Epilepsy treatment in dogs can vary considerably depending upon the cause of your pet's condition. One of the difficult things about treating seizures in your dog is that there are many different things which can cause seizures. True idiopathic epilepsy, or epilepsy that comes about for no known reason and which cannot be further diagnosed, is rare. Thus, the treatment for epilepsy in dogs is primarily focused usually on treating the condition that causes the epilepsy in the first place. However, there are also ways of addressing the seizures that your pet experiences directly and without focusing on any underlying causes as well.
Drug Treatments for Epilepsy in Dogs
The most common treatment for seizures in pets is through the use of drugs. There are many different kinds of drugs that are used for this purpose. One of the most common is called phenobarbital and is used as an anti convulsant medicine. This drug is a barbiturate that is designed for and marketed for humans only. It is a controlled substance, because of the potential dangers that it has for recreational use. Therefore, in order to get a treatment program of phenobarbital for your dog's seizures, you'll need to work specifically with a veterinarian that is licensed to provide prescriptions for this medicine.
Valium, also known by the standard drug name of diazepam, is another common anti convulsant. It is not used quite as often in veterinary medicine as phenobarbital is, however, because it has a tendency to cause sedation in animals where phenobarbital does not. Like phenobarbital, diazepam requires a special prescription from a licensed veterinarian.
Dog Epilepsy Home Remedies
While it can be difficult or even impossible to prevent a seizure in your pet, it's important that you know how to deal with them when they occur. Therefore, one important component of epilepsy treatment in dogs is care for the animal as he is suffering from a seizure and afterward as well.
One of the most important things to do for your pet when he has a seizure is to move him to clear and open area. Get any furniture or other items out of the way as quickly as you can so that you can prevent your dog from injuring himself. Do not put your hand into your dog's mouth, as there is no risk of him swallowing his tongue as there is with human patients who have seizures. Clear the area of any and all other people, but stay by your pet and reassure him that everything is okay so that he will be calm when he finishes the seizure episode.
After a seizure, it's important to provide information on the type of seizure and the muscular activity that it involved to your veterinarian. Seizures lasting longer than 5 minutes should be reported to a veterinarian immediately as well, as these may require immediate dosages of anti convulsant drugs like those listed in the section above.