If your dog or cat is having a seizure right now, get them on the floor and away from the stairs, keep your hands away from their mouth, and start a timer. Call us if it's their first seizure, if it's still going at two minutes, or if this is their second seizure in 24 hours. Everything else on this page can wait until it stops.
When people call us about a dog seizure, they almost never describe it. Nobody says "he's stiff, his legs are paddling, and he's drooling on the rug." They say "my dog is having a seizure," with total confidence, because everyone is familiar with the basics of what one looks like. While there are other lookalike conditions, seizures are one of those things for which we recommend getting some medical advice sooner rather than later.
Call us at (970) 851-8751 as soon as it stops, send our intake form on the way, or come straight to our Fort Collins clinic during open hours.
What to Do When Your Dog Has a Seizure (or Your Cat Does)
During a seizure, keep your pet safe and gather information. The phone in your hand is a stopwatch, a camera, and a phone (in that order). Well, it's also a crossword puzzle, a newsstand, and an endless hub of mindless videos, but those are for the time you spend waiting in the exam room.
- Get them somewhere they can't fall. If they're on the couch, at the top of the stairs, or near the pool, slide them to the floor by the hips. Otherwise, move the coffee table instead of the pet, and put other pets in another room.
- Keep your hands away from their mouth, and don't try to hold them down. They won't swallow their tongue, but you might lose a finger.
- Start the clock at the first stiffening or jerk, and stop it when the jerking stops, not when your pet is back to normal. That's the true seizure time.
- Film from a few feet back. Most seizure videos we see are shot in extreme close-up, mid-hug, and with the pet in and out of frame. We are looking for something more like an informational documentary, less like The Blair Witch Project. Get the whole body in the frame and keep filming into the recovery.
- Call when it stops or at two minutes, whichever comes first. If you're alone and it's still going at two minutes, load up and call us hands-free on the way.
You don't need to cool your pet down. If they seem warm, they probably are, but they're burning up because their brain is short-circuiting. Medications are the answer.
When Is a Dog Seizure or Cat Seizure an Emergency?
A dog or cat seizure is an emergency if it lasts longer than two minutes, if it's the second in 24 hours, or if your pet doesn't fully come back to themselves between seizures.
A first seizure that's short, followed by a full recovery, usually isn't an emergency on its own. Call us anyway. We'll ask a few questions, and if nothing else points to trouble, you can usually keep watching at home and have your regular vet examine your pet in the next few days.
Even after a first short seizure, come in right away if:
- They could have gotten into something
- They're diabetic and get insulin
- She's nursing a litter
- They're a puppy or a kitten
- They hit their head or took a fall
- It's hot out, or they were just running hard
How Long Is Too Long for a Dog Seizure? Two Minutes? Five?
Five minutes is the official definition of a seizure emergency, but in the specialists' consensus, it's the point by which treatment should already have started. Most seizures last under two or three minutes. In practice, plenty of neurologists start treating seizures that pass two minutes of true seizure time. Every veterinarian, including ours, varies a little, but we all look to the same general rules.
Clusters work the same way: after two seizures, many of us start planning for a third, because nobody knows whether it's coming.
My Dog Has Epilepsy and Just Had One Seizure. Do I Need to Come In?
Not always. If your epileptic dog has one seizure that looks like their usual and recovers on their usual timeline, it's one of the few times waiting until morning can be reasonable. Prepare for the car ride without taking it: pack the kids' lunches, lay out your clothes for the morning, and get a plan for your nearby emergency hospital. Seizure medications make seizures less frequent and less severe, but they won't stop them completely. If a second seizure happens, if your dog seems really dull, or if something else worries you, come in.
Dog Seizure Symptoms: What Does a Seizure Look Like?
When you imagine a seizure, you are thinking of the classic "generalized tonic-clonic" seizure, once called "grand mal." Your pet falls onto their side, stiffens, then paddles or jerks in a steady rhythm, often chomping, drooling, peeing, or pooping, and doesn't respond to you. Focal seizures, on the other hand, involve only part of the body: one side of the face twitching, one leg jerking, or a spell of staring. The odd moment many owners notice right before a big seizure (hiding, clinginess, a blank stare) is usually the seizure starting in one small part of the brain before it spreads.
Regardless of how dramatic or mild it may look, all seizures are evaluated and often treated the same way.
What Does a Cat Seizure Look Like?
A cat seizure is often smaller and stranger than a dog's: facial twitching, lip smacking, chewing, drooling, or staring at nothing. A cat who tears around the house and then acts odd for a while afterward may be having one. A cat battling a reflection on the wall is not. If it were, we'd see a lot more cats.
Some senior cats, around 15 on average, have seizures set off by high-pitched sounds, like crinkling foil, a spoon against a ceramic bowl, or an owner clicking their tongue.
Is My Cat Having a Seizure If It's Foaming at the Mouth?
Not necessarily. A cat having seizures and foaming at the mouth will also be unresponsive, twitching, or paddling. A cat foaming but awake and glaring at you probably just tasted something bitter or something she really doesn't like, such as tonight's pill. Still worth a call, but likely not as concerning.
Is It Really a Seizure? Common Lookalikes
Vestibular disease, fainting, head bobbing, and dreaming can all look like seizures. The best clues are whether your pet stays aware, whether you can interrupt it, and whether a foggy recovery follows.
Often when owners bring their dog in for a "seizure" or "stroke," their pet is actually having a vestibular episode. Vestibular disease is a balance problem that makes the world spin. These dogs tilt their heads, flick their eyes, fall over, and scramble to stand upright. It looks like they're paddling and seizing, but they're awake the whole time. Fainting tends to follow excitement, exercise, or a coughing fit, and the pet comes back quickly. Head bobbing is a yes-yes or no-no nod in a wide-awake dog; for 87% of dogs, a distraction stopped it. Dreaming dogs wake up when you say their name.
Even veterinary neurologists watching owner videos often disagree about which episodes are seizures, so a clear video plus an exam beats either one alone.
What Happens After the Seizure Stops?
After a seizure, most pets go through a recovery phase (the post-ictal phase) when they can be wobbly, confused, restless, temporarily blind, starving, or unable to recognize you. In a 2025 study of dogs with epilepsy, recovery typically took about 30 minutes, though some dogs took three days.
Your first instinct will be to scoop them up. Please don't. They don't know you right now – you aren't comforting to them. It's like trying to comfort someone who's having a bad dream: there's a chance you become the boogie monster that's chasing them. Make sure they have comfortable bedding, are somewhere quiet, and leave them be.
No animal needs food or water right after a seizure. Wait until they're fully aware and able to swallow before offering anything by mouth, pills included. Rescue medications that go in the nose or rectum are meant for during an active seizure, so follow your vet's plan for those. If you're not sure what your old instructions mean, call us, and we can help decipher them.
In a diabetic pet who seizes a few hours after their insulin, low blood sugar can be the cause. While they're still foggy, rub a little corn syrup (Karo) on their gums. If they're still seizing, use a wooden spoon at the corner of the mouth, where the lips meet, instead of your fingers. Then come in.
Call us if your pet isn't back to normal within a couple of hours, seems to be getting worse, or is taking much longer to recover than usual.
What to Record During and After a Seizure
Save the video and write down what the body did, how long it lasted, and how recovery went:
- Start and stop times, plus the video
- Where it started (one leg, one side of the face, or everywhere at once) and what the body did
- Whether they responded to you, and whether they drooled, peed, or pooped
- The minute before: hiding, clinginess, staring, or whatever they were doing
- What recovery looked like (blind, pacing, starving, grumpy) and how long it lasted
- How many seizures in the last 24 hours
- Medications, the last dose, and any missed doses
- Anything they could have gotten into
For ongoing seizures, the free RVC Pet Epilepsy Tracker app keeps that log on your phone and can email it to your vet.
What Happens When You Bring Your Pet In for a Seizure?
If your pet arrives still seizing, we'll bring them straight to our treatment area, ask you to sign a stabilization form, and give a medication to stop the seizure. If we have permission, we place an IV catheter and likely check blood sugar and a few other blood parameters that can indicate quickly fixable, life-threatening causes. The goal is to stop the seizure, plan for the next one, and start talking. Long or frequent seizures can cause brain swelling or overheating, so don't be surprised if we bring your pet over to the wet table and give what appears to be a nice cool bath.
If the seizure is over, we may still whisk your pet back or start with questions. Either way, it begins like every visit here: we talk, we examine, and we recommend tests. Recommended diagnostics may include bloodwork, x-ray images, and a urinalysis to look for causes (like organ disease or cancer that has spread) or complications of the seizures (like organ damage or fluid breathed into the lungs during the event). We may run bile acids, ammonia, and ionized calcium in house, but further testing with a specialist may be recommended.
Do We Have to Run Every Test?
No. Some families choose to treat without testing, knowing we may miss something important. We'll strongly recommend at least limited testing, because if the seizures come from low blood sugar or low calcium, typical seizure medications will never treat them appropriately. We understand if testing isn't affordable, though. The doctor will talk with you about what plan makes the most sense for your pet, your goals, and your family.
Will My Pet Need to Stay Overnight?
If a pet has cluster seizures (two or more in a day), a 12- to 24-hour seizure watch is often recommended. This seizure watch can happen here on weekends. During the week, we'll arrange a transfer for overnight monitoring and call the receiving doctor ourselves.
Some people are interested in a neurologist consult, an MRI, and specialty testing. Some people want seizure monitoring and injectable medications. Some people opt to take their pet home with oral medications. We discuss the options and build a plan from there.
What Causes Seizures in Dogs and Cats?
The most common cause of seizures in dogs is idiopathic epilepsy (seizures with no cause we can find). Other causes include toxins, low blood sugar, low calcium, liver disease, head injuries, and brain changes like tumors or inflammation.
In a 2025 study of epileptic dogs with normal exams between seizures, idiopathic epilepsy was the most common cause at every age, but brain changes turned up in about 23% of dogs whose seizures started after age 8, compared with under 2% when seizures started between 1 and 6. In very young pets, low blood sugar (especially in toy breeds), liver shunts, and infections move up the list.
Toxins can cause seizures at any age. Rat bait, xylitol, caffeine, ADHD medications, moldy compost, slug bait, lawn insecticides, and dog flea products on cats are all on the list, and our guide to common pet toxins covers what to do.
In cats, idiopathic epilepsy is more common than once thought: a 2025 study of 118 cats with epilepsy found it in about 81% of the cats whose cause could be pinned down. Brain changes become more likely when seizures start after age 7.
What If We Can't Find a Cause?
That's common. Some causes are hard to diagnose, needing an MRI, a spinal fluid tap, special blood tests, or a neurologist; even then we sometimes don't figure out a reason. Often the answer is idiopathic epilepsy, which means we don't know what causes it. It just happens.
Living With a Pet Who Has Seizures
Keep a seizure diary, loop in your regular veterinarian, and see a neurologist if you're willing, knowing they may recommend advanced testing. Your regular vet can help coordinate a consult, or you can call specialty centers during the workweek to get on their books. You can bring your pet's records, or we're happy to forward them. And don't skip or stop seizure medications without talking to your vet first.
Your First Dog Seizure Is Harder on You Than on Them
Stay calm. A dog seizure or cat seizure can be very difficult to watch, but during a full-body seizure, your pet isn't aware of any of what's going on. It's much harder on you than it is on them. What they will notice is the hour after, which is why a quiet room and some space matter more than a hug. Every pet is different, so when you're not sure, call.
Call us at (970) 851-8751, send our intake form, or come see us at our Fort Collins clinic during open hours. We'll take it from there.
