can anyone give advice on unstable epilepsy, i have a 3 yr old st bernard who developed epilepsy in feb 2003. He has been very poorly recently , uncontrolable. He has been sedated and is on a lot of medication. This last month he has had a terrible uncontrollable time, massive fits and injuries and causing damage to house/garden. Coughing up blood, slipped a disc in back, injured hip and thats without knowing what else he has suffered. he weighs 15 stone and is usually soft , excellent temperment, loves my four children , just a big teddy, well trained. if anyone can give any advice please email back. We can not give up on him we just need to stablise him. The vet is worried about him having a heart attack/ stroke in a fit.

I had a contact number for canine epilepsy and for the life of me I cant find it . Will keep on trying .

I had a cocker with ep , she had 23 fits in one day the vet said 3more and it would b touch and go. but the main thing is to spot the signs. normaly they go very quite or very active , now the best thing to do is spot the sign and try to get the dog in a place where it cant injur itself too badly we used to put her in a huge pile of pillows , she used to run and run on her side, one problem is she had no knee caps so it was v bad 4 her, its alot easyier to move a cocker then a st ben. once there just leave it
as for medication sorry i have no answers.

Hi Sorry to hear about your lovely dog. We have a white gsd who developed epilepsy 2 years ago.We had a terrible time getting the medication just right. One night she had 14 fits in a row and had to be rushed to the vets at 4am as an emergency.She is now on 5 phenobarbitone tablets morning and evening,supplemented by 5ml of Potassium bromide,which apparantly boosts the effect of the pheno.She gets the potasssium at night,as that is when she is most vulnerable. Touch wood,she has not had a fit for over a year now.I hope you can get your dog stabilised,as this is a most distressing illness for both dog and owner. I couldn't cope with it,and she now lives with my son and his wife and their older gsd,and is very happy. Good luck. I hope all goes well for you and your dog .
Hugs and kisses from Jean and Star(my new yellow lab puppy)xxxxxxxxxxx

Hi,
My Bulldog has ep , thankfully its well controlled.
Apart from the daily prescribed dose of drugs, would the vet not give you other drugs to use in an emergency. Diazapam can be given rectally, comes in 5mg tubes and a 15 stone dog would probably be able to have 20 mg max administered.
This could at least reduce the prolonged fits or several fits in a row.
I can appreciate that it must be very difficult with such a huge dog to manage him during his fits.
Good luck.
sam x

Please contact The Canine Epilepsy Support Group, they are a reg charity. They are always available to help someone in distress with an epileptic animal. They can be contacted on 08707 469329 or write to Westholme, 21 Sea Lane, East Preston Littlehampton, West Sussex BN16 1NH
Hopefully, they can suggest adjustments to medication and diet to enable the fits to be controlled. I know of several people who have followed their advise with excellent results.