Preventing Seizures in Dogs Before They Happen?
I have a cocker spaniel named Shiloh that is about eleven years old. He started taking grand mal seizures about four years ago or so. We do not know the cause of his seizures, nor do the vets. My parents and I suspect a toxin from flea powder or flea medication could have affected him, as this is when they started occurring (my neighbor was neglectful to his pets, and they had a major flea problem that spread to our pets), but we are not vets. Our two cats do not take seizures, so I am really not sure if this was the case. We did have to use tons and tons of flea treatment, however.
He is on phenobarbital; I believe he takes one pill in the morning (roughly 6 AM) and one pill in the evening (roughly 8 PM)-my dad takes care of administering the medicine to him. We noticed Shiloh has developed a sort of cycle for when the seizures occur: once per month, during the middle to end of the month. Sometimes, they occur a few times per month. We’ve seen the vet and called them multiple times regarding this. They tell us how much phenobarbital to give him (whether to raise it, etc.), what to do while he is going through the seizure, etc., etc. We are well aware of how to take care of him during the seizure and after the seizure, although any further advice would greatly help, if you don’t mind.
Obviously, we hate watching my beloved Shiloh suffer from these, and we can often sense he is about to go into one, so I was wondering if anyone knew of any reliable and veterinarian-approved methods to prevent seizures before they occur, besides his medication. We can sense he is probably going to go into one tonight or very soon, and the vet. will most likely just tell us to give him his medication and comfort him. Also, it is too late to talk to them. We would have to call the emergency hotline, which we only do if he is actually convulsing. Is there anything else we can do besides this? I really want to help him. I will double check with my vet. with any suggestions I receive on here. I just feel very helpless. It is hard knowing what is going to happen and being unable to do anything about it. So, I really would like some suggestions of anything I can do to stop his seizures before they happen, if that is at all possible in any way. Thank you for your time.
Thank you for all the answers so far. I don’t see why I would get my dog euthanized though, as he generally has seizures once per month. Sometimes he does have a couple, like I said, but he is fine when he is not seizing. He is happy and lives a good life with us. He is getting older, but he has no known serious health issues outside of his seizures, and we always keep him comfortable and loved. I wouldn’t euthanize him unless I knew he really was suffering, and I am the biggest animal lover out there.
And by thank you for all of the answers, I meant thank you to everyone except for dogperson. I understand euthanasia is needed in some cases (and I greatly sympathize with you or anyone else who needed to euthanize their pets), but you obviously do not know our case. Like I said, Shiloh is happy and healthy, outside of the few seizures he does have. Many dogs live with epilepsy, just like people. I am really hurt by your comment about responsibility, especially considering how much I love and care about animals. Everyone on this site combined could not love animals as much as I do, especially my pets. So, to be very blunt, fuck you.

October 7th, 2011 at 3:37 pm
My dog has seizures also so the vet prescribed potassium bromide and her seizures have almost completely stopped! The one time she did have a seizure my mom accidentally scared her… Talk to your vet about trying potassium bromide…it does have some harsh side effects those such ans smelling really bad and really bad hunger and ataxia for the first few days that they are on it…
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October 11th, 2011 at 4:35 pm
Hopefully you told the breeder your dog has seizures. It’s almost always genetic and the breeder should know the line is carrying this.
That said, there are better meds out there than simply Phenobarbital, and if your vet isn’t using them I’d have a serious talk with him about them.
Yahoogroups has a wonderful list for folks with epileptic dogs called EPI@yahoogroups.com.
Go to Yahoogroups and sign up for an account (it’s free), then type in “epilepsy” in the search bar.
You’ll get more professional advice there than you will here and there are vets on those lists too.
yahoogroups.com and a couple of dogs with seizures
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October 15th, 2011 at 9:36 pm
Hi,
There is no cure or prevention for seizure, but it can be largely controlled with proper medication. Dogs that only suffer mild, or occasional epileptic seizures may not require medication, but for dogs who suffer more frequent episodes, your veterinarian can prescribe an oral anticonvulsant medication to be administered at home. Here’s more info:
http://lnk.nu/dogtime.com/uqb.html
yahoogroups.com and a couple of dogs with seizures
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October 20th, 2011 at 3:37 am
NOTHING!
Completely utterly totally IMPOSSIBLE!!!!
Some seizures are diminished in frequency by meds,other require euthanasia.
NOTHING “stops” ….NOTHING
Responsible adults don’t force animals to linger & SUFFER!!!
& insecticides had/have NOTHING to do w/it.
yahoogroups.com and a couple of dogs with seizures
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