English Dog World

(Weekly Journal)

October 29, 1999

LIVING WITH CANINE EPILEPSY

A WARM sunny morning found 100 delegates receiving an equally warm welcome from Jamie Hepburn and Mandy Gibson at the Banbury Suite at Ryton-on-Dunsmore, as they registered for the Phyllis Croft Foundation for Canine Epilepsy's symposium on understanding epilepsy, writes Pam Luckhurst. After an excellent cup of coffee it was into our places for an introduction by Mandy Jones, the symposium chairman, who touched briefly on the work of the foundation and thanked the sponsors for their generous support in various ways throughout the day. The first item was a video film on canine epilepsy in Standard Schnauzers, made by Kathy and Roy Dvorak from the US in 1997. This featured their show puppy, Korie, who suddenly started fitting at two years of age. The film showed a very promising puppy maturing as a happy healthy youngster, until suddenly one day disaster struck. Korie was filmed during a seizure and recovering afterwards. Korie's diagnosis and treatment were discussed and at the time the film was taken he was then leading a comparatively normal and well adjusted life. A very honest appraisal of what must have been a great disappointment to experienced and dedicated exhibitors. David Wales then spoke on behalf of the foundation, telling of the enormous support that he had received from the volunteers who run the counseling service and the excellent work that the foundation does to help with canine epilepsy. He spoke simply and movingly of his own dog's first encounter with epilepsy - the shock of being woken at 2am by a strange scrabbling sound to find his beloved Border Collie, Paddy, thrashing about frantically in his basket obviously in the midst of an epileptic seizure. David went on to speak of the medication and treatment involved and stressed the need to have

epileptic dogs microchipped with details of their medication. He then described how he and his wife, Cheryl, then adapted both their lives and the lives of their other dogs so that Paddy could lead a virtually normal life. One of the proudest moments of which had been when Paddy took part in the Good Citizens demonstration at Earls Court this year. Invaluable David praised the foundation for all its phone advice and counselling, made so personal as all the helpers had affected dogs themselves. The foundation has been in existence for three years and its reassurance and understanding were invaluable to owners with epileptic dogs. He then made a presentation to Dr. Croft of a lovely bronze dog statue for all the work that she has done for canine epilepsy. In her reply, Dr. Croft emphasised that there was no stigma attached to epilepsy; both owners and their dogs must endeavor to lead as normal a life as possible. The next speaker was vet Clare Rusbridge who graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1991 and who since August 1997 has operated a neurology referral service at the Stone Lion Veterinary Centre, gaining RCVS specialist status in 1999. She spoke on the causes of epilepsy, firstly establishing the various forms of epilepsy, the tonic clonic (formerly known as grand mal) which as the primary, idiopathic or hereditary form, 'tonic' being rigid and clonic' being relaxed. The absences where the dog just went completely vacant for a few moments (formerly known as petit mal) and fragmentary where only part of the brain was affected and the dog demonstrated a repeated syndrome. Clare then showed a collection of home videos sent in by the owners of her patients which demonstrated these: a delightful little Cavalier with an 'uncontrolled' leg; Cleo a cat who went completely blank, which was indicative of a feline seizure; a little Min Schnauzer who was 'star gazing'; and a Dobermann who was 'fly catching'.

Several dogs were shown having seizures and then recovering afterwards. The various stages of the seizure and the reason for them was all carefully and clearly explained. At no stage did Clare use any notes and the delivery of her talk was rivetting, even though it was such a distressing subject. The next speaker was Joy Bleach who holds a degree in biochemistry from Queen's University, Belfast and is now the principal lecturer in animal science at De Montfort University, Lincoln. She is also a show judge of Afghans! Mrs. Bleach was giving advice on the foundation and running of a breed scheme for epilepsy. She highlighted the scheme set up by the Keeshond Club in 1989, firstly under the guidance of Dr. Margaret Wallace and now under that of Professor Stephen Hall, with whom she worked in close association at the De Montfort University. Mrs. Bleach stressed the first criterion of any club wanting to form a scheme must be to admit that they had a breed problem and then be willing to work together to try to eradicate it. She spoke in detail about the Keeshond club's scheme for epilepsy, its construction and practical application, and then reviewed the results to date. She stressed the need for complete cooperation from all breeders for any scheme to be successful and not to make the criteria too high so that breeders would feel uncomfortable with them. If this were so, then there could be a chance of 'the baby being thrown out with the bath water'. Mrs. Bleach touched briefly on the calculation for the percentages used in the Keeshond Club's scheme being on the Mendelian principle and she was hoping to do some trials with calculations using Bayesian analysis. Enlightening The morning's speakers then took the platform for a short question time, after which the symposium broke to enjoy a delicious cold buffet - followed by some really good 'puds'! There was a huge tombola which

delegates supported generously, raising much needed funds to help the foundation continue its essential work. The first of the afternoon's speakers was again Clare Rusbridge, this time continuing with the management of epilepsy, giving a short and very enlightening review of the current drugs and treatments available and how they could best serve the needs of the individual cases. Again, Clare spoke without any notes and tool us painlessly through some very difficult terminology and techniques with her extensive knowledge and easy manner. Breakthrough Dr. Mathew Binns was the last speaker. He is head of the genetics section of the Animal Health Trust where he has been for nearly ten years. He spoke on the genetics of primary epilepsy which he reviewed from the point of review of a geneticist. Again the types of epilepsy were discussed, the symptoms of these and their inheritance factors. Mr. Binns discussed the possibilities of DNA testing and how these had recently become a reality for some breeds with specific problems. DNA testing for epilepsy still remained in the future, though the establishing of the canine genome map was a great breakthrough. Dr. Binns then showed a short but fascinating film on the reconstruction of canine chromosomes using human chromosomes under the Canada gene approach, which gave us all great hope. Clare Rusbridge and Dr. Binns then took another short question and answer session. Mandy Jones closed the day by thanking all the speakers for making the day so invigorating and worthwhile, and all the delegates who had been such an attentive and interested audience. Another symposium is planned for the future, which must surely be just as successful.