Phenobarbital may have killed my dog.
My 8 year old German Shepherd and 3 seizures in the span of 3 weeks - 2 happened in the same day. I took her to the emergency vet and they said that they would like to keep her overnight and complete a loading dose of phenobarbital every 2-4 hours to ensure she doesn’t seize again. They suspected brain involvement but the goal was to keep her comfortable until we could get her into a neurologist.
The next morning the vet called and said she handled treatment well and was able to come home. We went to pick her up and they told us she would have an unsteady gait, possible leaning, etc due to the phenobarbital. Which she did have but seemed pretty mild. About 2 hours after she got home, she got off the couch, collapsed on the ground, began panting, almost like reverse seizing, she drank 3 full bowls of water, couldn’t hold her head up or her eyes open, so we called the emergency vet back and they stated it was normal to see these changes. In my heart, I knew it wasn’t normal and then she peed all over herself which is something she would never do, so I knew something was wrong. We picked her up and brought her back to emergency vet.
Once there, they came out with a stretcher and said they believed she was having breakthrough focal seizures and they would try keppra. But the neurologist was on the phone and asked them to not give her anymore anti-seizure meds except oral phenobarbital at 8pm (it was now 2pm) and mannitol in case of brain swelling. They asked us to leave her overnight until her neurologist appointment in the morning.
An hour later, we got a call from the vet that she wasn’t doing well and they began CPR. They got a heartbeat back but it didn’t last and she ultimately passed away.
Where this is so hard for me is that other than the new seizures, she was perfectly healthy, all bloodwork was normal and even after the seizures, she bounced back quickly. I’m beating myself up thinking they gave her too much phenobarbital when it wasn’t needed or she had a reverse reaction to it and went into respiratory distress.
Our primary vet reviewed her records and stated that the emergency vet put brain lesion as her cause of death with possible rupture and he told me they gave her 130mg of phenobarbital 5 times through the night, she was 68 pounds. I know there was more than likely a brain tumor or some brain involvement but does this seem like it could have been prevented? I just can’t cope with losing her. Life is not the same. I can’t even function.