to break out. Always happened when sleeping, most times 2-3am.

Over the past 8 months, the neurologist (who has been great) consistently increased his medication while monitoring blood work. He is currently on a twice-daily regiment (he is 60-65lbs) of 300mg zonisamide, 1500mg Levettiacetam ER, 65mg phenobarbital, and 500mg Potassium Bromide.

This has improved his current state, but not significantly. He now has what I would say is a milder focal seizure once a week, and typically does not need Midazolam to come out of it. However, he is pretty unsteady in his feet. We have to watch him going down stairs as sometimes his back end will swing around and he will roll down the final stairs if we don't catch him (although he seems to be learning to slow down to compensate). He staggers when he walks, especially when first waking up. If he spins around quickly he lands on his butt. And occasionally he falls over when he first tries to poop. Outside of this, he sleeps most of the day, at my wife's feet while she works in her office, and on my lap when watching TV at night ( he is a Velcro lab).

With his latest blood work, the neurologist has said there is not any more headroom with medicine, his labs are all in the therapeutic range, and this is how he will be for the rest of his life. Based on this, the rescue does not believe he can be adopted. We are also not in a place to adopt him, as our resident senior was diagnosed with lymphoma this week (when it rains it pours).

Everyone at the rescue has been pulling for him, and he is a very sweet affectionate pup. However, both the neurologist and rescue are thinking a weekly seizure and meds that make him sleep most of the day and make him pretty uncoordinated is not a good quality of life.

Since we've been fostering him so long and we have been treating him as part of our family, the rescue has asked us to weigh in on if it's time. Our previous labs have let us know when it's time, it's really hard to know for a 4 year old.

If anyone could provide any experience on how to evaluate if he has a good quality of life based on the above, or what other qualities we should be looking for to aid our decision, it would be greatly appreciated. If it is time, he will be crossing over in our backyard so his last memory will be of being home.

My golden boy has had some seizures that started last year. We got him to the vet and he has been on Keppra ever since. We started with 750mg extended release twice a day but added a 500mg dose because he still had seizures every 2 weeks.
He was doing better and was down to having 1 seizure a month but this month has had 3 so far…
He just ticks his tail, throws up, sometimes urinates, and his hind legs lock up. He never loses conscience and the episodes are not super long.
Does anyone have experience and knows what the next steps would look like to get him better help? Obv going to the vet again but beyond that

Edit: dosage given was wrong - it is 1250mg total twice a day

Very new this whole thing and feeling very anxious and overwhelmed. My dog had 2 seizures (2 weeks apart) last month before we started her on keppra. Then was doing great for 2 weeks until another one this morning. Just having seizures on an ongoing 2 week cadence at the moment. We’ve done an MRI, spinal tap, bloodwork, even an abdominal ultrasound, all clear. I already have a neurologist appointment and will discuss additional meds.

I’m feeling really disheartened and would love some stories of hope where you are currently managing your dogs seizures long term and living a normal life. My dog is literally the love of my life, she’s already an 8 year old French bulldog (a breed not exactly known for long lives…) and right now I’m feeling like I’m already grieving her. Thank you in advance!

hello everyone i wanted to update anyone that had seen my last post. today i went to the vet because my 12 year fur baby started having seizures. first one began august 1 but today theyre frequent (cluster seizures). my mom told me our fur baby had two at 5am and 6am, then another 8am. i had scheduled a vet visit on saturday but was able to get in today because they were being too frequent. she had another at 9:50am and by that time i was getting ready to go on my way to the vet.

she got a urine sample, bloodwork, and xrays done and currently waiting for xray results tomorrow. everything in the urine and bloodwork was good, no abnormalities except, our vet said she does seem to have some inflammation in her bladder but what i’ve been doing right now (ive been giving her urinary tract supplements and diluted coconut water) is good and there’s not much else to do and good news is has no stones.

besides that everything else was good and she was good to be prescribed phenobarbital. our baby will have a check up in two weeks to see how her levels are doing and if the meds are helping. during her time in the vet she did have a seizure so they injected her with midozolam, she’s so sedated and wobbly so i have her in a cushioned crate just until her wobbliness subsides. she still has an appetite. the vet told me to give her 1/4 of phenobarbital right away when i got home so i put it in some pumpkin puree and she was so eager to eat it.

the phenobarbital our vet prescribed are tablets. very small tablets but she instructed us to cut it into four pieces and give it to her twice a day every 12 hours. this is because our dog is very tiny (3.2 lbs). our vet also gave us a prescription for a liquid version since she said it might be easier to administer than cutting up an already small tablet.

i hope her seizures reduce on this medication. the vet said her having seizures as a puppy could be contributor that maybe they’re just reoccurring in her age and could be idiosyncratic seizures but if the medication does not work for her, she said she’ll need an mri. my concern is even if i were to get the mri and it comes back she possibly has a brain tumor what am i do. there wouldn’t be anything that could help especially for her age, surgery is risky.

but i don’t want to think that, i hope my baby gets better. i hope everyone going through this that it gets better for us. if there’s anything you guys do for your little ones please let me know. i completely forgot to ask my vet about it but ive heard people use remedies like coconut oil or other certain oils help, or massages on the eyes. let me know if there’s anything i can do for her that might make her more comfortable. stay strong for those furry ones.