it's not a disease

•  Epilepsy is a condition not a disease.

•  This means that the dog has an underlying problem that is causing the fits. A simple analogy would be to compare fits to a headache. You get a headache for a various reasons - stress, fever, brain tumour, etc and the same idea should be applied to fits or seizures .

•  To understand why a dog is having fits , he needs to be given a thorough veterinary examination. This will look at the whole patient. Diagnosis is by elimination of possible causes by considering history, symptoms and the results of blood tests.

•  Euthanasia should be a last resort. There are only three reasons why an epileptic dog is put to sleep - * ignorance, * the owner cannot cope, or * because the most severe fitting cannot be controlled.

Epilepsy Facts

•  To be diagnosed with epilepsy a dog must have suffered a SERIES of seizures or fits.

•  Epilepsy can occur in any breed.

•  Epilepsy is twice as common in dogs as in humans. An estimated 1% of dogs suffer from it with incidences as high as 5 – 6% in some breeds.

•  Dogs can start fitting at any age.

•  The onset of hereditary (also known as Primary or Idiopathic) epilepsy is given in books as between the ages of 1 and 5 years. This is not a very meaningful concept as it has been discovered that dogs can suffer late onset Primary Epilepsy and puppies have been diagnosed with Primary Epilepsy .

Genetics

•  A recessive gene or genes is thought to be responsible for genetic epilepsy . The pattern of inheritance appears to vary between breeds.

•  Please DON'T breed from dogs that have suffered any form of seizures. You will be condemning an unsuspecting owner to devastating stress and worry at some time in the future. They may not be able to cope.

•  Dogs with epilepsy will pass on the tendency to fit to future generations. Even dogs with Secondary Epilepsy – i.e. where an underlying cause is found for the fits - have the potential to pass on a low fit threshold.

•  Epilepsy may only be discovered once dogs are well into their breeding lives, - and it can happen to anyone.

Diagnosis & treatment

•  Diagnosis of the cause of fits is often difficult and usually made by eliminating possible causes. Resources are limited but include blood testing, an MRI scan (expensive), a spinal tap or examination by neurologist.

•  Treatment with drugs is only necessary if the dog is fitting frequently.

•  Drugs most commonly used are phenobarbitone and potassium bromide but alternative therapies can help reduce the frequency or severity of fits in some dogs.

•  Epilepsy can be successfully treated in many cases – if the owner is willing and if he/she has the support of their veterinary surgeon.

A Typical fit or seizure

During a typical fit , an animal will lie on its side and perform rigid jerking and paddling movements. There may be partial or complete loss of consciousness as well as a loss of control of motions and urine. Some dogs may vomit and or salivate during a fit .

In addition to the fit itself, a dog may appear restless or behave oddly before the fit and may be sleepy or restless afterwards. Some dogs become very affectionate while others seem abnormally hungry or thirsty. Each dog will have its own individual signs.

Intervals between fits will vary greatly between dogs from one fit every few months to several fits in one day. Sometimes a pattern will emerge.

Epilepsy is not a death sentence

•  Fits usually only last a few minutes and for 99.9% of the time most affected dogs can lead a perfectly normal life . Fits vary in severity and a Grand Mal in a small dog will be easier to manage than one in a Great Dane.

•  A dog will not need medication if fits are mild or infrequent. In those dogs that need drugs , fits may be completely controlled or their severity alleviated and frequency decreased.

•  Based on human experience, the dog does not know what is happening to him and provided he cannot injure himself (e.g. fall down stairs ) is not suffering or in pain during a fit . Most dogs with fits will die in old age of something else – if they are allowed to.

Epilepsy types

•  There are two types of epilepsy :

•  Primary, or Idiopathic or genetic epilepsy –

is a defect in the dog's genetic makeup. This is the term that is used when a veterinary surgeon cannot find a obvious cause for the seizures .

•  Secondary Epilepsy

is triggered by something else that is going on in the dog's body. This could be the result of a neurological accident e.g. trauma due to a head injury or birth incident, or the result of infection, inflammation, tumour, poisoning, liver or kidney disease etc.

See diagram below (devised by Mrs Clare Rusbridge BVMS DipECVN MRCVS RCVS & European Specialist in Veterinary Neurology)