Hi,

Out on my bedtime walkies last night.  I met one of my neighbours and she was telling me that one of her dogs hasn't been well for a couple of weeks and then yesterday it took a fit.   The first in it's life.   The vet has said it is epileptic and given her medication but I would've thought if it was epilepsy the dog would've shown signs of it long before now, she is 10 yo?   And I thought epilepsy could be hereditary?  

Should she ask for a second opinion?

Christine

As well as idiopathic epilepsy (classic no known cause, can be but not necessarily hereditary) fits can be caused by various diseases  - encephalitis, injuries, tumours, liver/kidney failure, poisoning even low blood sugar!

I suspect that the fit is a symptom of something else going wrong.

There is no way the vet could have know what it was, it was a seizure that was clear but epilepsy can only be diagnosed in two ways, one is if the dog is under investigation by equipment that is reading the electrical activity in the dogs brain at the time of a seizure and the second if a fitting dog improves when being given drugs that control epilepsy. Well that's MO anyway.

Christine,

Your neighbour absolutely should get a second opinion.  It is very unusual for a dog of ten years old to suddenly become epileptic.  A fit at that age is usually a symptom of kidney problems, liver problems or a tumour in the brain. 

Stacey

Thanks all for this,

I can't print this out but I will nip over later to tell her this.  I thought it was strange a dog of this age suddenly becoming "epileptic".  Thanks Stacey, Jackie & tohme.

Christine

There is really nothing I can add to this. Epilepsy is something vets NEVER see because the dogs just don't fit whilst at the vets!

There is something else which looks so much like epilepsy that I'm betting so many cases are misdiagnosed called "Canine Epileptoid Cramping Syndrome", Cramping Syndrome for short. It's easy to eliminate in that it does not respond to the usual medication used for epilepsy. Also, as far as I know at the moment it is only in Border Terriers and Labradors. It looks so much like epilepsy that if it was described to me, and bearing in mind I have had an epileptic dog, I would diagnose it as epilepsy. There are subtle differences if you know what to look for but without knowing you would never spot it. As far as I've seen, most dogs seem to develop it at quite a young age so it does not fit into this case.

Best wishes, John

Hi John,

Scottie cramp looks like epilepsy too, but it usually starts in young (Scottish terrier) dogs.

Stacey