Canine Epilepsy: Eleven Things to Know and Do to Help and Protect Your Epileptic Dog Before, During and After Seizures

This report is dedicated to my Boxer dogs Barnaby (1993-2003) and Gregory (2003-2013), each more beautiful than words can say and both long term epileptics, Barnaby for the last two years of his life and Gregory for more than eight years.

Looking back, I recall the pain and worry of watching each of my beloved dogs take their first seizure and wondering if there'd be more.  And if there were more, how would I cope, and how much time could I expect to share with my precious friends?

In fact, Barnaby lived for just over ten years and Gregory passed away five days short of his tenth birthday, with no one, not even the family vet believing such long and fulfilling lives were possible for dogs suffering regular seizures.

Barnaby and Gregory enjoyed long and happy lives thanks to caring vets and techniques learned by my family over more than a decade of loving and living with epileptic dogs to the point where, within a few weeks of witnessing our very first seizure, we could predict when a fit was imminent and help our dogs avoid the discomfort and potential dangers of an epileptic attack. 

Having helped our dogs through countless seizures it was pure joy to watch our precious patients recover and be up and running again and back to their normal boisterous selves. 

Two things I want you to know right up front:

#1 - From personal experience I know that taking seizures rarely means a dog will die of his condition or otherwise live a short and somewhat painful life, even if seizures are regular and continue for life.

As an example, my dog Gregory took close on three thousand cluster seizures over almost nine years, all of which passed without requiring urgent veterinary attention. 

2 - Most people watching their dog suffer a seizure feel vulnerable and unable to cope. But because they love their dogs they do cope, just as we did, and you will too, based on techniques we used to ensure our dogs remained safe and stress free during seizures and went on to live long and happy lives.

And that is why I am proud to pass on my experiences to you so that once you've developed similar skills to help you manage seizures, you'll find the exact same skills will help you manage and control all subsequent occurrences.

I hope my experience helps you provide as much care and comfort for your dog as I did for mine who are no longer with me but remain as precious as ever.

Above all, enjoy your pet and accept that canine epilepsy is much more common than most people think.  Also, with caring, loving human parents and a good vet, there's no reason your dog should not enjoy a long and very active and fulfilling life.  Mine certainly did!

Good luck.