Idiopathic Canine Epilepsy
Dr. Gary Rosnick, DVM, practises veterinary medicine in Toronto, Ontario. He regularly writes a veterinary column in The Toronto Star, where this article first appeared.
Idiopathic epilepsy is the most common cause of seizures in the dog. Abnormal electrical activity originates in the thalamocortex of the brain and causes the seizure to happen.
There are three phases of a seizure: 1. Abnormal Behaviour – fear, nervousness, disorientation, attention seeking.
2. Seizure Activity – loss of consciousness, limbs rigid or paddling, salivation, eyes dilated, chomping of the jaw, urination or defecation. Lasts 30 to 90 seconds
3. After seizure – excited or depressed, pacing, restless, eating and drinking a lot, staggering, apparent blindness. May last minutes to a few days.
Treatment
Medication called phenobarbital is used to control epilepsy. It acts to increase the threshold in the brain when a seizure will occur. Treatment us usually lifelong. Phenobarbital is not a cure – your animal may still have seizures occasionally but they will be less severe when on medication.
Seizures will not damage your dog's brain unless they are very long or happen very frequently. If this occurs then the dog should be reevaluated by a veterinarian as soon as possible.
After 2 to 3 weeks of medication, the phenobarbital levels in the blood should be checked to make sure they are in the therapeutic or effective range to best control your dog's seizures. This blood should be collected just before the morning or evening treatment is given.
Side effect of the drug to watch for are eating, drinking and urinating a lot, depression, and staggering. These signs may occur in the first two weeks while the dog gets used to the drug, but should stop after that. Once a therapeutic level of drug is reached, the dog should have a blood test once a year at vaccination time to monitor the phenobarbital levels and liver function.
Warning
Do not ever abruptly discontinue phenobarbital treatment as this may cause a severe seizure. Decrease dose only on advice of veterinarians.
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