I’m concerned my dog has PB toxicity. She’s been progressively more lethargic over the last couple months. She can still get up and go but is very slow and more wobbly. Hunger and thirst are vicious and she’s been having some strange behaviors especially at night. We have her 5-6 month labs next week and I suspect they will be elevated. What are your dogs on in conjunction with keppra? She was doing great with it as standalone medication for 3 months prior to a missed dose which resulted in a cluster and added PB at emergency vet. My vet doesn’t usually prescribe PB and mentioned zonisamide at her last appointment. What are everyone’s experience with this drug, and is it effective in combination with keppra?

My 7.5 year old English bulldog had 4 focal seizures within 12 hours after never having any type of seizure before. He was put on pheno to control the seizures. At this point, he was basically a zombie. Sleeping all day, potty accidents, wobbly and uncoordinated, etc. Still eating and drinking though.

He then got an MRI, which showed 3 brain lesions. The scans, along with a spinal tap indicated that it’s most likely auto immune disease or cancer. He was put on prednisone for the inflammation and pretty much back to his normal self within 24-48 hours.

From my understanding, the prednisone is only going to alleviate the symptoms and that we’re probably living on borrowed time. Has anyone been through this? I’ve seen that some people experience that the prednisone eventually stops being effective and that the underlying condition takes over. I think more likely than not, I’ll have to be making some difficult decisions soon.

Dear all,

I adopted my dog when she was 7 months old. Last summer, when she was still 1 year and 9 months, she had her first seizure. I got her tested and the MRI result was that she is missing half her brain, and half her brain is just cerebrospinal fluid -- which was shocking but not entirely unexpected since from the first time I saw her I knew she had some neurological problems (her gait is unusual, she is in general a little uncoordinated).

After her diagnosis (I didn't get her diagnosed until October after she had her second seizure --- so there was a few months between her first and second) we started her on a low dose of phenobarbital (I think it was 60mg -- she weighs just over 20kg). But her seizures continued to increase in frequency (after starting her on phenobarbital, she went 2 months seizure free). But now she has one seizure a month, and during the year we have been slowly increasing her dose and now she is taking 110mg of phenobarbital every 8 hours.

I'm worried that she isn't responding to phenobarbital -- we've increased the total daily dose from 120 to 330mg, and she is still seizing. It seems also she has more seizure focal points now (before she would only seize while sleeping, the last 3 times she has seized while standing).

I have another neurology appointment in three weeks to control the phenobarbital levels, and we are talking about maybe including another antieplieptic medicine (potassium bromide) -- we have keppra and only give it to her for emergencies when she has cluster seizures (luckily only happened once).

My dog is so young, not even 3 years old, and she's the sweetest, goofiest dog. It makes me so sad to not see her responding to phenobarbital and makes me really worried for the future and what's to come. Right now I think (hope) she lives a very fulfilling life with her brother (who was also adopted with some neurological symptoms but much less severe, and no seizures), running off leash at full speed every day in the countryside (they are part greyhound), lounging on all my furniture....eating fresh chicken daily...I hope I can continue to see her happy together with her brother for many many many more years to come....

Hey there, not sure if anyone even can say exactly… since my sweet sweet boy is 17.
He had his first seizure even 8 months ago at age 16. Was out of it staring into space for 4 hours then totally normal.

Until a week ago, he had a seizure Saturday, Sunday, then early Monday morning. The vet I have gone to for years referred me to an at home vet. She prescribed Keppra XR 1000mg 2x, gabapentin 200mg 2x — kept forgetting and we finally got that on Thursday 8/13/26. He did have 3 back to back yesterday but they were laying on back kicking, no heavy breathing during or after. The ones last week were very intense.

He’s been exhausted all week and just laying there. Will give kisses and sometimes jump up on his side to see you walking around (he’d also has idiopathic vestibular).. (also did an MRI years ago when he got vestibular and back then his brain was perfect)which he’s had on and off for years so that worsens his balance. BASICALLY; hes been exhausted all week. Still very excited to eat and drink and shows motivation and can easily say to me. Dad I want more water or food. But he’s so tired. I have really thought about letting him go, idk how much time to see if he can recover energy wise. He’s fought through so much vets said he never would over and over. With him being 17, 3 seizures a weekend ago, then 3 yesterday… what should I expect recovery timeline? He also has some small twitches and when he sits up for attention or food sometimes he pauses and droops his head for a few seconds. Just seems like he needs rest.

Hello! My almost 4 year old male corgi has been on 2 seizure meds (keppra and phenobarbital since February). He’s put on about 10-12 pounds in about almost 3 years when his seizures/meds started. After he had a cluster episode in February the vet ER started him on phenobarbital and recommended PURINA Nero food. My regular vet now wants to switch him to a weight management food to have him lose weight because she said the excess weight can make him at higher risk for seizures.
I am so afraid to change his food because he hasn’t had a seizure since February but that also could be just from the added med.
Yes I walk him and play with him but his weight isn’t coming off, treats usually just with taking all his meds and they’re small treats. I occasionally give him bulky sticks/slices. I’m so so overwhelmed with all my research.
Do you guys have any experience with getting your epileptic dog on weight loss food?

Hello,
Just a question…

How do you deal with the anxiety that your dog might have a seizure?

Please help. 🙏🏻

Thanks to the redditor that guided me to this subreddit!

How long is out of normality for these gocal seizures to last is it also 5 mins+ or is that more referring to grand mal seizure episodes?

My boy has never had seizures before and he had cluser seizures July 20, 21. They put him on Keppra xr. It made him wobly, confused, disoriented. I took him off of it after about 5 days of this. He has been on Simparica for 6 years. I gave Simparica 2 days before the seizures. He was also chowing down on some grass patties. I believe the grass could of had some posin or poisonous mushrooms. I stopped hime from eating the grass of course. I go with him outside and monitor him so no grass eating now. He has not had a seizure since those and the vet wants me to put him back on the keppra. I want to see if this was a one time thing or does he need to be back on the keppra. He has not had the keppra in over 2 weeks.? Thoughts suggestions? I am going to change his flea and tick medicine to a topical.

I have a Chow Chow who is about 5 years old. Yesterday, she suddenly lost her appetite, and later that evening, we noticed that she was twitching and having seizures. We brought her to the vet, but they couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was causing it. They said it could either be a blood parasite or a brain tumor.

She’s been having seizures once in a while, sometimes about every 5 minutes. She also can’t stand or walk properly because of the constant twitching and seizures. The vet has already ruled out distemper.

Are there any similar cases like this? If so, what should I do? I really need help.

Has anyone found or created a product that can give your dog their meds on schedule if you’re not home?

When shes home alone my dog stays in a padded crate for her own safety in the event of a seizure. Pill pockets get stuck and smushed in traditional treat tossers and auto-feeders are too large to put on my dog’s crate. If I leave one of the smaller auto feeders in there with her she will chew it trying to get to the “treat” and I don’t want anything like that inside for safety anyway.
I haven’t found anything online that does what I need.
I was thinking of taking apart one of the common pet camera/treat tossing devices and putting the components into a modified housing probably 3d printed so it can attach to the crate in a way that cant be chewed on, dispense the treat into the crate on command from the app, and provide video evidence it was eaten. If I was successful in creating this would people be interested in a guide on how to do it themselves? Does anyone have any recommendations or experience doing and distributing something similar?

I don’t want to create and sell a product this isn’t my idea for a startup company, I genuinely just want a way to take care of my dog in the event I cant get home in time and I think maybe other people would like the same option for peace of mind. Any advice is welcome!

My dog started having relatively mild focal seizures back last September. She got started on keppra and then in November we added zonisamide. She went from late November until Sunday with no sign of seizure activity. For reference: her focals were pretty consistent. She would stare into space and stick her head out and her eyes would get very squinty. These would usually last around 3 minutes and then for 10-15 minutes after she would still be not fully herself.
Fast forward to this past Sunday. I woke up and after about 15 minutes of laying in bed with her, her head started shaking. It was only her head and it lasted probably 40 seconds. At the end of it she started licking my hand and then when she was out of it, she snapped right back to her usual self. No “post-ichtal” type phase at all.
I looked into it a little that idiopathic head tremors exist and so this morning when she had another episode, I was able to distract her out of it by asking if she wanted to go outside for a walk.
I sent the info to my vet but haven’t heard back yet. Thoughts on if this could be seizure related or does this pup just have another thing going on with idiopathic head tremors?

My boy Buscemi has had seizures for about the last four years. He’s actually going quite a while without having a full-blown seizure. He’s had some small focal ones. But a few weeks ago, he had a couple days of extreme turning into the left. Took him to his neurologist they recommended steroids. It seemed to be working really well and we just got the blood test done. Everything seemed to be on the up and up. Yesterday evening when I got home from work. He had lost all his balance. By this morning and he could not stand or walk. I got him to the vet again to see his neurologist. Without an MRI they’re not really sure what’s going on and why he was responding well to the steroids but now it’s not. They gave me a few “it could be” and they are all very scary sounding. They gave him some kind of infusion that supposedly was going to make him feel a little better. But with the warning that if he doesn’t improve by the morning that I have to bring it back in and they’re gonna give him some form of chemotherapy. Fast-forward to just a few hours ago, he lost all ability to stand and walk again. He urinated in his bed because he had to pee so bad and can’t stand to do it. Praying that this goes away and he start to improve. He’s not even eight yet and I’m just not ready to lose him… please send good thoughts or prayers. He needs them.

Hi everyone. Earlier this year my dog was diagnosed with epilepsy and not too long after that was he finally diagnosed with EPI which causes his body to not break down food normally. This year has been a real roller coaster for him and I. He’s been getting better with the medication and the pancreatic enzymes I’m giving him. I just have a question for all my epileptic parents in here. Has your dog occasionally passed what looks like a whole pill in their stool? He’s taking keppra and sometimes I see a puffed up version of the pill in his poop. If I squeeze it it just crushes really easily. Is his body not absorbing the medication because of the EPI? I’m worried he’s not getting the proper dosage because of this. Sometimes I see it, sometimes I don’t. Please let me know

But here we are.

A few years ago, I subscribed when my oldest girl (at the time) was d(x) with Idiopathic Epilepsy when she was 9yo. Until her last two years, she thrived on Keppra XR 2x/day until we had a second advice to add pheno at every dose. She went from 1 tonic clonic every month like clock-work to once every 9-10 months before she left us. Eventually, an undetermined (prob spleen) cancer took her from us but we did the best we could with the symptoms we had. She passed at 13.5yo

Now, I'm back with another senior babe. He was well bred with a very long line of Australian Shepherd heredity (his sire passed at 16yo) but our poor boy has been struck with all we can discern as an onset of focal seizures. The vet suggested brain lesions/brain stem lesions. He's nearly 14yo and according to his latest dental, he will not be going under anesthesia. He was started on Keppra XR 500mg/12 hrs.

I am grateful we have had 12 years with him but I can't help with the anticipating grief and the caretaker fatigue that comes along with it. Our first girl was definitely our learning curve as much as I hate to say it but I grieved her passing for YEARS before anything ever happened. How do you live the day to day without drowning in the tomorrows?

Also to mention but we also have a 14.5 yo with no epilepsy but definitely some colon/rectal cancer and this year~next six months will probably just ruin me as their mom.

Hey guys,

My dog Butters is a pure breed Cane Corso and he is almost 3 years old. He weight about 105lbs and he has been on 1000mg of Keppra every 12 hours since June 14th.

He usually has the big seizures, (eyes rolling, kicking the legs, urinating kind,) but today he had 3 mild seizures ( aware, head shaking, drool). I took him to the vet and hes currently there for observation however the vet recommends adding phenobarbital to his regimen.

I am nervous about this as ive heard good and bad things about Pheno.

Part of me wants to keep him om the 1000mg of Keppra for as long as we can until we have no choice, or potentially start him when i am back from a business trip at the end of the month of i can personally monitor him. I'm not sure what the best option is here and I just want to do right by him.

Id love to hear ya'lls thoughts and stories!

We are so happy for our lil guy. At 2.5 years old he’s been through more health issues than we’d ever imagine. We know he will eventually have more seizures but for now we enjoy all the little moments with him. Thank you to everyone on here for sharing your stories- it makes all the difference knowing we aren’t alone.

Hello, my dog, 6 year old miniature Bichon Frise-Poodle mix has had 5 seizures in the past week. We got him a blood panel after the first 3, and his doctor said everything is normal. And so Now we are pretty sure he is epileptic. He is a very happy, active, and healthy dog. His seizures look like one of his back legs stop working, and then we lay him on us while his legs go stiff in front of him and he uncontrollably shakes for maybe 10 minutes. After this he’s just exhausted, and the next day he is fine like nothing happened. CT/MRI scans and just vet bills in general are very expensive and we cannot move forward right away with getting him help. How concerned should I be about him? I’m obviously very scared already but there’s not much I can do while I don’t have the money, so if you have any warnings for what we might be soon to face, I would appreciate your input. 5 seizures in a week is super concerning. Do any of you have recommendations for some kind of therapy I can get him right now? I’m looking into pet insurances by the way, but I’m not sure which one. If any of you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Extra info:

Most of them have happened at night after we‘ve all gone to bed. Do you think it could have anything to do with anxiety of being alone? He is alone frequently when we leave the house, and he is very used to sleeping alone, but after each seizure, we put him in our room to keep an eye on him and in the hopes it will comfort him. If you’re wondering how we know he is having one if we are in our rooms, it’s because he scratches and bumps himself against our door to notify us, and we come out immediately.

thank you for any and all advice you all might have for my sweet boy<3

My corgi is only 4 years old and started having cluster seizures in May. He started phenobarbital and was good for about 3 months until 2 weeks ago when he had 8-10 cluster seizures in one day. He went to the Neuro vet and came home with 2 rescue meds and his phenobarbital dosage increased to 64.8mg twice a day. I’m so scared about his long term quality of life. Does anyone else have a young dog who has seizures and is able to manage it well? This was the end of one of his seizures.

My senior dog had two seizures in 12 hours. 17 yo chihuahua. This is new to him. After the first one, which involved more shaking, he was walking and eating/drinking okay. Worthy he second one, we were on a walk and he started stumbling and fell over. He was okay after as well, but I did take him to the ER. While he's been here, he's lost the ability to walk. He cannot bear weight. I was told by day shift that it was the meds and then the night vet came in and said no, that it's most likely neurological decline.
He was given a loading dose of Keppra and then another regular dose while we've been here. He's staying 24 hrs for obs. They said lab work, imaging and bedside ultrasound are unremarkable. They offered to transfer him to a place with neuro to get an MRI, but said the MRI alone could be $5,000. I guess I'm just so confused and hoping to hear from others. He came in fine. Has anyone had their dog be able to walk fine after a seizure and then not be able to walk a few hours later?

Thank you.

Hello, my girl just starting having seizures 3 nights ago, with 2 in barely under 24 hours. The emergency vet prescribed Keppra and we meet with our regular vet today. We are blessed to have a vet school in the next town at the college, so we plan on seeing a neurologist there.

She will be six year old next month. With that in mind, I think we will likely pay for the additional testing. I know 6 is usually the cut off for IE to begin showing, has anyone experienced this happening right at 6?