Canine Epilepsy Webinar by Prof Holger Volk, offered by The Kennel Club (UK)
The following are just a few notes from the webinar:
- There are very few known causative genes for epilepsy, but there are risk factor genes, and epigenetic changes caused by the environment can affect the way genes work.
- Male dogs are more likely to have epilepsy.
- 60 - 70% of seizures occur at night.
- Seizures that last more than 5 minutes can cause brain damage, and those over 30 minutes definitely do.
- Drugs are used to raise the seizure threshold.
- If phenobarbital is stopped cold turkey it will cause withdrawal.
- 25 - 30% of dogs who seizure respond to MCT (medium-chain triglycerides) oils.