Canine Epilepsy Studies at the Animal Health Trust

There are many reasons why a dog may have seizures or ‘fits’. They may be caused by trauma, exposure to toxins, or as a result of another, underlying disease. If a vet rules out these reasons for the fits, the dog may be classified as having idiopathic epilepsy (IE), which is considered to be genetic. As a general rule, dogs with IE will have their first seizure between one and five years of age.

Treatment is usually with anti-convulsant drugs, however these are not a cure and the aims are to reduce the frequency and severity of the fits, improving the quality of life for the dog and its owner. Phenobarbital is one of the most common drugs used, sometimes in combination with potassium bromide.

Epileptic dogs or dogs producing epileptic progeny (especially from different and unrelated mates) should not be used for breeding.

At the Kennel Club Genetics Centre at AHT, in association with a Europe-wide collaborative effort known as the LUPA project (www.eurolupa.org), research is being conducted to attempt to identify causal genetic factors that contribute to the development of IE in the Border Collie and several other affected breeds. The main aims of this work are to develop DNA tools that can be offered to breeders to help them make sensible breeding decisions to reduce the risk of producing clinically Affected dogs, and to help uncover genes that might lead to better understanding of IE in humans. These studies require DNA samples from both Affected and Unaffected dogs that can be collected as buccal (cheek) swabs. The DNA from the Affected dogs (known as 'cases') is then compared to the DNA of the Unaffected dogs (known as 'controls') in a process known as a 'genome-wide association study'. This scans thousands of unique points in the DNA to identify regions of the genome that are consistently shared between dogs affected with IE, but that are not shared with unaffected dogs. Once an associated region has been identified, further analysis is carried out to pinpoint the mutation(s) that is/are contributing to the risk of developing IE.

Sample collection for the Border Collie IE research is ongoing at the Kennel Club Genetics Centre at the AHT. If you would like to contribute a sample from your dog to the research, scientists require samples from dogs affected with IE and from Unaffected dogs over the age of seven years. Unaffected dogs can be related or unrelated to Affected dogs; the new approaches used for this research mean that it is no longer a requirement to have family-based samples. The AHT provides DNA collection swab kits, free of charge, to individual owners or clinicians - contact Bryan McLaughlin at bryan.mclaughlin@aht.org.uk