Why would a dog suddenly start having seizures

Dog Seizures: When to Worry, When to Wait

• Dr. Fiona Lee, DVM
• April 30, 2021

Help! My dog is on medication but continues to have seizures. What should I do?

The goal of anti-convulsants in seizure control isn’t to make pets never have a seizure again. Although this would be nice, it’s not realistic. However, the number, duration and severity of seizures should lessen with medication. If your pet continues to have breakthrough seizures in an amount that concerns you, request a simple blood test to ensure the level of medication is therapeutic in your pet.

If the level is therapeutic and your pet continues to seize, ask your veterinarian about adding another medication like bromide or phenobarbital, depending on which one your pet currently takes – or possibly consulting with a specialist.

I can’t tell if my dog is having a seizure or trembling for another reason.

Shaking and trembling may be caused by reasons unrelated to epilepsy in dogs. Learn how to tell the difference in 6 Reasons Your Dog May Shiver and for more information about dog seizures check out the video above or the transcript below.

Video Transcript: Hi, I’m Dr. Fiona Caldwell and I’m a veterinarian at Idaho Veterinary Hospital. I’m answering questions from Pets Best Facebook page today.

This question comes from Janet, who writes, “My dog had a seizure. I took her to my veterinarian and the veterinarian wants to wait to put her on seizure medication. Is this okay?”

I’m sorry your dog had a seizure. This can be a really frightening and scary thing to watch. Seizures that are caused by epilepsy happen in less than 1% of dogs. Typically, what you’ll see is the pet losing consciousness and paddling their legs or jerking or convulsing. It can last for a number of minutes.

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Definitely make an appointment with your veterinarian if you ever suspect that your dog has had a seizure. You were right to go to your veterinarian. Typically, the vet is going to want to run some type of lab work or some other diagnostic testing to make sure there isn’t a different underlying problem causing the seizure.

As a rule of thumb, dogs less than a year of age that have a seizure are typically suffering from some kind of infectious problem, either viral or bacterial. In dogs from about one to six or seven years of age, typically the most common cause is epilepsy. Dogs older than seven that come up with seizures, unfortunately this is often related to something outside of epilepsy, scary things like a brain tumor, liver disease or some other problem.

Depending on how old your dog is and what the seizure was like, it actually might be okay for you to wait to put this dog on seizure medication. There is a decent percentage of the canine population that will have one seizure and then never have another one. Your veterinarian probably doesn’t want to put your dog on seizure medication if he or she is one of those dogs who never has another seizure.

A reason that I would put a dog on medication would be if they have seizures that last more than three to five minutes. Try to take a look at your watch or at the time on your phone so that you can know exactly how long it was. This is going to help your veterinarian to better treat your dog. If a seizure lasts more than three to five minutes, this is an emergency and you should bring your dog to a veterinarian. Their body temperature can rise quickly and can be a problem. Especially as pets age, seizures that last that long can cause problems with their brain and cause brain damage.

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If it’s a quick seizure, 20 or 30 seconds to a minute, and your dog pops out of it, it isn’t necessarily an emergency, but you should probably schedule an appointment with a veterinarian if they’ve never had a seizure before. If your dog continues to have seizures and they’re getting to the point where they’re once a month or two to three times a month, at some point the frequency is going to warrant medication. Talk with your veterinarian. There are seizure medications that typically work pretty well for dogs and can help control their seizures.

Getting pet insurance prior to any seizure or symptoms of seizures can help costs in the long run. Starting a quote is fast and easy with Pets Best Insurance.

Dr. Fiona Lee, DVM

As the daughter of a veterinarian, Dr. Fiona Lee (formerly Dr. Fiona Caldwell) grew up playing in kennels with bandage material and tongue depressors. Eventually this turned into a passion for animals and veterinary medicine. After completing her undergraduate degree in Biology and Chemistry at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon Fiona received her veterinary degree at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado in 2007. Dr. Lee relocated to Boise after completing vet school in 2007 for what was meant to be a temporary stay. That was twelve years ago and she is glad to continue to be part of our wonderful community! She joined the Habitat team in 2018 and couldn’t be happier to provide the best care and compassion to Habitat’s wonderful clients. Dr. Lee’s professional interests include orthopedic, soft tissue and dental surgery, and exotic animal medicine, including avian, reptilian and small mammal medicine. When not in the clinic caring for four legged creatures, Dr. Lee enjoys the company of the two legged variety, namely her daughter Alexis and son Kellan. In her spare time she enjoys art, especially pet portraits, home improvement projects, reading and being outdoors.

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