Epilepsy

[jigglywiggly]

Hi everyone. I'm after some advice really. I have a 3 year old cocker spaniel who is beautiful :) He has started fitting recently, and these have become more frequent recently. The vet today has taken bloods and will start on medication tomorrow.
Does anyone have experience of epilepsy in dogs? Do they live a fulfilled life? I am worried it is distressing for him, but after a fit he is just disorientated and is is his usual soppy self. He has one incident where he wet himself but other than that he seems to come round really quickly.
Thanks for any advice.

Hi.we have a nearly 4yr old border collie who was diagnosed with epilepsy 2 yrs ago. He has cluster seizures, always full blown grand mals, and always 2 weeks apart! This journey has been a steep learning curve which I would say we are still on! For us, although he is medicated (epiphen) it hasn't really helped him but his breed means its trickier to get right. Recovery is also prolonged for him- I'm currently sat with him after him going into seizure earlier this morning. The seizure itself can take its toll on them, but its certainly distressing for us having to watch-our dc's scatter to their rooms when he starts.
For the most part he is healthy and happy and still gets up to all the normal mischief a dog can get up to.
Do you know what medication he will be on? Whatever they give him though, please be patient as getting the right dose can be a bit trial and error.
If I had one piece of advice, and the vet may have said this already, keep a log of any seizures he has-dates, times, anything unusual-as it may be there is a pattern.
Having an epileptic dog can be hard work at times but I would not be without him.

Thank you for your reply, he has been put in phenobarbitone. The thing is we are living abroad at the moment so my parents have him. My husband thinks us leaving him had set the fits off ?!
He apparently comes round very quickly, just confused. I miss him so much and being away from him is worrying. He also loves water so I'm worried he might be in the water when a fit occurs :(

Our old rescue cocker developed epilepsy at about the same age - he was on phenobarbital (? I think) for years. It didn't completely stop the seizures but did reduce their frequency. He eventually died at 13 of an unrelated cancer. He wasn't a very bright dog (actually extremely dim) but very sweet-natured. He'd had a rubbish first six months locked in a shed and was resistant to any form of training but he had a lovely life in the end