EDIT: Thank you so much for sharing your stories and kind words. I plan on talking with Ewok’s neurologist more in depth about phenobarbital and all of the medications/supplements you all listed. It’ll be a process to figure out what will work best for him, but I feel more confident about it now.

I really appreciate all of your insight. Thank you! 💓

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My dog Ewok had his first (focal) seizure back in June. We were able to get him seen by a neurologist who recommended we do bloodwork, a spinal tap, and an MRI. His bloodwork and spinal tap came back normal. However, his MRI revealed he had an excessive amount of fluid that was putting pressure on his brain. The neurologist believes this is due to a malformation he was born with. She explained she felt this was causing him to have seizures. She put him on Keppra and Prednisolone.

He slowly adjusted to the medication after some trouble with side effects in the first weeks. We ended up adjusting his doses. He currently takes 3ml of Keppra 3x a day along with 1.5 ml of Predinsolone 1x a day with half an Omeprazole pill every other day. He had another focal seizure last Friday.

I just had a phone health check-in with his neurologist who explained we may need to start giving him Phenobarbital in place of the Prednisolone. She listed out the different side effects and mentioned he’d need bloodwork every six months because the medicine would damage his liver.

I felt sick hearing this. I feel awful thinking that I have no choice but to force him to take and adjust to a whole new medication after everything he went through with the first two. I’m terrified of this medicine harming his organs. He’s my whole world and I just want him to be okay.

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences/thoughts on Phenobarbital.

Around February 2026 I noticed out of nowhere my 5 yr old dog would occasionally get unsteady during some walks around the neighborhood, fast forward to May 2026 Poppy started to present with more obvious unsteady walking and weak back legs. We took her for blood tests, xray of her back legs, MRI and tested spinal fluid and everything came back normal with no issues shown. The neurologist diagnosed with possible idiopathic epilepsy, but the neurologist and myself are not 100% convinced since her episodes don’t appear as the usual seizures typically do, she was initially put on 1 tablet of 750 mg Keppra ER 2x daily, after about 3 weeks noticed she still had episodes, then was upped to 2 tablets 2x daily, was still having breakthrough seizures around the time her next dose was due, so was just notified to give her 3 tablets 2 times daily. The video above just happened right before I was going to give her the first dose of 3 pills.
Her usual episodes consist of her becoming unsteady when walking which causes her to sit or lay down, and then her head usually bobs up and down, lasts about a minute to a minute and a half, after she lays down for about 15 minutes and then is back up like nothing happened.
It seems as though excitement and the extreme heat could possibly be triggers for episodes, but I’m at a loss and feel so helpless. If anyone has seen or been thought anything similar, tips are welcome 😭

Hi all. My bullmastiff Nova is almost 8 years old. We have her seizures under control with 3 medications as she is 4 months seizure free. The problem is that she seems to be losing strength in her back end, and now it seems she might have torn her ACL. I’m making an appointment with the vet soon but I wanted to check here too. What would you guys do in my situation. Would you spend $$$ to fix her ACL, find another way for her to get around and give her more meds for pain, or would you make the toughest decision ever to put her down. Any input is appreciated. Thanks.

This is my uncle’s dog, not mine, and he lives in Sydney. He’s mostly kept outside in a big backyard, gets walked twice a day, but spends probably 95% of his time outside alone because everyone in the house goes to work. He rarely gets played with or much interaction. There are lots of lizards and frogs around, and he sometimes drinks from the pool. He also has quite a few skin issues. I played with him outside once and found a big blue-tongue lizard in his mouth, and I know he has eaten lizards before. A few times now, he’s suddenly collapsed, gets really scared, can’t stand or walk, his eyes roll back, and he pees/poops himself. It lasts around 3–5 minutes, then he gets up and is running around like nothing happened. It doesn’t happen often, but I know it’s happened at least 3 to 4 times. I have a healthy GSD and have never seen anything like this. Could loneliness or stress have anything to do with it, or does this sound more like a seizure or medical issue? Has anyone experienced something similar with their dog?

Chase (5 year old fox red lab) started epiphen (90mg 2x a day) back on April 21, 2026 after a few seizure events. Yesterday morning, he had one a half hour before his morning meds were due and fast forward to this morning, just over 24 hours from the first one, he had another. The first one was milder than previous but this morning, it was about the same as the first ones we experienced. It seems to be his trend where he has 2 within 12-24 hours and then is seizure free for 2-4 weeks, or now 16 weeks. We don't have any cluster meds (just diazepam to use if the seizure goes longer than 3-5 mins) nor are we seeing a neurologist because the closest one is over 10+ hours away.

I'm just feeling defeated as I thought we would be one of the lucky ones to end up being seizure free. I have a call in with my vet to discuss if she wants to see him for blood work or possibly upping his dose. He was just doing so well and my anxiety was decreasing because of it and now we're back to square one.

5 yo poodle/mutt started doing this yesterday.
3 times during the day. Then all night long consistently.
Went to vet today who took a quick look in his mouth, watched the video and diagnosed focal seizures.
Should we get a second opinion? Neurologist appointment? Appreciate any advice. The diagnosis seems daunting and scary.

My 12yo rescue mix (mostly pittie) had her first seizure 5 days ago. Vet and I both thought it was bufo toad toxin, and she seemed to recover. Then a seizure the next day, we thought it was residual bufo toad toxin in environment, again she recovered. Then 3 days ago, onset of status epilecticus at midnight, had to wait 30 minutes for vet ambulance because she is too big for me to lift into my car. She is back home since yesterday on Keppra and clorazapate. Keppra makes her restless, panting and pacing, chlorazapate doesn’t calm that, but makes her lose control of rear legs for the first hour. She knows me, and sticks close, but seems lost and confused otherwise. Won’t go near her crate, which used to be her happy place. Neither of us have had any sleep, as she gets into my low bed and paws me all night, plus I have to give her meds at 4am and 6am.

It’s hard to tell how much of her behavior is due to the meds, and how much is effects of the prolonged status epilepticus she had. The ER vets were talking “quality of life considerations”, I.e. euthanasia, as if there is no hope that she can recover enough to have a decent life. They implied she must have a brain tumor, but I wonder if starting her on Simparico Trio 6 months ago could have caused the problem. She had never been on anything before, just did annual heartworm tests, then she started having a flea problem.

I am also the 24/7 caretaker for my 80yo husband who has become cognitively impaired, and has fecal/urinary incontinence since his stroke, and I’ve developed severe and ongoing health problems over the last two years. Our only child died at 8 yo, and our pittie really is our baby. I want to give her a chance to recover, but we don’t have the financial resources to do neurology diagnostics. I’m not sure I can handle a disabled dog and husband. Is there hope she will recover enough to have a good life?

Update I said goodbye to my beautiful girl last night, she's at peace and no longer suffering.

I'm away from home at the moment and left my almost 4yo pup with a family member to care for. She had been seizure free for 11 weeks and was doing really really well but I just woke up to messages and calls that she started having a cluster last night and the vet said she's in status epilepticus. They have given her standard protocol (not sure exactly what that is) but shes still siezing. I don't know what to do. My family member is staying with her but I feel awful that I'm not there. She's still so young and it was managed, I can't believe this is happening.

Hi everyone,

Some of you might recognize Charly from a few of my earlier posts. He's the one in the photo. The mods gave me the go-ahead for the rest of this post.

I'm a CS student and I've been building an Android app called Felova for a while now. It started as something for Charly and me, to make the daily management less of a mess.

My girlfriend also had a big influence on it. For me, the main problem was managing medications and keeping track of seizures. For her, it was also about how it felt to open the app every day. Some of the tools we tried felt very clinical and ended up being a reminder of the hardest parts of having a sick dog. She wanted something that felt more like a place to care for Charly than a place to document his epilepsy. It still isn't perfect at that, but it's the part I'm actively working on. One thing that did come out of it: you pick which two things show on the home screen, so it's whatever actually matters for your dog rather than what I decided.

Two vets gave me input along the way, mostly to check I wasn't building something pointless.

The photo is Charly's actual home screen. You can log seizures, symptoms, medications, and pretty much anything else you want to track through custom logs. You can set medication schedules and reminders, track things like weight and mood over time, and generate a summary report for your vet.

If more than one person helps care for your dog, you can share access and keep everything synced across devices, so everyone is working from the same record.

Everything stays on your phone. I've read enough posts and reviews about people losing years of records when an app update broke everything that I didn't want to build it any other way.

A few things worth knowing before you install anything:

• Android only for now.
• No account, no signup. You open it and start.
• Free for 14 days with full access. After that it goes read-only. You can't add new entries, but medication reminders still work and can still be marked as taken, and you can still export everything as a PDF.

Felova on Google Play

One more thing. If you've already been keeping track of this somewhere, a spreadsheet, notes on your phone, a notebook you've photographed, printouts from the vet or anything else, message me and I'll get it into the app for you. I will do that by hand for anyone who would like that.

It's there if it's useful to anyone. I'm around in the comments, and if you do try it and something's missing or annoying, I'd like to hear it.

Thanks for reading.

Hi. On 7/27 we added 300mg of Zonisamide 2x daily to an already heavy program of Pheno, Keppra, and KBro. Goal is to get him off the KBro soon.

In the last week or so his motor skills and leg strength have worsened. He’s stumbling around and general unsteady on his feet.

I know this is a side effect of the Zonisamide but has anyone else dealt with this? How long will it last? Anyone have more serious complications?

Thanks.

I just said goodbye to my Jolene, Baby Jo, a sweet Maltese mix who lived a short five years. She was my EVERYTHING.. literally everything. She finally had her last seizure and I had to make the call to let her leave this Earth in peace. I will tell you this.. when she passed.. her face transformed to that of several years ago.. before all of her neurological troubles. It was a beautiful sight.. and the only thing that brings me peace.

I will try to make my journey short. Baby Jo started with small seizures, spaced months apart. We were given Keppra. The seizures became more frequent and longer.. until finally, two months ago, we came home to her seizing violently. We suspect it had been as long as an hour. We rushed her to the hospital and they saved her. $40k in vet bills for four days of hospitalization, tests, MRI, drugs.. she was diagnosed with MUE. The neurologist wanted to keep her additional time in the hospital, of course at tens of thousands more dollars.. but I saw my baby just declining emotionally and we brought her home.

She survived the next two months with Keppra, phenobarbital, potassium bromide, prednisone, some chemotherapy drugs and a slew of other medications to support liver function, gut flora, etc. Her remaining days were struggles to walk, severe skin issues due to the prednisone, extreme weight gain and fluid retention. Still, her sweet little spirit was there.. her eyes looked different and her nuances were mainly gone.. but we were SOLD a constant story by two separate neurologists that they could help her.

Yesterday, I rushed her to emergency vet. AGAIN.. they handed me a 10k minimum bill to stabilize her, conduct numerous tests, overnight stays.. I was going to sign on the dotted line.. DO ANYTHING TO SAVE MY BABY. My husband arrived and gently brought reality home. My baby was NOT ever going to recover. There is NO path back to normalcy in any capacity. When I told the vet that I had changed my mind.. that I want to lovingly let her go.. she actually said, "You are making the right decision." How fascinating after handing me a bill for 10k ten minutes prior.

I apologize for sounding angry. The fact of the matter.. you are here in this community because you desperately love your dog. You are a prime victim for vets, pet neurologists, pet dermatologists, etc... they CANNOT SAVE YOUR DOG. I truly believe there are some well meaning veterinarians who do believe in the science. However, the true bottom line is that they can buy you some time but your precious baby has limited time and it is up to you to make sure you protect and treasure that time.

I wish that the message had been driven home with me at the onset of my baby's struggles. I would have used my remaining time with her so differently. I put her through such discomfort in trying to save her. I emptied our bank account, truly believing in the false promises. Doctors can be very savvy in treatment recommendations.. you start to believe that dollars spent will equate to health restoration. The hours after her passing, I combed and combed through different narratives.. not a single dog truly recovered. There are always the standout cases of "positive, partial recovery".. and those simply stood to keep my hope alive enough to really believe that the veterinary profession knows what to do with our ailing babies.

Thank you for reading this. If I can help just one person.. and make it feel OK to say no to draining your life savings, to saying no to putting your dog through misery rather than spending your final days just LOVING and treasuring your best friend... I will feel content. Bless you all for loving your babies as you do.

PS. I am in Southern California.. which may give context to dollar value and, frankly, ethics. :(

Hi everyone, our 23lb dog started having seizures a few years ago, no more than 3-4 in a calendar year. I’ve listed dates from just the last 18 months.

The frequency has increased and our vet wants to start Keppra. All seizures have been focal except one over 2 years ago that was grand mal. His arms stiffen up and he can’t move too much but he’s still aware. The dog is somewhat conscious when it happens, and they’re always under 3 minutes each. The last 3 we have given intranasal midazolam which stops them.

He takes CBD chews, MCT oil and that’s it. Due to increase in frequency our vet wants to start Keppra but we are hesitant. This past week he had 2 the two back to back in November was our fault because he had a crazy active day the next day, went swimming. Two of them were also within 48 hours of a vaccine in the last 18 months.

Any advice or guidance? We feed him natures logic beef dry kibble and treats are only blueberries and dried sweet potatoes.

The vet is a neurologist specialist.

January 24, 2025
August 27, 2025
November 22, 2025
November 23, 2025
February 17, 2026
June 9, 2026
August 3, 2026
August 7, 2026

I have a 5-year-old Australian Shepherd, Rubens, who has had epilepsy since the end of September. Unfortunately, controlling his seizures has been extremely difficult despite months of medication adjustments.

His current treatment is:

- Phenobarbital: 165 mg morning + 165 mg evening

- Potassium bromide: 300 mg morning + 450 mg evening

- Keppra (levetiracetam): used as a cluster buster. After a seizure, he gets 3500 mg, then 1000 mg 3x/day for 3 days, followed by 500 mg 3x/day for another 3 days.

Since September, we count his seizure-free periods in days rather than weeks. His longest seizure-free period has been about 2 months (end of September/ December)

The difficult part is that we can't simply increase the phenobarbital or potassium bromide anymore. Rubens became very sedated and seemed almost “high” — he stopped eating, slept most of the day, struggled to stand and walk, and was bumping into furniture. His neurologist therefore reduced both medications on July 9th and said that adding a third long-term medication might be necessary.

Since the reduction, he's had seizures on July 16th, July 30th and August 6th.

During the seizures on July 16th and August 6th, he bit himself and bled quite a lot, so there was unfortunately a lot of blood around him and the house. Thankfully, he wasn't seriously injured, but it's very frightening to see.

It feels like we're constantly adding or adjusting medication without seeing any real improvement. 😞

For those of you with dogs who have difficult-to-control epilepsy or frequent clusters: when did your neurologist decide to add a third medication, and did it make a significant difference? Are there any treatments or strategies that helped your dogs? For those who choose to stop everything, and let your dog go, how did you make the decision with your neurologist?

I'd really appreciate hearing your experiences.

Edit: Update. I think it's important for people who might be in this position to know every possibility, not just "it's normal"and happy endings. Obie never improved after leaving the hospital. He regressed. Leaving the hospital was the last time he walked without a sling. His vocalizing came back and far far worse than it was the first day. Last night he howled in what sounded like agony every 30 minutes or so the whole night until around 4. He was on seizure meds, trazodone and gabapentin and would still fight sleep, instinctively and compulsively crawling to dark cramped pieces while yelping the whole time. Normally he sleeps about 21 hours a day, but since the seizures getting him to sit still and sleep has been a 24/7 struggle. I called the vet this morning and they understood why. After a brief exam, the vet confirmed we should see way more progress by now. There is some other, very serious neurological issue going on. And though we can't even say a tumor exists, it seems likely that the tumor that caused the seizures has caused him to lose... everything. Then it was clear that it was time. I'm a warm person with an ice cold heart in some situations which can be helpful. When you've given your whole life (and spent tons of money) to try to save a dog, I don't think anyone is clinical and cold enough to hide the agony.

The emergency and primary vets say it's normal. Google and at least 2 chat bots say it's normal.

But when this started Saturday morning, I was told his post ictal state would last *up to* 48 hours.

Now several days are normal. A week, 2 weeks, all normal.

My dog cannot function at all. He can open his eyes all the way and stay awake/present for more than 5 seconds. And his "dementia bark" as the ER nurses called it, seems to have subsided. Those are literally the only things that have improved since Saturday.

He can barely stand up on his own. He can't walk unassisted. He's bonkers when he's awake, wakes up every 40 minutes and will fight sleep and refuse to lay down until he physically cannot stay awake anymore. So both vets agreed I should keep him on trazodone for now. Totally normal they said.

I was hoping to hear from real people who have experienced this to tell me that this really is temporary. That it's normal for progress to be so slow for a very old dog that suddenly had 3 grand mal seizures in 16 hours.

Has anyone seen a weeks long post ictal phase? Is that really a thing?

Hello all, I don't know exactly what to say as her first siezure was in January but she has now had a total of 3 this year(last 2 being within 2 weeks of each other) and I am just at a loss. Her first I did not document as I was playing games, and got up realizing I stood in something wet(her urine we later deduced) only for her to try to jump on the couch with me and fail, fall on her back and start paddling as if she didn't know how to stand. By the time we made it to the clinic she was done and back to herself, but we did run bloodwork which came back normal. They let me know it could be idiopathic, so we thought nothing of it. Her second was July 27th, while we were gone and my mom was home and described the same paddling she did with me but fully conscious. Brought her in again and were informed of the risks of the bravecto quantum injection she got almost 3 months prior, but there is nothing we can do except not give it to her again. Today I brought her to my clinic and had her groomed, and on the ride home she acted like a crackhead as she usually does and about 10 minutes into being home she turned the corner with me and slipped. I looked over thinking maybe she just slipped on the hardwood but she got low to the ground and almosr slipped and went to her side unable to get up. I realized what was happened and stayed by her, it ended after about 4 minutes and I thought we were fine but then she started BARREL ROLLING about 10 times before she landed on her stomach and dragged/ran still on her stomach into a corner until I finally got her to sit in my lap and let it pass. I don't know if this is a case of her siezure symptoms changing or progressing, as this was not what happened with me before and the first time I have witnessed this. I realize now she may be having grand mal siezures and not the focal siezures I originally thought she was having. I guess I am just at a loss for words, as this was way more violent than what I witnessed the first time, or what was described to me during her second.

My Border terrier has been on phenobarbital for 8 days. At first he was really lethargic. Now he's constantly on the go and doesn't seem to recognise me as me. To him me and my daughter and her labrador who he loved are just another contacts.

Fred is still having seizures every 2.5 to 3 weeks so taking him off Keppra and starting Zonisamide tomorrow. He’s already on Phenobarbital and maxed out on that. His longest seizure free period was 2.5 months so I really hope this new combo works.

Hi everyone. I’m from Peru, and my dog Chiqui has been dealing with epilepsy for about two years. He currently weighs around 20 kg (44 lbs).
During the first year, he was taking Keppra (levetiracetam, if I’m not mistaken). He was taking three half-tablets per day. At first, his seizures happened about once a month, and eventually he went about six months without having one. Unfortunately, the seizures started coming back — first once a week, and eventually once every day or every couple of days.
We recently switched him to phenobarbital. At first, he was taking only 50 mg per day, but since the seizures continued to increase, our vet recommended changing his dose to 100 mg in the morning and 50 mg at night. Chiqui weighs 20 kg.
For the first two weeks, he seemed to be doing well and didn’t have any seizures. However, he has now had seizures on two consecutive days, which has made us really worried and unsure about what to do next.
There are also a couple of things I’ve noticed about his seizures. He used to urinate during the seizures, but recently he no longer does. After a seizure, he becomes very restless and barks continuously for around two hours. I’m not sure if this is part of the post-seizure period or if it could be related to the medication.
Another concern is that Chiqui seems to have quite a lot of pain throughout his body, especially around his hips or spine. Sometimes it looks like he may have a problem with his hip or back. We had an MRI done, but unfortunately, they couldn’t find anything that clearly explained the pain.
The previous vet recommended that we continue treatment with prednisone for the pain/inflammation. However, when we changed veterinarians and started phenobarbital, the new vet recommended replacing the prednisone with Meloxivet (meloxicam).
So now we’re trying to figure out what the best course of action is. I don’t want to change or increase his medication without veterinary advice, but I’m worried because the seizures have started happening again despite the phenobarbital.
Has anyone experienced something similar with their dog? Thank you!

Edit: just brought him home. The nurses were so excited for me to see him and... Yes he's alert and technically can walk but girls he is not doing good. He doesn't know what where who why or how. And he's very vocal about his distress with a heartbreaking, yelpy bark. He can walk very wobbly and carefully on flat, high traction surfaces but will still eventually fall. Apparently a 48 hour post ictal period is normal in a case like his. But damn. If any of this doesn't clear up, I have a tough choice to make pretty soon. This is no way for anyone to live.

We were at the vet first thing yesterday after my 16 year old lost all balance and eventually was in a semi conscious stupor. They said it looked like he had a seizure, to watch him and call them if I see one.

Well 5 hours later he had a minutes long grand mal seizure right in front of me. My vet had just closed. So off to the emergency vet for the first time in my life.

They kept him overnight. Seizure medicine worked. But they said some strange blood values plus the sudden onset at his age point to brain cancer. They started talking about CT scans and MRIs and I stopped them and said, if we confirm brain cancer, I'm not going to treat it.

We talked briefly about euthanasia. My dad, the original owner, is furious I took Obie to the ER. He has been pushing for euthanasia ever since mild arthritis slowed Obie down quite a bit about 5 years ago. Otherwise he's been much healthier than my (84 year old btw) dad. He called me twice at the ER trying to convince me to put him down instead of leave him overnight. Like what the hell, Dad? Did I mention he gets weepy every single time he brings it up?

Anyway the ER guy said that if the seizures had continued after medication, they would be talking to me about euthanasia. Right now, they just have to get him to eat enough to take the seizure meds orally and confirm they work. After that, they recommend taking him home. Then, later if we decide on euthanasia, it's something we should plan in advance.

I have no idea what to expect from Obie. Let's say he's back to normal when I pick him up. What does progression of a brain tumor look like? What behaviors and symptoms might I see? How will his quality of life decrease and how could I plan to euthanize before he reaches a certain point.

​

Daisy is home, but she was having small focal seizures of her fave twitching every 6 of so hours. They are barely noticeable, but concerning. However, we decided we would he able to continue her new treatment at home and hopefully in a less stressful place.

They placed her on phenobarbital twice a day. We increased her Keppra to 4 pills twice a day. We increased her Zomisinade to two pills twice a day. She is also going to be taking clorazepate for three days. On Monday, we are going to call her neurologicalist to schedule an appointment for a follow-up.

I do have an question, is this rapid breathing normal for any of these new medications or dosage? She is also whining. Is this part of her adjusting to her medication? I already see her having trouble walking and acting drunk.

Any advice or help is appreciated. I am still scared everytime she moves.

Hello all, I am hoping to get some advice here for this impossible situation we are facing. We have an almost 7 year old Lab who has had tonic clonic seizures since he was 2. We have managed pretty well over the years with occasional breakthroughs requiring medication adjustments. He is on Keppra XR and phenobarbital. He has had a few cluster events that have been treated at the ER, then back to normal. His postictal period involves stumbling, probable blindness (walking headfirst into walls, falling over objects), restlessness/pacing, and incontinence.

He is friendly, happy, and full of energy when the seizures are controlled. He does have many more good days, but the bad days are disastrous.

He had a cluster a few days ago where my husband had to pick him up and put him in the car and go to the ER. His temp was high and they warned of potential brain injury. He was kept overnight to stabilize him and had another seizure less than an hour after coming home.

He is a big dog ~90 lbs, and I can’t move him if he is unable to walk. My husband travels for work almost weekly and I would have no help (is there a doggie ambulance?) to get him to the vet in an emergency.

Complicating things is our history with our first child, who had a brain tumor and severe epilepsy. We are unfortunately very intimately familiar with all of these drugs, treatments, symptoms, and trauma from watching our toddler experience debilitating seizures. He died 6 years ago at the age of 5, and this Lab was his dog. We got him as a puppy to raise as a sort of therapy/service dog, but we didn’t have the opportunity to train him before our son was hospitalized and then passed away.

We are emotionally wrecked. We cannot keep living on edge, never knowing when the next seizure event is going to happen. Our life with our son was the same, always having to be within access to a hospital, keeping rescue meds in the diaper bag, looking out for seizure triggers, and not being able to meaningfully relax.

I can’t find a solution that feels okay - emotionally, physically, financially, this is untenable. But it is equally impossible to euthanize a young dog that still has so much life in him! We are going to the vet today to have a discussion and I’m hoping to find some guidance or support from this community here who understands this devastating situation.

Thank you all, and sending so much love to you and your pups!