r/EpilepsyDogs

Similar experiences?

Hi guys, vet mentioned it could be a maltese thing last time bc they're prone to seizures but i havent seen anyone mention anythign similar.

My senior dog has been prone to seizures (?) every now and then, but recently shes had periods where she'd be half conscious for around 12 hours, her body trembling and occasionally her paws would twitch. Has anyone experienced anythign similar? After she wakes up she'll generslly go back to normal after a day or two.

Our 4 year old Golden retriever started having seizures at 2. Since then we’ve added phenobarb, Keppra, and just stated potassium bromide on 4/12. We did an initial loading dose and now are on 1,000mg once daily of potassium bromide.

Just within the last few days his back legs have been so weak. He fell down the stairs, hasn’t been able to jump on our bed, and hasn’t been playing fetch :(

It’s so hard seeing him like this. But I do remember when we initially started phenobarb years ago, he was a little clumsy/wobbly for a bit.

Will this get better?

Hi all,

I’m not sure if this is allowed but I’m so lost and devastated and I have no idea what to do next. My almost 10 year old golden had her first seizure last Friday night (4/17) and it was a 60-90 second grand mal with loss of continence and some aggression when she came to, we rushed her to the ER vet and she stabilized without meds. She was fine until Thursday night (4/23) when she had another, but much more gentle, 30 second seizure that didn’t progress to a full grand mal. Yesterday we took her back to our usual vet and he decided to do blood work and start pheno. Last night, after one dose of pheno, she had her worst grand mal yet. Lasted between 2-3 minutes and when she finally came out of it she had trouble standing until she came out of it more, severe anxiety, whining, etc. She wasn’t aggressive nor did she lose control of her bladder but this seizure was her longest and most violent. For the next several hours, her anxiety was sky high, to the point she just wanted to keep walking. She finally settled down about 2 hours after the seizure and rested.

She still has a great appetite, drinks water, and can rest when she’s not anxious, etc but I’m noticing she’s losing a little interest in her toys, sleeps a lot more, has a lot more anxiety, etc.

I’m here because while I hope it’s just epilepsy, my heart of hearts knows it’s very likely a tumor that we can’t see and frankly I can’t afford an MRI, and I refuse to put her through chemo/brain surgery/radiation even if it was confirmed.

I don’t want to “give up” on my girl, she’s my entire world, and I just want her to be happy and healthy, but I’m struggling with knowing how long to give the medication time to help, because will it even help?

Every time I watch her seize, it gets worse and they’re more violent and I can just see her in pain during them and I’m just trying to do the right thing for her. I can’t let her go too soon but I cannot keep her here through pain for my own selfish reasonings of not wanting to lose her. I’m struggling so hard, she was perfectly healthy a week and a half ago, and now here we are, where I’m counting minute to minute and forever anticipating and afraid for the next one.

Any advice or experience you have; I’m so lost and am desperate for anything.

Has anyone spayed/neutered a dog that has seizures? How did the surgery and post-op go?

I have a female dog who is about to turn 1 year old, and she has seizures with no known cause. Her current medications are Keppra, gabapentin, phenobarbital, and cannabis oil. The neurologist suggested spaying her so she might be calmer and have fewer seizures, but I’m worried about the surgery. Have you had your dog spayed?

My childhood best friend has popped out of the woodwork now she’s getting married. I am the only person who cares for my dog and to be honest I don’t trust anyone to look after my dog either. My friends wedding venue is a hotel which is dog friendly so my idea was to stay at the hotel overnight and pop in an out for my dog (my dog adjusts well to unfamiliar places luckily). My friend seems to think I should get a petsitter instead (overnight) so I can enjoy myself. However I would not enjoy myself, and I’d rather not go at all if that was the case.

This friend hasn’t seen me in over 2 years. I’m just a guest at the wedding and not even in the wedding.

I don’t know why I’m posting. Just feel like no one understands the toll having an epileptic dog is especially when you are the only one. I’m such a home body anyway, I work from home etc. I go out to the gym and shopping etc but social life wise I just see my mum for a coffee every week.

Me and my dog escaped d.v and travelled over continents. She’s never left me, and the idea of leaving her to “have fun” would just not be fun.

I have an 8 year old Chihuahua mix who started showing symptoms of super mild epilepsy shortly after I got her last year. She would have episodes of pacing around, seemingly not knowing where she was for about 4-5 minutes, doing some compulsive bowing movements, but not really shaking or seizing in an obvious way. After that, she would take a short nap and wake up like nothing even happened. I did take her to a neurologist and they said that the epilepsy seemed so mild that she didn't need medication yet, but gave me some (keppra) in case it ever got worse. But at the time it didn't seem to impact her quality of life. She didn't vomit or become incontinent ever. Her bloodwork and tests were all good. She was a super active, agile, and healthy dog.

Last night though I noticed my dog, who is typically a speed demon, was moving very slowly on her walk, and when I came inside she seemed to have one of her episodes. I figured she needed to take one of her recovery naps so we both went to bed.

In the morning though I discovered that she was still having that same episode—disoriented and wandering but this time with some shaking. I rushed her to the vet and just put her on the emergency keppra, but I feel awful that I hadn't done it last night. I'm worried she was having the episode for so long that she might have brain damage, though it's hard to tell given that she just started keppra and also gabapentin from the vet. She's really wobbly and uncoordinated, which is so hard to see given that she was the world's most athletic Chihuahua just yesterday.

I guess I'm just looking for if anyone had similar experiences, and what recovery looks like? I just feel so awful and worried about her.

After a quiet 4 months, our boy has had two seizures in 2 weeks. I started trolling for info on GLP1s and seizures and found this one page summary of meds that may be helpful for others. I am going to bring up the GLP1 question at his next visit as it has helped humans with epilepsy.

https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4951440&f5=1#:\~:text=Levetiracetam%20is%20popular%20for%20refractory,it%20as%20a%20single%20agent.

Ever since we introduced pheno back in December our pup has not been sleeping throughout the night. Some nights yes, most nights no. He will constantly wake up needing to pee and/or drink water. Atleast once a night sometimes 2x. We will take him potty before bed and still he will wake up needing one or the other. I know pheno increases thirst but these sleepless nights are tough lol. I was wondering if anyone else is experiencing this or is he just a special boy haha.

We do keep water in our room but he does not like to walk around our room. He only goes in the room straight up onto the bed. Which is right near the door since our room isn’t too big. This results us getting up with him and taking him out to the living room or his crate to get a drink and then potty. Etc.

Before pheno. He would stay in bed all night and just occasionally waking us up to go potty, maybe a few times a month because we didn’t take him out before bed.

My 6yo rescued dog was diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy in Dec 2025. She's currently taking phenobarbital, levetiracetam (Keppra), and potassium bromide (KBr). The latter was the latest addition in early March 2026 to prevent breakthrough focal seizures.

Since then, she has been exhibiting a lot of unusual behaviours, to the point that she seems to have a complete personality change. It has been six weeks of her being restless, pacing around the flat for 45-60 min at a time several times a day. She whines a lot (loudly, if I may add!), being very demanding about food, even in the middle of the night. We feed her before bed in the hopes that she won't wake us up, but she still does. Every night, she gets up AT LEAST twice, around 1 am and 3 am. She will whine so loudly and scratch surfaces that it is so hard to ignore her. She will pee or poo or beg for food during these times. We do not feed her outside her usual mealtimes so as to not reinforce this behaviour, but she seems to be absolutely feral about food. She will again repeat this routine by 5 am.

My partner and I are so exhausted, we've had <5-6 hrs of sleep for over 6 weeks now. Our dog is also tired, I'm sure, as she's used to sleeping up to 16-18 hrs a day.

Our neuro vet is stumped, unsure of what to do. He suggsted we start giving her gabapentin in the hopes that it will help her settle for the night, but after three nights of this, there has been no change in her at all. Her recent blood test shows normal levels of KBr and sodium, so the neuro thinks that the KBr is still leveling out in her system, causing these behaviours. He is hoping that our dog will soon be back to her usual self once this happens (also her horrible ataxia from week 1-5 has slightly improved now which is positive!)

There are literature about some dogs having restlessness and demanding behaviours following KBr intake, but I don't know how long we can still take this. We are so exhausted and irritable all the time.

Has anyone ever experienced this with their dogs?