Epilepsy in dogs any experiences?

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karenjj

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Hi all, unfortunately our little lab has got epilepsy, she is 18 months old and has been fine up until the last few weeks when she started having seizures. The vet has prescribed her anti-epilepsy drugs and she is to start them soon I was just wondering if anyone else on here has a dog with epilepsy and what is the outlook for them? Thank you
 
Meds and a good relationship with your vet, and depending on the severity and med control, dogs with epilepsy can live well into old age with good care.

Try not to get her over excited like u may have before and not to over exert her, but Im sure your vet has been through that with you.
When she fits, it's usual for them to snap and bite if restrained, urinate, yelp, growl, all looks horrible as im sure you now know, jsut adopt a calm routine and be there for her, dont restrain as it exhausts them as much as the fit when it comes to the end of it, turn the lights down, all noise down, and tak to her, she will be disorientated, act drunk, stagger and fall and will more than likely be very tired after an episode and maybe become very hungry
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Keep a record for your vet of times, how long the fit lasts, how long it took to recover, anything you may think triggers one more often.
It's also very hereditary so if u bought her from a breeder inform them, hopefully they have not bred knowing from epileptic stock.

How did it all start and how long where her fits and how often before the meds started?
 
so sorry to hear this. your vet will be your best friend! my old JR started to have fits, sounded awful as she would howl and scream. you just have to snuggle them up til it passes (they might wee and pooh but thats life). i didnt go down the drug route as she was 18, and sadly after a couple of bad weeks and 2 very bad nights she was PTS. yours is only young so should respond to drug treatment, keep an intensive diary (diet exercise, times of fit, lenghth of fit etc) and keep checking in with vet. Best of luck.
 
My Dad and his wife have 2 border terriers and they are both epileptic, they manage just fine on phenobarbitone everyday. Incidentally not from same breeder either,
good luck I'm sure you'll manage it all fine.
 
My mate's OES has it and leads a norml life on medication.

PLEASE notify the breeder in case (as is likely, unless she suffered head trauma) that the sire or dam are carriers and her siblings may also be affected - carriers and epileptics must not be bred from, it saves an awful lot of heartache in the long run.
 
My 10 month old JRT has had epilepsy since she was around 5 months. Vet has been brilliant with all my questions and worrying. It is controlled with epiphen but she still has the occasional fit. She is extremely lively and bouncy and I don't let her off the lead as the excitement of running loose seems to be one of the triggers but she copes well and leads a normal life.
 
There is a collie in our flyball team with Epilepsy. She is carefully monitored by her owner and leads a full active life. She is on medication which seem to be controlling her fits.
I also know another collie who does obedience and being epileptic has not affected her ability in any way.
Good luck. I'm sure your dog will be fine and once medications are sorted, will lead a normal active life.
 
I had an epileptic dog .He started at 4 years there was no trigger to his attacks .I kept a 'fit' diary to see if a trigger could be found but there was no pattern at all.
He was put on medication which contolled but didn't stop the fits .Sometimes he would go months without a fit and then would have several fits.
The meds were quite expensive because he was a big dog (37 kilo) he needed quite a large dose.
He had 3 sessions of a massive series of uncontrolled fits(26 fits in less than 24 hours).This is called 'status epilepticus' and he had to be hospitalised on each occassion for about 48 hours.
He lived a fairly normal life and the fits were not long in duration and he recovered fairly quickly after them .Mostly fits were in the evening or at night .
He lived until he was 11 years old and was put to sleep when he suffered problems with his hind legs totally unrelated to his fits.
He was a setter normal life span 11/12 years so he lived a fairly noral life span .
He had a good quality of life and I am glad I perservered with the meds to stabilise him which took around 6 months.
Hope this helps .
 
I have an 11 year old Labrador who has fits on a very similar pattern to libh's setter. He is a chocolate lab and we have no idea why they started or what sets them off. We've learnt though that he goes very quiet and very clingy just before it's going to happen. He's not on any medication for it and as he's got older they seem to be less frequent but possibly last longer. He goes in like a drunk state and then his body is all ridged. We have to keep him restrained to a point as when he's coming out of it he gets in a bit of a panic and tries to get up and run about but can't.

Also a friends 3 year old black lab also suffered from having a fit last year. She rang me all worried as she knew mine does the same but again unknown cause and fine after.

Hasn't put me off the breed though as I'm about to get another Lab puppy in new year!
 
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