Pretty grim to watch and we did all of the wrong things (according to web research just now). We will take him to the vet in the morning but does anyone have any good news stories or happy outcomes for this?

What age and type of dog?

5year old black lab x collie (we assume – rescue dog but had from a puppy). Nothing like this before.

He now appears to be starving hungry…

Dont feed him too much until you see the vet.
He hasn’t eaten anything he shouldn’t have has he just to rule out poisoning?

Ok, best thing is obviously calling your vets and getting advice at least from the on call vet. Watch for further seizures and any other changes in behaviour. They can be abnormal for several hours or just a few minutes after. If having more then get to the vet.

Most seizures in otherwise apparently healthy dogs can be managed particularly when onset is young to middle aged. Probably start with physical exam and blood tests to begin with. Medications usually only started if having clusters ( more than 2 in a 24 hour period) or having them regularly. They are horrible to watch though.

Don’t worry, most people initially try to pick them up or hold them etc at first, it’s human nature. To extrapolate from people your dog will have no memory of the seizure itself. Good luck

Seen lots of dogs (beagles) with it – seems to mainly happen when over-agitated/excited or hot

They are distressed for a short while afterwards, but soon back to normal.

My mums vizla had it, with the same pattern, maybe once a month on average – looked at treating it but the side effects of the drugs were, in our belief, worse than the disorder, so we didn’t medicate, on the basis that if they became more regular we would look at it again

Moving walk times to cooler parts of the day helped. Keeping well away from bitches on heat helped too.

Lived another seven or eight years,

Ravenous appetite is pretty common. Again , may help to settle now but try and avoid giving too much and starve in am if having bloods done

(Not a vet)

Try and keep calm, they normally don’t know anything is happening during seizure , all the stress is ours at this point. Our little dog began having infrequent seizures a few years ago and it still makes me hyper-vigilant and somewhat stressed for a few days. If he has another keep him on the floor and clear of objects that could harm him, corners, chairs etc. Just talk to him calmly, don’t hold any limbs.

First time it happened we had the vet on the phone at night telling me (via Mrs MR) NOT to be giving our dog the Heinlich manoeuvre, which I was frantically doing as I thought he was simply choking! We still laugh about that. Luckily. 😯

You need to time the seizure from onset and make notes. Now it’s over he’ll probably be exhausted. We give ours a small spoon of ice cream, apparently that helps.

Just be normal, reassuring. He may be clingy for a while, may sleep for hours, may have another. Just take notes.

Many poss causes for epilepsy. We feared the worst of course, but it seems (fingers crossed) not to be increasing, if anything he’s had less of late. Fortunately our vet specialised in canine epilepsy and agrees that it seems the trigger is stress-related, while the epilepsy itself could be from a couple of early-life concussions, and one in more recent years (banging his head on wooden bench).

We just manage him on oral Diazepam as and when if he appears pre ictal. It wont stop a seizure but it may stave one off, if that makes sense. Otherwise, he gets nothing else. Fingers crossed as we’d like to keep him off epilepsy drugs altogether/as long as possible..

Try and remember all you can about the behaviour before and during the seizure and write it down NOW to relay to the vet tomorrow. Dont worry. Vets vary in opinion here regarding exact timing – but if any continuous seizure goes beyond 4 mins then get seen an emergency vet right away.

Thank you for the responses – pretty sure he hasn’t eaten anything worse than normal. All seems quiet now and so we will keep him in our room tonight and visit the vet first thing. The cat seems really freaked out by it.

Bubs, our Border terrier cross is epileptic. as above, remain calm and soothe the dog [stroking/lots of gentle fuss] for when they recover.
Take to the vet in the morning. Our dog has been on medication for over 10yrs and the fits have dwindled into nearly zero. (2 x tablets per day, but the vet will have to find the correct dosage)
Also try a natural dry food. We use James wellbeloved as the mixture does the dogs digestion good which the vet recommended.
Our dog is on Phenobarbatil {not sure if spelt correctly] And costs around £25 per month for the tablets.

used to have a collie that was diagnosed with epillepsy, he was put on medication for it and survuved ten years plus after that.
possibly related, but he had a habit of holding onto the exhaust of any car that started up, thereby breathing the fumes.
he was still a great, much loved pet.

We lost our German Shepherd at just 18 months old through epilepsy, we were on holiday camping in the New Forest when he went into his usual monthly episode but on that occasion he didn’t come out of the seizure and the local vet had to put him to sleep. Horrible. The first seizure he had was pretty distressing as I was on my own with him in the woods but he soon came round. Just take it easy with your dog and enjoy the time you have, as some have said that could be years. Our second dog, a chocolate lab, also develop epilepsy. He went back to the breeder for re-homing, again very hard to do. As you can imagine I’m not keen on owning another dog after our two bad experiences. Hope it turns out better for you.

Not sure about Cabines – but the lifetime risk for a human having a seizure is actually pretty high isnt it? But they are one off events and are not diagnosrd as epilepsy.

Hopefully, it’s the same case for your dog.

He had a second, shorter fit this morning but is now calm again. We will go to the vets at 10am – short walk on lead before hand and only limited food.

There is a good app for IOS ( presume it’s available for android too) from the Royal Veterinary College which gives some good info and a medication guide and ability to log seizure events etc.

Bubs, our previous dog a German Sheperd started having fits at around 18months. The first one was whilst we were preparing Sunday lunch to see him starting to fit. I quickly grabbed him and put him in the back of the estate to take him to the vets. On route I looked in the mirror to see him sat looking at me as if nothing happened. The vet soon confirmed epilepsy and started him on a course of barbiturates to control the fits. This did control them and the fits become quite rare but we were also controlling the environment too. His were mainly brought on by the smell of cooking so he was kept away from the kitchen or put outside whilst we were eating.
If your vet put yours on barbiturates please keep a check on the dog and make sure the vet is taking regular blood tests. Unfortunately our dog died not from epilepsy but the drugs he was that destroyed his liver.

Our Chocolate Lab developed fits as she got older. Seems common for older labs. Very distressing when it happens but I think ours knew little about them. We got a suppository for ours if she was having a bad one. Never needed to use it. They only lasted a couple of minutes at most. You can get medication but we chose not to. It has too many side effects and changed her character. Try not to worry to much they seem to cope with it better than we do.

We got a suppository for ours if she was having a bad one. Never needed to use it.

Likewise, always keep two rectal diazepam packs in our first-aid kits (1 each in the car and the home), again, fingers crossed. Dogs can be enormously (yet invisibly) stressed by changes in the environment (ie house move, changes in the ‘pack’ etc, and, to an appreciable if lesser degree by changes in routine ie exercise schedule, food etc)

Whatever the root cause of epilepsy it’s also worth looking at these possible trigger factors as our dog improved massively when he was taken out of the stressful situation (in our case house-moves) and then restored to his old routine.

He’s on the best food we can can’t afford (fresh meat and free-range dog food) and there has since been marked improvement in his constitution. Staying positive for continued success at this point. Hope all goes well for your dog OP, he’s lucky to have such attentive and caring owners, do keep us updated

Harry the giant labradoodle had a massive fit once. Lasted over a minute and took him a while to come out of.

That was over three yrs ago and he’s not had one since.
They can be a one off event

We’ve had a few dogs having seizures for various reasons. One was epileptic all his life and always medicated for it. Often the worst of it is afterwards as they can really be out of it for a while. That particular dog used to suffer quite badly and became feral for 5 or 10 mins afterwards, seemingly not knowing who we were! I remember him having a fit later in life and it exhausted him so much he just lay there motionless, to the point that I thought he’d had a stroke… Never pleasant.

Bloods taken and so we have to wait and see. Hopefully a one off episode but we have some diazepam in case he has a fit and doesn’t come out of it. Advised to stay off of the raw meat with bones until we know what’s going on and to keep the kids away immediately after any episode. I think a quiet afternoon and then a good run in the local woods should help get things back to normal. We just need to clean him up now as he doesn’t smell to pleasant…
Thank you for all of the advice.