Hi everyone, Our Lab Raphael has had seizures for a few years, and he just turned 6 years old. They have always been atleast 3 months or so, but this morning it was only 3 weeks since his last seizure. My question is: If the Vet wants to medicate him, how will that effect him? Raphael is an English Lab, and fairly mellow as it is! Thank You in advance for any info. Jon(raf108)
Hi , I have owned two dogs who had seizures , both on medication . I don't know about U.S.A but often, the first drug of choice for Vets in the UK is phenobarbital , taken twice a day twelve hours apart . I can say hand on heart that this drug had no ill effects on my dogs at all , they had regular six monthly blood tests , to ensure that a therapeutic dose was being given and that the drug was not having any adverse effects , but apart from this, both lived normal happy lives , so good luck to Raphael , I`m sorry he has to cope with this x
Hi raf108. Sorry your boy as seizures but as kateincornwall says, its manageable. Our first lab BJ was epileptic but did not take kindly to phenobarbitone and was eventually put on Epiphen (potassium bromide) and that did the trick for him. His 1st fit was at age 3.5. The dear old lad finally died aged just short of his 14th birthday and his last 2 years were free of seizures. When and if your vet suggests medication for Raphael, talk long and hard about the side effects and the possibility of moving from 1 drug to another if need be. It seems to me you have managed for quite a time without meds and hopefully that can continue. Very best wishes for you both x
Thank you KATEINCORNWALL and FayRose for your kind comments and for sharing your experience with seizures. I am relieved to hear that , if need be, the medication does not have any noticeable side effects, when on a therapeutic dose.
I found that the first ten days my dog was on phenobarbitone, he was very wobbly, but suddenly became normal and was fine.
