Seizures in dogs

[Snowflakey]

My last dog had seizures daily, multiple times per day by the end of his life. He took daily phenobarbitol for a few years, but the medication was hard on his body and he kept needing more and more, eventually he was maxxed out and the vet told me that high doses of the medication would shorten his life, so I made the decision to wean him off the medicine, it coincided with my second pregnancy so it worked out that I would be able to keep an eye on him and his seizures were triggered by his separation anxiety so he had fewer seizures for a while.

Something to keep in mind is that flea and tick and heartworm medications can cause seizures in some dogs. My dog couldn't tolerate those medications so even though I took precautions to try to protect him from heartworms he ended up getting them anyway at the end of his life, but he was 12 years old and the vet had predicted that he wouldn't live past 10 because of the severity of his epilepsy so he was on borrowed time anyway. All that is to say that I'm wondering whether your daughter's dog's seizure coincided with a dose of flea and tick or heartworm medicine both times? Even the flea shampoo will cause seizures, had he been to the groomer recently?

When he had his first seizure 6 months ago we worried if it was the flea/tick/heartworm meds. He hasn't had any of those meds since and had a second, more severe, seizure this week (6 months later). So that ruined our theory that it was those meds that did it.

He doesn't go to a groomer and we have never used flea shampoo.

Herein poses another question - does anyone know if you can treat your yard with a flea/heartworm product? He has a fenced in area and I was thinking wouldn't it be great if you can treat the area and then not have to give the dog flea/tick/heartworm meds?

I'm not a vet but I swear his anxiety has something to do with it. This dog is so high strung and anxious. My biggest fear is with this pandemic I've been fortunate to work from home and I'm so worried about when I go back to work and he will be alone all day. Ugh!

 

[Dead2009]

My last dog had seizure clusters towards the end of her life span, she would have roughly 5-6 every time the episodes would come about. She was on 3 different types of medicine and they were good enough to space the episodes out but not enough to stop them completely.

 

[gillep]

When he had his first seizure 6 months ago we worried if it was the flea/tick/heartworm meds. He hasn't had any of those meds since and had a second, more severe, seizure this week (6 months later). So that ruined our theory that it was those meds that did it.

He doesn't go to a groomer and we have never used flea shampoo.

Herein poses another question - does anyone know if you can treat your yard with a flea/heartworm product? He has a fenced in area and I was thinking wouldn't it be great if you can treat the area and then not have to give the dog flea/tick/heartworm meds?

I'm not a vet but I swear his anxiety has something to do with it. This dog is so high strung and anxious. My biggest fear is with this pandemic I've been fortunate to work from home and I'm so worried about when I go back to work and he will be alone all day. Ugh!

I know that they make yard treatments for fleas/ticks but I have no idea how well they work or how safe they are for pets. In my mind the meds from the vet are the much safer option as those are actually tested and used on dogs regularly and there is a wealth of information on them and their potential side effects. I would be very hesitant to spray my yard with chemicals. Heartworm is transmitted by mosquitos, so sure, you can spray for those too, but given my mosquito experiences I feel like that is a lost cause and certainly does not work 100%.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I know someone’s family pet who has heartworm right now. For whatever reason (I’m not really sure what it was) they didn’t give the dog heartworm preventative. They started treatment a month or two ago. Two weeks ago the dog had some sort of neurological event requiring a trip to the vet. Terrifying from what I understand. Most recently they’ve been dealing with continuous vomiting and diarrhea from the heartworm treatment itself. I’m sure the dog feels horrible. So much easier to just give a pill once a month.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

When he had his first seizure 6 months ago we worried if it was the flea/tick/heartworm meds. He hasn't had any of those meds since and had a second, more severe, seizure this week (6 months later). So that ruined our theory that it was those meds that did it.

He doesn't go to a groomer and we have never used flea shampoo.

Herein poses another question - does anyone know if you can treat your yard with a flea/heartworm product? He has a fenced in area and I was thinking wouldn't it be great if you can treat the area and then not have to give the dog flea/tick/heartworm meds?

I'm not a vet but I swear his anxiety has something to do with it. This dog is so high strung and anxious. My biggest fear is with this pandemic I've been fortunate to work from home and I'm so worried about when I go back to work and he will be alone all day. Ugh!

Yeah, once our dog was diagnosed with epilepsy, because his was so severe I had to find a dog sitter every time I left. Not that they could do anything to stop that one, final seizure but I worried about him dying alone. Anxiety could be a trigger, it was for my dog.

You can treat your yard for fleas and ticks, you don't even have to use chemicals, you can use diatomaceous earth. But as far as I know there is no treatment for heartworms, they are spread by body fluids and waste and by mosquitos. To protect my dog from heartworms without medication I was told to limit his time outdoors and around other dogs.

 

[Snowflakey]

Yeah, once our dog was diagnosed with epilepsy, because his was so severe I had to find a dog sitter every time I left. Not that they could do anything to stop that one, final seizure but I worried about him dying alone. Anxiety could be a trigger, it was for my dog.

You can treat your yard for fleas and ticks, you don't even have to use chemicals, you can use diatomaceous earth. But as far as I know there is no treatment for heartworms, they are spread by body fluids and waste and by mosquitos. To protect my dog from heartworms without medication I was told to limit his time outdoors and around other dogs.

Yes - you know exactly how I'm feeling. Is your dog still alive? If not, how long did he/she live with epilepsy?

Appreciate your suggestions with treating the yard. Luckily this dog doesn't care for the heat so during the summer months he is inside in the air conditioning. Then from Dec - March we have snow

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

Yes - you know exactly how I'm feeling. Is your dog still alive? If not, how long did he/she live with epilepsy?

Appreciate your suggestions with treating the yard. Luckily this dog doesn't care for the heat so during the summer months he is inside in the air conditioning. Then from Dec - March we have snow

He is not still alive, he passed at 12 years old during a seizure. He was diagnosed with epilepsy at about a year old so he lived 11 years with it. When she diagnosed him, the vet warned me exactly how he would pass and she was right about it all, except she predicted he would only live to 10 and he made it 2 extra years.

He passed at home, like I said he started in on a seizure that morning and then it became clear it wasn't the usual seizure. Before that day I had a feeling that he would pass soon, he was starting to have more seizures daily and just seemed generally unwell. I had told myself I would take him to be put to sleep on Monday the week he passed but I couldn't do it, I kept procrastinating and trying to tell myself that he wasn't doing that bad and then on Saturday he was sleeping on the floor beside my daughter and me while we were playing with legos and then he had his last seizure and died.

I'm grateful at least I was there with him when he died, and I just hope he didn't suffer. I have put a dog to sleep before and honestly his death from the seizure didn't seem any more painful than what my other dog that I put to sleep went through. The seizures kind of scrambled his brain so I don't think he knew what was happening when he had the seizure, but I was still able to be there petting him and talking to him. He's buried on our old farm; he loved chasing the groundhogs and the barn cats and splashing into the creek after the frogs, and I like to think his spirit is still doing those things.

 

[Snowflakey]

He is not still alive, he passed at 12 years old during a seizure. He was diagnosed with epilepsy at about a year old so he lived 11 years with it. When she diagnosed him, the vet warned me exactly how he would pass and she was right about it all, except she predicted he would only live to 10 and he made it 2 extra years.

He passed at home, like I said he started in on a seizure that morning and then it became clear it wasn't the usual seizure. Before that day I had a feeling that he would pass soon, he was starting to have more seizures daily and just seemed generally unwell. I had told myself I would take him to be put to sleep on Monday the week he passed but I couldn't do it, I kept procrastinating and trying to tell myself that he wasn't doing that bad and then on Saturday he was sleeping on the floor beside my daughter and me while we were playing with legos and then he had his last seizure and died.

I'm grateful at least I was there with him when he died, and I just hope he didn't suffer. I have put a dog to sleep before and honestly his death from the seizure didn't seem any more painful than what my other dog that I put to sleep went through. The seizures kind of scrambled his brain so I don't think he knew what was happening when he had the seizure, but I was still able to be there petting him and talking to him. He's buried on our old farm; he loved chasing the groundhogs and the barn cats and splashing into the creek after the frogs, and I like to think his spirit is still doing those things.

I'm sure his spirit is still doing all of that. Thank you for sharing this with me. Makes me sad that so many dogs live with this.