Questions for vets or those in the know...

[Mama Geek]

My dog just had his third seizure in under a year.  They have progressively gotten worse.  Today's was either 1 long one with a break or 2 shorter ones back to back and his whole body.  The whole time was probably 10 minutes and involved getting sick and peeing.  I am planning to take him to the vet this week to talk about options but I would kind of like to have an idea before going in.

 

They have all been several months apart we, were thinking until today that it was due to stress around traveling, but there is nothing going on right now other than normal everyday life.

 

What are the options for drugs and what are the potential side effects of the drugs?  I have heard the side effects can be pretty bad.

[Mergath]

I can't remember if you posted about this before and if you did I probably already said this, but does your dog use the topical flea and tick medication that goes on the back of the neck? That can cause seizures in some dogs.

[hornblower]

How old is the dog? 

There's a really active epi dog community which you should consider reaching out to. I don't have an epi dog but know several people who do & once the meds were properly dosed, everything is pretty much like normal. Phenobarb & valium seem to be the most common things. 

One thing that i know the woman who runs the special needs & seniors rescue says is that in her experience you need to get to treating the seizures asap because she believes each seizure builds seizure pathways. You want to stop them from happening so get a treatment plan quickly. 

(this is pretty much what this article by Sophia Yin says too. Full neuro workup will be needed to sort out what's causing the seizures. http://thebark.com/content/vet-advice-seizures-dogs-and-canine-epilepsy   In my town there's a veterinary neurologist and so people get referred for a consult there.  It is expensive. ) 

[Guest]

I have a friend who's dog has something similar. The seizures started when he was only two. She goes to a specialist in downtown Houston and they manage it through medication, diet, and believe it or not acupuncture. He's been doing this for three or four years now and is massively better. She does pay a fortune for all of this though, but she has no children or spouse so her dog is her immediate family. I am not sure though of what drugs he is on. But you would never know he's any different from any other dog with the exception of watching her prep his meals.

[Mama Geek]

My dog is 6, over the last couple of years we have switched from Frontline to Certifect to Bravecto.  Frontline is ineffective in our area and we had to deal with getting rid of fleas when he was young.  We switched to Certifect which he was on when he had his first seizure but had been on it for a few years at the time.  We ended up switching to Bravecto because we figured out that when we applied Certifect that my daughter broke out in a rash for several days.  He has had a total of 3 doses of Bravecto now with his last dose about a month ago.

[ktgrok]

Phenobarbitol makes them very sleepy when they first go on it, but after a while the body adjusts and they get back to normal, or close to it. So don't let the initial lethargy spook you.