Seizure first aid for dogs and cats
This guide is general information and not a substitute for your veterinarian. If your pet is seizing right now and it has lasted more than five minutes, call your vet or the nearest emergency clinic without waiting.
Watching your dog or cat have a seizure is frightening, and the hardest part is that there's very little to do except keep them safe and wait. The short version: don't touch the mouth, move anything hard or sharp out of the way, dim the lights and noise, look at the clock, and stay with them until it passes. Most seizures are over in a minute or two.
Call your vet or an emergency clinic straight away if a single seizure lasts longer than five minutes, if several come one after another, or if your pet doesn't come round in between. Everything else below is the calm detail: what to do, what not to do, and what's normal in the strange hour afterward. It works the same for dogs and cats.
What to do the moment a seizure starts
Your job in those first seconds is safety, theirs and yours. You can't stop a seizure by holding your pet, and trying to usually makes it worse.
- Clear the space. Slide away furniture, hard objects, and anything they could knock into. If you can, put a cushion or folded towel near their head so it doesn't bang the floor.
- Keep your hands away from the mouth. A seizing pet can't control their jaw and may bite down hard without knowing you're there. There is nothing you need to do at the mouth.
- Dim the lights and lower the noise. Turn off the TV, draw a curtain, ask others to keep quiet. Less stimulation can help the brain settle.
- Keep other pets and children back. Other animals sometimes react to a seizing housemate, and calm space matters.
- Stay low and speak softly. Your pet probably can't hear or see you properly, but a quiet voice steadies the room and steadies you.
Then look at the clock. That single glance is one of the most useful things you can do, and we'll come back to why.
What not to do
Some old advice is not just useless but dangerous. Skip all of this:
- Don't reach into the mouth or pull the tongue. Pets can't swallow their tongue. That's a human myth, and following it gets people badly bitten.
- Don't hold your pet down or try to stop the movements. Restraint doesn't shorten the seizure and can hurt you both.
- Don't move them unless they're in danger. If they're at the top of the stairs, near water, or by a heat source, move them gently by the hindquarters or slide them on a blanket. Otherwise, leave them where they are.
- Don't offer food or water until they're fully alert. During and right after a seizure they can't swallow safely, and it can go into the lungs.
How to time the seizure, and why it matters
The length of a seizure is the single number that tells your vet the most and decides whether this is routine or an emergency. In the moment it always feels far longer than it is, so a real time beats a guess.
Note when it started and when the convulsing stopped. If you can reach your phone without leaving your pet, start a timer or, better, film the last part. A twenty-second video shows your vet the type and course of the seizure far better than any description, and it settles the "was that really three minutes?" question later. The five-minute line is what you're watching against: past that, a seizure is much less likely to stop on its own and needs treatment.
When a seizure is an emergency
Most seizures, alarming as they are, stop by themselves and aren't an emergency. Call your vet or the nearest emergency clinic right away if:
- A single seizure lasts longer than five minutes.
- Several seizures come close together, whether or not each one is short. This is called cluster seizures, and it changes the urgency.
- Your pet doesn't fully come round between two seizures.
- It's the very first seizure you've seen, or your pet has hurt themselves, or is struggling to breathe.
- The seizure happens after a possible poison, a head injury, or in the heat, where overheating is a risk.
A seizure that won't stop, or one that repeats without recovery, is a true emergency where minutes count. If your vet has given you an emergency medication to use at home, this is the moment you were shown how to use it. If you're not sure whether what you're seeing counts, call anyway. That's exactly the kind of question your vet would rather answer.
The recovery phase: what's normal
When the convulsing stops, your pet isn't simply back to normal. The stretch afterward is called the post-ictal phase, and it can be as unsettling to watch as the seizure. It often lasts a few minutes, sometimes an hour or two.
- Confusion, staring, or not seeming to recognise you.
- Pacing, circling, or bumping into things. Some pets briefly can't see, which comes back on its own.
- Hunger and thirst. Once your pet is properly alert and swallowing normally, a little water and a small meal are fine.
- Clinginess or, the other way, wanting to be left alone. Follow their lead.
- Wobbliness and exhaustion, then a long sleep.
Keep the room calm and dim, give them space, and just be nearby. If the strange behaviour goes on for many hours, or something feels clearly worse rather than slowly better, call your vet.
What to write down afterward
Once your pet is resting, jot down what happened while it's fresh. Your vet almost never sees the seizures themselves, so your notes are what they treat from. A few words is enough: the date and time, how long it lasted, what it looked like, what was happening just before, and how long the recovery took. Add any medication you gave.
Over weeks, those entries turn a scary blur into a pattern your vet can actually use. Our guide on what to write down after a seizure walks through each detail, and it's part of the wider seizure logging and epilepsy series. With Charly, the pattern only showed up once we had a few months of it on paper.
Common questions
Can my pet swallow their tongue during a seizure?
No. It's a myth carried over from people. Keep your hands away from the mouth, because a seizing pet can bite down hard without meaning to, and there's nothing you need to do there anyway.
Should I move my pet during a seizure?
Only if they're somewhere dangerous, like the top of the stairs or near water. Then move them gently by the hindquarters or slide them on a blanket, away from the mouth. Otherwise, leave them and clear the space around them instead.
My pet seems fine now. Do I still need to call the vet?
For a first-ever seizure, yes, book a call or visit even once your pet seems recovered. For a pet already diagnosed and stable, a single short seizure usually means a note in the diary and a mention at the next check, unless your vet has told you otherwise. When in doubt, a phone call settles it.
Where this information comes from
This guide is written from living with a chronically ill dog and checked against published veterinary sources. It's general information, not advice for your individual pet. If you want to read further:
- Epilepsy and Seizure Disorders, Veterinary Medical Center, The Ohio State University. An owner-facing overview of what seizures look like, what happens in the recovery phase, and when a seizure becomes an emergency.
- International Veterinary Epilepsy Task Force consensus reports, BMC Veterinary Research, 2015. The open-access consensus statements on how epilepsy in dogs and cats is defined, classified, and treated, including the five-minute threshold and status epilepticus. Written for vets.
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