Our #140 pound Boerboel/Ridgeback has had seizures every month /2 months for over a year. Vet says there is no know cause and doesn’t want to put her on medication unless there are more than one episode in 30 days. She usually has several…a few hours apart at each episode. I associate the seizures to an ear infection/irritation so I clean her ears weekly. I usually run a 7day treatment of antibiotics after an episode and my vet suggested 2 Extra strength Tylenol. Any other people deal with this?? I usually pet/soothe her during the seizures and keep her from injuring herself. 140 pounds of thrashing dog is not pleasant for either of us!! Thanks.
My 13 yo JRT has had seizures since he was about 4. He’s been well controlled on phenobarbital since he was about 6 so we haven’t messed with the newer drugs, and now he is on thyroid meds too. I did recently start him on CBD oil which seems to help make him perkier and happier in his old crotchety years, but I don’t plan on taking him off of any of his “old” meds.
Why do you associate the seizures with an ear infection? If they are connected, this is not idiopathic epilepsy - which, by definition, has no known medical cause.
I have never heard a vet recommend Tylenol for dogs for any reason, and definitely not for seizures.
I think I’d probably get a 2nd vet opinion with a vet more familiar with seizure disorders. All seizure disorders are terrible but if you have a medical cause you should pursue it to rule it in our out. If nothing is ruled in as a cause and it is considered idiopathic, it still may be worth treating even if seizures are “only” 1x month.
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While a dog is having a seizure, the less you stimulate them, the better the dog will be.
I would not try to soothe or talk to it or do any but if necessary to keep it from injuring itself briefly change the position.
While a dog has seizures is best to keep everything dark and very quiet until it is over.
Idiophatic seizures are of unknown origin, ear infections should not be a cause.
If it was, it is a different and way more worrysome seizure that should need a specialist if it doesn’t resolve right away.
I would let the breeder know so it may quit breeding that cross, as some of those can be inherited.
We had a rottie with those and one of the seizures killed her while we were tweaking her protocol for medication dosage.
My current rat terrier had mild ones starting at 2, we kept her on medication for two years, then her vet started tapering it off and she has been seizure free since she was 4, will be 13 in January.
I would check again with your vet about what exactly you may need to do about your dog and seizures.
If the seizures are far between and not very massive, most vets won’t medicate and that may be where your vet is coming from.
We had our rottie at the vet after her first one and she had another right there in the vet room.
It was massive and she needed fluids afterwards to stabilize.
Also no cause found, so idiophatic.
Several of her litter also had seizures, none as bad as she did.
Doesn’t sound like your dog has very bad or often ones, that is good.
Mine had to be put down within 6 months of his epilepsy diagnosis.
The more pheno he needed, the worse and more frequently they came.
No experience with seizures, sorry. However, acetaminophen (tylenol) is contraindicated for dogs as it can be highly toxic. I’d closely question (if not abandon outright) a vet who recommended it.
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The medication may not have anything to do with how bad the seizures were, but just that they were so bad it was not working.
Seizures can affect different parts of the brain and if they affect some that are important for proper functioning, as they may have our rottie, any one of those seizures can kill the dog.
Our vet guessed her seizures were affecting, along with other, regulating heart function and that is why she just died during one.
Seems that the ones affecting my rat terrier were on her motor control center, mostly making her seize and stiff moving and uncoordinated for a bit after them.
It is heartbreaking having a dog with seizures, but if they are mild, many dogs do fine all their lives with them.
Lots of possible reasons; did they rule out a brain tumor?
One of the difficult things about idiopathic epilepsy is that it does require you to rule out other causes which is not easy or cheap. Other diseases, neurological problems, organ failure, tumors, etc. can all cause seizures.
Many dog breed clubs are trying to research this idiopathic epilepsy right now because it is known to be hereditary but not specific to a single gene. It’s not possible (yet) to screen for epilepsy and eliminate it from a breeding program. The best that can be done now is to consult with a specialist and rule out other causes - if it is idiopathic, the affected dogs and their siblings should be removed from breeding programs. It’s hard because a first seizure may not occur until a dog is 4-5 at which time they may have already been bred.
No scientific relation between ears and seizures…but 20 years ago I had a GSD with seizures…the 4th vet I took him to agreed that there was a correlation between the two things…Idiopathic doesn’t mean there is no cause…just that they can’t determine the cause! The Tylenol decreases brain inflammation. And I’ve been to several vets… Recommending meds other than phenobarb.
My vet owns a full sister to my dog and the breeder has retained 3 full brothers. No one else has seizures. I do not stimulate the dog during a seizure…do you have any idea how violent a seizure is in a 140 pound dog?? I gently keep her from injuring herself on furniture.
Sorry, I thought you say you were petting and soothing and that generally means some kind of direct contact, which our vet said not to do, but maybe yours think it is ok.
Our vet put our dog’s case history and videos of her episodes on VIN for specialist neurologists vets to give their opinion.
You may want to ask your vet if it tried that.
Our rottie was no little dog and yes, severe seizures by a big dog are very scary to watch.
Maybe your dog will, as our rat terrier, outgrow them.
Not so wonderful in a 40 pounder either
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Yes, I understand what idiopathic means. But a connection with ear infections would mean that it is NOT idiopathic.
As far as the connection with littermates - it isn’t that easy. How old is your dog? Idiopathic epilepsy can present up until 5 years of age or so…if seizures start after 5 years old they are generally not considered idiopathic.
Idiopathic epilepsy is definitely hereditary, but research suggests it is multifactorial, meaning multiple genes may be involved. But there has been additional research in Ridgebacks - but still means that all the puppies will not be affected.
You should let the breeder know, especially because Ridgebacks are one of the only breeds where specific genes have been identified. I have never heard of Tylenol being given to dogs after a seizure, or ever, to be honest. I will ask my friends with epileptic dogs to see if they have heard of this treatment.
A large set of genes involved in the pathophysiology of epilepsy has already been identified in dogs, which suggests that the condition has a multifactorial basis. However, the mutation responsible for the disease in ridgebacks behaves as a simple autosomal recessive: When dogs that carry one copy of the defective gene are crossed with one another, on average one-quarter of the litter (i.e. the pups that inherited the defective version from both parents) will develop symptoms of the disease.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-02-epilepsy-gene-dogs.html
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So I messaged my vet…no answer…Googled Tylenol and see it is contraindicated for dogs!!! WTH??? I made a special trip to buy it for this dog on vet’s suggestion!! Thank you for the heads up. Vet also suggested Potassium Bromide IF the seizures get more frequent. What if anything do others do for the dog after a seizure occurs?? Geeze…if your long time vet is miss -prescribing…then what?? Now I feel terrible!!
I have a 7 year old Corgi that weighs 28 pounds. He had seizures about once every 3 or 4 months. Very intermittent.
Blood work was absolutely normal and we decided to treat him with CBD oil. He has been on seven drops of the oil on breakfast kibble for about six months now and has had no other seizures
I don’t have an epileptic dog but follow the research because I am active in my breed and this is a problem for us. We are hoping to find some genetic markers to help eliminate it, but we think that’s about 10 years off. I can ask for advice if you want - I have a good friend that owns one of the top winning, multi-titled bitches in our breed’s history (multiple titles in conformation, field, agility and obedience) and she produced 4 of 7 affected puppies in her one and only litter. Luckily the owner was very well versed on epilepsy to begin with and as soon as one puppy had the first seizure they watched all of them and did not breed the bitch again or any of the offspring…which is good because the last one to be affected was over 4 years of age when he had his first seizure. It is so devastating because it can’t be predicted and there is nothing to do except to eliminate an entire breeding line of amazing dogs, but for epilepsy.
Here is an article that might be helpful. I have heard of people using both melatonin and Rescue Remedy during/after seizures, as well as CBD oil in advance and during the post-ictal phase. I have also read about dogs that have Keppra injections after a seizure but I believe in most cases the dog is already on a lower dose and the post-ictal dosing
https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/7_5/features/Epileptic-Dogs_5634-1.html
Unfortunately it seems as though one treatment does not help all dogs, so trial and error may be necessary. I am not sure it’s necessary to medicate your dog after a seizure, though, so I would err on the side of not medicating until you get advice from a vet.
My vet told me that dogs that have seizures as adults are rarely epileptic but rather have a tumor or even an old brain injury from a bump/blow to the head I decided against an mri because I would not have surgery on this dog no matter what. Of course a seizure at maturity can also have an environmental cause.
The cbd oil has worked well for us other drugs didn’t seem appropriate because his seizures are so random and far apart
Not to be dense…but what is CBD oil and where do I get it?
My husband asked if the “medicinal” form of marijuana would help a dog…is that CBD oil?? Where do you get that??
Acetaminophen (Tylenol) does not play nice with dog or cat livers. At all. Please don’t give it to your dog!
See a different vet, preferably one experienced with neuro disorders.
