Dog Seizures: When Is It Time to Say Goodbye?

If you're searching for when to put down a dog with seizures, the truth is that dog seizures don't come with a number that tells a family when to say goodbye, and none of the veterinary guidance we've read sets one. Families weigh quality of life as a whole: what's causing the seizures, how long and how often they come, how your dog does on any medicine and between seizures, and what care asks of you.

There isn't one road from here. Some families treat seizures for years, adjusting medicine as they go. Others choose comfort care when a brain tumor is diagnosed or suspected, or say goodbye after a hard night.

If your dog is having a seizure as you read this, your comfort-care or seizure plan, if you have one, may say what to do. VCA calls a seizure lasting more than five minutes life-threatening and says you must seek treatment from a veterinarian immediately. If distance, transport, or cost stands in the way, we'd suggest calling the closest clinic you can reach and asking what they can do. Our guide on what to do when a senior pet has a seizure covers first aid during a seizure and in the hours after.

We're so sorry if your dog has died. There's a section for you further down.

Key Takeaways

• The veterinary sources we rely on don't give a set number of seizures a dog can have before they die. If your dog is seizing right now, a vet can tell you what to do. VCA calls a seizure past five minutes life-threatening and says you must seek treatment from a veterinarian immediately, and if getting to one is hard, the closest clinic you can reach can say what's possible.
• Idiopathic epilepsy usually starts between 6 months and 6 years of age, Cornell notes, and a dog whose first seizure comes after age 6 is more likely to have a metabolic problem or a change in the brain, like a tumor or a stroke. For a dog in your care, a vet can talk through what the likely cause means.
• If your dog is with you now, a vet can help you weigh whether and when to start seizure medicine, including cost and side effects. VCA names phenobarbital, potassium bromide, zonisamide, and levetiracetam as options and notes that even with treatment, it may not be possible to prevent seizures completely.
• Seizures aren't painful, VCA says. For a dog in your care, a log of each seizure's date, length, and recovery can help a vet spot patterns.
• The decision to say goodbye rests on overall quality of life: how often and how hard seizures come, how the dog does on any medicine and between seizures, what's behind the seizures, and what care asks of the family. Treatment, comfort care, and euthanasia are all paths families take.

How Many Seizures Can a Dog Have Before They Die?

No veterinary source we rely on gives a set number of seizures a dog can have before they die. VCA calls a seizure lasting more than five minutes life-threatening, and notes that seizures close together can make body temperature rise. The cause shapes the outlook too. We hear this question often, right after a first seizure or a cluster.

For a vet, the useful details are how often seizures happen, how long they last, whether they're getting worse, and any other signs of illness. Those are among the questions VCA suggests answering.

Is My Dog Suffering During or After a Seizure?

Not from the seizure itself. VCA's guide says seizures aren't painful, although a dog may feel confused and might panic. During recovery, dogs may show confusion, disorientation, drooling, pacing, restlessness, or temporary blindness. Cornell's Canine Health Center adds that this confusion can sometimes show up as aggressive behavior. If your dog is with you now, we'd suggest giving them space until they're themselves again.

If your dog is with you now, tell your vet how long recovery takes, along with anything that seems different from their usual recovery.

When a Seizure Lasts Longer Than Five Minutes

For a dog in hospice or comfort care, a vet plan may cover long seizures. For a dog seizing right now, the five-minute mark is the one to watch: VCA describes status epilepticus as a serious and life-threatening situation in which a seizure lasts more than five minutes, and says you must seek treatment from a veterinarian immediately, explaining that unless intravenous seizure medicine is given immediately, status epilepticus may cause irreversible brain damage.

Distance, transport, or cost can make getting to a vet hard. If so, we'd suggest calling the closest vet clinic you can reach, telling them what's happening, and asking what they can do from there, including any lower-cost options.

Cluster Seizures in Dogs

VCA's guide describes cluster seizures as multiple seizures within a short time and notes that, like a long seizure, they can make body temperature rise. The sources we rely on don't all count a cluster the same way, so if your dog is home with you, it can help to note when each seizure starts and how long it lasts. A vet can then tell you what counts as a cluster for your dog and when to call.

If your dog is with you now, you can ask a vet about the two rescue medicines Cornell's Canine Health Center lists for seizures at home: diazepam, which a vet can dispense to give rectally during a seizure, and midazolam, which a vet may suggest and which can be applied inside your dog’s nostrils. For a dog with you now who's prone to clusters and already takes seizure medicine, Cornell suggests asking a vet about keeping levetiracetam on hand to give after a seizure, to help prevent a cluster.

Do Seizures Shorten a Dog's Life?

It depends on the cause, and the findings here describe groups of dogs, not any one dog. Danish researchers who followed dogs with idiopathic epilepsy or epilepsy associated with a known intracranial cause, meaning a brain disease, found that in many cases dogs with idiopathic epilepsy could expect a lifespan close to that of dogs in general. Half of the dogs with idiopathic epilepsy had their first seizure by about age 2.

Among the dogs with idiopathic epilepsy, those euthanized because of their epilepsy had shorter survival than dogs who died or were euthanized for other reasons, and cluster seizures and status epilepticus were more common in the first group. That study counted status epilepticus only past 30 minutes: a seizure, or a run of seizures without recovery between them. Dogs whose seizures came from a known brain disease, such as a tumor, had much shorter survival, which the researchers linked to the underlying brain condition. If your dog has died, none of this can tell you what was possible for them.

For a dog who's with you now, a vet can talk through what the cause of their seizures means. Seizures in an older dog can look different.

Why Dogs Have Seizures: Young Dogs and Old Dogs

Age is a big clue. Cornell explains that idiopathic epilepsy usually starts between 6-months-old and 6-years-old. Dogs over 6 at their first seizure, Cornell adds, are more likely to have a metabolic disorder or a structural brain lesion, like a tumor or a stroke.

Cornell's guide sorts seizures into three broad groups, and the group shapes what a family can expect. Idiopathic epilepsy, covered just below, is the first. Structural seizures, Cornell explains, are caused by things like tumors, head trauma, inflammatory diseases, and infectious diseases. Reactive seizures come from metabolic disorders such as low blood sugar, liver disease, or kidney disease, and Cornell notes that in these cases, the brain is normal, and if the metabolic disorder can be corrected, the seizures go away. Whether a disorder can be corrected depends on the underlying illness, which a vet can discuss with you for a dog in your care.

Idiopathic Epilepsy in Younger Dogs

Idiopathic epilepsy is a seizure condition of unknown origin, in Cornell's words. VCA calls it the most common cause of seizures in dogs. Cornell explains that vets typically make the diagnosis after ruling out every other cause.

Cornell names German Shepherds, Border Collies, Irish Setters, Golden Retrievers, Siberian Huskies, Keeshonds, and Saint Bernards as breeds known to have difficult seizures. The Danish lifespan findings come from dogs with idiopathic epilepsy, not from seizures that start in old age.

Old Dog Seizures: When Seizures Start Later in Life

VCA's guide to brain tumors says that whenever new seizures are seen in a dog 5 years of age or older, a brain tumor must be considered a possibility. VCA also names seizures as the most common sign of a brain tumor in dogs. The University of Missouri's veterinary neurology service describes brain tumors as a common condition in dogs older than 9.

If your dog is with you now, a vet may also consider other causes, such as the metabolic problems Cornell names, including low blood sugar, low blood calcium, liver disease, and kidney disease, as well as toxins. A vet may suggest a physical exam, blood and urine tests, and sometimes an ECG, tests that VCA notes rule out disorders of the liver, kidneys, heart, electrolytes, and blood sugar levels.

What a Seizure Looks Like in a Dog

VCA describes two main types of seizures in dogs: generalized (grand mal) and focal (partial). In a generalized seizure, VCA explains, a dog loses consciousness, the legs may paddle, the head is often drawn back, and a dog may urinate, defecate, or salivate. Focal seizures involve only certain muscle groups, such as twitching on one side of the body, and may or may not cause a loss of consciousness. Focal seizures can progress to generalized ones.

A seizure has three phases, in VCA's breakdown. Before it, some dogs hide, seem nervous, whine, shake, or seek out their people, for anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours. During it, a generalized seizure usually lasts one to two minutes. Afterward, dogs may be confused, pace, drool, or be temporarily blind, and VCA notes no direct link between seizure severity and recovery time. VCA explains that seizures often happen during changes in brain activity, such as play, feeding, falling asleep, or waking up, and affected dogs can appear completely normal between seizures.

Filming an Episode for a Vet

If your dog is with you now, a short video can help a vet tell a seizure from an episode that looks like one. Cornell's Canine Health Center quotes a veterinary neurologist describing vestibular (balance) events, which commonly include loss of balance, incoordination, head tilt, and abnormal eye movements. Cornell adds that heart rhythm problems can cause confusion, weakness, and collapse that can be mistaken for a seizure. Cornell advises getting a video of the event if you can. We'd suggest filming from a safe distance.

What a Neurologist or MRI Can and Can't Tell You

VCA lists CT and MRI as ways to look directly at the brain's structure and notes that brain tumors are generally diagnosed with MRI or CT. The Missouri neurology service calls MRI the preferred imaging technique for diagnosing brain tumors, with detail on a tumor's size and location.

What it can show:

• A brain tumor, an area of inflammation, or another structural change that could explain the seizures.
• A brain that looks normal. Among other criteria, an international veterinary epilepsy task force counts a normal brain MRI and normal spinal fluid, along with normal bloodwork and exams in a dog whose seizures began between 6 months and 6 years of age, toward a more confident diagnosis of idiopathic epilepsy.

Scans aren't universal. In the Danish study, fewer than half of the dogs with idiopathic epilepsy had a CT or MRI. None of the reasons VCA gives for starting seizure medicine depend on a scan either. If your dog is with you now, a vet can talk through what an MRI would change, and what the plan looks like with or without it.

Age matters when weighing a scan. These figures describe how scans turn out across many dogs, not what was happening with any one dog. Among dogs with epilepsy older than 6 whose neurological exam was normal between seizures, 8 of 30 had clinically significant MRI abnormalities, including olfactory or frontal lobe neoplasia, meaning tumors toward the front of the brain, in a study the task force cites. In younger dogs with normal exams, it was 1 of 46. If your dog has died, these figures can't tell you what was behind their seizures.

Anesthesia, Referral, and What an MRI Costs

Dogs need to stay still for an MRI, and Penn Vet's Ryan Hospital notes that sedation or general anesthesia is often required during imaging. If you're considering one, a vet can refer you to a veterinary neurologist or an imaging center.

In February 2021, the University of Wisconsin's veterinary hospital listed $3,000 to $3,500 for a typical neurologic evaluation including MRI and CSF tap (a spinal fluid sample), and $200 to $300 for the first neurology exam. Prices vary and have likely changed since then, so we suggest asking any hospital for an itemized estimate before booking anything.

Treating Seizures in Dogs: Medicine, Side Effects, and a Seizure Log

Not every dog with seizures needs daily medicine. VCA notes that treatment usually begins after a dog has the following, and a vet can tell you how these apply to a dog in your care:

• Two or more seizures within six months.
• Status epilepticus or cluster seizures.
• A recovery period after a seizure that's severe or lasts longer than 24 hours.
• Seizures that are getting more frequent, longer, or more severe.

For a dog in your care, a vet can also help you weigh whether and when to start, including cost and side effects, and talk through comfort-focused options too.

Seizure Medicines and Side Effects

VCA names phenobarbital as the most commonly used seizure medicine in dogs, with potassium bromide as another option and zonisamide and levetiracetam (Keppra) as newer choices. Cornell adds that zonisamide and levetiracetam have become popular because they work well with minimal side effects. For a dog starting medicine now, it's usually a long-term plan: once it's started, VCA notes, it will likely be needed for the rest of a dog's life. VCA also notes that even with treatment, it may not be possible to prevent seizures completely.

When a dog starts seizure medicine, VCA's guide is direct: The most common side effect is sedation/lethargy, meaning sleepiness or low energy. VCA adds that most side effects are temporary. If side effects don't ease or are hard on your dog, a vet can talk through other options.

The 2015 ACVIM consensus statement on seizure management describes behavior changes such as hyperexcitability, restlessness, or sedation that may occur after starting phenobarbital, typically resolve within 1–2 weeks, and don't appear to depend on the dose. If your dog is starting it now, a vet can tell you what to watch for.

If your dog is with you now and you're thinking about stopping or changing a seizure medicine, for cost, side effects, or any other reason, talk with a vet first, since VCA advises against changing the dose or timing of seizure medicine without consulting a veterinarian.

How to Keep a Seizure Log

For a dog in your care, a seizure log gives a vet a picture that no single visit can. Cornell's advice during a seizure is to try to time it and keep a log. VCA lists questions a vet will want answered, and the list below is our suggestion built from them. A notes app on your phone works fine. For each seizure, write down:

• The date, start time, and duration.
• What it looked like: whether it was whole-body or one part, and whether your dog seemed aware.
• What your dog was doing just before, such as sleeping, eating, or playing.
• How long it took them to seem like themselves again.
• Medicine doses given that day, any missed doses, and any rescue medicine.
• Other changes you've noticed, like appetite, drinking, or energy.

Cornell notes that for many dogs between 6 months and 6 years old with normal tests, the log helps show when it might be time to start medicine, based on whether seizures are getting longer, more frequent, or more severe.

When to Put Down a Dog With Seizures

Knowing when to put down a dog with seizures means weighing how your dog's life is going: how hard the seizures and recoveries are, how they feel on any medicine, what's behind the seizures, and what the watching asks of you. Families come to it in different ways, some over months and some in a day.

The 2015 ACVIM consensus statement on seizure management names quality of life the most important outcome measure of a chronic medical condition such as epilepsy. These figures describe one group of dogs: in the Danish study, 30 of the 58 dogs with idiopathic epilepsy who had died by follow-up were euthanized for reasons tied directly to their epilepsy.

What we hear is that the count is rarely the whole story. What weighs on families is often the 3 a.m. cluster, the worry about leaving their dog home alone, or a medicine that keeps seizures down but leaves their dog sleepy. Those belong in the conversation with a vet too.

Signs Seizures Are No Longer Controlled

Some dogs keep having seizures even on medicine. Cornell's Canine Health Center quotes a veterinary neurologist estimating that approximately 20% of dogs with epilepsy have refractory epilepsy and need more than one medicine, and notes that a seizure-free future is not a guarantee, even with long-term medication. Some dogs develop a tolerance to their medicine over time, Cornell explains, and higher doses usually mean stronger side effects.

If your dog is with you now, these are changes to raise with a vet:

• Seizures that come more often, last longer, or look more severe. VCA lists all three among the reasons vets start treatment.
• Seizures that continue after starting medicine. For a dog in your care, VCA notes that treatment may not seem to work in the first month or two. If the medicine is being given as directed, VCA lists several possible reasons: the dose or timing may need adjusting, the dog may need more medicine during stress, or the disease may be worsening.
• Recovery that's severe or takes longer than 24 hours, which VCA lists among the reasons to start treatment.
• Side effects that change your dog's days, like heavy sleepiness.

Cornell mentions a prescription diet with medium-chain triglycerides as an option for dogs whose seizures continue despite medicine, which you can ask a vet about for a dog in your care.

Old Dog Seizures: Brain Tumors, Other Illness, and Saying Goodbye

In our experience, families of older dogs with a brain tumor, confirmed or suspected, take different paths and say goodbye at different points, from the first signs to much later. VCA lists three ways of treating brain tumors: neurosurgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy, and notes that the treatment depends on the type of tumor. Some families go that route. Some choose comfort-focused care, and for a dog with you now, that care may include medicine. VCA notes that steroids bring improvement for a time in some dogs with brain tumors, and that medications to control seizures may be prescribed. The Missouri neurology team describes palliative care for brain tumors as focused on controlling brain swelling and seizures.

If your older dog is with you now, a vet can tell you which changes to watch for. While your dog is with you, we suggest watching everyday things alongside the seizures: whether your dog is eating, whether they can settle and rest, and how long it takes them to come back to themselves after each seizure.

For an older dog whose seizures come from liver or kidney disease, the seizures are part of that illness, and the decision usually rests on how the illness itself is going. A vet can talk through what comfort care for that illness looks like.

Quality of Life for a Dog With Seizures

Quality of life (QoL) with seizures takes in your dog and the people caring for them. Researchers who developed key questions evaluating QoL in dogs with idiopathic epilepsy and their carers grouped those questions into themes including seizure severity and frequency, medicine side effects, restrictions on the caregiver's life, frustrations over caring for a dog with epilepsy, and the caregiver's anxiety around seizures. If your dog is with you now, it can help to notice:

• How often seizures come, how long they last, and how long recovery takes.
• Whether seizures are changing over weeks or months.
• How your dog seems on their medicine.
• Whether your dog can rest, eat, and settle in the hours and days between seizures.
• What the watching, the medicine schedule, emergency visits, and costs ask of you right now.

Our guide to the HHHHHMM quality of life scale walks through a tool that scores seven areas, including hurt, hunger, happiness, and mobility. If your dog is with you now, scoring it regularly can show how things are changing.

Is It Wrong to Euthanize a Dog With Seizures?

No. Euthanasia for a dog with seizures is one of the paths families take, alongside ongoing treatment and comfort care. Families often weigh how their dog is doing between seizures, how hard the seizures are, how they handle medicine, and what care requires of the household. A vet can help answer those questions for a dog who's with you now. If you've already said goodbye, second-guessing is a common part of grief, and it comes from caring.

Questions to Ask a Vet About Dog Seizures

While your dog is with you, you can bring these to an appointment, or keep them on your phone:

• Is something treatable causing my dog's seizures, and what would more testing change?
• How would comfort care at home work for my dog, and how would euthanasia work at a clinic or at home?
• If a seizure goes past five minutes or seizures cluster at home, what should I do, and would a rescue medicine help?
• Are these side effects expected, or might another medicine suit my dog better?
• Which changes would you want to hear about?

For a dog in your care, it can also help to ask for a written seizure plan: what to do if a seizure goes past five minutes or seizures cluster, when to give any rescue medicine, and who to call after hours.

Comfort Care, Hospice, and Euthanasia at Home or a Clinic

Choices differ: ongoing treatment, comfort care at home with or without a hospice team, or euthanasia at a clinic or at home. Our guides explain how pet hospice works and how families decide when to say goodbye to a dog, for any condition. If you choose euthanasia, the AVMA explains that a vet may first give a tranquilizer to help a dog relax, and that once the euthanasia drug is injected, a dog immediately becomes deeply and irreversibly unconscious. The AVMA adds that a pet may move their legs or head or breathe several times deeply afterward, and that these are reflexes, not signs of pain.

While you're arranging a goodbye for a dog at home with you, two practical things can help: asking whether to keep any rescue medicine on hand until the appointment, and, if car rides have brought on seizures, asking whether a vet can come to your home.

In our directory, you can search for quality-of-life consultations and in-home euthanasia providers by ZIP code, postal code, or city, and some quality-of-life providers offer online support. Our dog end-of-life resources gather our guides on comfort care, saying goodbye, and aftercare in one place.

Caring for a dog with seizures can bring grief before a loss. Our anticipatory grief resources are written for the time your dog is with you.

If Your Dog Has Died

We're so sorry. Some dogs die during or after a seizure, at home, on the way to a clinic, or at one, and some families say goodbye because of seizures. However it happened, this section is for you.

VCA's guide says seizures aren't painful. If a vet saw your dog and you have questions about what happened, that vet may be able to talk you through it.

Every family's situation is different, including cost, distance, and what their dog could manage. The findings in this guide describe groups of dogs, and they can't tell you what was possible for yours.

If your dog died at home, our guide to the first 48 hours after a dog dies walks through what to do next, from caring for their body to choosing aftercare. If you'd like someone to talk to, our directory lists pet loss grief counselors, including some who meet online.

Living With Dog Seizures, Whatever Comes Next

Living with dog seizures means living with some uncertainty, and nothing in this guide changes that. Whatever you decide about when to put down a dog with seizures, you don't have to work it out alone. For a dog who's with you now, a seizure log, a written plan for long seizures and clusters, and a conversation with a vet about the cause, the cost, and your dog's comfort can clarify the picture.

From there, families find what fits their dog and their home, whether that's adjusting medicine, focusing on comfort, or saying goodbye. If you'd like help along the way, our directory lists providers for quality-of-life consultations, hospice care, and in-home euthanasia, and some quality-of-life and hospice providers offer online support. And if you're not sure where to start, our team can help you find your next step.

On this topic

Keep reading

• What to Do If Your Senior Pet Has a Seizure →
• How to Know When to Put Your Dog Down →
• How Pet Hospice Works, and When It’s the Right Choice →
• Everything Pet Owners Should Know About the HHHHHMM Quality of Life Scale →