Clyde, our Great Pyrenees mix, developed "idiopathic epilepsy," which we had thought would be rare in mixed breeds and dogs of a relatively young age. Turns out, neither was correct. So after a battery of tests, and going from having no seizures to having a ton in 36 hours, Clyde became the recipient of a healthy prescription of phenobarbitol. For the first two weeks, he staggered, drooled, slept all the time (OK, no big change in behavior there) and didn't wag. He couldn't get up and down the steps by himself. But gradually, his body adjusted to the depressant. He got back to normal. Since going on the meds, he hadn't had a single seizure that we had witnessed, although I suppose it was possible he had them while outside alone.
Tonight, we heard him gasping. He was laying on the floor and his breathing came in jerks. He wasn't twitching violently like we had witnessed pre-phenobarb, but it was still unmistakeable. He was having another seizure.
That pretty much shatters all hopes we had of being able to eventually wean him off the drugs. They vet told us if he had no seizures (as in literally none) for 2 years, we could try weaning him. The up side is that he is on the lowest possible dosage (which, due to his size, is still a ton of pills), so the epilepsy is very well controlled. It's just so *sad*.
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