Can pet anxiety medication cause seizures or severe side effects?

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to hear about Scooby Doo. You should have him evaluated by your veterinarian. Seizures have many causes and without knowing more, this question is very difficult to answer. Idiopathic or unknown causes of seizures often called epilepsy, is treatable in many cases. The goal of treatment is to reduce the frequency of the seizures. Other causes include infection, internal organ disease, heart disease, toxin exposure, among others. It's important to screen dogs who are having seizures for a cause. This is often done with detailed history taking and a physical examination. Then a minimum database is performed which could include fecal/blood/urine tests and maybe some x-rays. Once a problem is identified, it can be addressed but most seizure cases end up being epilepsy. 2 seizures one month apart are frequent enough to start anti-convulsant drug treatment. You should also ask your veterinarian about using MCT Oil (from coconuts). This has been found to help some dogs with their seizures. One concern with this oil though is stressing the pancreas and causing pancreatitis, so caution must be used. Good luck

I am so sorry you are having to go through this with little Chili. Neurologic disease in elderly pets can be difficult to treat, understand, and very hard to watch, just like with people. It sounds like her seizures are well-controlled with the Keppra, but she is displaying additional neurological symptoms: pacing, circling, confusion. I am not entirely convinced these are all due to anxiety though. Usually neurologic disease in elderly dogs is due to only a few things: metabolic disease (liver, kidney, or diabetic issues), vascular events (strokes), or a brain tumor. If you have ruled out metabolic disease, which I'm sure your vet has, the other two diagnoses carry a very guarded prognosis. My concern is that the symptoms you are seeing are likely the result of progressive disease due to one of those two possible causes. While anxiety medication might help some, I fear that it's not going to give you or Chili the results for which you're hoping. In this case, it's important to think about quality of life for Chili: what's fair to her? If adding in an anti-anxiety medication helps her resume normal activities where she goes back to being Chili and doing the things that make her "Chili," fantastic. If not, it may be time to make some difficult decisions about what's best for her. If you do decide to pursue an anti-anxiety medication, your vet might consider Selegiline (specifically for cognitive dysfunction in people, not a lot of reported success in animals), Clonazepam (in the valium and Xanax family, but slightly different), or Clonidine (a blood pressure medication, also used to treat anxiety) in combination with an anti-depressant, such as Prozac. All of these would require careful monitoring and consideration in combination with the Keppra. Whatever you decide, best of luck to you and Chili!

Poor Walter. In some cases you are correct, the opposite effect is achieved and the pet becomes what we called paradoxically aggressive. This is not considered a normal side effect that will go away, but instead an adverse effect which has to do with how the pet metaboilzes the drug altogether. I would recommend discussing with your vet to stop the medication and try an alternative aggression medication at this time. If he has inter-pet aggression, then I would consider trying Clomicalm or Prozac (Fluoxetine) as an alternative. Also don't forget that you have more success controlling behavioral issues with pets when you do both medical therapy + behavioral modification training with an animal behaviorist. https://iaabc.org/consultants Best of luck with Walter and I hope you can get his behavioral issues resolved soon.

Fluoxetine and Trazodone are very safe medications and do not have any long term side effects that I have ever seen. There are the side effects of taking it such as sedation, incoordination, vomiting, etc. But as far as organ damage or an increased risk of cancer, to my knowledge, I have never heard of either drug causing a predisposition to either. These 2 drugs are used quite commonly and I have prescribed them both hundreds of times without ever seeing long term side effects. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Some people do notice lethargy and difficulty walking with levetiracetam, but in general these side effects improve after a few days to weeks. If Milo's seizures started recently I would also worry that the lethargy and trouble with balance could be signs of neurologic disease. Seizures in an older dog are most commonly related to a lesion in the brain such as a tumor. I would recommend rechecking with your veterinarian to have Milo examined - you may want to discuss additional tests like an MRI to determine a cause for the seizures or discuss alternative anti convulsants.

No worries. Just about all anti-anxiety medicaitons used in pets have a sedative effect in the first 2 weeks of use until steady levels are achieved in the bloodstream. As long as he is eating his food by end of day then I would not be too concerned. Also check his gums and make sure they are a nice pink color, which indicates his blood pressure is good. If you still have concerns then contact your vet and see if the dosage can be dropped a bit to reduce the sedative effects. Best wishes with Hershey moving forward. I hope everything gets better from here moving forward. Take care.

Thank you for your question. I can't tell you why she is having anxiety, and it would be so much easier if our pets could talk to us! Anytime there are changes in our pet's behavior, I recommend a visit to the veterinarian to make sure there are no signs of illness. If everything checks out alright, I do have a couple suggestions you can try. Composure chews can help with mild anxiety, and are easy to give like a treat. https://www.petco.com/shop/ProductDisplay?urlRequestType=Base&catalogId=10001&categoryId=&productId=19852&errorViewName=ProductDisplayErrorView&urlLangId=-1&langId=-1&top_category=&parent_category_rn=&storeId=10151 Comfort Zone contains a calming pheromone that comes in a diffuser or spray. If you try these and there is no improvement you can always discuss prescription medications for anxiety to help Adela relax. Thanks for using PetCoach.