I'm sorry to hear about Shadow's seizure.  Watching a dog have a seizure is terrifying, partially because you just feel so powerless.  My dogs don't have them, but occasionally a dog staying at the kennel will, and this weekend, I'll be petsitting for a dog who has a severe problem with them.

When a dog has a seizure, you pretty much do the same stuff you do when a person has one.  Get everything out of the way so that the dog won't injure himself on, for instance, a piece of furniture.  Also, the dog will be able to hear you even though he can't really communicate with you, so it's a good idea to talk to him in a reassuring way.

Some dogs, but not all of them, respond really well to phenobarb and don't have many seizures once they start taking the meds.  I hope Shadow's condition is easy to manage.  Keep us posted.

I know just how frightening it was for you!  About a year ago, while I was home alone with the dogs on a Sunday, Chloe had a grand mal seizure!  It was horrendous!  I sat on the floor with her, keeping some pressure on her to try to control the severe shaking and talked to her through it.  Once it ended and she was able to stand off we went to the emergency clinic.  They checked over all her vitals & everything was OK and she was in no immediate danger.  The next morning I took her to our regular vet. 

He explained to me that some times they can find no reason for the seizures.  Here is what he recommended to me.  He told me to keep an eye on her and if she had further seizures to keep a detailed log of them as to frequency, how long it lasted, the severity of it, how long it took for her to return to "normal".  He did say if a seizure lasted 10 mins or if she started having cluster seizures where she would just go in & out & right back into one to immediately get her back to the vet.  He went on to say that if a dog only has an occasional one it is often not necessary to put them on meds. He said the frequency can be a wide range - from a couple a wk, once a month, never have a 2nd one, etc. If the seizures are frequent there are a variety of tests that they can do to try to determine the underlying cause and treat it appropriately.  If the tests do not show a medical reason for the seizure the dog is then diagnosed as having epilespy. 

We have been lucky in that Chloe has never had another seizure (knock on wood)!  We did not have any testing done although if she had continued having them I would have definitely gone ahead with the testing.  He did tell me about a golden retriever that he has been treating for 10 years who has literally one seizure a year - always on Super Bowl Sunday.  He thinks it is the high excitement level in the house during the game that triggers it.

I have a close friend who has a little chi who did have frequent seizures and is now on pheno. to control them.  This does require occasional blood work to insure the correct levels.  In fact her dosage was recently increased.  She is doing well and is happy & energetic and so far the prognosis is great.

I will keep my fingers crossed that Shadow is like Chloe and doesn't have any further seizures.  Please keep us posted!

Deb, if it were me I would definitely go ahead & have Shadow checked out Mon. at the vet for any obvious signs.  If you have full confidence in your vet, based on her findings, I would follow her recommendations.  But having said that, if nothing on the basic exam shows up, I personally would follow what my vet recommended and hold off on starting on pheno. right away as it is my opinion that sometimes meds. are used too quickly.  My vet did give me the option of starting Chloe on pheno right away and/or going ahead with all of the different testing but since she hasn't had any further seizures I am glad that I followed his advice and took the "wait & see" stance.  He did tell me that sometimes dogs end up on pheno. not so much due to medical "necessity" but because their owners personally can't deal with seizures even if they are mild and infrequent. 

I was lucky in that I had some info on dogs having seizures prior to Chloe's episode.  The obed. school we go to has occasional seminars and one of them was a vet who talked about situations we may find ourselves in as well as a question & answer period.  There was quite a bit of discussion on this subject and the info he shared with us was pretty much what my vet said too.

Deb, I am definitely not a vet.  All I can do is share with you my personal experience and hope it has given you some helpful info.  I am sure between you & your vet the 2 of you will find the best course to take for Shadow.