Dog Seizures: What to Do During One & When It's an Emergency (2026)

What a dog seizure actually looks like

Most seizures move through three phases. First comes a short pre-ictal phase, or aura: your dog may seem clingy, restless, whiny, or hide — anywhere from a few seconds to a couple of hours before anything visible happens. Then the ictal phase, the seizure itself: in a generalized seizure the dog usually collapses, loses consciousness, stiffens, and paddles or jerks the legs, often drooling and sometimes urinating or defecating. This part looks dramatic but is typically brief — under two minutes. Afterward comes the post-ictal phase, when the brain resets: confusion, pacing, wobbliness, and sometimes temporary blindness. In one study the middle (median) recovery time was about 30 minutes, though it ranges from a few minutes to many hours. Knowing these phases helps you tell a seizure apart from a fainting spell or a muscle tremor.

The three phases at a glance

What to do — and what not to do

Do this: Stay calm and start timing on your phone — the length is the single most useful thing you can tell the vet. Clear away anything hard or sharp, and gently slide your dog away from stairs or furniture edges. Dim the lights, keep the room quiet, and don't crowd them. Once the seizure ends, speak softly and let them recover; offer water only after they're fully alert. If you can safely film it, a short video helps your vet enormously.

Don't do this: Never put your hands or any object in your dog's mouth — dogs do not swallow their tongue during a seizure, and you're likely to be bitten badly or hurt them. Don't try to restrain or hold the dog down; just protect the space around them. Don't assume a dog who's overheating during a long seizure is fine — prolonged seizures raise body temperature dangerously and need a vet.

When a seizure is a true emergency

Go to an emergency vet right away if any of these happen: a single seizure lasts longer than 5 minutes (this is status epilepticus, and without IV medication it can cause brain damage or death), your dog has two or more seizures in 24 hours (cluster seizures), one seizure runs straight into another without your dog waking up in between, or this is your dog's very first seizure. A first seizure always deserves a vet visit — even if it's brief and your dog seems normal afterward — because it may be the first sign of a treatable underlying problem. If a known toxin (rat bait, xylitol, certain medications) could be involved, treat it as an emergency and call ahead so the hospital is ready.

What causes seizures in dogs

• Idiopathic epilepsy — no structural cause found; the most common reason for recurring seizures, often genetic
• Structural brain disease — tumor, stroke, head trauma, or inflammation/infection of the brain
• Metabolic problems — liver disease, low blood sugar, kidney disease, or electrolyte imbalances
• Toxins — chocolate, xylitol, some pesticides/rat baits, and certain human medications

Idiopathic epilepsy is diagnosed when nothing else explains the seizures, and it's the usual culprit in otherwise healthy young-adult dogs — most epileptic dogs have their first seizure between about 6 months and 6 years of age, with many falling in the 1–5 year window. Some breeds, including Labrador Retrievers, Border Collies, and Beagles, carry a higher inherited risk. In very young puppies or senior dogs having a first seizure, vets lean harder toward a metabolic or structural cause, which changes the workup.

How vets diagnose and treat it — and typical US costs

Diagnosis usually starts with a physical and neurologic exam plus bloodwork and urinalysis to rule out metabolic causes and toxins; from there a vet may add bile acid testing, blood pressure checks, or advanced imaging. An MRI with spinal fluid analysis is how vets look for structural brain disease, and it isn't cheap — a dog MRI commonly runs about USD 2,000–6,000 in the US, on top of the exam and bloodwork. For ongoing epilepsy, the mainstays are daily anti-seizure medications — phenobarbital and potassium bromide are long-standing, low-cost first choices, and levetiracetam (Keppra) is common too. Medication doesn't cure epilepsy, but for most dogs it cuts how often and how severely seizures happen. Your veterinarian sets the drug, dose, and monitoring bloodwork based on your dog specifically — never adjust or stop seizure medication on your own.

Track seizures with PetCare AI

A seizure diary is one of the most valuable things you can bring to a vet. Log each event in PetCare AI — date, how long it lasted, what your dog was doing beforehand, and how long recovery took — so you can spot clusters or a rising frequency early and give your vet real data instead of a guess. Ask the AI vet assistant questions like "My dog just had a 90-second seizure and seems confused — what should I watch for?" to understand next steps, and use the in-app finder to locate a 24-hour hospital fast. Always confirm diagnosis and treatment with your veterinarian, who will tailor it to your dog.