Epilepsy in 3 year old Labrador

[redcolouredpencils]

What do we do? Can we manage him without resorting to potentially harmful medication
Our lovely natured soppy, slightly anxious lab seems to have epilepsy. He's been having what we initially called "turns" which happen about every 6 to 8 weeks. He spasms, goes stiff, twitches salivates, pants, this lasts about 2 minutes max and then he seems to be his usual self - maybe a bit tired

We talked to the vet in March and she thought he might be having epileptic fits. She asked us to keep a diary of symptoms and frequency. Which we've done and there's a clear pattern

We are worried that any medication for it will make him dopey or sleepy. The side effects may be worse than the symptoms. It's something we can look out for and manage. We are very watchful of him. We take him everywhere with us and rarely leave him alone at home or with anyone else.

How do we manage it? Can we do it without meds? Are we worrying about the drugs unnecessarily?

I would take the medication - but then I’ve seen first hand some pretty awful incidents due to epilepsy where owners have refused medication/claim not to afford it.

You can’t do it (safely) without meds. The dogs needs meds or, being honest, it’s better off PTS. Medication side effects are minimal.

If you’re that worried, talk to the vet - but don’t be surprised if the vet is slightly horrified you’d consider not giving your pet the medication it needs to live a better and less stressful life.

My friend's golden had epilepsy. She went onto meds and lived until she was about 11.5, which isn't bad for a golden.

When she had seizures she'd growl at the other dogs and get protective of her soft toys thinking that they were her puppies circling them and not letting anyone close, she was very confused and distressed by them.

The meds prevented seizures and she lived a normal life otherwise. She was a total buffoon, didn't calm her personality at all! She was lovely.

I lie, she was 12.5! So a very good age indeed.

Please do the right thing and medicate your dog.

If he has an uncontrolled seizure it could kill him.

Growing up, our lab had epilepsy. When he felt a fit coming on, he would go off by himself and lie down and shake. When he came back round he was initially unsteady on his feet and liked one of us sitting next to him for comfort. He was never aggressive or anything. The fitting usually lasted a few mins and the recovery 15-30mins.

We didn't medicate because, although the fits were bigger than your lab sounds, he only had 1/2 a year. I think the frequency of yours I would try the meds. He can always come off them if the side effects are too negative

One of my labs had epilepsy, when he came round after a seizure he didn't recognise anyone, was terrified and aggressive. Normally he was the soppiest thing, but as a huge 40kg lad it could be scary and thankfully it never happened outside the home.

He was medicated with no ill effects for years and lived until he was 13.

Medicating was much kinder for him than enduring seizures.

We have a lurcher with epilepsy. We medicate because - why on earth wouldn't you? Her fits, while not v regular, were distressing for her and us. She has no side effects after 4/5 yrs on Mx and is a healthy 11 year old. Please medicate

If he's having regular fits I'd go with medication. The effects of epilepsy are far worse than the medication side effects.

I actually don't know if it is appropriate to post this here but I will give a trigger warning to those (including the OP) with epileptic dogs. If I upset anyone I apologise. If you want me to delete this post I will.

We had a male Pyrenean with epilepsy. It started out of the blue when he was 2.5. and his first seizure was a massive one. He had no recognition of us afterwards and became aggressive; this was normally the most placid natured, gentle boy who would sleep snuggled up with our cats. We had to shut him in the kitchen until he quietened down then we took him straight to the vet. We got him checked over, had a lengthy discussion but decided to hold off on medication in case it was a one-off seizure. Two months later he had another major fit outside in the garden, again no recognition of us and had to be shut outside until he calmed down. Again we had him checked over by our vet but held off on medication. When the next fit occurred a few weeks later we started him on meds. For a few months it did seem to control the condition; he still had episodes but they weren't as severe and he calmed down quicker afterwards.

At this point I want to stress that for many dogs the medication works well to control the epilepsy and it is possible to live with it but obviously every case is different. It is a horrible condition for dog and owners.

Sadly, our own story doesn't end happily; the medication stopped working, the fits increased in frequency - we tried everything - my husband even travelled miles to take our boy to a homoeopathic vet. Our beautiful boy changed; after each fit he was mentally diminished, his memory was affected, he had to re-learn everything. During the seizures he would lose control of bowels and bladder, afterwards he would vomit. It was heartbreaking but we battled on because we loved him. In the end he was put to sleep aged 4.5 years after going into Status Epilepticus.

I hope that the outcome for the OP's dog will be much happier.

Again, I apologise if sharing my story is inappropriate or if I've upset anyone.

Our greyhound had epilepsy. The medication did make him wobbly and sleepy (ha! You could hardly tell the difference!) to begin with but after a couple of weeks he had got used to them
and was fine. He was on these meds for 8 years until he died, with the occasional blood test to check his liver and kidneys. There was no choice to be made in my opinion, the meds had v little impact on him and they allowed him to live an untroubled life.

Thanks for your replies. We aren't anti -medication. It's just that most of the time he's his happy self snoozing or on his walks swimming and chasing his beloved balls. Wherever we are he is. He gets a seizure once in about 6-8 weeks which lasts about 2 minutes - there's the build up to it and the after effects as well as the effects on us. We're vigilant, always looking for signs of an imminent seizure. How will meds help?

I am worried that there might be any long term damage from his seizures- he has a fear of laminated and tiled floors and is almost obsessed about his balls and also about cats or imagined cats.

He's our 3rd Labrador we still miss the other 2 terribly. It's awful to see them declining into ill health with old age. We're trying to do our best for this little one.

Yes I agree we need to go back to the vets but I thought it will be useful to hear from you about your experiences of your epileptic dogs

Meds will help by stopping the seizures. Often over time seizures get gradually worse, you can't expect them to stay the same. Our dog is closely monitored and now has been seizure free for about 2 years. Her quality of life is key and seizures are no fun for anyone

@Pyreneansylvie my sincere condolences. Status is awful to deal with.
@redcolouredpencils I would have absolutely no hesitation in medicating.
Many years ago before we met, my husband had a dog, Tim. Tim had ‘episodes’. He was never formally diagnosed with epilepsy but he had an episode at the vets once and was given medication for his behaviour then, not epilepsy. He always dropped down, then acted aggressively and couldn’t be approached then abruptly stopped, trotted off and slept for ages and acted like nothing happened.
The medication did make him dopey whatever it was.
The human model of epilepsy is used in the main for dogs, as they know more about epilepsy in us than canines. Some of the drugs cross over well and I believe there is one anticonvulsant used on dogs because of the potential issues if the patient smokes….and hey with us, who knows.

Basically, seizures damage your brain. Refractory or uncontrolled seizures cause repeated damage this can result in memory and cognitive issues in humans, and almost certainly so in dogs and as @GracieGrowler said seizure activity can escalate if untreated.
You are weighing up the risk from not medicating and the damage that seizures that are currently every 6 to 8 weeks can cause with the side effects of the ‘potentially harmful’ drugs.

The drugs may have some degree of side effects, if they do have yucky side effects you can try others. What they do with a 70% success rate in humans, is stop seizures.
My own dog is on Trazadone for anxiety/fear related reactivity. I have spent a lifetime on anticonvulsant medication and never given it much thought because the seizures are far, far worse - although the current titration is a bit shit - but putting my dog on this medication - I beat myself up over it.
Medicate for epilepsy. Please. I am very biased.

It was the repeated seizures that damaged our dog's brain in the end, not the medication. And I am never normally pro-medication for us or our pets unless it's essential. If you do opt to treat his epilepsy you will probably have a bit more time with your dog. But it sounds as if you've already decided against it.

Whatever the decision, I wish you well and I hope the outcome for your boy is good.

Thank you @FortunateCatsGlugDaquirisAllEveningBlindly

TRIGGER WARNING again folks. Sorry but this is the reality of canine epilepsy and it might be useful info for someone.

I fully respect the OP's right to request deletion of my post.

Yes, Status is horrific to witness and it takes the decision out of your hands. You think one fit is ending but it goes straight into another. We had done our research, we knew it would likely end that way for Finn. Fortunately, our wonderful vet (sadly now retired) was able to come straight out to put him to sleep at home because a giant breed dog in SE is obviously impossible to move. When the vet arrived the fitting had just about stopped but by that point we could all see that the dog was in what amounted to a vegetative state. I'll never forget the trauma of that day; our vet gave me the biggest bear hug after the deed was done. Epilepsy is such a cruel condition.

He needs medication OP - every seizure he has, however small, will be doing damage - and every 6-8 weeks is very frequent.

I do understand your concerns but as a general rule, the risk from seizures is far greater than the risks of medication.

Also, while the seizures may be mild now, they may not always be that way and as someone who has cared for several epileptic dogs, I would personally do everything in my power to prevent them from getting any worse.

I've known of around four Collies who all had epilepsy. One was put to sleep after the first fit. The others had medication but one died anyway. The other two led normal lives although I believe one had problems at first with medication, I can't recall whether it was getting the dosage right or trying different types of medication.

Vet here.

We don't always medicate epilepsy and as his seizures are less frequent than monthly and quite short, your vet may be happy to monitor for now.

They should give you rectal diazepam to use should a longer fit happen at home.

They should also run some tests, to confirm this really is epilepsy and the fits aren't causd by something else.

Keep in mind, even if you don't medicate now, you may have to if seizures become more severe or frequent. It does take some time (a week or more) for the medicine to become effective and build up to therapeutic levels in the dog's system.

Why wouldn't you medicate your poor dog ?? As pet owners we are responsible for their health and what's best for them.
Surely you have insurance? My dog had a lifetime condition and was medicated daily on her insurance
If it's due to cost or lack of insurance then ask vet for a private prescription they charge roughly £25/30 and you can go online and get the medication cheaper
Do the right thing

It sounds like your dog could really benefit from medication. If it were a person having fits would you question medicating? My dog is epileptic and he’s on epiphen and gabapentin, whilst there are some temporary side effects whilst their body adjusts, and of course he needs regular check ups/monitoring, it’s helped massively.
It should be covered by your insurance but to give you a very rough idea, we pay £80 a month for his tablets and we have vet check ups every 3 months, his blood tested every 6 months, which is about £100.

Have you also tried altering his diet, anecdotally I’ve seen a lot of success with that, there’s some great Facebook groups, especially https://www.facebook.com/share/bHgA8uGqAS9Rso33/?mibextid=K35XfP

Have experienced this with a cat not a dog. In our case, our cat was in his teens. He would drool, shake and wet himself. I realised pretty quickly what it was having grown up with a sibling who had epilepsy. The vet put him on meds and the only time he ever had a seizure again was when he was coming out of sedation. We never had him sedated again. He was 20+ when he died (don't know exactly as he came to us as a stray).

The meds helped ours by completely stopping the seizures, well worth it imo.