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Louilou

Unfortunately we got the news the other day that Gunner has epilepsy. he's having very frequent seizures now. Almost once a week to a fortnight. Will be on medication for life which apparantly has side effects. The vets we saw at AHT said we have to keep an eye on Grey as epilepsy can show up from 6 months to 6 years. I've also spoken to someone with a dog 5 years old from the same mating as Grey and Gunner and he's had 6 seizures in a year.

How should this affect a breeding programme if at all in a breed like slovaks with small numbers?
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Mike · Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 9:55 pm Post subject:

How upsetting Lou I am very sorry to hear this news. Whilst Slovaks in the UK may be small in number they really should be one of the most diverse breeds, it really is a shame that some of the breeders in the UK have decided to breed so closely.
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weima · Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 10:25 pm Post subject:

I wouldn't breed from any stock with epilepsy in the lines so in effect this could wipe out a breeding line I would have thought.

Can you test for epilepsy?
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Louilou · Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 11:33 pm Post subject:

Louilou · Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 11:39 pm Post subject:

BritAnnie · Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 2:37 am Post subject:

It's not impossible to get rid of epilepsy. Brittanys first came into the country in 1982, and some dogs started to appear with epilepsy a couple of years later(typical average start time for the disease is around 2 years). The breed started off in the UK with four unrelated dogs, with subsequent imports a couple of years later. The suspect lines were identified and suspected carriers withdrawn from breeding programmes. It was a heartbreaking time for enthusiasts of our lovely breed, but epilepsy is now rarely heard of in the breed. I wish you good luck, and strength
Annie
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Bareve · Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 8:40 am Post subject:

The AHT are working on trying to find the gene for epilepsy on "lots" of breeds as GWP's are one that they are actively collecting DNA from. The problem being that the gene marker is very likely to be different for each breed which means they will need actual affected dogs from every breed to help define their tests.

Annie - how did they identify the dogs/bitches that were responsible for epilepsy (I'm not looking for names) When epilepsy first reared it's head in GWP's the club sent lots of pedigrees of affected dogs and those similarly bred but seemed to be OK and the genetic expert looked and said there wasn't enough evidence to pin point which dog/s it was. This left the breeders to "try" and do the right thing but unfortunately because it was not possible to pin point the dogs/bitches it still pops up even seemingly after missing a few generations Crying or Very sad

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Louilou · Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 8:41 am Post subject:

Thanks Annie,

That's really helpful. It's a big unknown at the moment. I'm just crossing fingers my mega insurance bill from this episode will be covered. Confused

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Mike · Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 8:49 am Post subject:

Louilou · Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 9:33 am Post subject:

Mike, I've wondered myself if there are other types of epilepsy. One thing I've asked about so often at the vets is whether anything that presents in a number of dogs that are assumed to be unlinked like the severe pain issue that arose in a few dogs that were born around the same time, and then presented later with infections. Can seizures can be linked to this? I've always been told no. I've yet to start epilepsy research, and don't know if anything can be linked to an immune response from having the presence of infections rather than it being hereditary.

The interesting thing is that this news of epilepsy is new news. No reports of a problem like it in slovakia or Ireland so far.
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