[107barney]

Teddy is an epileptic dog. He takes a drug called Zonisamide every 12 hours. It is expensive ($100/month) as it is a human drug used off label in dogs.... unless a discount vet pharmacy can offer it as a discount (I pay $25/month). There are few side effects to zonisamide and they are seen only initially when the dog starts the drug. This was the first drug recommended for Teddy who has severe generalized seizures by his neurologist. I'm not sure if this drug would be appropriate for your Darcy but we have noticed no adverse effects in Teddy and there is no need to monitor his blood or treat him as anything but a normal dog. He did have one seizure since starting the medication (1 seizure in 5 months) so who knows what the future may hold. Phenobarbital was never recommended for Teddy but if it was I would use it without reservation as seizures left unmedicated are worse.

I feel strongly that you should try to have a consult for Darcy with a BC neurologist. If she were mine, I would want that person's input on the choice of drug for her in light of her whole medical status especially given her age and the fact that she broke into cluster seizures.

By the way, epilepsy is only diagnosable by ruling out everything else medically and also neurologically by MRI and CSF analysis....otherwise the seizures could be caused by something else (tumor, malformations, encephalitis etc).

Best wishes.