Giant Dogs With Epilepsy

I do recommend that pet parents always take their dog to see a neurologist when dealing with seizures. Neurologists are much more familiar with seizure medications and dosing than a regular vet. They may be more willing to run specific blood work that a regular vet would not even think of doing.

Pet parents are usually hesitant to see a neurologist because they are worried about the cost. The initial consultation is not usually much more expensive than any regular vet visit. It becomes expensive if you do additional specific testing. You can always call their office to check how much it is to just speak with the neurologist because that in itself is worth it.

Neurologists will frequently recommend an MRI or a spinal tap for your dog. These are expensive and can run several thousand dollars. I would ask the neurologist if the tests were to come back abnormal would it change the treatment protocol at all for your dog? In most cases it does not. It is more just a way of ruling something else out or finding out a possible cause of the seizures. I did have MRIs and spinal taps done on both Howie and Henry. I did this because my pet insurance covered 90% of the costs. The tests all came back normal. This was just a way to rule out possible causes like a brain tumor for example.

If you have a dog that has cluster seizures you want to make sure to ask the neurologist about an emergency protocol. They can tell you how many extra doses of medication you can give your dog for clusters as well as provide you an emergency med. There are pretty much only two emergency medications they give to pet parents a rectal Valium or intranasal Midazolam. I opted for the Valium because I knew if I tried to stick anything up Henry’s nose he would have a heart attack and that would be the end.

The idea of the emergency protocol and the emergency medications is to keep you and your dog out of the vets office. Obviously anytime you have to rush your dog to the emergency room for seizures is going to be an expensive trip. They are always going to want to keep your dog overnight for observation and I have never walked out of there under two thousand for that visit. Also, it can create a lot of anxiety for your dog when they stay there overnight. Henry in particular I was told would pace constantly back and forth. This pretty much defeats the purpose of them being there. They should be resting after a seizure not be getting worked up. If you can come up with a plan with the neurologist for example that if your dog has more than x seizures within 24 hours you will bring your dog in.

Now unfortunately even with the emergency protocol and medication this still did not work great for my dogs. They have always had clusters and it would take two hours for the extra meds to kick into their system. This became a waiting game of how many seizures they would have in that 2 hours. This is why I started using CBD as an emergency med and created the CBD suppositories. I will link that post down below.