Anyone here ever have a dog or cat that suffered from epileptic seizures?

[True Dough]

We're thinking about adopting a dog that suffers from that condition. He's four. He's already on three meds.

From what I read, veterinarians only start a drug regimen after a dog has suffered multiple seizures and they try to limit it to one type of pill. Then, if it's effective, they only add a second drug after the dog develops a tolerance to the first. So the fact that he's already on three pills and still has seizures about every second month seems to indicate that's he's a pretty advanced case.

I also read that if the seizures are frequent enough or severe enough, brain damage may occur. The dog may not recognize his name or commands, for example. That could be temporary, or it might become permanent.

That would be heartbreaking. There's probably not a good prognosis for this fella, but I'll be damned if I don't want to bring him home and give him the best life I can for the time he still has.

Oh, and he's incontinent. It's a side effect from the drugs.

Wondering about others' experiences.

[Bayard]

1. I have not, but I admire your good intentions

[applegrove]

2. My Aunt and Uncle had a dog that had seizures.

They adored her. It was in the 80s so I don't think she was on that many meds.

[True Dough]

3. Do you recall

how long she lived?

[applegrove]

4. She was a big retriever. Maybe 7 to 10 years? I don't

think her seizures happened more than a few times a year. They adored her. And she them of course.

[biophile]

5. Well you are a kind spirit!

I have a cat who has seizures, not necessarily epileptic seizures. He’s on transdermal phenobarbital- it gets applied to the inside of his ear. It doesn’t stop the seizures, but maybe less frequent. He is now 11 years old, still having seizures at least weekly. He is only incontinent sometimes when having a seizure, not from the medication. I don’t know if this situation is relevant to yours but if you have any other questions that I might be able to answer, don’t hesitate to ask.

[True Dough]

9. An inside-the-ear application

is actually brilliant. Sometimes tricking a pet into swallowing pills or trying to slide them down their throats can be a challenge.

Thanks for the response!

[biophile]

15. Good luck to you and the pupper, no matter how it works out

[FirstLight]

6. We had a beagle mix mutt growing up and she had epilepsy

Mom used to give her her pill in her dinner every night and I do recall a couple seizures we're pretty much she just shook and we'd hold her and wrap her in a blanket and tell her she was a good girl poor thing.

She actually lived to be 13 and we never had any other problems with her she died from uterine cancer of all things.

We have big hearts and love our animals for a reason. If you feel drawn to this baby give him the best shot he's got and maybe check with different vets to see if there's other alternatives and maybe you can get him down to better medication or one pill good luck let us know how it goes and what he's name is...

Sorry for the rambling I'm doing talk to text

[True Dough]

8. Yes, I plan to give our vet a call on Monday

I figured I'd throw it out here for discussion during the weekend and see what others had to offer. I appreciate hearing about your beagle mix. Making it to 13 is reassuring.

[Kali]

7. not a good prognosis is correct

it is a rough road but if you are prepared it can be rewarding to care for a sick animal. I lost a special dog in older age to seizures. it came on very fast and rough. she was gone in 24 hours. miss her a lot.

[ms liberty]

10. I had a GSD that had seizures

We had to euthanize him when he was about 4 1/2. The seizures became more and more frequent until he was basically having seizures all the time. His mind was never right, even as a puppy. He didn't bond with at all with us or our other dogs, and he never seemed like he was all there.
He was the most beautiful GSD I've ever owned. He was large and weighed about 100 pounds. Silver-gray and white with black points.
The other puppy we took out of that litter had pituitary dwarfism. I hand fed her and she lived to about 2. Backyard breeder, they were friends and had gotten the male through us; an acquaintance was giving him away, and he was papered. They already had the female. They bred a second litter and only one puppy made it.

[True Dough]

11. This is the scenario I fear

If we bring him home and he's gone within months, it will be terribly difficult. But, in reality, all pets are going to break your heart someday, unless the outlive you.

Apparently he sleeps most of the day. I haven't had an opportunity to meet him so I can't say what he's like personality-wise. Just what I've read. Sounds like a big teddy bear.

The rescue that has him is quite a distance from where we live. From the photos, it looks like a nice and tidy operation where the dogs are able to come into homes at times, perhaps through fosters.

[ms liberty]

13. Not every seizure dog is that bad. My dog had horrible genetics

GSD's are overbred and too often by breeders who don't understand or care about the genetics. Don't necessarily reject the dog because of my experience.

[True Dough]

14. No, I've heard one other worst-case scenario story

but it's not necessarily going to stop me. It is a lot to consider. I'm looking to get a broad range of perspectives. Thanks!

[mucifer]

12. We had an Irish Setter who had seizures. This was back in the 1980s. Valium scheduled was enough

to control her seizures. Valium (DIazepam) is a pretty old drug and it should be cost effective. But, your dog might not respond to it as well as our dog did.

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

16. My Cocker-Poo had Epilepsy, I gave her phenobarbital daily with a meal

One was usually enough, the vet told us to give her one after a seizure had passed, too. This was 1980.

[debm55]

17. You are so kind and loving True Dough, You have a loving heart to help the little guy out.

[HeartsCanHope]

18. My cat Seb had epilepsy. The vet diagnosed it at age 4, and we were very lucky.

The dosage of Phenobarbital stayed pretty much the same his entire life, he died at age 20. The most important thing, the vet told us, was to really be faithful about the meds. Every 12 hours with the meds and as close to the same time as possible. I belonged to a Cat Epilepsy board and one lady said that her cat had a seizure if she was 5 minutes late with the meds! We never saw that with Seb, but we also were very faithful about the time. It was hard, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Seb was awesome, easy to pill, (we had the dosage compounded.) A dog would be easier because you can take them with you. Most cats do not do well out of their home environment, so a lot of day trips--leave after 8:30 am pill and back home by 8:30 pm pill. Always check the mouth, especially under the tongue to make sure he's not hiding the pill. Seb usually didn't, but when his brother was diagnosed with heart problems, Osie would hide them under his tongue. I tried to be quick. Open the mouth and aim for the back of the throat. There are some awesome pill wraps that hide the taste. A piece of cheese is also good. Some people use pill guns--I didn't need to do that.
Our vet started meds after Seb started having monthly seizures. The 3 meds are worrisome, but my biggest worry would also be the incontinence. Could he be having a reaction to one or the combo of the meds? I don't know about treating dogs, but in cats you usually have just one med and change when the meds stop working. Cats are prone to renal failure so our vet was more careful about combining drugs. So that may be why, and maybe it's not a problem for dogs. Also, do you have access to a vet specialist that treats epilepsy? Maybe the specialist could evaluate the dog and figure which pill causes the tummy upset. It might be expensive to go to a specialist, but we found for Osie's heart problems that the specialist really helped him. Osie lived to be 18 years old. Again, we were very lucky with Seb, he stayed on the same Phenobarbital dose pretty much his whole life, so we didn't have to change meds.
Your biggest worry with the seizures is a seizure that lasts too long or multiple seizures that the meds don't help. That's when the damage occurs. They need to get to the vet as soon as possible. Your vet can talk to you more about that, we never had problems with multiple or really long seizures. Again, we were very lucky.
Seb was an awesome cat, and he was 4 by the time he was diagnosed. Our cats were always family, and we did everything we could for them. No regrets, Seb was worth everything we had to give up. Not trying to sway you one way or another, just letting you know my experience. It is a big responsibility, so weigh everything carefully. Good luck, and if you do decide to take on the dog I recommend a epilepsy forum for dogs. It made a huge difference having people all over the world to turn to for advice when we first started with the meds. Take care.

[True Dough]

20. 20 years with an epileptic cat

That's an outcome I could live with, although it's a dog in this case and I'd settle for eight or nine more years considering a large breed reaching 12 or 13 is not too shabby.

I will chat with the vet early next week about the three meds he's taking and see what her training and experience about what likely to expect. I hear you about the timing of administering the pills. I believe you're absolutely right about that.

Thanks, HeartsCanHope.

[HeartsCanHope]

22. You're welcome.

Please look into the epilepsy dog forums. Having other families to talk to really helped us with Seb. Epilepsy is rare in cats so there wasn't a whole lot of info to go on. The members discussed everything from new meds, diet, triggers, to the best pill wraps. The support we got was amazing. It was an invaluable resource. I don't know much about seizures in dogs, but if I can help please let me know. Please keep us updated if you are able. Take care.

[Niagara]

19. I'm going to kick & rec this thread

I've been fortunate that I've never had a furry family member that had epileptic seizures.


I did purchase washable puppy pee pads several years ago. I placed them under the cat litter boxes. One of the cats when using the litter box would miss the litter box completely when urinating. So if you happen to give this fella a home, I do recommend the washable puppy pee pads and place them in strategic areas.


There's also various pet odor eliminator sprays available. I don't know if one brand is better than the other. A residential carpet shampooer (for carpet and furniture) might be a wise investment if you don't have one of those either.


Good luck, True!

[True Dough]

21. Thanks, Niagara

I'm glad you're forgiving of missing the mark while urinating because I've been guilty of that myself sometimes (although I do try to clean up after myself).



No pee pads for me... yet!