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My dog has seizures. How can I stop them or when should I see a vet?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | American Pit Bull Terrier | Female | spayed | 5 years and 11 months old

Hi, I Have a 6 year old pitbull and every few months she seems to have what we believe is seizures. Is there a way to prevent these from happening or should we bring her to a vet to get her looked at?

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Andrea M. Brodie, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on October 24th, 2018

Young dogs sometimes suffer from what we call idiopathic seizures (cause unknown) and older dogs that have never had a seizure before, can suffer from a brain tumor causing seizures. You should keep a diary of the seizures: situation that triggers it, time start, time ends, what the seizure looks like. If the seizure lasts more than 4-5 minutes your dog needs to see a vet right away, as this can cause hyperthermia and damage the brain. If you can you should take a little video of one such seizure to take with you to the vet and show him. Please make an appointment with your vet for an exam. He may want to put her on anti-seizure medication such as phenobarbital.

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