Keppra and advice for a newbie that leaves dog home alone...

[dsn3a]

Hi all,

I recently found this site, and I'm glad to know I'm not alone in dealing with this scary and difficult disease.

My dog Bronco is a 2 yr old Boston Terrier. He started having seizures about 7 months ago. He is now on Keppra, Pb, and Zonisamide. My questions are...

1.) I've read about a "honeymoon" effect with Keppra ER. My dog's dosage has been increased from 250mg to 750mg twice a day in 6 months...should I expect this to continue?

2.) I leave my dog alone home for about 10 hrs a day. I watch him with a webcam on my phone. Any general advice from others that are in my situation?

Thanks,
DS in Austin

[Box40Rin]

Good morning, I am one of the moderators of this site and a retired veterinarian. I tried to answer you some days ago and the server said it was submitting the messages but was not. Has been worked over by the IT guys and now seems to be ok.

What can you expect? Is your dog having seizures with this dosage? If not, maybe this will hold and no increase will be necessary.

Home alone. I know how this feels as I worked long hours and it is difficult to be away that long but necessary when working. With the webcam doe you see any seizures or activity tht seems to lead to a seizure? Sounds like the medication is holding and you can give it when you are at home.
Let us know how this goes, we are interested. box40rin

[dsn3a]

The last couple months have been more stressful than normal. I drove him 3 hrs for Thanksgiving wknd to a friend's house. He had a seizure when I got home.

A month later he had a seizure when a strong cold front came in...in TX, the temps can drop from 70s to 30s in an afternoon.

Then I had him fixed about 1.5 wks ago, and he had a seizure a couple days later...likely due to this stress and cedar allergies which are really bad in central TX.

So at 750mg Keppra XR 2x per day, he has been averaging a seizure about one cluster every 3-4 wks. Before the Keppra, his clusters were longer and more intense.

[Box40Rin]

sounds like he is reacting to stress. Probably impossible to take away all sources of stress. If you're not going to be traveling for a time, maybe with the current dosage he will level out. I really don't know nor do I know if the dosage should be changed. Watch him, keep track of stressors, time of day, etc. for your veterinarian. box40rin