My dog has seizures. Can excitement trigger them when I get home?

Hello, thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. It is probably the overstimulation of her brain and the nerves that causes the breakthrough seizures. Exercise would not make her burn through the medication faster. It is really best to minimize excitement in any dog that has a history of seizures. That being said, if this is a new thing and it has been longer than 4 months since her last phenobarbital blood test, it would be best to go ahead and have that checked to see if the dosage needs to be adjusted. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Papo. The increase in seizure frequency could be due to the slight medication change you described. However, seizures are unpredictable and this may have occurred even if you had administered the medication on his normal 12 hour schedule. If he has any more seizures, I would recommend blood work to check his phenobarbital level. He may require a dose adjustment. I hope this information helps!

It is possible it may be food related - certain liver issues such as shunts can cause build up of chemicals in the blood causing seizures after food. This would need specific liver blood tests and possibly ultrasound to identify and if present can be managed with diet and medication for the most part although some may require surgery. Certain chemicals and molds in food can also trigger seizures

It is unlikely that the episode in the car caused epilepsy. If your dog is fairly young then this could be idiopathic epilepsy, and those seizures could be a one-time event. If she is an old dog then seizures can be caused by a brain tumor. This will need to be examined by a veterinarian. If the seizures happen often , then medication such as KBr and phenobarbital can be given to suppress seizures. Keep a diary of when she has a seizure, write down the time of start and end, and the circumstances as well as the date. If the seizure lasts longer than 4-5 minutes, it is an emergency and she needs to be seen by a vet right away.

Potentially seizures or seizures like episodes can be caused by a variety of causes and certainly lack of oxygenation and heart disease or cardiovascular disease. Heat and increase body temperature can cause seizures as well even though it is quite unlikely (temperature must be persistently quite high). Work up for cardiac diseases must be performed as well to rule out this possibility. Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I'm sorry to hear that Taino has seizures; these can be scary for both him and whoever sees them. The lighting is not a cause of seizures in dogs. Seizures can be caused by things within the head itself (tumor, stroke, infection or inflammation), or from other systemic causes such as liver disease, kidney disease, certain toxins, etc. When all of these possible causes have been ruled out by diagnostics (bloodwork, MRI, cerebrospinal fluid analysis), it may be determined that a dog has idiopathic epilepsy. I recommend keeping a log of Taino's seizures to note when exactly they happen, how long they last, what they look like, etc. Definitely keep your veterinarian updated whenever he has a seizure, because he may soon require treatment with anti-seizure medication if they become more frequent or severe. I hope this is helpful - best of luck with Taino!

It is unlikely that the seizures were caused by the Excedrin. We do not know why young dogs get seizures it is a so-called idiopathic disorder. It is likely that your dog will need to take phenobarbital for a long time. Your vet may decide after a while to try out whether a lower phenobarbital level is sufficient to control the seizures. A low SDMA is normal for puppies.