Anyone had any experience with seizures/epilepsy in dogs? If so, what kind of treatment is your pooch receiving for this?
Pretty sure our Valley Bulldog had a seizure in the wee hours of the morning this morning. Thank goodness we were home because her neck swelled a bit and her collar was too tight causing some extra issues. Aside from a few weird little issues (constant sniffing and pacing) she seems to have recovered well this morning.
I've made her a vet appointment and been doing some researching on the topic. Just wanted to see what personal experiences may be and be prepared to ask the right questions when she has her appointment.
Thanks!
So sorry this is happening to your dog. It is so stressful to seem them go through it. I had a shih tzu with true epilepsy that was well controlled by medications. Seizures in dogs are tough. Figuring out the underlying cause can be expensive (if nothing abnormal shows up on blood work or the physical exam, the next step is usually to recommend a MRI to rule out brain tumors if they’re consistently having seizures) and stressful. Speaking with a vet will help you decide the best course of action and if seizure medications are warranted at this time.
There are several seizure medications out there. Usually, vets will put a seizure dog on phenobarbital to help control the seizures. The medication requires a loading dose (which is a higher dose initially given to get the medication in the system up to concentration) followed by the maintenance dosing. It is a twice a day oral pill medication, and it can be very effective. It is relatively inexpensive too. However, there are drawbacks to the medication. It can cause your dog to become ravenously hungry (happened to our dog when she was on it) and if you keep feeding your dog and they gain weight, it can make the medication less effective since dosing is based on body mass. There is also the potential for liver toxicity, so you need to regularly visit your vet to do blood work to make sure nothing is wrong and the medication is in a therapeutic range. Our dog was initially on phenobarbital, but her liver eventually couldn’t handle it.
There is also zonisamide. This medication has fewer side effects than phenobarbital, though it can still cause some liver toxicity, and it can be more expensive to give than phenobarbital. It is also a twice a day pill, and it does not require a loading dose the same way phenobarbital does. We had huge success with zonisamide with our dog and she was on it up until she passed away. We had phenomenal seizure control with her on it and she had zero seizures in three years on it (without medication she would have multiple seizures a day).
There is also potassium bromide. This is usually not a first line seizure medication for a lot of dogs but a supplemental one (probably because of the long time period it takes to get to concentration for it to be effective on its own). We used it with the zonisamide. It is a liquid or capsule medication. It can cause increased thirst, but has overall fewer side effects.
Another medication that is effective that I’ve seen used is Keppra (levetiracetam). This one is also really effective with fewer side effects, though it can be pricier and generally requires a three times a day dosing.
The emergency hospital I worked at usually would load seizure dogs on phenobarbital or zonisamide depending on the presentation and add in Keppra if control on one of the first two was insufficient. The neurologist who came to see appointments monthly really seemed to like zonisamide and Keppra.
With a bulldog, make sure you have a good conversation with your vet about seizures in the breed. I know they have some additional concerns due to their anatomy and physiology and the danger something like seizures can cause to them. Prolonged seizures can cause the body temperature to rise, and in a breed that struggles to breathe, that can get dangerous more quickly. I hope you’re able to find solutions and that this was a one time event!
). Look into the meds she is taking, just as a precaution...
) and GS's have a higher propensity for seizures/epilepsy. My dad is also a veterinarian. Since he lives in Germany, he can't actually treat her but he helps us with his perspective and such. Epilepsy in dogs is actually kind of a silly diagnosis because most often, the vets don't even really know what is causing the seizures unless they do a battery of tests. Unless something comes back on a blood test that they can definitively point to, they will typically use idiopathic epilepsy as the diagnosis. 
