Epilepsy - Experiences???

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burge

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Was just wondering what experiences anyone had with canine epilepsy with specific relation to diet. The reason being:

Just under two years ago my (then 3) JRT bitch had her first fit. She then had another 11 weeks later after which there developed a pattern of 3 in a cluster within 48 hours with periods of between 7 and 3 weeks between clusters. She started fitting after a change in diet (from Bakers Complete to Burns). She has had 2 MRI scans about a month apart in May last year and the vet found a small lesion on her brain so fitting was unlikely to be diet related. Therefore her diet wasn't changed (by which time she was on a grain free James Wellbeloved kibble). At christmas just gone we decided to start feeding her Bakers Complete (Beef and Vegetable) again and so far fingers crossed she has had 2 clusters of 2 since christmas and the latest gap since the last one has been almost 13 weeks!!! I looked up what was in the two diets and the only difference I can see is that Bakers has a fat content which non of the other foods had. Now this makes sense as I know a lot of people say that Bakers makes dogs fat and although my bitch is a little heavier she is by no means overweight. She is not on any meds as the vet said the fits were not damaging her brain and meds would mask the seizures which were an indication of what was happening with the lesion (either healing or getting worse). So has anyone had a dog that stopped fitting or have got more control of fitting through diet only???
 
I am currently doing a project for one of my A Levels the title of which is "How does diet affect canine epilepsy? And can it be used as a measure to control it?" Your case sounds highly interesting to me, and as a result I was wondering if you would be prepared to complete a questionnaire for me? If you would please email me at eliddell@woodbridge.suffolk.sch.uk.

Also, with reference to your original question, having a higher fat content makes the diet resemble the ketogenic diet, which is often used in children to try and control seizures. However, research indicates that this is not usually the case with dogs, hence why I am so interested.
 
I have an elderly Lab that was on barbiturates for epilepsy and at that time was raw fed. He was on the tablets for about 10 years - I started feeding him raw and since being weaned from his meds he is fine, never had another bad turn.

Also have another 12 years old JR that was having fits and he is fine on raw except when he comes into contact with any dog that has been sprayed with Frontline.

I never at the time, related the change but we took on a Lab/GSD bitch that was pretty bad with Grand Mal fits. When she came to us she was started on raw/table scraps and after a while she stopped fitting. She lived a good active life until she was 16 when she was PTS

I have only ever fed raw and cannot say that I like the junk in most dry foods so cannot say about the effects you are finding with your dog on Bakers (which really is not good for dogs) so would suggest that three dogs that were fitting are fine on raw.
 
I have a JRT who is epileptic but hadn't thought about diet until now so may talk to the vet about it at her next check up in January. She is fed raw and has not turned her nose up at a meal since we changed (used to be very very picky eater) and looks loads better on it. We were told it was juvenile epilepsy and were about to start weaning her off the epiphen when she went totally off her food and after a day of no tablets she started fitting again so have just carried on with them.

Would definitely be interested to hear about others who have controlled it through diet.
 
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