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Side Effects of Phenobarbital in Dogs

My golden who turns 14 in two days had a grand mal seizure at the beginning of November, then was seizure-free until the beginning of February. She had three seizures over a 72-hour period so the vet put her on phenobarbital, 75mg twice a day.
She was ambulatory when she returned from the vet's the evening of the third seizure (disoriented to be sure), and the following day until that evening when she walked into the room in which she usually spent most of her time, laid down and won't get up. She's been here, diapered, for four days now. She eats like a champ and is alert when I come in and appears to want to play, but she will not get up. We've tried walking her in a sling, at the vet's suggestion, and she'll do that but won't get up on her own. She has trouble walking on the wooden floors; seems OK on carpet.
The vet has reduced the dosage of phenobarbital to 15mg once a day, planning to increase the dosage once she starts moving.
She hasn't had any more seizures but she does twitch and tic, like Tourette's without the profanity.
Has anyone out there had this same experience? She's been x-rayed and nothing appears out of the ordinary there, so there's only an MRI if we want to put her through that.
I'm hoping this is temporary but given her age we have obvious concerns.
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Avatar universal
Is it common for dogs to pant heavily while taking phenobarbital?
I have a 13 year old pomeranian that began having seizures this year.  She just began taking 15mg twice a day.  She is drinking a lot of water and has a healthy appetite.

Thank you for your help
Karleigh
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462827 tn?1333168952
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