Anyone give their pet Keppra for seizures?
3So Sammy had to go to the vet today. He has always had the occasional catatonic seizure, but yesterday he had a really bad one (petite mal), and it marked his second seizure in less than one month.
The dr, of course, is running a bunch of blood tests, but likely he just needs to go on anti-seizure meds.
The dr mentioned a newer med called Keppra. My only concern so far is that it must be administered every eight hours. Since I am not wealthy I do have a job and at least 5x a week I cannot administer for 9 or 10 hrs.
I am wondering if this is an issue or if the half life of the medicine is long enough that it would still be ok.
Thanks 
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The half life is about 8 hours.
Discuss this with the Vet and ask if having to have the longer interval makes Keppra the best choice for your loved pet. It’s not the only drug out there, and it might be new in animals but it’s not that new for people. (It has been available since the late 90’s [1999 I looked it up]).
There is an extended release for people, but I don’t know about pets or how it reacts for individual breeds.
Good luck
@Cerridwyn thanks. They do have an extended release, which would be perfect. That said he is too small for the 500mg dosage, which is the lowest dose and the pill cannot be broke in half. This is making my head hurt
@tinamarie1974
/image sad face
are you anywhere near a school of veterinary medicine? it’s about the only way most people can see a veterinary neurologist.
/
@Cerridwyn thanks
and no. That would make things too easy
@tinamarie1974 It is so sad when our animals need meds for serious issues. Since the half life is 8 hours there should still be a fair bit of med in his system if you can’t give it again until 9 or 10 hours later. Not ideal but then again sometimes what choices to we have? Sorry you are having to deal with this.
@Kidsandliz thank you I think that is the conclusion I am coming to. There will be a very long discussion w the vet tomorrow…poor vet lol.
@tinamarie1974 if it is expensive the Walgreens family plan is $35/year and you can put all the humans and animals on it. As it is a human drug you could likely buy it at a regular pharmacy cheaper than at the vet. Also the amount of money you may save (check first obviously) may be more than the $35 the plan costs you. I saved $120 every two months with my one cat’s asthma drug. I save $28 every month with the thyroid drug that my one remaining cat needs, (the other two that died also needed it so I saved more)… And I sometimes found that my own drugs were cheaper that way than using insurance.
@Kidsandliz ooohhhh thanks! I didn’t know about the Walgreens plan. I have been checking goodrx.com and a few other similar sites. I will definately check it out! Thank you so much.
@Kidsandliz are you aware of the goodrx gold membership? At least for Keppra it doesn’t seem to be covered w the Walgreens program (cost >$800/month) but for $9.99/month the cost w Goodrx gold is $8.90/month. Their family membership also includes pets.
@tinamarie1974 Yikes that is an expensive med. Worse than insulin and the inhaler for my two cats that just died. No wasn’t aware of that. Fortunately for me, at least right now I don’t have any expensive cats. I have one just on thyroid meds at $22.22 month. I’ll see if it is any cheaper on goodrx.
@tinamarie1974 Looks like it (goodrx) is a couple of bucks cheaper for my cat’s thyroid med. I am presuming you have to pay the membership fee monthly even if you don’t buy anything? The Walgreens is an annual fee (and having already paid for that in November I am locked in until next fall as what I’d save is less than the membership fee I have already paid.
Goodrx gold would be $19.98 for 90 tabs including tax (includes monthly fee too) and Walgreens is $25.14 (including 1/12 of the annual fee) for 100 tabs including tax so $2.51 cheaper (when comparing identical qualities.
@Kidsandliz it looks like it is monthly. I guess at least there are options if you need then next year.
@tinamarie1974 I saw the title and thought “What is a pet Keppra?”
Maybe it’s time to go to sleep.
I hope your little buddy feels better soon.
We had to put our pooch on the anti-seizure medication phenobarbital about 3 years ago. Once we found the right level of medication, we’ve been really happy with the results. The med is administered every 12 hours, so that works well for our schedules. Unfortunately, she’s quite sleepy when the drug kicks in & she did go through a period where she drank a ton of water, but knock on wood, we haven’t had a seizure in over 2.5 years. I hope this helps. Almost nothing worse than seeing one’s little pooch going through one of these terrible seizures.
@tohar1 hi, have you had any organ issues? Kidney, liver? I had another pup on phenobarbital and like yours he responded well. That said there were other health issues and he only lasted about 6 months after he started taking it.
@tinamarie1974 @tohar1 Our cat was on phenobarbital before keppra. It controlled the seizures well, but he became extremely lethargic, and lowering the dose brought back the seizures. Fortunately there were no side effects on organ health.
She gets a daily dose of Denamarin as well. We were told that it would help & it seems to be. Shasta is pretty happy & healthy for a 12 year old Puggle.
I’m on Keppra for humans… I take it every 12 hours. I would expect the same for a dog.
FYI: when you start the drug you’re super sleepy. Expect your dog to be groggy for a few weeks.