Today is National Purple Day, also known as Epilepsy Awareness Day. 💜 Please enjoy this fun 1889-built house in Napa, California, and if you’d like, read on to learn about my seizure disorder.

I am five years old, and started having seizures around 18 months old. We learned that 18 months to three years old is the typical window for seizure disorders to show themselves in dogs.

I used to have 2-3 seizure days per month. It began as just one at a time, but escalated into 2-4 seizures in a day. With help from a neurologist, we found a medication cocktail that mostly keeps them at bay now.

I have idiopathic seizures, which means nobody knows what triggers them. When the occasional seizure breaks through my meds, it usually happens when I’m sleeping. They’re always grand mal, which means I lose awareness of everything and am essentially unconscious. I yelp, foam at the mouth, gnash my teeth, paddle my feet and violently convulse. I usually lose control of my bladder. It lasts anywhere from 30-90 seconds, but it always feels much longer to my family.

If needed, they move furniture to make sure I am as safe as can be when it’s happening.

When it’s over, I wake up confused. I usually pace around, sometimes turn circles, and about 50 percent of the time, experience temporary blindness for a little while. The fam puts up baby gates to keep me away from the stairs.

Seizures can be really scary to watch. But I take phenobarbital and potassium bromide every 12 hours, and have only had two seizures since last April. Every six months, I had blood tests to check my liver levels to make sure the phenobarbital isn’t damaging it, which can be a side effect.

I live a super normal and healthy life, and for that I am thankful! Epilepsy can be managed for many people and pets. We didn’t even know it was common in pets until we started posting about it on social media.

Anyway, we hope you learned a little something. Have a great day, everyone!