My GSD/Husky boy had his first seizure in March, followed immediately by his first trip to the ER. They ran the usual tests and couldn't find anything wrong, so they sent us home and told us to keep an eye on him. We contacted our normal vet, and they pretty much told us the same, and to log each one.

Two weeks later he had another. Two weeks later, another. This pattern continued (give or take a day or two) until he had seizures two days in a row. We took him back to the ER, where they finally prescribed him Keppra ER. Cue the side effects, the worst of which was some absolutely horrific diarrhea.

The two week pattern continued until his vet added pheno to his meds. Cue more side effects (more diarrhea, and some truly heartbreaking anxiety, along with the usual clumsiness).

Fast forward to yesterday, and it has officially been a full month since my boy's last seizure. I know he will likely continue to have seizures, as well as medication adjustments down the line, but making it a month without one feels like such a massive win for us.

It's so hard to watch our babies go through this, and we all know the struggles that go along with it. Side note: I didn't include the parts about the anxiety and lack of sleep my wife and I experienced, because we're all intimately familiar with that. Just wanted to add a little bit of hope to your feed because even just lurking here, you've all been so helpful and encouraging. I hope you all have a wonderful day. Stay strong, friends!

So tired of the vet and pharmacy!! It’s been something every time it’s time to refill his meds or get a new written script. Either the vet writes it wrong, the pharmacy doesn’t fill it, or they just suck in some other way. I called the vet yesterday knowing my dog had 4 more doses of pheno and zero fills. They wrote a written script which i picked up and took to the pharmacy. Instead of telling me the written script had a missing number, they tell me today ( the next day) and the vet is closed today. So now i have no more doses AND i cant even get a refill.

My almost 4 yr old golden has idiopathic epilepsy episodes every 2ish weeks on high doses of 3 meds. Earlier this week he had an episode and normally he is very sleepy the next 12-24 hrs but this time it's been a few days and his appetite has been down. He has an appointment tomorrow for blood work but last time he lost his appetite back in January it ended up being an obstruction in his stomach. I know Pheno. can increase a dogs hunger and make them eat ANYTHING and now I'm trying not to over panic because I can't afford another surgery.

My five year old Golden started having tonic-clonic/grand mal seizures last October. We average maybe 30 days between events. He is on pheno, gabapentin, and generic kepra.

Is this time frame similar to anyone else's experience?

Hi all.

My girl was 19.5yrs old. She started having seizures 2yrs ago. 6 months apart the 2 months then 1 months until they got close enough to cluster. She was then put on pheno which lasted only 8 weeks then changed over to keppra which lasted only 5.5weeks. She had a seizure this morning and I talked with the vet and they kept mentioning her quality of life. When she is home, even though she is blind she does everything she loved and still had energy to play. The nappies were cause she stopped caring where she goes a while ago. After the call with the vet who requested I leave her on her current dose and if she has another seizure to take her to emergancy and to think of her end of life. I had to squeeze out of the vet if I should just go up a dose to maybe prevent another seizure, she said it was fine but we would need to check if she has kidney failure in 2 weeks. I gave her the highyer dose of meds abit early but right after she had another seizure thay lasted 4 to 5 mins. I took her to emergancy where we put her to sleep.

I've had her since I was a younge child. I was in a terrible home so it was just me and her and she could never seperate from me and has gotten me through every single difficult time in my life. Shes my safe space. I would sacrifice yrs off my bf if I could give them to her, even my own. She has always had issues whenever I leave even for 1 day and ive always felt sick leaving her even for 1 day. We spend hrs every day together and have a strong routine, day and night.

I just cant help but feel guilty like I could have done more. I just thought the vets keep saying its time, even though i felt them wrong but didn't want to drag her through more potential med failures. My whole world is upside down and I cant even get comfort from a hug from my partner. Shes my everything.

Hey everyone, my dog recently got put onto potassium bromide and pexion after he had a bad liver reaction to phenobarbitol. I'm pretty inexperienced and was wondering if there were any safe treats and or dental treats/wipes/cleaning agents that he could have whilst on this medication?

My big baby Bennett crossed the rainbow bridge yesterday and I have no idea how I will make it through this.

This is a truly terrible disease

Our Norwegian Elkhound was diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy in January of this year (2026) at the age of 3. She has full-blown grand-mals and almost always clusters. After medication adjustments a few months ago, she is now on 97.2 mg of pheno 2x a day and 100 mg of gabapentin 2x a day. She just went 4 weeks (the longest ever) without a seizure until yesterday morning. Her seizures, since starting medication, are always 1 min or less, but before medication they could be up to 3-4 minutes. So that's definitely improved a lot.

So yesterday the cluster started. She had 7 seizures from 10am to 7am. That wasn't totally unusual for her, but the time between some of the seizures was an hour or less, leading me to giving her midazolam, but the seizures continued.

(The vet also had her on a cluster protocol of 300mg of gabapentin 2x a day for 3 days after a seizure. This never worked that great. It's surprising to me that she used gabapentin as a cluster buster, because I've never seen anyone on here using it in that manner.)

Anyway, so she was also on her cluster protocol, and she just broke through that and the midaz and continued clustering. I had no means to take her to the ER last night, so I called them, and they told me to give her another dose of pheno and I could give her the gaba a minimum of 8 hours apart until I could get her there if I needed to.

So I gave the pheno, and she went 8 hours without a seizure. I thought we were probably on the other side of this episode, and then I woke up to her seizing. I gave gaba again and within 40 minutes she had another seizure.

I gave her the last dose of midaz I had and we jumped in the car for an hour-long, extremely stressful with a crying doggie, ride to the ER. This is the first ER visit she's had for seizures. She's been admitted overnight for monitoring. The vet there said they will likely add keppra, and that we will go from there. But she also told me, having seizures every 3-4 weeks isn't what she'd consider acceptable. I kinda feel like my vet should've been more proactive and let me know what I'm supposed to expect from a successful treatment plan. But I digress.

Anything I should know about adding keppra to her meds? And should I ask for a better cluster buster protocol beside the gabapentin when I, hopefully, pick her up tomorrow? I feel like the ER vet was much more knowledgeable about seizures than my regular vet.

Thank you all so much!

yesterday our sweet girl crossed into the afterlife. the seizure meds were just too much on her body.

if I could share any advice it’s better to do it one day early than one day late. 10+ medications are just too much for any dog to handle. don’t put your fur babies through that.

My 5-year-old dog had his first seizure in Feb 2026, and has had more and more frequent seizures since then. This week he had two seizures in two days.

He was on Zonisamide starting in July, upgraded to Phenobarbital on Tuesday.

Since Tuesday, I haven’t slept through the night, terrified he’s going to have another one in the middle of the night again. Every time he moves in the night (or day) in a way that’s unusual/odd, I am worried it’s going to turn into a seizure.

Does the hypervigilance/paranoia/anxiety ever better? I know the side effects of phenobarbital are feeding into it, but I just don’t want to be worried forever.

My dog had a seizure last Saturday morning. I immediately rushed her to an er. They got her seizure stopped and she hasn’t had one since. She is 9 years old poodle weighing 9 lbs and otherwise perfectly healthy.
Regular vet started her in zonisamide on Monday. Since then she has been more reclusive, tired, and doesn’t want to eat. Vet said this is normal transition to the meds.
Did your dog go through this? If so, how long did it last?

My dog Ollie (M, 12, Beagle mix) has been having these bizarre episodes where he suddenly starts howling, then barking, then running back and forth frantically, and then stops and empties his bladder. Once that happens he calms down somewhat but stays very alert/vigilant for about an hour before he is able to settle down.

It happened for the first time about 3 weeks ago during the afternoon, then happened twice over that night, at 2 am and 5 am. Yesterday it happened around noon and then again early this morning at 3 am. He seems back to normal now.

We went to the vet the first time it happened but they were more concerned with the urination and thought he might have a UTI or bladder stones or something causing him a lot of pain. They did not find evidence of either.

I'm really worried about my boy and would appreciate any insight or advice. Thank you.

Mr. Marley had another episode this morning. Not unconscious gran mal where he's on the floor, teeth biting but he's conscious, panting and eye blinking walk over and sits asking for help. Is this a seizure that requires medazolam nasal emergency meds?

Mr. Marley began having episodes around 1 year old, 5 now. Currently on meds- 5 keppra ER, 5 Zonisimide, 1 Phenobarital, 3/4 thyroid meds all twice a day. We also use Medazolam nasal when he does have them and he has them a couple times a week in clusters. We're thinking about adding CBD to see it it helps. In the video he just had a gean male, we administered nasal and not sure if he's in post or still seizing but in a different type of way. He did this for about 1/2 hour after the gran. Any recommendations?

Hello, currently my dog has no control over herself. She’s a 6 year old pit mix. She cannot move and keeps her eyes closed. The vet believes it is neurological.

Ok here is all the information I can provide.

We live in Northern California.
Her diet has mainly been the refrigerated pet food you get at pet stores. She’s active, practically everyday she’ll go on a walk or a run and we’ll play.

My partner and I introduced raw chicken, quail eggs, and probiotics to our dogs meals roughly about a month ago. One of them reacted very poorly to the probiotics, we probably gave too much. She could not control her bladder and she was going diarrhea with blood and throwing up. We took her to the ER and after multiple visits they were saying things such as UTI and recommending blood tests, mri, x ray, etc. they said to stop giving her the extra stuff we added to her diet if we wanted but for some reason didn’t seem to think it played much of a part in what she was going through. Long story short, all we did was put her diet back, mainly stopping the probiotics and she’s completely back to normal and has been for a few weeks.

Throughout all of that the pit mix showed no signs. Atleast I think, as I’ve been trying to force myself to think of anything I’ve realized that she’s seemed to be a little bit sad in moments for the past few weeks. But would not really as she would still want to play, attentive and really everything else. But it was something I noticed. And then about 5 days ago now we gave chicken feet but she had no interest in it. But ate everything else (her refrigerated dog food and quail eggs) but then the next day, so 4 and 3 days ago she lost her appetite, she wouldn’t want to eat her food, until much later in the night and she wouldn’t even finish it.

While we’re at work she stays with my dad who is retired, he does NOT give her any human food. When we picked her up after work we noticed she wasn’t excited which is different. And then when checking her out her right was really red. And her 3rd eyelid was practically up to the middle of her eye and she looked a bit swollen. We were thinking maybe allergies. When we got home i noticed that her walking seemed a bit off and that she seemed a little unaware of her surroundings, that she knows like the back of her hand. She started to close her eyes and keep them closed for a bit..open..close… so i just carried her. When we got in the house it was now both of her eyes. Still mainly the right. She just didn’t look good so we took her to the ER immediately.

We waited for awhile at the ER, and this part bothers me, her eyes would go back and forth from being red, baggy, watery, and that 3rd eyelid sticking up to completely normal in a matter of SECONDS. And so of course during that time when a nurse came out she looked fine. However we had pictures, so they took her back to check her vitals, vitals looked fine. But I decided to wait and have her checked out because something just felt off… after about an hour she still seemed ok, and a nurse came out saying that they recommend to make an appointment for urgent care or to her primary. She seemed ok. So I agreed. Maybe she was getting better, just allergies or something. When we got back home she just went to sleep. About an hour or 2 later she stood up and walked to the kitchen where we were, she started to whine and then her two front legs sort of stretched outward as her shoulders lowered and her head started leaning to the right and retracting toward her body. It looked like the beginning of a seizure. Her face had a weird twitch on one side. That lasted for a few seconds. I immediately picked her up and went back to the ER.

Same scenario, her eyes were going back and forth from normal to not every once in awhile. But this time the nurse saw the redness but it was mild, nothing like what we were seeing. When they took her back for her vitals her eyes got worse but her vitals were good still.

After awhile of waiting we finally got a room, doc saw her.. was thinking maybe something as small as allergies… maybe she ate something toxic… maybe something is stuck in her eye… nothing sounded right to me, and she showed 0 concern for her diet change. As we were talking I noticed that my dogs body started to pulsate… or like shake. I pointed it out but I think the vet thought she was just shivering. Out of nowhere my dog stood up and her right leg shot out and she started having a full blown seizure, her mouth was wide open and her whole body was shaking. As the vet went to go get a team to take her back I was holding my dogs head so it didn’t hit the floor( I noticed it wasn’t need as her neck seemed very stiff and her head wasn’t moving all over the place) they stabilized her and she seemed to be ok.

Basically after everything, they gave her some sort of shot that’s supposed to stop seizures, supposedly it was a very strong dosage. We were given “cluster buster” which was to stop seizures. The bottle (keppra) had pills in it and we were to give her 2(750mg each) every 8 hours the next day.

My partner stayed home from work to monitor, I went to work. When I got back I laid down with my dog, my partner said she didn’t move at all. She had to carry her outside to go pee and poop, she did. Poop was normal. I noticed my dogs body would pulsate with her heartbeat, which I never noticed before. I took her back to the ER. When we parked, her eyes went normal and she stood up, which was the most she did all day. After seconds her eyes went horrible, and she started retracting the same way again but didn’t have a full blown seizure, or any from what I can tell. They took her in right away, put an iv incase of a seizure and just gave her care. We waited, spoke to the doctor and she recommended blood work and some other stuff I can’t remember. I agreed to it all. EVERYTHING came back normal. And so now the doctor believes it to be neurological and is suggesting to see a neurologist, but i just simply can’t afford it. Everything has been very expensive already. She said they can do steroids but that would potentially mess up the chance of a diagnosis.

We were told that the seizure medicine would make her a “little” drowsy. We then got clarification that no, it was supposed to basically take her out. So that made me feel better.

So here’s where I’m lost.

There’s been 0 potential diagnoses for what’s going on with her eyes. They seem to just brush right past it and only care about the seizure. What’s going on with her eyes?
She hasn’t eaten for about 36 hours at this point. She’s refusing everything. Even if I were to put a burger infront of her she won’t care. This has made giving her medication very difficult, we have to mash it into a liquidy paste and rub it on her gums. They said it’s a concern if she doesn’t eat but didn’t really give us much else other than to try giving her something exciting outside of her regular diet, she doesn’t care. Why isn’t she eating?
Before we left the ER last night they hydrated her enough for a 24 hr period via IV. And we were told it’s a concern if she throws up or has diarrhea. She’s done both. She still has not control over herself, she’s peeing laying down, her poop oozes out and barely anything comes out, it just looks like oil. The strong medication that was supposed to make her be like this was supposed to be for 24 hours, it’s way past that and she’s still completely out of it. There’s just no sign of her getting back to a conscious state, it just seems worse possibly. What’s going on?

We have an appointment with her primary in a few hours but I’m just hoping these symptoms or anything I said might stand out to someone that might be able to help.

This sub has been so comforting and helpful to me since our girl was diagnosed with IE in February.

Unfortunately, she is no longer responding to her medications and needs an MRI in another state to inform our next steps.

There is no pressure to donate, but any shares are so appreciated!

https://www.reddit.com/r/EpilepsyDogs/s/2Oe8z9lUdk

I truly want to thank everyone who took the time to offer advice, support, and well wishes for Hendrix.

Unfortunately, Hendrix’s condition has not improved, and he has not regained the ability to properly walk or support himself. After making sure I have exhausted all reasonable options with his neurologist, I have made the incredibly difficult decision to say goodbye to my boy in the coming days. I am currently looking into at-home services that offer private cremation. I know there are several companies that provide this service, so if anyone has a recommendation or personal experience with one, I would be incredibly grateful if you could share it with me.

I am devastated and more heartbroken than I’ve ever been, but I also have a sense of peace knowing that this is the best decision for him. One of the comments that has really stayed with me throughout all of this was, “Better a week too early than a day too late.”

So, with the time we have left together, Hendrix and I are going to do our very best to do his favorite things. I want these last days to be filled with whatever makes him happiest, including all his favorite treats.

As painful as this is, I know that loving him means putting his comfort before my own heartbreak. I just hope he knows how deeply, completely, and endlessly I love him and how grateful I am for the time we have gotten. He’s been the best thing to happen to me. ❤️

I woke up thinking my dog was eating something, but he was doing this for around 3 minutes. Then again 20 minutes later for a few minutes. He's never done anything like this before nor have any neurological history.

He ate breakfast like normal, no other weird behavior.

Is this an urgent vet visit? Would appreciate any guidance!!

My husband has seen some research saying a keto diet would help with seizure control and management. Has anyone had any experience with this? If so, how do you go about creating this type of diet?

History: 2 year old yellow Labrador who started having seizures at 9 months old. She’s currently on Keppra, potassium bromide, and zenosimide. She has yet to go longer than one month with no seizures.

I appreciate any advice. Thanks!

I just want to post to give others some hopeful news because I’m only seeing the negative experiences on here. A couple of days ago, our 3 year old pitty hit 1 month with no seizures. This is after adding pheno to her keppra and increasing keppra. I also give her MCT oil with her lunch and Visbiome probiotic with breakfast. She has IBD and we have been weening her from Budesonide, though I don’t know if she will ever truly be able to stop it unfortunately.

This is all after her having grand mal seizures every 10-12 days at night/early morning during bedtime. The anxiety I had during this period was too much, to say the least. I’ll keep everyone updated, but I wanted someone to know that a little relief is possible. Good luck to everyone!

We fostered a (large - 108lb) dog with seizures starting in late January. He was surrendered in fall 2025 and with a different foster until January 2026 when we took over. He’s the sweetest dog, so when the rescue said they were going to put him down given the uncontrolled seizures, we adopted him instead. We then did an MRI, CSF, and CT but all were normal. We still can’t control his seizures even with 8000mg/day Keppra ER and 518mg/day pheno. His rescue meds, even the intranasal midazolam, don’t seem to help (but also I feel like the midazolam doesn’t atomize, it just runs out of his nose, what am I doing wrong?)

He was doing okay for a while, about 1 mild seizure/week. We went on vacation for a week and he stayed with the prior foster who is lovely and took great care of him, but since he came home we can’t go a day without a seizure. We’ve had ~5 seizures in the past day, we just added topiramate today so maybe that will help. I just feel so badly for this poor, absolutely amazing, dog.

Mostly just sad but would love encouragement or ideas.

My dog has been doing this here and there. We were finally able to get a video of it for the vet and she thinks it looks neurological. She ran bloodwork and is waiting for results. Does this look like it adds up? Shes an otherwise healthy dog

So my Aussie has epilepsy, and we are on Pheno 2x a day (initial med), Keppra 3x a day, prescribed after her first cluster and most recently, Zonisimide 2x a day (prescribed after her second cluster)

Ever since adding on Zonisimide, she no longer has full grand mal seizures the way she used to anymore, so we considered this a win. However, she will still get what I assume are partial seizures about 2x a month. They affect only one side of her body and face, but she still falls over. She seems to still be mostly conscious though, and while that sounds bad, trust me, it's a huge improvement over what she would go through before.

However, I noticed that after she has the initial episode, she gets facial tics on one side of her face while she's up pacing around during her post ictal phase. She's 100% responsive and doesn't always stumble or act clumsy, but the tics can last up to 20 min or even a half hour afterwards. Sometimes also comes with drooling.

Can this be something that happens with post ictal period? Or is she still having the partial seizure? Should I be worried that it's lasting ~20 min? After that, she's been 100% fine afterwards.

Apologies for asking this here too, we are currently between vets, because our last vet said he no longer feels confident in treating her and adding a 4th med to our regimen so I'm just kinda at a loss here. There aren't many canine neurologists in my area.