Dog Seizure Treatment Options

by Anna Sirota
(Melbourne Australia)

Hi Anna,


My name is Anna I live in Australia and i own my beloved American Staffy - Vinnie. He is 4 years of age, and is normally very healthy dog. I do all that I can and try to keep him healthy, walk in park, feed him various food, dry, chicken necks, barf diet, bones...around 15 months ago in Jan he had a seizure (I have never seen him have one before), I of course got very scared and took him to the vet.

They have done blood tests and checked him, said all looks good, so leave it for now.two days ago on 23rd March 2011, at 3 oc'lock at night he had a seizure again, again done all blood tests and check up, all seems fine.

So I found myself at a loss, as to why it's happening? The Vet thinks it could be hereditary. The blood tests did not show anything.

The Vets suggestion was to either wait and see, or put him on conventional medicine (I am not a fan of medicine for dogs and my family as there are lots of side effects), so I am not sure what to do!

I don't want him to have another seizure and suffer, but I don't want to put him on medicine either. so I wanted to ask for your advice?

I see you have the seizure homeopathic solution, how does it work, and how long to use it for? who does it work best for? Awaiting your reply :)

Thanks so much

Regards

Anna

Comment from our Vet regarding dog seizure treatment

Dear Anna,

Based on your dog’s normal blood work, I assume a normal physical and neurological exam performed by your veterinarian, and your dog’s age, I suspect he has idiopathic epilepsy. This is probably what your vet meant when he mentioned that it could be hereditary.

The way that I deal with epilepsy in dogs is to take a wait and see approach as long as seizures are occurring infrequently (maybe monthly) and are relatively mild (e.g., last for less than a minute or so). The reason I do this is because dogs don’t really suffer during seizures, and their lives aren’t significantly affected by them as long as they are mild and infrequent.

If, however, the seizures start occurring more frequently or are lasting longer, then I do recommend using a seizure control medication like phenobarbital and/or potassium bromide. These are powerful drugs and not without side effects, so you are right to avoid using them when they are not needed. But at some point, the seizures themselves can become more dangerous than the drugs.

A homeopathic, seizure-control product (e.g; EaseSure) should not do any harm to your dog, so if you want to try one, go ahead. But, if his seizures become more frequent or severe, he will still need the medications I mentioned above. For epilepsy, treatment needs to continue for the rest of your dog’s life, because all of the medications only reduce the severity and frequency of seizures while he is taking them.

Good luck,

Jennifer Coates, DVM

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