Theo started having seizures in late 2016 and was diagnosed with Idiopathic Epilepsy. 

Q & A:

• What does your dog look like when he is having seizures?
  • Loss of control (usually only urination)
  • mouth chomping
  • mouth frothing
  • legs running or paddling
  • body convulsing
• Have you tried using CBD?
  • Yes, it seemed to help for the first year, but after that it no longer helped.  I’ve tried various levels and at this point it’s definitely not helping.
• What is the duration of each seizure and how often do they occur?
  • Depends, but normally a minute for the primary portion.
  • Theo is usually “back to normal” in about 30 minutes.
• Are there signs that only appear on one side of your dog (is one side worse than the other)?
  • No
• Has your dog had a high fever?
  • No
• Has your dog been exposed to any toxins?
  • Not that I am aware of, but I keep things locked up so he should not have been exposed to anything
• Has he had any vaccines recently?
  • No
• Is he on any flea/tick medication?
  • No
• Has your dog experienced any trauma recently or years ago?
  • No
• Is your dog current on vaccinations?
  • Yes
• Has your dog been recently boarded or with other dogs?
  • No
• Has your dog had any other signs of illness?
  • No
• Has your dog been running loose in the last several weeks? (2016 question)
  • No
• What and when does your dog eat?
  • Royal Canin Gastrointestinal low-fat kibble
  • Royal Canin Gastrointestinal low-fat moist
  • Low fat snacks
• Has your dog had any behavior changes?
  • No
• Do the seizures occur in a pattern related to exercise, eating, sleeping, or certain activities?
  • Sleeping and occasionally when he is awake
• Does your dog show different signs right before or right after the seizures?
  • Mostly occur when he’s sleeping
  • He will occasionally drag his feet or drool a lot before a seizure.
• Was he bitten or stung by anything? (2016 question)
  • I do not think so, I have not seen any bites on him
• Current medications (Feb 2024)
  • 190mg Phenobarbital twice daily
  • 1500mg Keppra ER twice daily
  • 325mg Zonisamide twice daily
  • Cobalequin – B12 supplement for low albumin
  • Prednisone – started Feb 2024 to help with his low albumin/gastro issues
• Are they always Grand Mal seizures?
  • For most of the years Theo has been experiencing seizures they have been, but recently he’s been having some focal seizures.
  • When he has a focal seizure I am able to interrupt it and get him back to normal quickly.
  • He will sometimes have another within 30 minutes, but if I can interrupt that one as well he seems to be okay for at least 24 hours.

Dates and info:

First seizure: Theo’s first seizure occurred on December 23, 2016 around 4pm and lasted about a three minutes. He urinated and defecated. I got him to the vet for blood work right away.

Update:  Blood work came back clean, no issues there.

Update: 1/19/2017 – 1/20/2017:  Theo had another two seizures with one on the 19th and one on the 20th. I have started Theo on Doc Ackerman’s Epilepsy & Seizure Formula: Click here and will update if it reduces or eliminates his seizures, but I have to wait another week or so before it hits the 3-4 week break between the first two.

Update: 6/24/2017 – Theo hasn’t had any seizures since I put him on Kannaway Full Spectrum Oral Applicator CBD oil and Doc Ackerman’s anti-seizure powder. I started both at the same time and wonder if one would work, but I’d rather not risk him having another seizure. I haven’t noticed any side effects at all, he’s the same Theo he’s always been…full of fun and love.

Update: 11/1/2017 – Theo hasn’t had any more seizures since putting him on the medication mentioned in the 6/24/2017 update.  I am very grateful that these medications are working for him.

Update: 7/25/2018 – Theo had a bad seizure this morning around 7:10am and it’s now 9:15am and he’s still very confused.  I captured some of it on the doggie cam in the front room and it doesn’t look like he fell off of anything when he had it, but it was bad enough that the confusion has lasted almost 2 hours. He’s getting tested for Valley Fever on Monday (Done – 7/30/2018).  I’ve added Hemp Oil to his daily meds so now he gets the CBD Oil (30mg per day), Anti-seizure powder, and Hemp Oil.

Update: 8/1/2018 – Theo had a seizure this morning around 7:12am and it wasn’t as severe as the one last week.  This is the first one I witnessed from it’s start.  I was walking into the house from the garage and Theo was in the hallway by the garage door.  He looked like he was trying sit up, but his body was beginning to seizure and then he fell to his side and began a full seizure.  I made sure his head didn’t hit anything and kept him as calm as possible as he came out of it about 45 seconds after it began.  I used a pressure point technique suggested by a friend and he seemed to come out of it faster.  I then moved him to the bedroom and kept the door closed while comforting him. It’s now 2 hours later and he is sort of back to normal.  Definitely not a bad one since he didn’t defecate this time, he only urinated.

Update: 8/24/2018 – About 5:00pm the dogs and I were walking into the family room and all of a sudden Theo started (about 30-40 seconds) having a seizure. It didn’t last too long and I’m so glad that I work from home so I am here for him.

Update: 9/5/2018 – About 9:30pm Theo had a seizure that lasted about 1.5 minutes.  He was sleeping by the front door when he began having it.  This is after a week and a half on Keppra.  Spoke with Vet concerning this and she suggested increasing it and getting bloodwork to rule anything out. If Keppra does not help he’ll have to start Phenobarbital that may help, but is rough on liver and kidneys.

Update: 9/7/2018 – About 3:45am Theo had a seizure that lasted about 45-60 seconds.  He was sleeping in the hallway by the bedroom. I increased his dosage of Keppra to 1.5 pills 3 times a day, but he’ll have blood work done next week and he may go on Phenobarbital to try and keep these seizures under control.

Update: 12/5/2018 – Theo has had a number of seizures since 9/7/2018 and he just had a full blood panel done again.  It’s been about every 30 days, but he just had another about two weeks since his last (See table at bottom). Not sure what to do for him other than keep trying to tweak his meds and see if there’s a way to stretch the time out a bit between them.

Update: 1/16/2019 – Theo had a seizure this morning around 9:45am.  It wasn’t a super bad seizure, or super long.  About 45 seconds and he urinated.  It happened in the kitchen and I think that I heard it pretty quickly because he had just started urinating. He came out of it fairly calmly, then went out the dog door and ran around for a bit.  I sat outside with him as he calmed down.  I gave him a bit more CBD, some food and a little melatonin which tends to help him calm down. It’s been over a month by a little so this is good news and I’m glad I was home.

Update: 2/20/2019 – Theo had two seizures while I was on work travel.  They both lasted about a minute.  One at 0625 and another at 2311.

Update: 3/6/2019 – About 1845 Theo had a seizure for about a minute.

Update: 3/7/2019 – About 0020 Theo had a seizure in bed, but didn’t fall off.  I then setup an appointment and our veterinarian brought up the addition of Keppra to Theo’s meds.  I was a little skeptical due to previous use that seemed ineffective, but since it was added to his Phenobarbital it was worth a try.  He’s been doing well since the addition of Keppra.  He’s on 750mg three times a day.

Update: 6/7/2019, 6/17/2019, 6/18/2019 – Theo had a cluster of seizures that varied in length from 45 seconds to almost 2 minutes with the final on 6/18 lasting almost 2 minutes and he was quite disoriented.  Increased Keppra from 750mg three times per day to 1000mg three times per day.  Phenobarbital remained the same.

Update: 12/28/2019 – After 3 seizures (12/13, 12/14, 12/25) I took Theo back to the veterinary hospital for bloodwork and a discussion of possibilities. We decided in increase his Keppra to 1250mg 3 times per day from 1000mg 3 times per day.  This seemed to stop the usual 2nd seizure that he’ll usually have within 12 hours of the first.  He’s been good since. Phenobarbital remained the same.

Update: 1/29/2020 – Theo had 3 seizures today.  The first was around 7:15am and it was a bad one.  He urinated and defecated as well as it lasting over 2 minutes.  He was very disoriented after. He normally urinates, but hasn’t defecated in years from a seizure.  His second was about 4:30pm and lasted about a minute and he urinated.  He wasn’t as disoriented after this one.  The third of the day was around 8:30pm, but he was in the backyard so I didn’t see/hear it, but when he came running back into the house I knew he had had one based on his behavior, the slobber all over his face and urine on his body. We slept downstairs last night and I blocked off the stairs so we’d all just have a slumber party.  He didn’t have anymore seizures overnight.   He was upped to 1500mg Keppra 3x daily and the other levels have remained the same.  I’m switching his food from a fish based to avian to see if that helps and may try home cooked meals again to reduce intake of anything he doesn’t need.  I’m going to put him back on CBD today as well since that had worked for quite a while.

Update: 4/7/2020 – Theo had a seizure around 4:45pm that lasted about 2 minutes.  He defecated a little bit and urinated. He then had another this morning (4/8/2020) at around 7:40am in the backyard.  I was pretty sure he was going to have one since he usually has a second within 12 hours after the first.  This one wasn’t as long, which is typical of the second one.

Update: 7/17/2020 – Additional seizures have occurred since April and we’ve adjusted his Phenobarbital level.  4/9/, 4/19, 6/1, 6/2, 6/13, 6/25, 6/26, 7/7 and after the 7/7 seizure we increased it a bit more and it stopped his usual second seizure from occurring and he’s been okay so far.

Update: 3/15/2021 – Theo has been having about 2 seizures each month, but in January he had three days of 2+ per day.  This was after switching him to a prescription food that was supposed to help reduce seizures, but it had the opposite effect. After taking him off of the food this cluster stopped.  He’s been doing well and I’ve added back a commercially produced CBD for pets instead of using a local producer of the oil.  I am hoping that the larger company will provide a more consistent level of CBD in the oil.

Update: 10/1/2021 – Theo went to the WSU Veterinary School hospital due to his increased number of seizures and cluster seizures. They’ve validated the initial diagnosis and are now putting him under general anesthesia for an MRI and spinal fluid extraction.  Hopefully all turns out well… 

Update: 10/26/2021 – Theo’s MRI and Spinal Fluid came back clear so we’ve adjusted his meds a bit more and are tracking how his levels are by testing his blood every two weeks.

Update: 01/24/2022 – Theo is still seizure free (since October 2021) after his medication changes (types/dosage shown up top) and he is doing well. This is the longest he’s gone without seizures for years!

Update: 02/15/2022 – Theo is still seizure free!!! I just can’t believe how well he is now doing.

Update: 06/25/2022 – Theo is taking Zonisamide 100mg caplets as part of his daily pile of pills, but there was a recall from the FDA concerning the manufacturer so they replaced the brand of generic he was taking with another, but within a week of that switch his seizures returned. He had three seizures this week so I switched him to the smaller 25mg Zonisamide caplets (12 to equal the 300mg he takes) and his seizures have once again stopped. Called the pharmacy to ask them to provide 100mg from another manufacturer since these obviously are not as effective. Theo is doing well the past couple days so I hope getting him off of those replacement pills has made a difference.

Update: 08/19/2022 – Theo had a number of seizures over the past few days, but the use of his rescue drugs have helped break this cluster.

Update: September 2022 – October 2022 – Theo had a few seizures here and there, but they were either single and mild or two, then they stopped.

Update: 01/21/2023 – Theo had cluster seizures last week starting on January 9th through January 11th. The use of Diazapam and Midazalam broke the cluster and he’s slowly coming back to normalcy. He’s still taking Phenobarbital, Zonisamide, and Levitracitam (Keppra) and we adjust a bit here and there when he has clusters. His bloodwork came back looking good, a little elevated of course due to the Phenobarbital, but within a healthy enough range.

Update: 05/29/2023 – Theo has had a tough 2023 so far with cluster seizures almost every 30 days. His last cluster was mid-May. He’s doing better now at the 29th of May, but it’s frustrating when it seems almost nothing will help him. Where is this loving god people speak of? That’s right…no where. A loving being would not do this to innocent animals/children or have rules around its love. I have no idea how people can think that there is such a being who supposedly loves them unconditionally when there are SO MANY conditions. I wish people would critically think about this because if they did, there would be even fewer people giving their hard earned money to these institutions. Rant over.

Update: 08/30/2024 – Theo has been seizure free since fall of 2023. I changed the way he takes his pills and now do that by hand by slicing up an egg and using the slices to hid the pills. We tried the pill pockets from various vendors, but he didn’t like them very much. With the way he takes them now he has less of a chance of chewing/breaking them.

He is also now taking Prednisone to help with his low albumin/possible effusion. His last test he was at a 2.0 so we’ve changed his diet as well to a low-fat hydrolized protein based kibble and moist. He’s eating it fairly well and we’ll do another albumin test in March 2024.

His March 2024 albumin test showed that it increased a bit so we’re not AS concerned for now, but are continuing to monitor.