Yesterday someone gave a 5 year old Bernese 2 worming tablets (she doesn't know which ones! ) and one hour later, the dog went into what the vet has described as a seizure.  She recovered fairly quickly and is back to normal today thank goodness. The vet has said she will use Drontal next time. I have asked the owner to get the name of the wormer for future reference. I suggested Panacur ( for no other reason than I know it is commonly used.) The lady thought that sounded familiar, but we don't know as yet. Has anyone heard of this sort of reaction before or is the worming a co-incidence? As far as I am aware, this dog has not had previous seizures.

Yes I have heard of cases on the Canine Health Concern FB Group, also quite a number of cases of seizures in dogs treated with Spot On products.
I would ask the lady to ask to join the group and have a look in the files for natural treatments. One of the Admins. for that group also has a lot of experience with Bernese.
Not worth taking a risk with chemical wormers.

Well she can rule out Panacur as that comes as a liquid, granules or a paste.

Surely she should be able to ascertain the make or wormer and therefore importantly it's active ingredeitns, to prevent using te4h same again.

Many brands will contain the same active ingredients so simply swapping brands won't help.

Those wormers that contain modified Ivermectin, can cause issues in breeds and individual dogs that have a sensitivity to it.  These drug sensitivities result from a mutation in the multidrug resistance gene (MDR1 gene), and many people will DNA test their dogs for this.

Well she can rule out Panacur as that comes as a liquid, granules or a paste.

Surely she should be able to ascertain the make or wormer and therefore importantly it's active ingredients, to prevent using te4h same again.

Many brands will contain the same active ingredients so simply swapping brands won't help.

Those wormers that contain modified Ivermectin, can cause issues in breeds and individual dogs that have a sensitivity to it.  These drug sensitivities result from a mutation in the multidrug resistance gene (MDR1 gene), and many people will DNA test their dogs for this.

Milbermax is in chewy tablet form, could it be that ? They are brown and look like treats. They are also available in a white tablet form.
I use them and have never had a problem but every dog is different and could react differently.
Glad the dog has recovered OK.
Aileen

I've heard of Ivermectin causing seizures the vet thought it had built up in the system over a few years. Dog has been fine since coming off it.

Milbemax is one of the modified Ivermectin ones

Brainless where did you read about Milbemax being one of the modified Ivermectin ones ?

I'm not a chemist but I'd read active ingredient for Milbemax is milbemycin oxime and praziquantel, but Ivermectin was something different

Just had a look brainless is quite right there is a link between the two drugs. Personally I wouldn't touch any wormer particularly after a seizure but would do worm count and then act on the results of that and use something natural

Sorry should have said Ivermectin is the active ingredient
Can you post me the link please ?

> Milbemax is one of the modified Ivermectin ones

Yup.  I won't have it in the house because I can't risk it, having Collies.

http://www.awca.net/drug.htm   very last paragraph

Thank you all for replying. I intend to find out which wormer it was.  The dog is fine now thank goodness.

yes, and they can kill your dog.
My Jack Russell was killed by Heartgard, which has Ivermectin as the ingredient.
She had taken it for years without incident. However, I blame it on giving her seizures and killing her 24 hours after I gave it to her.
She was also paralyzed. It was a horrible death, and I wiah I would have put her to sleep, but thought it was something else.
The vet said it was her old age, but she was alert and well before taking it!
I KNOW that it was the Ivermectin, as if you get on their product website, they state that Border collies, Jack Russell Terriers, and the other types of Collies have a gene that makes them susceptible to overdose, or sensitivity to the drug!

The Vet NEVER warned me!
Also, cases of Heartworm are few here in the colder country where I live. Now, since I have a Border Collie, I just test her late in the summer, and use a spray on natural flea, tick and mosquito stuff.
I will never give that poison to my dogs again!

You can have your dog DNA tested for the MDR1 gene, various labs do it now, as it isn't one of the ones patented by one lab.

Check the wormers are genuine. I bought some off the internet, they took longer than usual to arrive and the the packageing looked a bit 'cheap'. Turned out they were fake 'Drontal'. Don't know if they cause seisures as I binned them. With hindsight I should of reported it to Amazon

I would not be surprised if she gave one of the new worm, tick, flea tablets.... I have heard quite a few reactions to these and not surprised really thinking what poisons they must have to be given internally and keep the parasites off for 3 months I think. There seems to be adverts for these up at many vets