Epilepsy

[woodbyne]

Hi

Vet thinks my dog has epilespsy. I am wondering if nay one has had any experience with diets that may help before we head down the medication path. Its pretty mild only 4 petty mal (sp??) seizure this year so was hoping ther was something i could do.

[~Anne~]

Hi

Vet thinks my dog has epilespsy. I am wondering if nay one has had any experience with diets that may help before we head down the medication path. Its pretty mild only 4 petty mal (sp??) seizure this year so was hoping ther was something i could do.

Welcome to my world. Sorry, I guess it should really be a frown.

The term you are looking for is 'petite mal'. There are many types of seizures and they range from focal seizures to tonic clonic (or grand mal). It depends on how much of the brain, and what areas of the brain, are involved.

Diet will largely now depend on the medication your dog is put on. There are loads of opinions and ideas regarding diet but I am not sure any of them are scientifically based. Your best results for any dog is to ensure their diet is healthy, fresh and not making them fat.

If your dog is put onto bromide, then sodium will become a factor in diet. Most dogs are put on phenobarbitone, as the drug of choice, in Australia though.

I have an epileptic dog, Monte. He was diagnosed just over 6 years ago and is now 8 years old. He is probably on the other end of the scale to your dog though and suffers a lrage number of seizures even though he is medicated.

[Boronia]

Hi woodbyne,

I posted this (as a matter of fact it was a reply to Anne's post, it didn't help her though as I think her dog had a different epilepsy than was in my reply)

anyhow, these links may be of interest

http://dogtorj.tripod.com/index.html

and

http://dogtorj.tripod.com/id21.html