r/EpilepsyDogs

Hi everyone,
Our dog Theo started having seizures right before his second birthday back in February. Since then we’ve started and increased his phenobarbital, and then eventually added potassium bromide. We also got an MRI and bloodwork both of which are all clear. His seizures are almost always in the evening or at night and occur in clusters.

Theo is an energetic boy who likes to be active. I recently started running again and brought him along with me for a few morning runs. In my opinion, they seem to help manage some of his energy in the evenings and I wonder if this can help with seizure management. But then I did some googling and it said that it’s not recommended for dogs with seizures to be running partners.

I’m just looking to find out if anyone on here has a dog with seizures who is also their running buddy.
Thanks for the input!

We received this foster dog, Gus, on Thursday last week (we’ve had him for a total of 5 days so far). His family surrendered him because he’s a seizure dog and they could no longer manage his seizures with their new baby. We’ve had seizure dog experience (we lost our last golden to a brain tumor most likely causing his seizure disorder) so we’re decently familiar with dogs with this issue.

Gus is a 4 year old golden retriever, slightly overweight, and takes multiple meds including 150mg phenobarbital, 1500mg kepra, and 500mg kbrov twice daily (which seems like a lot to me). He’s a very sweet dog, but a lot of his behavior makes me concerned that he has some kind of brain damage, whether or not it was caused by seizures.

Things we’ve noticed:
-He paces and circles all day unless he’s actively playing with my own dog or he’s sleeping (but he doesn’t seem to sleep a lot). At night time he usually paces around the room or circles for about an hour before falling asleep.
-He’s peed in the house twice today even though he’s been out several times and had walks and ample opportunities to go to the bathroom
-He doesn’t know anything except for his name. Not even sit. He just stares at you and has no clue what you’re saying.
-He’s very clumsy and often walks into walls, furniture, or gets stuck somewhere.
-He’s falls a lot and is very unstable on his feet.
-He cannot support himself on 3 paws. When we try to wipe his wet paws off when coming inside, and we pick one paw up, he falls over and just lays there. When my husband gave him a bath today after he peed on himself, he just laid in the bathtub the whole time, didn’t even try to stand.
-He’s often seems confused, like he doesn’t know what’s going on or like he’s searching for something he can’t find.

To be clear, we’ve got a vet intake apt coming up and we plan to discuss it with them, but I’m curious if all of this can be caused by a seizure disorder, or if there’s something else at play. His last seizure seemed to have been a month or so ago (he has yet to have one with us), so he’s not coming out of a recent one, and this activity has been happening every day since we got him, so to me it doesn’t look like signs of an impending seizure. I understand some of the pacing might be anxiety, but even with our most anxious fosters, I’ve never had a dog pacing 80% of the time they’re awake.

Whatever happened to him, he’s a sweet boy and we’ll do our best by him. Just trying to figure out what’s wrong and fix whatever we can for him to give him the best life. Any suggestions would be really appreciated!

Tears are running down my face while typing this. This is Quinn (10 years old), a damn good buddy. He had been battling epilepsy for over three years. I almost actually lost him last year in February, when he had 21 seizures in one day. He fought through it and lasted another year and a half almost.

I went away this past weekend, before my birthday when I was informed by family that Quinn had a seizure this past Sunday morning and could not walk. He did not want to eat, he did not go to the bathroom, not take his medication. Yesterday, I knew, my birthday, when he could not move anymore, it was time to say goodbye.

I have wonderful memories, they go beyond his episodes of epilepsy. Hurts terribly. As each day passes, it gets a lil easier. I know people on here have similar stories. My heart goes out to you. Goes out to everyone that still has their loved ones with them; please give them a big hug. You don’t know what tomorrow brings. Thank you for listening and take care.

What initially started as me thinking my dog might be experiencing heat exhaustion or possibly heat stroke has turned into my baby girl’s newfound reality.

At 5½ years old, my 139-lb Saint Bernard, Gabbana, had her first-ever seizure on 08/03/2026.

The first seizure lasted approximately 45 seconds to 1 minute, and she did urinate on herself. I was obviously in complete shock and panic. This was the first seizure I had ever witnessed in my life, let alone one happening to my own dog who, just before this, had been perfectly fine for almost six years.

A few things worth mentioning:

I live in Southern California, specifically Ventura County, and our temperatures have been exceeding 90°F. It’s been HOT. While I obviously can’t control the temperature outside, we have the AC running 24/7 and fans throughout the house.

The night before her first seizure, I came home from work and Gabbana greeted me at the door like usual. She’s a giant dog, so I’m used to her panting when she gets excited to see me. However, even after I had showered and started settling in for the night, she was still panting as if I had just walked through the door.

It stood out enough that I asked my mom if Gabbana had been like that all day or if something was going on with her. My mom recalled that she had been panting more than usual and maybe drooling more as well. I remember literally asking, “Could she have had heat stroke or something?”

That was it for the night. We went to bed.
Around 1:00 a.m., I woke up to a thudding sound that initially sounded like a dog’s tail repeatedly hitting something.

That was her first seizure.

Once it ended, she bounced back surprisingly quickly. I stayed up watching her closely to make sure she didn’t have another one. She didn’t, and eventually we went back to sleep.

I had to work the following day, so my brother watched her and I specifically told him to call me immediately if anything happened.

Five minutes before my shift ended, he called me.

Gabbana was having another seizure.

I told him to time it: 43 seconds.

So she had two seizures approximately 15 hours apart, both within the same 24-hour period.

I rushed home and took her to the emergency vet. By the time I got home, however, she was acting completely normal again—just like she had after the first seizure.
At the emergency vet, she was given an emergency dose of Keppra by injection. The vet told me this would be classified as cluster seizures and she believed Gabbana was most likely now a dog with idiopathic epilepsy. Her bloodwork and labs came back normal: with a slightly higher liver value than my vet liked so she marked it for concern to follow up with Gabbana primary vet at recheck.

She also said based on how Gabbana was acting afterwards, the seizure threshold was still pretty high, meaning Gabbana was doing good and her chances for having another seizure so soon after the meds given that night, were unlikely. Neurology was mentioned as an option for more answers but she advised me to try the medicine first. We were sent home with immediate-release Keppra while we waited for the extended-release prescription to arrive.

Her temporary dose was two 500 mg Keppra tablets every 8 hours.

Four days later, we received her extended-release prescription, and she was switched to three 750 mg tablets every 12 hours.

Gabbana had been doing well on the medication with no further episodes until today, when she had what appeared to be a small focal seizure this morning.

This one was completely different from the first two and lasted only approximately 8–12 seconds.

She had trazodone in her system because we were preparing to take her to a vet appointment, and I had also just given her seizure medication. She was lying down and somewhat drowsy when she suddenly lifted her head and stared upward into space. She looked confused.
I called her name, and she looked toward me.

Then she opened her mouth, pulled her lips back enough that I could see all of her teeth, started foaming at the mouth, and her mouth began twitching. Her eyes were blinking strangely, and her ears appeared to be twitching as well.

The important difference was that it was only affecting her face. Her body remained upright and she maintained her position the entire time.

I kept calling her name while scrambling to pull out my phone and start a timer, and then…it stopped. Almost as quickly as it started.

I immediately called her vet because we were supposed to be going in that morning anyway. Her regular vet has been consulting with a neurologist on her case because, financially, I haven’t been able to get her directly into neurology yet.

The emergency vet visit alone was over $2,200, and her medication hasn’t been cheap either. I also have a senior dog who is slowing down and currently requires medication and veterinary care of his own. I simply wasn’t financially prepared for another major medical emergency.
Her appointment today was technically only a tech appointment, so after speaking with the vet, we decided to reschedule it for later this week and let Gabbana rest rather than stressing her out by taking her in immediately after the episode. For now, I was told to continue monitoring her closely.

I’m currently saving money and have even taken out another credit card so I can get her in with the neurologist my vet has been consulting with. I desperately want more answers about why this suddenly started happening to a previously healthy 5½-year-old dog.

I had—and still have—hope that the medication is working. I hadn’t allowed myself to do much reading about other dogs living with epilepsy because, truthfully, I think I was scared of what I would find. Eventually I found this subreddit/thread, started reading other people’s experiences, and finally felt comfortable enough (although still very emotional) to share Gabbana’s story.

If anyone has dealt with something similar, especially a dog developing seizures around this age, a giant-breed dog with epilepsy, breakthrough/focal seizures while taking Keppra, or going through the neurology process, I would really appreciate hearing your experiences.

What questions should I be asking the neurologist? Did your dog need medication adjustments after breakthrough seizures? And most importantly, for those of you further along in this journey: were your dogs still able to live happy, normal lives after their seizures began?

I’m so heartbroken watching both of my babies enter these completely unexpected transitional periods of their lives. One is my senior boy, who I’m watching actively slow down with age.

And then there’s Gabbana—only 5½, still acting like an oversized puppy—suddenly dealing with seizures seemingly out of nowhere.

I love this girl more than I can put into words. 💔

Our 4 year old Golden Retriever was diagnosed with Idiopathic Epilepsy last October and prescribed Keppra. He was seizure free for around 3 months, then was given Phenobarbital in addition to the Keppra. We have been consistently upping his Phenobarbital, but he is still having seizures every 30 days or so. Is this normal? Overall, he is still extremely happy and recovers well after a seizure.

My baby boy Buscemi. He didn’t even make it to his eighth birthday. Had to say till we meet again Saturday morning. We tried everything and the kitchen sink. The details are mute at this point. My brain and body must have believed the world would end when he left it as I’m left feeling confused on how it still can keep going on since he left it. I just want to say the biggest thank you to each and every one of you on here. It’s made me feel not alone and understood in many scary times. 💜💜💜

My baby boy passed away last night. He was on 1000mg Keppra twice daily and 32.4mg of pheno twice a day. Even with the medication he would still have pop up seizures that never lasted long and he recovered quickly. Last night as we were cuddling he stood up and i could see he was about to go into one. But, before I could grab him he dove head first off my bed and onto the floor. He basically had one massive seizure even though there were 8 individual seizures he never recovered. He would be post ictal and go into another one. I put a wet towel on him in hopes of helping him cool down. I was home alone and he's 75lbs my husband was at work. I called my best friend and she came as fast as she could. But, by the time I got to the ER his lactate level was 18. He was deaf and blind, he wouldn't respond to anything. They gave him midazolam and they prepared propofol because his brain was just stuck. At 10:50pm I said my goodbyes and watched him run across the rainbow bridge. The vet told me that with his experience in dealing with seizures more likely my boy had a brain tumor and this wasn't epilepsy. But, I learned a lot in this group and I appreciate all the tips I was given. I wish all of you the best. Thank you for being so nice.

17th and Race st

Please refer to attached info- looking for our dog who will be in need of his neurological medication as he is susptible to seizures.

He is mixed breed, but tan, large, tall and skinny- with a bow tie on his collar. Very friendly and approachable, but as stated is susceptible to episodes of unsound equilibrium and seizures.

Please comment or DM or text attached numbers with any leads or sightings.