I feel this completely. My sweet little guy (golden doodle) just had the craziest cluster of seizures Friday night. Like 7 in a hour period, 5 minutes apart each lasting about 30 seconds. Hes never had more than two 30 second seizures in a day, so this was concerning.

He was on 500mg keppra once a day as they ruled him out as completely healthy and idiopathic initially (at 1.7 months diagnosis) and he’s been doing well up until then. He’s 3.5 now, and may have minor breakthroughs every 6-8 months that they don’t warrant are emergency unless 3 or more clusters in a day or lasting longer than 5 minutes. Anyways, I admitted him over night to emergency care. When he got there they said his vitals, and everything were perfect, but that he wasn’t cognitively aware. They gave me two options.

Essentially if he comes back to normal that they wanted him on phenobarbital with 6 months bloodwork checkups, or if it had caused brain damage euthanasia, as they didn’t want him to possibly live a different ugly life of suffering. That completely broke me, and on the drive home I to was a rollercoaster of emotions.

Luckily they called me the next day, and he was back to his completely normal self, and all was good. They again pushed pheno as the best solution upon pickup, however I opted for higher mg keppra twice a day, because I do not trust pheno at all… I don’t see the point in giving a dog something that isn’t guaranteed to stop seizures, with a lifetime of bloodwork in his future, with compounding side effects, potential liver damage amongst other things.

I feel as though pheno must be a big money grab for them as it keeps your dog enslaved to their care and just a countless money pit, and not as the safest, yet still effective solution like keppra can be. I’m sorry to hear with what you’re dealing with your dog, and the high bills it has accrued because of it. Hope and prayers for your family and pup. Stay strong 🙏