Seizures in dogs and cats: what to do

Your pet falls over, goes stiff, and starts paddling. Your first impulse may be to hold them down or open their mouth. Do neither. Clear the danger, start a timer, and keep your hands away from the teeth. The next few minutes can protect your pet and guide the veterinary team.

The seizure has started: protect your pet and time it

Your priority is to prevent falls and impacts without restraining the movements. The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine advises watching the animal, staying away from the mouth, and taking a video only when possible.

Start a timer as soon as you notice the seizure. Time often feels distorted in this situation.
Move furniture, sharp objects, and other animals away. Block access to stairs. Move your pet only if the current spot poses an immediate danger.
Do not hold the legs, pin the body down, or put your hand, a spoon, cloth, or any other object in the mouth. Dogs and cats do not swallow their tongue during a seizure.
Reduce light, noise, and people moving through the room. Do not shout or shake the animal in an attempt to wake them.
Once the area is safe, record part of the episode. A video should never delay a phone call or put you at risk.

Do not treat five minutes as a safe waiting period. The Royal Veterinary College recommends immediate transport when a seizure continues beyond two minutes. At five minutes, continuous seizure activity is generally considered status epilepticus, an emergency associated with overheating, systemic complications, and death. Call the emergency clinic while you prepare to leave.

Seek emergency care as well if another seizure starts that day, your pet does not regain consciousness between episodes, has trouble breathing, has suffered trauma, feels extremely hot, or may have ingested a toxin. If your pet already has epilepsy, follow only the rescue plan prescribed for that animal and contact the veterinary team.

Not every seizure shakes the whole body

A generalized seizure may cause collapse, stiffness, paddling, drooling, involuntary chewing, and loss of urine or stool. Your pet may be unconscious and unresponsive. These signs are common, but a seizure does not have to include all of them.

Focal seizures may appear as repeated twitching of one eyelid, lip, ear, or limb. Some animals make chewing movements or snap at the air. Awareness may be preserved. The MSD Veterinary Manual describes generalized and focal seizures and warns that the type of episode alone does not reveal its cause.

The postictal period follows the seizure. A pet may pace, appear temporarily blind, seek attention, hide, act hungry, or sleep deeply. Recovery may take minutes to hours. Keep the animal in a cool, quiet area away from stairs. Do not force food, water, activated charcoal, or oral medication while your pet is disoriented or unable to swallow safely.

Fainting, vestibular disorders, and some movement disorders can look like seizures. A video and a description of what happened before and after the event are more useful than trying to label it at home. In 2025, a neurologist at the University of Illinois emphasized that pupils, gum color, breathing, duration, and context help clinicians distinguish these events.

One seizure does not automatically mean epilepsy

A seizure is an event. Epilepsy is a predisposition to recurrent unprovoked seizures. The MSD Veterinary Manual uses two or more unprovoked seizures more than 24 hours apart as a common definition. A first seizure needs investigation, but it cannot establish epilepsy on its own.

Cause category	What it means	Examples a veterinarian may investigate
Reactive seizure	The brain reacts to a temporary disturbance elsewhere in the body or to a substance	Very low blood glucose, electrolyte disorders, liver or kidney disease, medications, and toxins
Structural epilepsy	A disorder exists within the brain	Inflammation, infection, trauma, a vascular event, a malformation, or a tumor
Idiopathic epilepsy	Seizures recur and testing does not identify a metabolic, toxic, or structural cause	A genetic component may exist, particularly in some dog lineages

Age, species, medical history, and examination findings change the weight of each possibility. In dogs and cats, the team must assess underlying causes before concluding that epilepsy is idiopathic. This table organizes possibilities; it cannot select a diagnosis or justify a home treatment.

If poisoning is possible, do not induce vomiting or give milk, oil, salt, or activated charcoal on your own. Keep the packaging or photograph the product and call an emergency service. The guide to plants that are toxic to dogs and cats explains how to preserve exposure details without delaying care.

What to record and how veterinarians investigate

Once the situation is safe, record the start time, how long the movements lasted, and how long your pet took to recognize you or walk again. Describe what happened immediately before, which body parts moved, whether your pet responded to their name, and whether drooling, vomiting, urination, or defecation occurred. Keep the original video unedited.

List medications, flea and tick products, supplements, and possible access to trash, food, plants, or chemicals. Do not hide a possible exposure out of embarrassment. That detail can change the treatment. The article on what to note before a veterinary visit can help you separate observation from interpretation.

The investigation starts with the history, physical examination, and neurological examination. A complete blood count, biochemical profile, and urinalysis help detect metabolic causes and systemic disease. Depending on age, examination findings, and progression, the veterinarian may recommend toxin or infection tests, brain MRI, and cerebrospinal fluid analysis. Not every pet needs every test.

This process also explains why the video matters. The team first has to decide whether the episode was an epileptic seizure or a look-alike, such as syncope or a vestibular event, before choosing the most useful tests.

Treatment depends on the cause and seizure pattern

Reactive seizures require treatment of the triggering disturbance. Structural disease may need targeted investigation and therapy. When a pet has epilepsy, the plan may include long-term antiseizure medication, monitoring for adverse effects, and sometimes a rescue protocol for prolonged or cluster seizures.

The 2024 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine consensus statement recommends early, rapid, stage-based management of status epilepticus and cluster seizures in dogs and cats. The drug and route depend on the patient. Use an at-home rescue protocol only when the veterinary team has prescribed it for your pet and shown you how to use it.

Do not double a dose after a seizure and do not suddenly stop an antiseizure medication. The MSD Veterinary Manual advises that dose reductions or treatment changes require clinical oversight because individual animals process these drugs differently. If a seizure occurs despite treatment, record it and contact the veterinarian managing the case.

Cornell University recommends veterinary assessment after a dog’s first seizure, even when the dog recovers. The same practical rule protects both dogs and cats: a brief event that has ended is still a reason to investigate. Any emergency sign turns a scheduled assessment into immediate care.

Frequently asked questions

Can a pet swallow their tongue during a seizure?

No. Putting a hand or object in the mouth does not protect the tongue and can cause a bite, a broken tooth, or an obstruction. Stay away from the face.

Can I ignore a seizure that lasts less than two minutes?

No. If this was the first event, contact your veterinarian as soon as your pet is safe, even if recovery looks complete. If the seizure is still active near two minutes, call the emergency clinic and prepare for transport.

Can I give sugar if I suspect low blood glucose?

Do not put liquid, food, or paste in the mouth of an animal that is seizing or disoriented. If your pet has diabetes, follow the specific plan already provided by the veterinary team. In any other situation, seek immediate advice.

Should I support or hold my pet’s head?

Do not hold the head during the movements. Clear hard objects and, if you can do so without going near the mouth, pad a furniture edge or block a fall. Unnecessary handling increases the risk to both of you.

How long does confusion last after a seizure?

The postictal period may last minutes to hours. Seek emergency care if your pet is not recovering progressively, has trouble breathing, has another seizure, or behaves very differently from their established pattern.

Does a video really help with diagnosis?

Yes. It can show which body parts moved, the level of awareness, and the transition into recovery. Record only after making the area safe, and never delay the call to film.

What to do next

Save the emergency clinic’s number and plan your route now. During a long seizure, that preparation is more useful than searching for instructions. Read the guide to the first hours of a pet emergency and bring the episode record to the appointment.