What to write down after a seizure

If your vet gave you a seizure plan, follow it. If not, call your vet or an emergency clinic.

• More than one seizure in 24 hours.
• A seizure longer than two minutes.
• A seizure longer than five minutes, or several close together.

If a dog has been seizing for more than five minutes, go to the clinic now. Cornell’s Riney Canine Health Center says to do that, and calls that length status epilepticus, an ongoing seizure that does not stop on its own.¹ Veterinary Partner gives the same five-minute line for cats, and adds more than three seizures in a row without a return to normal in between.⁵ Central Toronto Veterinary Referral Clinic also treats a seizure longer than five minutes, or several close together, as an emergency.⁸

Some clinics use stricter lines. The neurology service at DoveLewis, a 24-hour animal hospital in Portland, Oregon, asks owners to seek care right away for more than one seizure in 24 hours, or a seizure longer than two minutes.² Vaughan-Richmond Hill Veterinary Emergency Clinic in Ontario says the same after a first seizure, more than one in 24 hours, or a seizure longer than a couple of minutes.⁹ BluePearl says to call your vet after a first seizure, to go to an emergency clinic if your vet is not available, and to follow your vet’s plan if your pet has had seizures before.³

Time it with a clock, not memory. VCA Animal Hospitals says a generalized seizure usually lasts one to two minutes, and DoveLewis’s seizure log asks for the length timed, not estimated.⁴

Cornell also says to keep both of you safe while it is happening. Move breakable things away. Stay below your dog on the stairs if you can do that safely. Keep your hands away from the mouth, because a dog is not aware of its surroundings during a seizure. For a change that is not a seizure, use the symptom timeline instead.

The vet rarely sees the seizure itself. The International Veterinary Epilepsy Task Force says a vet’s reading of it is restricted to what you describe, and often a poor-quality video.⁷ Naming the event is the vet’s work. Describing it is yours. Write the body, not the word you think it was.

Cats can look different. Veterinary Partner describes cats opening and closing the mouth as if chewing, or running wildly around the house, during a seizure.⁵ Write what this pet did, even if it does not match a description you have read.

The time after the seizure belongs in the same note. Cornell describes that stretch as disorientation or confusion that can come out as aggression.¹ The IVETF consensus lists disorientation, repeated vocalizing, walking into obstacles, tiredness, unsteadiness, hunger or thirst, and sometimes blindness or aggression.⁷ Write the time your pet seemed usual again. “Usual again by 9:40” is a fact. “Took a while” is not.

Cornell says to film the event if you can, because the vet has to decide whether it was a seizure at all.¹ A phone propped against something is enough. It does not need to be steady. If you cannot film safely, do not try. The written length and description still matter.

One line per seizure shows the vet whether they are getting longer or closer together. Cornell says the log helps decide when to start medication.¹ The 2015 ACVIM consensus on seizure management in dogs lists a seizure of five minutes or longer, three or more generalized seizures in 24 hours, two or more seizure events within six months, and an unusual recovery among the reasons a vet may start it.⁶ That is the vet’s decision. Your dates are what it rests on.

The columns below follow the DoveLewis neurology seizure log.²

SEIZURE LOG
Pet:
Date and time:
Length (timed):
What the body did:
Where in the body:
Responded to you:
Mouth and bathroom:
The hour before:
After, and usual again at:
Regular medication, last given:
Anything given during or after:
Video saved:
Vet called:

This is the level of detail to aim for. The dog and the dates are an example.