|
The Puggy Page
Pictures
Meet the Pug
Buying Puppies
Setting Up House
Training and Care
General Care
Nutrition
Pug Problems 1
Pug Problems 2
Pug Clubs
Breeding 1
Breeding 2
|
Epilepsy is a disease in which the patient suffers from repeated and more or less regular seizures. A seizure may be thought of as a period of uncontrollable, unconscious behaviour. In epileptics, these periods occur with some pattern or regularity, about once a month or once a week. Thus, in order for a dog to be truly classified as an epileptic, he must first have suffered more than one seizure. Epilepsy in dogs can be divided into two broad categories: 1) idiopathic (also called "true") epilepsy; and The first category includes all animals with epilepsy for which no underlying cause can be found. The second category includes those animals whose seizures are symptoms of some demonstrable disease such as liver failure or organic brain disease. It is generally true that dogs that have seizures as a result of demonstrable disease have other obvious signs that point to the nature Of that disease. If it can be shown that a dog has symptomatic epilepsy, the most important form of therapy is that which is directed at the underlying disease. Dogs in which no evidence points to any underlying cause for seizures must be presumed to have idiopathic epilepsy, since there is no way to prove this specifically.
WHAT CAUSES SEIZURES? Seizure activity in man and animals is known to originate within the central nervous system. From somewhere presumably deep in the brain, a source of epileptic activity spreads a sitower of abnormal discharges, which communicate throughout the brain and are in turn relayed to the rest of the body. The effects of this neural activity are seen as highly abnormal muscular and behavioral action, which the dog is unable to control. Frequently, seizures start outwardly with a loss of consciousness and a developing muscular rigidity that grows into a quick jerking of the limbs in a padding motion. Al other times, the outward manifestations may be reversed and begin with a jerkiness which develops into complete rigidity. In some dogs, the outward signs may be minimal, and only mild jerking is observable, with rigidity being mild and brief. There are, in fact, a whole liost of abnormalities which may occur with seizure activity. These include such things as moaning, voidance of urine and feces and excess saliva production. Whatever the collection of signs may be, they are thought to come directly form the seizure activity which started in the brain. The awesome changes in activity and behaviour which accompany seizures simply reflect the profound control that the central nervous system exercises over the rest of the body.
ARE SEIZURES HARMFUL? There is an incorrect belief that the seizure itself is life-threatening to a dog. This is not to say that seizures or epilepsy are not serious medical considerations for your pet. However, typical epileptic seizures rarely lead to life-threatening situations. Dogs do not swallow their tongues or suffer strokes during seizures. Only when the seizure episode lasts longer than about fifteen or twenty minutes does it become a serious threat to your animal's life. This situation, called status epitepticus, cause continued physical exertion, producing metabolic consequences which endanger the dog's health. These long duration seizures require emergency medical care, for if they are allowed to progress, the dog may become overheated and overexerted to the point of brain damage or death. The typical seizure, however, lasts about three to five minutes and poses no real threat to your dog. Be sure, though, that there are no dangerous objects such as stairs nearby, and carefully observe the strength, nature and duration of the seizure. If the seizure shows no signs of abatement within about ten minutes, immediately notify your vet and obtain emergency attention.
IS THERE TREATMENT? Strictly speaking, there is no cure for epilepsy in dogs except for those animals suffering from symptomatic epilepsy. With idiopathic epilepsy, the goal of therapy is control of seizures using a variety of anticonvulsants. Obviously too, breeding from a dog with epilepsy should be abandoned, although in actuality there is no proof that epilepsy is inherited. Before selecting a mode of therapy, your vel must consider a'number of points. First, decide which type of epilepsy the dog suffers from. Then, assuming the dog has idiopathic seizures, your vet needs to know the severity and the frequency with which the seizures occur. He will have to rely on you to accurately describe and record the seizures that your dog experiences. Finally, after these considerations, your veterinarian must decide which, if any, of a variety of medications or combinations of medications to use in the particular case. It is unfortunate but true that very little information exists about the effectiveness and toxicity of anticonvulsant drugs in dogs that have naturally occurring epilepsy, but help is on the way. The American Canine Epilepsy Service (ACES) has been organized to assist your veterinarian in the process of drug selection for your pet and to provide readily available advice in the event of specific problems in the diagnosis and control of epilepsy in the canine world. An additional aii?i of the organization is to further our understanding of epilepsy - the problems and their solutions - through observation and evaluation. If you would like more information on the American Canine Epilepsy Service, please feet to write to this columnist. Margaretta Wood, Penilyn Collage, Box 707, Phoenixville, PA 19460 |